YouTube videos about my articles

luc

luc

Ambassador
Ambassador
FOTCM Member
I had a little fun recording 2 videos for YouTube along the lines of my articles about the afterlife and making money online. If you like it, feel free to share and subscribe - I might do more!

And let me know if you have any suggestions, I'm still trying to figure things out. I particularly LOLed while creating the thumbnails :)


 
luc said:
I had a little fun recording 2 videos for YouTube along the lines of my articles about the afterlife and making money online. If you like it, feel free to share and subscribe - I might do more!

And let me know if you have any suggestions, I'm still trying to figure things out. I particularly LOLed while creating the thumbnails :)


Click to expand...

Whatever you do, please keep using that same face. It's gold.
 
Nice videos and nice topics, luc! May I suggest you to keep pauses between sentences? It feels somewhat unnatural to listen you speaking this way. Zoom in/out trick might be handy for highlighting some specifics, but when it happens every couple of seconds it makes it difficult to concentrate on the content.
 
aimarok said:
Nice videos and nice topics, luc! May I suggest you to keep pauses between sentences? It feels somewhat unnatural to listen you speaking this way. Zoom in/out trick might be handy for highlighting some specifics, but when it happens every couple of seconds it makes it difficult to concentrate on the content.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion - yeah, I had some feedback from people who liked the pace (that rapid-fire style seems to be a thing for the ADHD generation who put everything on double speed anyway lol), but it's a fine line I suppose that isn't easy to nail. I will definitely tone it down a bit next time and leave more pauses.
 
Hi, Luc.

I think the information is structured really well, the introduction, the point by point, the summation. Really good.

I’d only echo what others have said about the editing techniques. I do think that cutting out the spaces is important for this kind of video, but I think that there’s an extremely fine line with how quickly you should go into the next sentence, and if it’s too quick by only a microsecond, then it makes a huge difference. I think there was one edit in the making money online video where you even cut yourself off before you’d finished.

When editing vocals for songs, we use the term ‘breathalysing’, which means cutting out the sharp intakes of breath between phrases. Maybe think about it more from that side, rather than trying to completely avoid ‘dead air’. But of course, as I said, it’s a fine balance.

I think the zooming is a bit weird, but only because, in my experience, I don’t think I’ve seen it much in videos. I’m more used to seeing a straight cut to a closer shot. And I think that if I have seen it, people tend to only zoom in when making a point, and then instead of zooming back out, they cut back to the original distance?

So again, this isn’t to say you shouldn’t use zooming, either in one direction or back again, but I just think it’s a bit unconventional compared to other similar types of presentations. If everyone did it, then it wouldn’t stand out to me in the same way. But if you personally like it, then you may want to keep it.

I really liked the graphics, inserting of pictures, etc. I would argue that you could even do more of this.

Overall, great idea and great work, and very impressive that these were your first attempts! The potential for ‘shorts’ which people are addicted to these days, whether on YouTube or TikTok is really huge, too.
 
Hey Luc, great videos, and as 'luck' would have it, I just happened to read both of those articles yesterday, so with a fresh comparison in mind, I think you portrayed them really well, and even expanded on them in ways that make the topics more relatable. My one criticism would be that "stilted" chop 'n change editing while you were talking! I understood where you were going with it, and I think it works for the pictures and text and other references, but when the camera is focused on you, a smoother, more flowing narrative sounds better I reckon, and will probably add extra emphasis to the 'clickbaity' mini-digressions as well, by way of contrast.

And I agree with T.C., they look perfect for TikTok!
 
My 2 centavos Luc, first I really like the idea of transferring your writing to video as the content is great. I don't think the pace or the editing is distracting, its pretty much a standard now across social media, and the Tik Tok/YT Shorts format, as you have used in other videos, is eye catching.

There are two things I could say about the first video you posted: first is posture. It seems to me you are not sitting straight looking at the camera (perhaps that was intentional?), just look at the level of your shoulders, they look uneven.

And secondly, what I did find distracting was how you were moving your body while speaking, it felt unnatural to "wiggle" like that. It could have been you were moving your arms while speaking, but I couldn't see them.

Anyhow, these are just my impressions, but overall great idea as I already like what you have on Substack!
 
Thanks for the very useful feedback everyone. @Navigator I do have the tendency to move weirdly while speaking, but it might also be the camera angle (I didn't pay much attention to that, but will experiment a bit). Also, I might have to work on the balance when it comes to effects, and might go for more straight cuts and a little more space between the cuts. It's a fine line though because people these days are brutal - if you don't capture their attention very fast and keep it, they *will* click away.

I will continue this experiment for a while, although I must say it's a ton of work with little reward as of now in terms of views etc., but if it is helpful for someone out there, I guess it's worth it. It's also fun to try new things and learn the craft, so off we go! Next one I'll say something about procrastination.
 
Thanks for the hard work luc and as you say you are trying to catch their attention.
The content was super interesting but like others have said the lack of pauses between sentences affected my breathing as well as my vision. Watching a video I breath when the speaker stops to breath but this was lacking here.

I'm giving my reaction as you asked and I don't want it to sound like a gripe. I will continue reading on your many and interesting topics. Thanks again.
 
The second one was much more engaging, I thought. I agree with others regarding the breaks, but overall, they're good! I personally admire how clearly you write, so if I had to choose, I would keep reading you first. BUT, videos are "the thing", so if you are having fun with them, they could attract a bigger audience.
 
Subscribed!

Really good stuff, I agree with others about the snappy breaks, they're in now.. so keep them, but perhaps make them less frequent.. maybe not every sentence, but every other sentence.

Regarding your body movements, I think it'll naturally become less rigid as you become more comfortable with recording and expressing your words with more than facial expressions, which funny enough if you include your arms in the motions for instance..(only if it is natural to you that is) they will dictate when to make the breaks in a more natural way, because you'll break when your body stops and not when the sentence ends. If that makes sense.

Another thing with the breaks and sentences, is that even if you do keep them.. you can use a silence to highlight an important point, or a point you want people to remember.. so that the break happens after the sentence ends, and it cuts to maybe you just looking at the camera in silence with a different expression and then break back to speaking. So that you punctuate and give some breathing room as well.

Another thing with breaks, is that even if they can be snappy, or in short frequencies, if they fit within the structure of the script, they don't feel jumpy. What I mean is, a break happens when there's a change of tone for instance, or emphasis, but it's ok to keep certain segments longer if what is being delivered belongs altogether. Sort of like using "periods" or parenthesis for the break, and not commas, that way the written text dictates when to make a visual break.

Here's a good example from Sydney Watson, she uses breaks a lot, but she does so in a way that cements the overall message without breaking the flow of information.

I am sure you'll crack the formula! Keep it up and keep them coming!
 
Alejo said:
Subscribed!

Really good stuff, I agree with others about the snappy breaks, they're in now.. so keep them, but perhaps make them less frequent.. maybe not every sentence, but every other sentence.

Regarding your body movements, I think it'll naturally become less rigid as you become more comfortable with recording and expressing your words with more than facial expressions, which funny enough if you include your arms in the motions for instance..(only if it is natural to you that is) they will dictate when to make the breaks in a more natural way, because you'll break when your body stops and not when the sentence ends. If that makes sense.

Another thing with the breaks and sentences, is that even if you do keep them.. you can use a silence to highlight an important point, or a point you want people to remember.. so that the break happens after the sentence ends, and it cuts to maybe you just looking at the camera in silence with a different expression and then break back to speaking. So that you punctuate and give some breathing room as well.

Another thing with breaks, is that even if they can be snappy, or in short frequencies, if they fit within the structure of the script, they don't feel jumpy. What I mean is, a break happens when there's a change of tone for instance, or emphasis, but it's ok to keep certain segments longer if what is being delivered belongs altogether. Sort of like using "periods" or parenthesis for the break, and not commas, that way the written text dictates when to make a visual break.

Here's a good example from Sydney Watson, she uses breaks a lot, but she does so in a way that cements the overall message without breaking the flow of information.

I am sure you'll crack the formula! Keep it up and keep them coming!
Click to expand...
Excellent feedback, thanks! Yes, the YouTube thing is a craft, so it takes lots of practice, which you can only get by cranking out videos, mistakes and all... If only this wasn't as time consuming!

Chu said:
The second one was much more engaging, I thought. I agree with others regarding the breaks, but overall, they're good! I personally admire how clearly you write, so if I had to choose, I would keep reading you first. BUT, videos are "the thing", so if you are having fun with them, they could attract a bigger audience.
Click to expand...

Thanks, writing comes more easy and natural to me, so I won't neglect it! But maybe I can manage both to a degree, as long as I don't spread myself too thin. One thing I noticed, especially with the second video, is that trying to convey something via video forces me to clear up my thoughts even more to break in down. In writing, I can get away with intellectualizing, but this won't work on YouTube, so rhat might be a good thing.
 
I have to agree with the feedback so far in terms of cutting the speech, in that I'm personally not a fan of that trend. A lot of people on YouTube do it nowadays though, but I usually find it distracting, and I tend to not watch such videos, and if I do, I quickly get annoyed and stop watching it. I think one of the reasons I don't like it might be because it robs the speech/content from human aspects; or in other words; it makes it feel more robotic and less human. I personally think this is another "left brain" trend that I'm not particularly fond of.

It seems though, as it has been stated, that this might not be so for many people (especially in younger generations), who don't seem to have a problem with it. So what I think about it personally might not reflect how many or most people see it. So, viewed from that standpoint, things might look different and can maybe be approached differently... Maybe cutting less, and if you cut, make it feel more natural, as TC suggested?

I would personally tune down the posing for the video pictures in order to not make it feel overly "clickbaity". I think there is a thin line there, similarly to the cutting of the speech, where it can feel "too much". Here again I have to confess that I tend to not be in favor of the popular posing "clickbaity" thing for video pictures that many people on YouTube now do. When I scroll through videos on YouTube I tend to not click on the ones who are posing and prefer more natural/neutral pictures. But here again, that personal taste of mine might not reflect how most people on YouTube see it, so take that one with a grain of salt too! I think if you look at the videos from EONutrition for example, there is also some slight posing going on in some video pictures, but I think it is just in the right balance and not too over the top. In fact, I think if you watch some of his videos I think it is a good model on how you could improve on how you go about your videos.

Other than that, I think you are going in the right direction and the feedback so far can help you with that. I think you have a lot of interesting and good points you could share in such ways! Practice makes "perfect"!
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom