Agora Road Youtube Club (Video Production General)

[Deleted member 4436]

Made this tonight because I felt like procrastinating. Going to be honest, this is how most of the videos I've been making this past month have been. I'm kind of at a dead-end for creativity in terms of scripted content right now I feel

 

[SomaSpice]

Made this tonight because I felt like procrastinating. Going to be honest, this is how most of the videos I've been making this past month have been. I'm kind of at a dead-end for creativity in terms of scripted content right now I feel

This video is so dumb it got me giggling IRL. No one except people who know you can make sense of it, and its basically the opposite of what the youtube metagame is all about, but fuck it I like it! Nice vid

 

[Deleted member 4436]

This video is so dumb it got me giggling IRL. No one except people who know you can make sense of it, and its basically the opposite of what the youtube metagame is all about, but fuck it I like it! Nice vid

I don't think I particularly care about the metagame at all at the moment. I've decided that I'll probably have a lot more fun making videos if I make ones like this:

Not only will they serve as better focused practice for editing, but I think the process will be much more enjoyable if I'm not forcing myself to come up with things to say like in a scripted video.

Basically fuck video essays I'm making AMVs from now on

 

[Deadchief1175]

I don't think I particularly care about the metagame at all at the moment. I've decided that I'll probably have a lot more fun making videos if I make ones like this:

Not only will they serve as better focused practice for editing, but I think the process will be much more enjoyable if I'm not forcing myself to come up with things to say like in a scripted video.

Basically fuck video essays I'm making AMVs from now on

Yoooo so back in the day I used to try making AMV's and never really got anywhere unfortunately. I always wanted to do them for the anime cons I went too, They would have a competition usually of who can edit the best one. 2-3 years ago I wanted to see what AMV's were like now and my god!! They are insane now! Here is a link to one (not a fan of the music really) but the amount of transitions and effects that go into them now is crazy! sorry a bit of a tangent but that is to say PLEASE go and make them! Just have fun! Seriously, They will def help with editing and you can just focus on the footage. Just make one and see how you feel~

On another note though, I completely feel you with exhausting yourself creativlely and I think you are taking the right steps to claim that back. Not everything will be fun or enjoyable all the time, but sometimes its hard to drive through that, and I feel like people can tell. I love your last video, it feels like something I would see in my subscriptions in 2013 in a extremely good way. When youtube was more fun. Anyway, I wish you luck on the next video! Taking some time to get better at editing is ALWAYS a good idea.

 

[lain is here]

Made this tonight because I felt like procrastinating. Going to be honest, this is how most of the videos I've been making this past month have been. I'm kind of at a dead-end for creativity in terms of scripted content right now I feel

Luv it, unironically Agora's anime intro

 

[SomaSpice]

Yesterday I made a youtube short for a lil' card game on newgrounds I play in my coffee breaks. I uploaded it earlier today but given that the video was 60 seconds exactly, it exceeded youtube's time limit for shorts and just didn't put it on anyone's short feed. So if you're making shorts, keep it around 58 seconds max. I ended up speeding the video by 5%, which gave my voice this surprisingly fitting robotic effect.


View: https://youtube.com/shorts/A_bXNzO3aKQ


As for the video I tried experimenting with a different visual style, I was aiming to do something akin to cheesy FMV cutscene. It was a pretty fun side project!

 

[Brapuccino]

I hate how this video is approaching 10 years old and that it's only aged like wine:


View: https://youtu.be/xORfVfwY9r0

love this movie, i should rewatch it soon

Always wanted to make videos, just everything really. But my laptop is extremely bad, I am europoor. This current economy does not support my wish to get a good PC. If I did, I would make videos, and edit them. I've always wanted to just play random underrated games, with commentary. Maybe one day.
It's an honour talking to celebrities like yourself, though

literally just make whatever man, do simple stuff. people were editing videos with their crappy beige pre-built PCs 20 years ago. there's really nothing stopping you but yourself.

I've been wondering for a while now, what makes a game video review something worthwhile to watch? I mean, for one, the viewer could just play the game instead of watching some dunce talk about it. The angle of criticism or analysis doesn't make sense to me because whatever is real or factual is immutable, so doing that doesn't add much value to the video nor does it make it stand out from the sea of other people listing out the game's attributes and calling it a day.

Covering something niche and shedding light to it is something of value, but the present day internet is so fast and interconnected that I've come to believe that for new works the labels niche and obscure don't last more than a week. Not that there's no more obscure stuff, especially relating to lost media, but to uncover something actually unknown and worthwhile you're gonna have to depend on a big serving of serendipity.

On the other hand, a focus on subjective experience seems to add a fair amount of value since one's personal experience and perspective is guaranteed to be unique, but its still largely bound by the fact most games are sequences of events and setpieces, so discounting sandbox games, most players will play through the same story and have a similar tale to tell in the end.

My solution, however contrived, has been deformation. What I mean is that rather than showing what the game is about, or even showing my experience of playing the game, I would rather show an impression of how my experience of playing the game felt. To give an example, that intro I made for Disillusion has very little to do with the game, but it is a representation of how I felt while playing it.

What do you guys think? What makes a game review worthwile to watch?

I honestly don't actually watch game reviews, if I want to know about a game I'll look up longplays and skim through just to get an idea if I'd like it or not. At this point the only game related videos I consooom are Oneyplays vids just for the funnies. And also stuff like analysing coding feats on retro games, weird/interesting retro gear, stuff like that.
I suppose for me to be really interested in a game video it would need to be only tangentially related to the game itself and not be strictly about the game's contents, sort of.

 

[Deadchief1175]

Yesterday I made a youtube short for a lil' card game on newgrounds I play in my coffee breaks. I uploaded it earlier today but given that the video was 60 seconds exactly, it exceeded youtube's time limit for shorts and just didn't put it on anyone's short feed. So if you're making shorts, keep it around 58 seconds max. I ended up speeding the video by 5%, which gave my voice this surprisingly fitting robotic effect.


View: https://youtube.com/shorts/A_bXNzO3aKQ


As for the video I tried experimenting with a different visual style, I was aiming to do something akin to cheesy FMV cutscene. It was a pretty fun side project!

Hey I actually got a notification for this on my phone and watched it I'll have to check this game out. It sounds pretty neat! Gonna try making shorts too for my next video and I'll keep that time limit in mind. Honestly it sounds nice to just hyper edit a small chunk of video, and I think i'm gonna start doing that with my long form videos, and just cut a piece out and maybe edit it a little more to make sense in a short form.

 

[Emmy Fitz]

Here's my YouTube channel, I hope you friends like

I've taken a hiatus because of work, plus I'm not getting a ton of views so obviously real life's gotta take priority. Got a lot of plans for the future, though. I've been wanting to make content for years but was busy with college and everything, now I'm just makin' stuff that I think is neat.

I did a big retrospective on the Japanese Horror flicks and their remakes during the 2000s last Halloween



I lurked through the Internet Archives VHS vault to find some shtuff, like old Disney Channel/MTV commercial blocks and a Cops tape.



So far my most popular vid is a retrospective on XANADU, an infamous flop from 1980 that kind of signals the end of the '70s disco aesthetic. Maybe one day it'll crack 1,000 views.



And more recently, I did a retrospective on a few 2000s kids flicks I grew up with.



I have lots more plans (some Vaporwave related) but work's gotta take priority at the moment, these are DEF not paying the bills lmao. I hope that if you check some of the stuff out, you enjoy it! :D

 

[vulonkaaz]

here's a trollge incident I made a few months ago guys I'm very proud of this video

 

[SomaSpice]

Nice seeing this thread active again. Currently working on a long video, rn I'm rendering some scenes for a dynamic intro.

So I've a question for you guys, what's your favourite part of making a vid? Editing, scripting, research?

For me my least favourite is playing videogames (lmao) and most favourite is editing

 

[SomaSpice]

I've been toying around with fonts, motion graphics, color correction and gotten a bit obsessed with the levels and cc ball action effect. I think that for the fear and hunger video the general style will be pixelated and color crunched to give it a GBA-ish look, with red and purple being the dominant pallete. Using a gothic style font is a no brainer, considering the subject matter of the game.

Take a look!

 

[RisingThumb]

Whats everyone using as an editing software?

Linux User here. Currently, I record footage on my phone. Open it in Audacity to pull out the audio, stick it through a macro to clean it up. Then use an ffmpeg script to put it back into the recorded video. I haven't started doing any serious edits or transitions or anything in my videos yet, but I'm looking at doing that using kdenlive. Main initial addition will probably be some AI-Art assisted jump cuts at the start to assist with keeping high engagement, by high stimulation and meeting what claim the title of the video makes.

Whats everyone's goal on YouTube or video?

Try and make a financially viable YouTube channel on things I find easy to talk about. Philosophy, literature, psychology and computer science. I'm currently focusing my efforts towards the "evergreen" market of self-improvement advice, using philosophy, literature and psychology as subjects to be applied and to improve people's lives. Why financially viable? So that IRL I can go digital nomad.

My current goal with my video quality is increasing my production quality, while making them easy to edit and create. Most recently using audacity to improve audio quality seen here. I'm 50:50 on whether or not adding subtitles is a good choice. I think I should, as it would make the videos more accessible. Any thoughts? I'm also thinking about my vocal technique and considering improving that, so it's better to listen to. Maybe see a speech and language therapist to improve my speech, since I sound like I have a sock in my mouth sometimes

I think 3-4 hours worth of work for a minute of footage is fair for a project of medium complexity.

I want to avoid 3-4 hours of work per minute. For a 15 minute video that equates to, at best, 3*15=45 hours which is worse than a full-time job and only a subject of medium complexity. I do believe SomaSpice's numbers here because I have previously made (unlisted) videos with a lot of editing, that took far too long to edit. I think 10-20 minutes work per minute is far more acceptable. This way, I can carve out 4 hours on a weekend for editing, and for a 15 minute video, 3-6 minutes per hour, so I can do a 12-24 minute video in a weekend.

I'm also trying to make this in a way that's adaptable to a bunch of different formats. Blogs, twitter posts... probably cut snippets for shorts and tiktoks.

I'm curious, fellow Agorans who minimise editing on their channels. How do you make it work, while still keeping high production quality? As you can tell from my overall goal being financial viability, I do care about the statistics end of things. Engagement and growth.

Favorite YouTube channels?

That I'd recommend to others:
Michael Sugrue(Philosophy lectures)
Academy of Ideas(Short philosophy pieces on a focused topic, taking a lot of quotes from a lot of works)
Malcom Guite(Literature and poetry discussions with a homely JRR Tolkien or CS Lewis vibe)
Uberboyo(Applied... psychology/philosophy videos)

That are just entertainment for me:
Ethoslab(Minecraft videos, calming and entertaining)
Israel Blargh(Spelunky videos, calming, relaxing, and funny)

 

[SomaSpice]

Recently, @L. Rhodes has been asking about what would be the average time to get a minute's worth of final footage, so I'll take that as the opening question for this thread. I think 3-4 hours worth of work for a minute of footage is fair for a project of medium complexity.

I just wanna clarify that I estimated this number taking into account the time spent researching, recording footage, scripting, recording audio, and editing.

 

[Deadchief1175]

Here's my YouTube channel, I hope you friends like

And more recently, I did a retrospective on a few 2000s kids flicks I grew up with.

So I think this is awesome! not always the biggest fan of these videos but I think your production quality is actually really good! I feel like if you just keep it up you'll def grow an audience~ I already subbed awhile back but just wanted to tell you this as well.

So I've a question for you guys, what's your favourite part of making a vid? Editing, scripting, research?

For me my least favourite is playing videogames (lmao) and most favourite is editing

for me

Favorite part: Research
This is my favorite part because this is essientially why I wanted to make this channel! I love doing research and honestly I get way to wrapped up sometimes and kinda hinder my progress. Which is what I've done recently lol. However, If i had more time, I truly would do even more but I understand the nature of YouTube is really not kind to that. 4 months in internet time is like 4 years now.

Least Favorite part: Audio Editing

So I try to go through my Voice over audio before I even open Premiere because I use FL studio and I wanna spice it up a bit, However I also spend the time cutting out bad takes, coughs, etc that it just gets annoying sometimes and I procrastinate lol. Literally have had a video in that stage now for awhile just because I know its so long but thats just a dumb excuse, So if anything It's really just kind of annoying but its part of the process!


Soma I love that your least favorite is playing the games even though your channel is all about games. Your editing is def good though so I can see how its your favorite!

Anyone else hate/love any part of the process? Would you guys ever hire out? From what I understand many YouTube channels hire out editors, or others parts of the projects so that they might focus on something else to continue the flow of videos.

 

[SomaSpice]

Soma I love that your least favorite is playing the games even though your channel is all about games. Your editing is def good though so I can see how its your favorite!

I know XD. It's not that I don't like vidya, but rather I am not a meticulous gamer and I need to force myself to be so when covering games. For example, I love Disillusion, but normally I would've done one or two playthroughs max, not the four I did for the video.

Anyone else hate/love any part of the process? Would you guys ever hire out? From what I understand many YouTube channels hire out editors, or others parts of the projects so that they might focus on something else to continue the flow of videos.

I wouldn't hire someone to edit the videos for me as that would defeat the purpose of me making them, but if I got seriously into streaming (and had the money) I would certainly hire someone to make highlight reels. I've also considered commissioning artists for thumbnails.

 

[Emmy Fitz]

So I think this is awesome! not always the biggest fan of these videos but I think your production quality is actually really good! I feel like if you just keep it up you'll def grow an audience~ I already subbed awhile back but just wanted to tell you this as well.

Omg thank you!! I really appreciate it :D
I do have some video ideas for the rest of the year, just working on finding that free time with working my real job and stuff. I'm obsessed with quality so I want to make sure everything looks super tight, which is why it's taking a bit. Hopefully i can find more productive time soon!

 

[Deadchief1175]

I know XD. It's not that I don't like vidya, but rather I am not a meticulous gamer and I need to force myself to be so when covering games. For example, I love Disillusion, but normally I would've done one or two playthroughs max, not the four I did for the video.

I always hear that about gaming journalists, You just are constantly at the meat grinder playing the game and sometimes I feel like it can lose its lustor that way but I also have never really done an in depth review. Soma whats your favorite video game? Maybe you could do a retrospective or something, It seems like more and more just selling yourself and how you feel about things really seems to resonate with audiences online these days. I could be wrong but it does seem that way a bit.

I wouldn't hire someone to edit the videos for me as that would defeat the purpose of me making them, but if I got seriously into streaming (and had the money) I would certainly hire someone to make highlight reels. I've also considered commissioning artists for thumbnails.

I've thought about with the streaming thing as well, which I really need to do more lol. I feel like if I could just take one aspect out from my responsibility it could really help my output but as you stated with the editing thing. IT kinda defeats the purpose. The point is to create and make and for me and it sounds like you as well, How the video is edited and presented seems to be just as big of a part of it. However, I feel like YouTube is really the only media outlet (maybe music as well) that it feels (atleast to me) inauthentic if someone brings in other people to help, Yet in hollywood or pop music you always have a team of people taking individual tasks to make the product appeal to many people or have a professional edge. Not saying you cant do all of that by yourself but the last thing I want to do is burnout on creative things!

Hope all is well and cant wait to see what everyone is working on! Finally finishing up this research of this forum I've been doing since april and I think I'm finally settled on how to present the video.

Omg thank you!! I really appreciate it :D

No prob! Hope you find some time soon, Keep us all updated~ Always love seeing other agorians stuff and always wanna support everyone here!

 

[SomaSpice]

Soma whats your favorite video game?

Probably Dwarf Fortress or Sims 3. Love me playing in a sandbox and doing silly long term projects.

It seems like more and more just selling yourself and how you feel about things really seems to resonate with audiences online these days. I could be wrong but it does seem that way a bit.

There's definitely a meta to Youtube. Doing videos in popular formats (think iceberg videos or tierlists) and/or with exaggerated but ambiguous titles like "The scariest/weirdest game you've never played" does tend to rake in more views. I think this is because the viewers categorically know what to expect, but you're still provoking their curiosty by promising new and interesting knowledge. In theory one could do this without relying on trite clichés, but it does require skill and originality.

I've thought about with the streaming thing as well, which I really need to do more lol.

I tried my hand at streaming, and while I enjoyed it I don't think it's a path I'll be going down for now. I'm not interested in becoming a content factory, I just wanna do unique, fun stuff and level up my skills as a visual artist.

The point is to create and make and for me and it sounds like you as well, How the video is edited and presented seems to be just as big of a part of it. However, I feel like YouTube is really the only media outlet (maybe music as well) that it feels (atleast to me) inauthentic if someone brings in other people to help, Yet in hollywood or pop music you always have a team of people taking individual tasks to make the product appeal to many people or have a professional edge. Not saying you cant do all of that by yourself but the last thing I want to do is burnout on creative things!

It certianly is the case for me. I want to express myself AND get recognized for it, explicitly in that order. But it's important to remember that there are no rules to this game, and as long as what you're doing aligns with your true goals and intentions you're doing no wrong.

 

[Deadchief1175]

Probably Dwarf Fortress or Sims 3. Love me playing in a sandbox and doing silly long term projects.

I've still never played Dwarf Fortress, but I do love me some sims. I love games like that but I legitimately can spend wayyyyy to much time in them. Cities Skylines and Kerbal Space Program have taken a hefty amount of my time at one point. I know if I ever open Factorio, its so over.

There's definitely a meta to Youtube. Doing videos in popular formats (think iceberg videos) and/or with exaggerated but ambiguous titles like "The scariest game you've never played" does tend to rake in more views. I think this is because the viewers categorically know what to expect, but you're still provoking their curiosty by promising new and interesting knowledge. In theory one could do this without relying on trite clichés, but it does require skill and originality.

I do find myself thinking of titles like that, It's crazy how much like marketing psychology you need to sell yourself on YouTube now, I mean obviously you can always maintain creative integrity and give care to the wind (for the most part, I'm sure there is instances where people have made things sticking to their guns and they become original or copied, I mean who started the whole "O" face or YouTuber face in the thumbnail?) but it seems like it can really hurt you in terms of getting viewership. Obviously that isnt everything at the end of the day but the point I'm trying to illustrate is that you need so many skills in your toolbox just to get your channel off the ground! Editing, Audio Editing, Filming, Social media, Thumbnails. Not complaining, honestly I love learning and trying to juggle so many things but there is so much more then just posting a video nowadays lol.

I tried my hand at streaming, and while I enjoyed it I don't think it's a path I'll be going down for now. I'm not interested in becoming a content factory, I just wanna do unique, fun stuff and level up my skills as a visual artist.


It certianly is the case for me. I want to express myself AND get recognized for it, explicitly in that order. But it's important to remember that there are no rules to this game, and as long as what you're doing aligns with your true goals and intentions you're doing no wrong.

Incredibly well said and I completely agree, I think thats the beautiful thing about any platform that lets people upload things is just seeing how many ideas and opinions on things people have. YouTube espicially because of its availabilty and ease of creating video now and its history, has such a large amount of small corners or niches. VHS YouTube. Slicing thing with a hot butter knife YouTube. Men farting into each others faces YouTube (REAL REAL I'VE SEEN IT SADLY ) there are so many tiny subgenres that pop up that I feel like i'm always finding weird, cool, or downright disturbing places on there. So glad there are people who continue to just stick to their guns. Also I saw you have a collab with B8sed Sk8R coming out right? Or was I crazy?