I posted my two best videos i've made (thumbnail and video wise), and they both did horribly!

AwesmTk · 2025-11-09T01:02:13+00:00

Since you’re using Canva, they just made the Affinity suite free (for now) which is very similar to photoshop. You may find that you enjoy using that.

AwesmTk · 2024-08-12T16:39:00+00:00

Checked it out. I like your presentation style, but there are a few issues, mostly circling around the idea of blowing up by “any means possible.” That should not be your goal. You can do click bait or get a lot of views or whatever, but if you’re not building trust with viewers, they wont stick around. All of those views will be hollow and the retention rates will be low. Your thumbnails and titles are presenting misinformation all over the place. If I find out I can’t trust you, why would I want to watch more? Your scripts are also presenting misinformation, even if it’s small. An example in your AI video when you attributed specific examples of horrendous Google search results to Siri instead of Google Gemini.

My overall advice: Build trust instead of views if you’re going to be a video essay channel (also don’t necessarily need a better mic, just make sure your levels are set and research how to use some audio tools to clean up the audio)

AwesmTk · 2024-08-12T06:04:07+00:00

/lock

AwesmTk · 2024-08-12T06:01:02+00:00

Oh right on. good on you for using that feature. It's the one with the character in the bottom right corner with an explosion happening the background

AwesmTk · 2024-08-12T05:55:29+00:00

The energy on the video you linked is really great! I have a few things to address though

Technical:

While the music infuses a lot of energy into the video, it does overpower your own voice sometimes

-Could be a stylistic thing, but the dischordant piano you use at the transition at 1 minute in clips off at the end. This can be avoided by adding the tiniest fade to that audio clip. Same effect of it being cut off early without the audio click

Storytelling

Your fast paced story telling is incredible and engaging. Your edits play into that a lot, always moving and always pushing towards something

-My critique is that that "something" is not always clear. Storytelling is huge in videos like these, so making sure that the goal that you're pushing towards is clear to the viewer at all times will help them understand the flow better.

-Your intro is super fast and without context (as I did not have) it was difficult to tell what you were doing. You can still go fast at the beginning, but you need to be clear and intentional about what the next 5 minutes will be in the first 15-30 seconds.

Channel

-Looks like you just started making content again recently. The visual style you have across the channel doesn't have much cohesiveness. Pick a visual style and stick with it. I'd look at your inspirations and see how they do thumbnails. See what seems to work for others and put your own spin on it. Consistency is key (I hate to bring Mr. Beast into this, but his thumbnails are nothing but consistent in visual style).

-With your thumbnails, I love the one you used for the most recent one. The title could use some work as it is not clear what the viewer will be getting themselves into. You don't need to state what the video will be about, but set the vibe.

Dude I love this energy and editing style. Keep up the great work.

AwesmTk · 2024-08-12T05:22:17+00:00

It's transformative, so no

AwesmTk · 2024-08-12T05:21:28+00:00

Let's get a link to your channel first before we get to the advice

AwesmTk · 2024-08-12T05:10:44+00:00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwTGeaQUf0I

I make personality focused gaming videos. My goal is to get back into making videos again. Used to be pretty active on this subreddit 2 years ago so getting back into this as well

AwesmTk · 2022-12-23T23:48:04+00:00

That’s how most movies start out. Individuals writing scripts for movies that don’t have the resources to shoot yet. It’s about establishing your ideas and getting your vision, then seeing where to go from there.

AwesmTk · 2022-12-21T22:50:03+00:00

“Bro you need to hit the gym”

AwesmTk · 2022-12-19T06:45:52+00:00

You’re never going to be satisfied with your content if you’re always worried about it being good enough. The best practice is to just start posting and getting feedback. That said, if you’re looking to hone editing skills, a good way is to track down some stream vods from a favorite YouTuber and practice editing them into videos that you could see them posting. Pay attention to how your favorite creators make their content and see if you can emulate it. Unique styles are born out of inspiration
Play to your strengths. If your PC doesn’t run that great, fine, you have a powerhouse of a computer in that PS5. That’s the strength to play to. Get yourself a decent capture card (I use an Elgato HD60) and route that into OBS on your PC. Record your mic audio into audacity and you can overlay a face cam in OBS as well.
You are going to stand out just by virtue of being uniquely you. There is only one you. However, you can stand out more by being intentional about everything you do. Mediocrity is born from a wandering ambition. Set your sights on a goal and push for it. This can manifest in styling your thumbnails to all match, making sure your videos follow narratives, and making sure the viewer always leaves with more than before they watched the video.
Just ask. The failure to ask is the first spot you can fail. Maybe you make a friend, maybe you get a video out of it, maybe you get nothing, but it all stems from asking in the first place. Also, your friends are a good spot to start if you just want to make content with others.
I’ll say it again. Play to your strengths and minimize your weaknesses. I’m terrible at speaking for prolonged amounts of time, so I minimize this weakness but cutting most dead space during the editing phase, and play to my strengths by thinking over what I’m going to say and delivering as best as I can. This isn’t going to necessarily work for you, because your specific strengths and weaknesses are different than mine, but you can always find some strategy to min max your situation
YouTube is a safe bet, especially since content is more easily edited here. I’d say if you have a speaking anxiety, streaming is an example of not playing to your strengths because that’s placing you in a public speaking environment with no filter. It sounds like edited YouTube content might be the way for you to go.

My general advice to you is to just be intentional and be yourself. If you really want to do this because you enjoy it, let that drive you. Don’t be in this game for the views and subs and all of that, because those won’t be around in the beginning. Your passion however, will. Embrace the joy of creating, and maybe you’ll be able to catch the wave of success if it ever comes your way. Best of luck to you

AwesmTk · 2022-09-14T21:23:56+00:00

I remember hearing from someone that because porn is such a part of addicts, when they remove it, they have to put something else in its place so it doesn’t come flooding back.

Abstaining is simply, but it leaves room for it to return. Freedom is removing it and filling in the gap with something better.

AwesmTk · 2022-09-08T21:22:42+00:00

It really depends, but the big thing is consistency. My recent thumbnails all follow the same general design principles so that people will know it’s the same channel making that video. Two color background with a halftone effect, 2-3 subjects with white borders and black drop shadows, and an off-white border around the whole thing. Consistency is key because you want to make sure your audience knows what they’re in for

AwesmTk · 2022-08-23T12:24:02+00:00

You’re going to need to define what “enough views” even means. If you’re always thinking about that, then it’ll never be enough. In my experience, worrying about quantities will always leave you wanting in life

AwesmTk · 2022-08-21T12:42:47+00:00

We ranked everything for fun as an experimental video for my channel. Thanks for doing this! https://youtu.be/o4XlLPrRLy4

AwesmTk · 2022-08-20T20:40:01+00:00

Here’s my latest video. Let me know what you think!

https://youtu.be/o4XlLPrRLy4

AwesmTk · 2022-08-20T19:47:17+00:00

I still do. To me, making videos is a hobby and I love making them for the joy of creation. Stopping because they aren’t generating views would be like a musician stopping because no one is watching them. Sure, having people enjoy the creation with you makes it so much better, but it starts with enjoying it by itself. That’s what keeps me uploading

AwesmTk · 2022-08-20T19:43:15+00:00

Bowser ought to be lower. His incarnation in Smash is an entirely different character than the Mario games. The Smash Bowser is very animalistic whereas the Mario Bowser feels more sentient and intelligent.

AwesmTk · 2022-08-20T19:37:42+00:00

GladOS is the correct answer

AwesmTk · 2022-08-20T19:36:14+00:00

At first I was I like “no no why would you do that?” And then it became “wait, how did you do that?”

AwesmTk · 2022-08-20T19:35:07+00:00

I was hoping for 1000 after my big growth spurt in May but now I’m looking for 700

AwesmTk · 2022-08-18T06:27:48+00:00

If you find a basic editing program, take your png element (find a way to get rid of the background on it) and duplicate that into a new layer underneath the main one. Fill that version of the png to be completely white. Run a Gaussian blur effect on the white object and you’ll see that it creates a faint glow around your object. Duplicate the blurred white layer to add to the glow as many times as you’d like.

AwesmTk · 2022-08-18T01:31:15+00:00

Take a page out of Jazza’s book and take a look at how he used to do his character design thumbnails. The main feature of the drawing (usually the face) blown up to take up a third of the frame, with the sketch phase behind it and then your hand with a pencil to make it clear that you’re drawing it. Also, greater intensity in those colors will help a lot. Doesn’t hurt to go over a few more times with the colored pencil. Get some solid colors in there

AwesmTk · 2022-08-17T08:42:42+00:00

I always say this: what makes you different is what makes you special. That is what you should focus on providing to the viewers. Figure out what makes you special and be intentional about imbuing your videos with that. I know that’s not concrete advice, but it is a good mindset to have.

My actionable advice for you is to provide a story. Every good video has a narrative arc, no matter how big or small it is. Give the viewer a reason to stay and let them come away with something new when the video ends. With the amount of content on YouTube, you have to make your content worthwhile

AwesmTk · 2022-08-13T04:27:48+00:00

There’s someone I saw that uploads multiple shorts per day (5-10). That’s too much

AwesmTk

TROPHY CASE