YouTube

For many years I watched videos of buses and lifts on YouTube. In particular, the videos of Andrew Reams, otherwise known as Diesilducy, the founder of Elevator Photography. After lots of careful consideration, I persuaded my Mum & dad to allow me to open a channel of my own.

The channel, for many years, ran simply under my own name "Alex Ellis". My early videos were not much to be proud of.....240p quality, a rubbish camera and not to mention my filming style was crap. But yet somehow people still wanted to watch my videos. Over the years the quality got much better, progressing to 480p and then later HD as I moved over my Sony CX190E camcorder, which has served me well since 2013.

Finally, in 2016 I decided that I needed to re-brand my channel in a way that made it seem more professional, but at the same time was concerned that a name change would confuse my audience. I therefore decided to use the name "The ALEX ELLIS Channel" as a re-brand, as it still contained my original name but was still more stylish than simply just me name on its own.

In 2017, I received an Email from YouTube saying that I had reached over 1000 Subscribers! Today that number is a little over 2500. I currently have just over 2,400,000 views on the channel!

## Content

I started my channel primarily to film buses and lifts, as I still do this day. But other than that I have filmed many other things, including Level crossings, Planes, Ferries and more!

In 2014, I was part of a film-making club at school and worked with some school friends to make a short film for a competition. The film did very well, coming third. However, the film club took a break after this while we sat our exams, and when it resumed in 2015 I chose not re-join the club, as I had personal matters to attend to (I cannot disclose them here).

A 2014 also saw my return to the UK after 7 years in New Zealand....only a visit, or course. My Dad wanted me to make a short film all about Wellington, so one sunny weekend day we went all over the place to get footage. I went on a few outings during the school holidays to get more shots in the city. After several hours of editing, the 28-minute film was done! See the video on the right to watch it!

## Collaborations with NZ Lifts

I have been lift-filming with NZ Lifts three times since 2017, and plan to do so again in future. NZ Lifts is a rapidly growing New Zealand lift filming channel. He hasn't over taken my subscriber count yet, but his videos are getting views & comments that I can only dream of! Hats off to him for being able to make such a success of his channel.

## Camera History

**Current Cameras:**

* 2019-Present: Sony CX405 Camcorder - Main Camera used for most of my videos.
* 2016-Present: Nikon Coolpix A300. Brand new camera as a replacement for the dead ES90. Mainly a photography camera, and videos are filmed with the Sony CX190E still.
* 2019-Present: Oppo AX7 phone - back-up camera, mainly.

**Unused Cameras:**

* Sony CX190E Camcorder - New in 2013, replaced by CX405 (July 2019), now a Spare

**Former Cameras:**

* 2012-2013: rather rubbish Fujifilm - I had two of these, both broke.
* 2013-2016: Samsung ES90 - Mostly for photos, also used as a back up video camera. Broke in September 2016
* 2014-2015: Huawei Smart Phone (back-up camera used only for a couple of bus videos)
* 2016: Mum's Samsung ES90. Same as my one that broke...borrowed for two weeks whilst finding a new one.
* 2016-2019: Samsung Galaxy J2 phone - back-up only