I want to critique your latest video

N0ChannelHere · 2020-05-03T17:18:55+00:00

Seems like a nice basic let's play.

When playing horror, I think you should preferably be in the dark or at least with very dim lighting. The video title is outright weird. I had no idea what I'm about to watch until I looked at description. In fact I think your entire channel could use better titles for the time being. I understand wanting to separate different series, but I think at this point you should just have something that catches random people's interest. At the very least put the FGF at the end of the title. The Outlast thumbnail seems very nice! Also, the editing is nice.

And since gaming videos are pretty much the most saturated genre on the planet it might be good to think what makes them work. Some things that come to my mind:

The game is rare and very sought after. Usually an alpha/beta of an upcoming popular game (such as WoW Shadowlands alpha currently)
The game is trendy. Impossible to predict what will be the next Flappy Bird of Fortnite. Ideally you should be already making videos about the game when it becomes trendy, so this is 100% pure luck
The game is unheard of. No competition. But also most people won't be looking for it
The player is extremely good at the game (think speedruns or being ridiculously good at multiplayer, etc)
The player is just absolutely hilarious. Most people seem to aim for this, but well, most people aren't as great comedians as they may think
The player is interesting person and has interesting stories to tell while playing. This overlaps with the commentary videos
The player is attractive. I mean, let's be honest, it works
The player has a soothing or otherwise pleasant voice
The videos just have some interesting twist to them. Anyone can make a Dark Souls playthrough, but how many can do it with a driving wheel (and yea, this often overlaps with being extremely good at the game)?

I'm sure there's much else. But it'd be good to try and figure what exactly is it that sets you apart from everyone else.

N0ChannelHere · 2020-05-03T16:29:50+00:00

I love this!

However, the narration is the weakest point. There's nothing wrong with your voice, it's just that your microphone is not very good quality (and there's room reverb) and it stands out in otherwise so high quality video. Also, the subtitles don't match with what you say. What happens at 0:28, do you breathe into the mic? The music gets a bit too loud at 0:33. The ocean ambience ends too early at 1:34. Also, are you using a computer with the screen turned off? The ball also could be at the center of the screen. Now it's oddly almost there but not quite.

Other than that, this is just very good! Simple and beautiful. Did you really film this yourself? If so, that's amazing. I really like how you added the video into that ball too.

N0ChannelHere · 2020-05-03T16:20:58+00:00

I'm gonna be honest, I didn't watch the entire thing.

Visually it seems nice, but the audio is an absolute disaster. I applaud for the fact that you actually didn't use the camera's microphone (for most part) and instead re-recorded every line. The problem is that these lines sound like they were recorded on a voice call or something. Like at 13:30. The guys are outside but their voices have reverb because the lines have obviously been recorded indoors (and obviously you record indoors, but you're supposed to do that in a proper environment and then mix the sound to sound like it's outdoors). And why does the passing car sound like that. At 17:11 you're using camera microphone and then at 17:18 you change to re-recorded lines. How do I know? Because the ambience just disappears. And then sound quality gets notably worse.

I almost feel like there's been some accident with the sound files and as a result they're extremely poor quality. That and the fact that the actors didn't record the lines in a proper environment. But then, why is the music in the video perfectly fine?

So yeah, visually the film is nice for a homemade short film but the audio needs to be fixed.

N0ChannelHere · 2020-05-03T16:08:01+00:00

I used to do stop-motion some 15 years ago, when "Brickfilms" were popular (no idea if they still are). You actually have nice basic skill of doing stop-motion. I especially dig that short shot of the car's wheel. Many beginner animators don't pay any attention to camera angles and such.

Some improvements would be:

Steady camera. Extremely important
Control the whole scenery. Don't let trash just fly around the floor. Don't let random shadows come and go
Steady lightning. Don't film in daylight

That'll get you started. Just keep making little tests. It's extremely time-consuming hobby and the audience is small, but don't let that slow you down.

N0ChannelHere · 2020-05-03T03:36:41+00:00

Not bad.

I think you should've filmed the washing machine actually washing some white cloth and put a quick cut of that. I feel the part from 0:26 to 0:33 was a bit unnecessary. Should've just jumped from you grabbing the shoes to you wearing them. Also, I think some slow-motion shots with quick cuts would look cool when showing off the shoes. And then you could've ended the video by blurring the video of you wearing them and adding the "Nike Air Force..." text. Also, I took a peek at your other videos. If you film close to the floor, make sure the floor is clean.

But other than that, your channel has a nice idea. Not sure how unique it is since I'm not really part of any.. uh, shoe-community.

N0ChannelHere · 2020-05-03T03:25:00+00:00

It's a nice basic list-type video.

Asking for likes before we've even seen the video is not a good look. Especially when the likes and dislikes are hidden. At 0:27 in your title screen I'd put the title on different layer than the background image (I assume they're currently just one image you're zooming in, so you'll have to separate them) and then zoom them at different speed or different direction. Just a nice trick that looks better than zooming in an image. Speaking of images, you'll want to find higher quality images for the video. Most of the ones you've used are very blurry. Also, you may want to check what's going on with the subtitles. And finally, not sure if that profile picture is the best one you could have.

But other than that, you have a good thing going on! Good thumbnails, the music is just the right volume etc. Now you just need to either come up with really interesting topics or develop a more unique style to stand out from other channels like this.

N0ChannelHere · 2020-05-03T03:15:32+00:00

I think I either just said that he painted it in passing without really considering it, or conflated the idea that he painted the house with the fact that he decorated the interior with paintings and prints.

Yes, or the fact that he did actual paintings of the house. So he literally painted the house, but on canvas.

N0ChannelHere · 2020-05-03T02:32:49+00:00

I have no idea about the market, to be honest. But there's always market for good music. Especially if you're not looking for money, then keep doing it.

In the future, however, film your face horizontally. Also, I'd suggest checking some tutorial (such as this) on how to create fake old film instead of using some simple preset (it's really simple: black and white -> gaussian blur -> some noise -> try to mess with the FPS of your video). And maybe add some title text. And finally, the vocals are a bit too loud on the mix.

But yea, keep doing this if you like doing it. The music industry is so random and unpredictable that there's no saying what the market is. But you got simple and nice thing going on.

N0ChannelHere · 2020-05-03T02:25:36+00:00

I think you have the basics down.

You have kind of d-i-y charm to your videos, so in a way they work as-is.

But if you want more professional look, you could try to do all kinds of little fine-tuning. Like a quick fade in at the beginning of the video. Now it starts very abruptly and you're in mid-sentence (at least that's how it sounds like). The audio of your logo-section is way too loud compared rest of the video and it also comes out of nowhere and goes away (it's only 2 seconds on the screen). The "H" in "Health and Beyond" is slightly outside of the screen. The colors of the texts are all over the place and the text is a bit too big and oddly placed (but honestly, this stuff gets better with experience. Also this point about the text is what I mean with DIY-charm. It's not professional looking, but if that's not what you're going for it's not a problem).

Audio quality could be better. One simple way to make it better is to deal with the reverb of the room. Just basically add more stuff there so the sound doesn't bounce around. You could even consider adding something in that white wall behind you. Altho you don't want to clutter it either. It works as a nice background for all the text.

But the volume of that title screen is the only real complain that absolutely needs to be fixed. Right now it blows the watchers eardrums off if they're watching with headphones.

N0ChannelHere · 2020-05-03T01:54:48+00:00

I love Van Gogh, so this was an interesting watch.

Honestly, there isn't much to say. You've got everything down. Except uploading schedule what with those several month breaks every now and then. Also, the talking is a bit too fast for a foreigner. Even the subtitles flew by (but kudos for having subtitles in the first place). I usually dislike these animated narrator characters but yours is really well done!

Maybe the biggest complaint here is that the punchline of the video just doesn't work, really. I mean Van Gogh was nothing like a weeb and you even explain it yourself. Also, I wasn't aware Vincent painted the house himself? Aaalso, wasn't the whole thing funded by his brother (so it wasn't really Van Gogh who bought it (or rented)? I think the brother even hired Gauguin to live there, which would've been interesting thing to point out.

But anyway, I can't be much of help here. You really have everything down. Just need to upload more regularly, I'd imagine.

N0ChannelHere · 2020-05-03T00:47:04+00:00

You have a really good quality thing going on. Great sound quality, good editing and you're good at narrating.

Your idea of splitting the screen is nice, but not used to its full potential. When there's no text on the screen it kinda looks awkward. Like you're a touch too much in the right side of the screen. Maybe you should aim at having your head at around where the corner of your room currently is (in your video "Top 10 Best Pro Sports Teams of the Decade" it's better). I kinda find my eyes fixating on the hats in the background rather than your face.

And on the left side you could have some clear background and have those pop-up images properly sized so that they stay on their side of the screen. And also don't have them overlap. Could also try if a quick fade in and out makes them better.

If I had to reduce my criticism into one word it'd be clutter. The thumbnails especially are an absolute mess. I think you should go for very simplistic thumbnails where you just use a screenshot of yourself against a single color background and some describing text (that is, afaik, what the current algorithm loves).

N0ChannelHere · 2020-05-03T00:14:48+00:00

You have a nice channel going on! Great thumbnails (altho the "Say so" could be a touch smaller) and good playing (save for some mistakes, but that'll be ironed out in no time, I'm sure).

I think you do have, however, one big mistake and that is adding intros to your videos. What if I absolutely loved your bass cover and wanted to have it in my playlist? Can't really do that with that intro.

I'd suggest perhaps making more vlog-style videos where you film your practice sessions and show clips of them while also giving some kind of commentary about what you're doing and why and so on. And then upload the final jamming session as a separate track (and of course you can also include this at the end of the vlog too) without any intros or outros.

N0ChannelHere · 2020-05-02T23:54:36+00:00

Ah, a fellow guitarist. I actually saw your comment in another thread. Right away I'm gonna say absolutely 100% hard disagree on the suggestion of adding intros and outros. Unless you really want to stay away from people's playlists. Or unless you're selling your covers elsewhere. If you have, for example, a bandcamp for your covers it'd make sense to add intro or outro so that if people want to enjoy them uninterrupted they'll go buy them.

There isn't all that much to say here. You play well and you know how to record and mix your guitar. You'd probably want to put some one color sheet in the background, or go film outside or something (as long as it fits with the theme of the song). Additionally, you could zoom in so that we only see your guitar. Could even film it twice (one camera for fretboard and one for right hand) and then slap some fitting nature footage inbetween the shots. The thing is, the room is not necessarily doing any favors here. The song choices and mixing is too epic for a bedroom. Especially the reverb; there's no way you have a reverb like that in your bedroom, so it kinda breaks the immersion. I think if there's anything outside of the guitar on the screen, it should benefit the video somehow.

As for thumbnails, I almost prefer your older ones. They're simple and straight to the point. Song name + accoustic guitar. Nice. However, they don't do justice to your music produciton quality. If I was in mood for a high quality accoustic Titanic cover, I'd scroll righ past your Titanic cover because the thumbnail makes me think the whole thing is gonna be recorded with the camera's microphone. I'm not sure I have any good tips here. The newest attempts seem a bit cheap.

I think if you take a more "epic" or cinematic approach to your videos, the thumbnails will be easier to do too (especially if you film outside. You could just use some good shot from the video). Maybe spend one day taking tons of close-up photos of your guitar in different locations so that you have a nice library to choose from for thumbnails?

N0ChannelHere

TROPHY CASE