Making an Intro/Outro... But Who's Even Watching Anyway?

[stark idol]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWtL0CBgGPA

Quick roast on myself. Gf noted that I should sound more happy in the beginning lol. It takes me a while to get comfortable on camera. Is the thumbnail too detached from the actual video? Maybe. I definitely should have put the final product as both the intro and outro and not just time stamp the ending. Any help on formatting my description is greatly appreciated. Any tips for improving these documentation type videos to make it shorter and watchable while still showcasing “the raw process”. Torn between overproducing and putting out unwatchable videos.

[naive geode]

I hope this doesn't come across as sounding super rude, but what attracts you to the idea of producing unwatchable videos @stark idol?

I notice that you give some valid advice on people's videos, which leads me to think your videos should be 100x better than what I just watched.

Unwatchable is an accurate way of describing it, but I'd like to know why you feel the need to make this kind of video in the first place?

[stark idol]

Not rude at all, valid inquiry. I grew up when youtube started about 20+ years ago so I’m kinda torn between making raw documentation of my youtube journey like a self diary while being completely vulnerable of my process vs. “making the best possible video I can”. I believe there’s a question on this discord from someone wanting to go viral in 4 days and feedback was quality vs quality uploads. I believe @hushed kayak said quality comes from quantity. I’m gravitating towards that route only because I’ve had analysis paralysis that has hurt me from growing and all together taking a break from youtube. Youtube used to be just about you recording a perspective and idea even if you weren’t a film producer or journalist you can record anything good or bad. Now it’s grown and heavily over produced and competitive. Not a bad thing but something I’ve noticed that and wanted more insight and representation of that. To me I want to be true to what my process actually is. I can already see a shift in my mindset as far as growth and just posting while improving very incrementally. Basically there’s 100+ things I know how to do better but I just want to work on improving and being better than my previous work. The “unwatchable videos” is more a bts look of that process for documentation purposes.

[thick flicker]

hey @stark idol

I get the approach for more lofi organic content, especially as it's a trend on YouTube these days.

Here's some feedback from my end fwiw

• If I am a new viewer I learned nothing about you and why I should watch in the first 10 seconds, immediate click away to the next video
• Agree with your gf and that it would def be helpful to get more emotion / excitement at the beginning of the. Kinda felt like this video was going to be painful when you took a huge breath and led with "alright..."
• Sure to your point above YouTube was about perspective and less about producing and edits, but at it's core crux it was speaking to an audience and keeping them hooked which is possible without a ton of edits
• In terms of leaning into the lo-fi it doesn't feel like you're talking directly to ME as a viewer. That could be changed with occasional eye contact throughout the video or just changing the dialogue to "you"
• It's fine for a raw long video if that's what you're going for, but I think you could still make a lot of cuts which will help the audience stay engaged
• Adding chapters so people can bounce around the video to where they see value could also help
• The fan in the back towards the middle of the video was super distracting and it blended with you talking so it was really hard to stay engaged/want to
• It would of been great if you did a full screen of the progress you made and said "heres the progress we've made"

The thumbnail & title are super misleading

• Don't sell yourself short with "but who's even watching anyways" every great YouTube started with 1 subscriber and grew (cliche but true)
• I really like the use of the red font but there was so much other text it's overwhelming
• However, you could lean in with these types of video as a series for each part "how to...(insert purpose of video in red"

Keep going man!

[stark idol]

Your feedback is worth a lot! I screenshot and highlighted some great key points you made. I believe with tweaking some minor items you brought up I can get the best of both worlds. Thanks for your feedback.

[thick flicker]

Do you know who Sam Sulek is?

[stark idol]

I do not but I just looked him up.

[thick flicker]

He's very lo-fi but he's always engaging with the audience

[hushed kayak]

that's super unpackaged stuff

As mentioned -> your title + thumb and first 10 seconds should light a spark in viewer to make them curious and excited to watch.. i just don't know what's happening

[naive geode]

@stark idol I think I see where you're coming from. If I understand you correctly, you're trying to document the behind the scenes process of producing videos in a way that is relaxed and raw.

If that's the case, then yes, I see the parallels @thick flicker is trying to draw with Sam Sulek. I never really watched Sam Sulek but I used to watch Ivan Djuric. Ivan makes videos called "Squat every day" and it used to basically be 5-15 minute videos of him squatting in his garage at the crack of dawn, with voiceover of him talking about his day, talking about his sets, about his improvement, about the world... whatever.

https://youtu.be/6hvfMiZ_iSE?si=4IduzYm1walAHlCF

These videos break EVERY conventional rule about YouTube retention and somehow they still do well.

And I think it's for a couple of reasons:

1. Respect: the audience of Ivan respects the HELL out of him for what he does. He's got a family, a busy job as a nurse, working long hours, and he still makes time every single day to squat. And people respect him for the dedication to his craft.

2. Inspiration: People respect him enough to look up to him. If Ivan has the discipline to squat every day, then we have no excuse for skipping our leg days.

3. Wisdom: He's always spouting interesting pieces of wisdom, squatting tips, recovery tips, general life advice etc.

4. Novelty: No one else is crazy enough to squat every day. How can he possibly recover? How does he do it? Is he improving at a faster rate than people who squat intermittently?

5. Therapy: And honestly this is probably my main reason for watching. Something about working out is therapeutic. Especially the old school grungy garage gym setups. The rattling of plates, the silent atmosphere, the grinding/squeaking of weights, the heavy breathing, the process of pushing your body to its limits. Sound plays a huge part in this.
   Videos like this are just sooo therapeutic and inspiring: https://youtu.be/DutO2wEtqaw?si=h8MUTU_AXYJa-NTK

6. Matching expectations: Ivan and Sam make it very clear that their videos are going to be this lo-fi format in the thumbnail and title. It's just a screengrab from the video. That way, when you click on it, you don't feel disappointed by what you receive

I think if your goal is to simply document your process and you don't care about views, then just continue doing what you're doing. But if you're trying to get views by differentiating yourself and producing this raw, therapeutic, lo-fi video, then there's a lot you can change

1. Respect: Sam and Ivan are the masters of their craft and that credibility is established instantly. Sam is just massive and Ivan has "Squat Every Day - Day 446" in the title. So immediately they both gain my trust as someone who can spout wisdom and inspire me. You have to find some way of establishing the same credibility which is going to be extremely difficult unless you work as an editor for a favous YouTuber for example

2. Inspiration: Perhaps if your voiceover inspires people to keep going with their channels and not to quit. Showing you putting in the hours and enjoying the process

3. Wisdom: Share nuggets of knowledge wherever possible - editing techniques, retention hacks, scripting structures, etc

4. Novelty: Honestly I'm not sure what you can do to create novelty but I think the low fi relaxed format is novel enough.

5. Therapy: Again, this is most important. I'd much rather watch a trimmed video of an over-the-shoulder shot of you editing, cutting down to only where there is action. So by that I mean, any time where your screen is inactive, cut it out of the video. I'm not gonna sit here staring at a frozen screen for a few minutes. That would be as boring as watching Ivan sit on the floor resting for 2 minutes between sets. But this is what you're doing at the moment... because you're talking to the camera live and therefore not editing at the same time. If I were you, I'd do a voiceover rather than talking live to the camera. You need great quality sound. I want to hear the keyboard and mouse clicks, the sipping of coffee, the rain in the background.

6. At the moment, your channel name is doing you a disservice. This is because from this channel name, I would expect your videos to teach me how to be a YouTuber. But instead you're posting videos that show the exact opposite of what a good YouTuber would do.

All in all despite all the advice I gave, I don't know if I would watch this type of content. But that's just me. Working out is therapeutic. Editing is a painful chore. But I'm sure there are people that think otherwise

Hope that helped

[stark idol]

@naive geode great feedback. You bring up some good keypoints to take into consideration. I will brainstorm if there are ways to hit some of the points you brought up to bring into my journey and content The thing is. I also want to be inspirational to people who may not have those items yet. Sure there are ways to be succesfful on youtube but there are also ways to just youtube and create content. I think there's a quiet majority that might feel like they have to do a, b, c - through x, y, z before they can step onto the playing field. Youtube is an open market and you can still be a youtuber even if you're not famous, successful or even getting paid. Idealy my process is ugly, struggling, not efficient, but one key point i'm driving in on is improving better than the day before.

The key points of respect, inspiration, wisdon, novelty, thereapy and matching expectations are all great points. Everyone is a work in progress and I believe time will tell how my theory/concept will pan out. The novelty of my work is that it is exactly the kind of youtuber I need to be right now.

[hasty karma]

in a nut shell - here’s what i’d advise @stark idol:

1. Clearly talking off the top of your head isnt a strong point for you yet so defo script your vids.
2. You dont start making the intro until like 3 mins in lol. And considering thats what the video is about the whole thing just kinda descends into waffle. Which could be fine if you’re tryna build up authenticity with a community but all i got from the first 3 mins is: you dont really know what youre doing + youre making it up as you go. Which to be quite frank - no one cares. So to conclude maybe try storyboarding what you wanna achieve by certain points in a vid rather than rambling your thoughts to the viewers

if lofi is your thing go for it. But even the best lofi creators will plan out the most efficient way of delivering the message. Albeit hard to master, the best lofi creators have learned how to provide the same feeling of fast paced high intensity videos, but in a different vibe

i think for you the best thing to do is creating a more cohesive plan (either bullet points for the whole vid or at least a full script for the intro) rather than winging it completely

Hope that helps : )