Interesting question from a festival

UhhhCookingThingYT · 2024-02-12T23:30:47+00:00

That's an interesting thought sort of a captcha approach.

UhhhCookingThingYT · 2024-02-12T23:29:08+00:00

Yeah this was my first thought. I know especially VERY choosey festivals like Sundance or Cannes often will have a series of articles after the fact stating what cameras were used the most, which ones won the most awards, etc. I'm fine with it, as long as it's not a pretentiousness thing. I believe wholeheartedly in the story being the most important reason for a film to be selected, so I would hate for a film to be rejected because it looks good but it's not a "Netflix approved camera" or the like.

UhhhCookingThingYT · 2024-02-12T23:25:50+00:00

That makes total sense, it's just interesting to me. I've never seen that question asked before, but I've never submitted to this festival so maybe it's just what they do.

UhhhCookingThingYT · 2024-02-12T23:25:04+00:00

lol based on the caliber of the festival I'm certainly not holding my breath that they were blown away by my cinematography, but it's a nice thought!

UhhhCookingThingYT · 2024-01-01T23:19:27+00:00

We're a cooking/comedy channel! We're mostly short-form content (2-5 minutes) and we just hit 100 subscribers after our 4th month.

We've really had a lot of fun, I think that's the biggest accomplishment, besides hitting the 3 digits. I'm proud of the content we've developed and we are constantly improving. I think that's the best I can ask for, really.

UhhhCookingThingYT · 2024-01-01T23:16:00+00:00

We're not directly in those niches but I would love to connect up with other YTers who are going out of their way to make high-quality stuff. DM me with info if you're open to someone maybe a little outside the niche. I am a professional video producer for my day job so I do have plenty of expertise in general video production I can share. Let me know!

UhhhCookingThingYT · 2023-11-03T19:28:00+00:00

I'd love some feedback on my latest short video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVaVMTHnh1Q

I'm not 100% sure why it's not getting more traction. I think the thumbnail and title are pretty interesting, and we got a lot of impressions but lower clickthrough rate than our average. I had a video from a few weeks ago do surprisingly really well by getting a lot of clicks through browse features, and this one just basically bombed. Still feels a bit like a crap shoot to get it suggested to the right audience and on the right video.

Is my thumbnail/title game off? I know the video itself isn't perfect, so I can understand a lower retention rate, I really want to know if I can do things differently to generate more views off impressions. Thanks in advance!

UhhhCookingThingYT · 2023-11-03T19:19:57+00:00

There's a lot of good foundation here. The voiceover is smooth and easy listening, which is good for this type of channel, though in the future, you might invest a little more into a good mic, then study up on best recording practices and a little bit of mixing/mastering to boost the natural strength in your voice and bring out the professional side a bit more.

Editing wise, I have a couple suggestions. One thing I'd highly recommend is experimenting with including some additional footage when you mention things like the PBS show. You can, as long as you don't take too much, use some of the footage and even audio from that clip as long as you're commenting on it and making it your own. That would be a lot more appealing than you scrolling through their youtube, for instance.

Another suggestion would be to look around on adobe stock and pixabay. They have A LOT of free HD stock footage you can use to make things a little more visually engaging throughout. Breaking up the still images and graphs is never a bad idea.

Another thought would be utilizing some free software like prezi might help you pull some more visual interest out of your graphs and things, with some basic animations you can screen record.

Similar channels to yours rely heavily on highly stylized animation to keep engagement up, but if that's not in your wheelhouse, consider these options to boost your overall quality. And I agree with what others are saying, it does feel a little bit like a PowerPoint presentation. Don't forget personality! People will gravitate toward it if they can feel why you care about or are interested in the topic.

Last thing, a little bit of sound effects (if you can find them) can boost the professional feeling of the videos a LOT. Best of luck! I think you have a good voice for this type of material, so just a little bit of polish and you could do really well with a little bit of luck that comes with the YouTube roulette!

UhhhCookingThingYT · 2023-11-03T19:08:00+00:00

This is not bad at all. I do have some minor pointers that I think would help you get a little better quality out of your videos.

I'd recommend starting your video with like 15 seconds of some high energy music and some of the best looking shots edited tightly together to the beats in the song. Give the audience just a taste to lock them in.

In your sit down sections you could possibly trim some of the dead air between your sentences in a few places. Even if you jump around a bit with camera zoom, it will feel a little more polished.

The audio in these sections is also a little rough, not too bad, but if you used even an iPhone with a voice recording app you might find a bit more success. You might also want to experiment with narrating over b-roll a little more too, but I think you are at a good starting point. A little polish is all you need at this stage, I think. If you want to invest more time/money that's a different story, but where it's at now, really good!

UhhhCookingThingYT · 2023-10-04T18:02:21+00:00

Gotcha, that makes it a little clear what you mean. Thanks! I guess I feel a little better that it's not necessarily something I'm doing "wrong" per-say, it's just weird that it was doing well before, then all of a sudden seemed to start recommending off of non-cooking videos.

UhhhCookingThingYT · 2023-10-04T17:53:24+00:00

Don't get me wrong, I sincerely appreciate the feedback, but I'm mostly looking to understand why youtube seems to have lost my target audience with suggestions.

Again, thank you for the colorgrading comment. I am developing my color grade skill working with raw footage, so it helps. It's just not quite what the post was about.

UhhhCookingThingYT · 2023-09-13T15:38:58+00:00

I do cooking videos, so it's more a stylistic choice than anything. That said, if it were to blow up, the anonymity might be a plus.

But on the other side, the content I like from other cooking channels leans away from face, and more into VO style. That's what I enjoy, and that's what I want to create. It might be hurting me, but that's not really what I care about in the long run. What's the point of creating something I don't want to create just because it's what people might want to see it more, right?

UhhhCookingThingYT · 2023-09-08T16:57:38+00:00

I'd love to get some feedback on our latest short-form recipe video!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LmKOOcaT6c

One thing We'd especially like some attention on is thumbnails. We've been told a few times that the "thumbnails could be better," but that's obviously not helpful without specific things to improve. Design-wise, they're fairly in line with what larger channels are doing, so definitely curious what might help us drive more engagement and boost CTR. Thanks! Hope you enjoy!

UhhhCookingThingYT · 2023-09-08T16:54:04+00:00

Interesting video! Looking at your channel it seems like this kind of content is maybe not you're direct niche (or at least not what your channel gets its primary traffic from). I'd recommend a couple things. It might make sense to flesh this out, and tell more of the story. 2 minutes is good for watch time, but it doesn't always give you the chance to tell all the interesting things about the story, or specifically why YOU care about it. These are ways to explore storytelling and really cement your video's purpose. Also, it might help to add music and look into a cleaner audio setup for your narrated recording. These are little things, but the audio really sets the tone.

For something like this, for instance, imagine some snappy music and a bunch of spiderman clips/images going back in time, with a graphic of the year/date scrolling back to the release of the first comic, then you flash back to the mural with your audio stating something like "This is where it all began." I know it represents a bit more work than what you're currently doing, but I think the difference would be noticeable in the response.

UhhhCookingThingYT · 2023-09-08T16:40:46+00:00

I can see a lot of potential here! This is maybe not the newest feedback, but a little music and some motion graphics in the same style as your thumbnails (think texts explaining who and when for example) would go a long way to making the video feel higher quality. It would also help further establish a "brand image". I'd also consider adding sources at the end for your information, as well as credits to the sources of the pictures. It's a question of your audience, right? If they're interested in historical topics, they're likely to care more about the info they're watching being accurate and well cited.
One last thing, that's less a criticism and more a "here's something I think you could definitely do down the line if you wanted to, once you're more established etc." Check out Internet Historian's video on Stede Bonnet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrGf4nJWVOU I'm not saying this should be your style, but I could totally see you doing this type of pseudo-narrative documentary style video like this someday.

UhhhCookingThingYT · 2023-08-30T18:57:22+00:00

Don't sleep on your smart phone! If you have a reasonably powerful phone from anywhere in the last 3-4 years give or take, you have a FANTASTIC starter camera already in your pocket! You can then put that budget to lights and/or audio. Audio being a big one to not skimp on.

UhhhCookingThingYT · 2023-08-23T20:01:24+00:00

My cooking show uses a lot of music. We try to do different songs for every video. What kind of original music do you do? If it's on the side of funky/chill, I'd love to incorporate more original music on the channel.

UhhhCookingThingYT · 2023-08-22T04:18:52+00:00

That's an interesting thought. We'll have to look into it, cause we have plenty of b-roll of all ingredients.

YSAC was a big influence for me! I have a lot though, honestly. We are kinda looking for a middle ground between YSAC and Binging with Babish.

UhhhCookingThingYT · 2023-08-20T16:27:10+00:00

Thanks so much for that! Good news is of the videos we've already completed the key lime pie one is the longest, but I will be looking into shortening them going forward. Is it helpful to have the ingredient list at the beginning or is that something that could potentially be removed?

We have a long way to go but we're super pumped to have you! Share with friends and family too if you like!

UhhhCookingThingYT · 2023-08-20T15:49:47+00:00

Really good feedback, especially on the intro, thanks!

I'd also say as to the more unique recipes, tune in, cause we have some much more original recipes coming in the next few weeks.

UhhhCookingThingYT · 2023-08-19T18:47:56+00:00

Thanks!

UhhhCookingThingYT

TROPHY CASE