Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Interview: Cody Franklin

I present my interview with Cody Franklin, creator of my new favorite YouTube channel, The Alternate History Hub:

Hello, Cody. Tell us a little about yourself.

Well I try to keep as much of my personal life off the internet so my videos seem less biased and more neutral. However I can say I am an Ohioan, and am currently going through a Journalism undergrad.  I try to think of myself as a creative person.

What got you interested in alternate history?

I've always been interested in history and geography, so after discovering alternate history scenarios people were creating online, it just seemed like a perfect mesh of knowledge and creativity. I instantly fell in love with the genre, yet never began writing my own videos until last year.

Were there any specific online scenarios that inspired you?

I would say that the most inspiring scenario for me was a video on 'alternatehistorypt'. His video 'A Southern Victory' was the first alternate history scenario I had ever seen and introduced me to the genre.

What is The Alternate History Hub?

The Alternate History Hub is a channel solely dedicated to the genre of alternate history, and the 'what if'. Using real life historical evidence, we try to piece together a scenario of what might have been.  Of course we can never 100% predict what might have been, yet we try to use alternate history to teach people how truly fragile history is.  The channel is meant to be a reminder of how for millennia, humans made decisions which eventually led up to you and I.  Like they say, you only appreciate something until its gone, and by using alternate history, we can remind people how we came to be in the modern world.

Why did you want to make alternate history videos for YouTube?

Ever since YouTube was created there has always been alternate history videos.  There were even some channels dedicated to only alternate history. However, even though I respected those channels, their videos were usually poorly researched or incredibly biased.  Looking at those channels I believed I could bring something new to the table, and make 'AlternateHistoryHub' stand-out among the community.  So, I began make alternate history videos.

Who designed your logo?

I created the idea of the AlternateHistoryHub logo.  I call it the United Earth.  However a good friend of mine from another channel, Dale from 'TheFactoid', re-imagined the logo, using my old concept.  His version is the present day logo.

What is the process you go through to create and upload a video?

I come up with an idea for my videos, usually the week before.   The whole process of writing, recording and editing takes about five hours. This comes in handy when I have classes and work, so my videos adapted to my schedule.

Do you have any future what ifs you are working on now?

Right now I'm working on another Alternate Countries video in celebration of our eventual 10,000 subscribers.  That will be in probably two weeks by my estimates.  However I'm also planning on releasing Part Two of an old video "What if the Soviet Union Won the Cold War".

What advice do you have for aspiring YouTubers?

Dare to be different and don't be scared to challenge the status-quo.  If you think you can bring something new to the table, go for it.  That's what makes YouTube special. Channels and people from all walks of life bring their own perspective for all to see and we as a community grow from the words of others.

Believe in your work, and make videos that you find interesting.  If you find something engaging, odds are others will share your passion too.

1 comment:

  1. That's beautiful , Cody. I love u man. U introduced me to this entire new world. I want to create a alternatehistory channel too , I'm probably not as creative as u but let's try and see. Oh and congrats on ur book release , hope u achieve great success.

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