InCamera is out to teach its viewers the wonderful world of special effects. Just not the ones you might be thinking of. 

Run by Tommy Martin and James Price, the duo has attracted over 2 million views teaching practical film effects. That is, the kind of special effects that are done in person, rather than with a computer. Setting a scale model of a house on fire and filming it—that’s a practical effect. The animatronic T. rex in Jurassic Park? Also practical. That’s opposed to computer-generated effects (CGI).

CGI effects are dominant in today’s film and TV, but Tommy is trying to show there’s another way. “It’s about trying to show the younger generation of upcoming filmmakers that there are other options to creating weird and wonderful ideas,” he says. In one video, Tommy and crew use printed images, light, and pillow stuffing to depict the bombing of Dresden during World War II. In another, they hand-make a spaceship’s cockpit.

Tommy decided there was an opportunity for a YouTube channel when he noticed a lack of content celebrating practical effects. InCamera’s content hasn’t just amassed views, it's brought in new work for Tommy and his studio. One such client was Laika Studios, the makers of Coraline and Paranorman.

We talked to Tommy to learn more about his creative process.

TL;DR

• Niche expertise can lead to success. Not only did Tommy's focus on practical special effects lead to more viewers of his videos, but it also got him professional opportunities beyond YouTube.
• When building an audience, think quality over quantity. Creating content for a selective audience rather than for mass appeal leads to meaningful engagement with viewers.
• Focus on passion over what the algorithm wants. When you create content you're excited about, people will want to watch it.
• Embrace your happy accidents. Tommy uses mistakes in his process as a learning opportunity he can share with his viewers.

Balancing the algorithm and passion

Tommy stands apart from other creators who chase the algorithm. Of course, many of his videos have cracked a hundred thousand views, but he doesn’t let it drive his creative process.

“The numbers went up quite quick,” he says. “It kind of felt like, oh, unless we play this game, unless we're posting every week, we're not going to get those big numbers because the algorithm won't be happy with us. And then we were just like, you know what? We're cool with that.”

Tommy’s creative process is fueled by his and James’s love of cinema. When they decided to start a channel, they drew from their existing knowledge of practical effects in popular films. James, specifically, grew up reading special effects magazines. 

Many of the channel’s videos stem from excitement about a particular effect or excitement about their own work. The video on Dresden, for instance, chronicles their process for a film they were working on. 

In another, they recreate the iconic title sequence of John Carpenter’s “The Thing” with a stencil, a smoke machine, and a few well-placed fires.

“If you just create something that you would love to see, you'll find that a lot of people out there will enjoy that,” Tommy says.

“I think there's a danger particularly with YouTube actually, serving the algorithm to try and sort of bend what you want to make to what you think will get views," he says. "We just agreed we're not going to play that game.

“I think, really you just have to stay true to what you love, and what excites you.”

Still, their creative process isn’t totally free form. When James pitches Tommy on an idea, Tommy acts as a filter.

“He’ll suggest something. And then it comes to me because I sort of work as a director a lot…I'm always thinking about audience. And so for me, it's like, okay, what, what would that look like as an episode or how would we communicate that?

Bringing the video to life

“I think whether it’s a YouTube video or a film, ultimately you're doing the same thing, which is telling a story,” Tommy says. “The same sort of fundamentals of storytelling and narrative—beginning, middle, end—all applies.” Tommy always has a structure in mind, but that structure is subject to the chaos of filmmaking.

Some of the most entertaining and informative parts of Tommy’s effects are their many failures. Tommy scripts out his intro and outro, and certain talking points he knows he wants to bring up. But when filming the creation of the effects, things often go awry.

“That's one of the beautiful, beautiful things about effects filmmaking. You get lots of happy accidents.”

These accidents are often educational in themselves, as Tommy and James’s own problem-solving is demonstrated to a viewer. For instance, an accidental change in a light position can create something unexpected.

“You went to move a light or something and it just suddenly does something amazing,” Tommy says.

“You can watch people moving lights around in the studio, but you don't necessarily always understand how that translates on camera. And so that's something that we picked up in the early days. You cut between those two things and it's a really nice way to demonstrate to people how this stuff works.”

“Everyone's learning all the time,” Tommy says, something he tries to show in the videos to make viewers less intimidated. “Because they feel then that they can just go and try something.” 

Building a selective audience

Tommy’s dual status as a working filmmaker and YouTuber allows him to make creative decisions that would be ill-advised for someone looking to break into YouTube full-time. Specifically, he tells me he doesn’t water down his content to appeal to a broader market.

“‘Cause ultimately then all you're doing is appealing to a bunch of people who don't really care. They're just looking for some quick entertainment…and we just really wanted to create something that felt substantial and that would actually last a test of time.”

He also avoids the fast edits one might see in a Mr. Beast video.

“If you're trying to create something just for people to like it, and if they don't like it, you're going to get pretty sad. You're going to feel like you've wasted a lot of time. Whereas if you're making something for you or something that you just really want to try, who cares if only 10 people love it?”

Tommy’s mission for the channel is still primarily educational. His videos are, to be fair, very entertaining. But his focus is still on people who want to learn the intricacies of a practical effect, rather than trying to appeal to those disengaged viewers.

“It comes down to, why do you create? Why do you want to do it?,” Tommy says. “For us, it was always about staying true to what we thought was good.”d