I Want To Criticize You

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So...I'd like to preempt this by saying that any feedback you'll get from me - while it might be harsh - would be with the intention of helping you improve your stuff.

So, if anyone is interested, toss your favorite video in the thread, and I'd love to give you a full-on point-by-point critique.

Cheers!
 

Silas Drake

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SO I see no one has responded to this yet, so I'll bite...

I am in need of a good review, seeing as that I put a good bit of effort into my channel, and I only have 35 subscribers to show for it...
I do retro Let's Plays, a cartoon drawing series, and soon I will be uploading animations... on a different channel.
I would post a video on this reply for you to watch, but I have already posted a video in a thread to promote myself... Maybe you would come click on my channel and see for yourself? :p any feedback, whether from here or in a video is much obliged!
 
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SO I see no one has responded to this yet, so I'll bite...

I am in need of a good review, seeing as that I put a good bit of effort into my channel, and I only have 35 subscribers to show for it...
I do retro Let's Plays, a cartoon drawing series, and soon I will be uploading animations... on a different channel.
I would post a video on this reply for you to watch, but I have already posted a video in a thread to promote myself... Maybe you would come click on my channel and see for yourself? :p any feedback, whether from here or in a video is much obliged!
You bet - though I'm limiting this to one video; which one would you like me to review? (I should note that I'm not a gamer, so I probably won't be able to provide the best feedback on that)
 

Silas Drake

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You bet - though I'm limiting this to one video; which one would you like me to review? (I should note that I'm not a gamer, so I probably won't be able to provide the best feedback on that)
Check out my Drawing with Silas series then! I only have 5 though. My favorite one is Peekachew!
 
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Hypersonic55

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alrighty then i think i'll try this out. i would like for you to have a look at my latest film review, btw this is my first video in a while so i'm a little out of practise lol. i'm ready for any criticisms you can throw at me! Here's the video:
 
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Check out my Drawing with Silas series then! I only have 5 though. My favorite one is Peekachew!
So I watched the Peekachew one, and it was pretty enjoyable :) That said, here be my criticisms! (take 'em or leave 'em, but hopefully they're helpful).
  • The volume of your voice-over versus the music is really problematic. Ideally, you want to go through your voice-overs with a compressor so people don't have to turn their volume way up. But if you're not able to do that, you need to bring the volume down. My speakers exploded when you went to colorize the drawing.
  • The character voice you used was interesting, but your narration was slow enough that I wasn't sure if it was deliberate, or your actual voice. I'm not 100% sure what the intended effect was.
  • You make a brief reference to domestic violence - if you're trying to play into comedy there (which I wouldn't recommend), you need to delve deeper, so people know you're kidding. Otherwise, I'd probably either set that aside for another video. It made me as a viewer very uncomfortable.
  • I really liked the intro, but I think I'd trim it down. I think the music could have faded out really nicely after 8 seconds; so I'd probably just retime the footage to fit that.
  • The outro was pretty long, and I'm not sure how effective that necessarily is. People generally have the opportunity to click after 10 seconds - if they're not clicking then, they're not going to. I appreciate that you want people to click through to additional content, but if you make your videos longer than they should be, your audience retention percentage will go down (which will hurt your search rankings and such)
Cheers, and hope this helps!!
 

M424Filmcast

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Hey bro. You've shared some critiques with me before on my banner design, and I really appreciated it. Please tell me what I can do better as far as a new vlog series I'm doing. I know a few things I can definitely improve on, so I am hoping you will find the same things I did. Thanks!
 
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alrighty then i think i'll try this out. i would like for you to have a look at my latest film review, btw this is my first video in a while so i'm a little out of practise lol. i'm ready for any criticisms you can throw at me! Here's the video:
I liked this a lot! Here's my critique:
  • Volume is a bit iffy - if you can find a way to speak louder, I think it'll be easier for your audience to relate to you (speaking subtly can subconsciously convey deliberate "distance" from the viewer, which you want to avoid on YouTube). But if that's not possible, I'd use a compressor on the audio before you upload.
  • I'd trim down the "synopsis" portion of the review - I think most people likely to be searching for this are already familiar with the story in general (or can get that information elsewhere). What they can't get elsewhere is your unique perspective on the film. So I'd do my best to trim the synopsis down to just a sentence or two.
  • Around 4:35, the image overlaps your head - don't be afraid to shrink down (or if you're feeling really ambitious, do some masking so the image appears to be "behind" your head.
  • The last minute or so of your review was your favorite - because you were speaking naturally. It felt like before that, you almost felt compelled to go line-by-line through the items in the movie. I think this came off as a bit unnatural (you'd see this in a print review, but YouTube is a different medium). I'd recommend that you think about how you'd describe the movie to a friend - you might not mention all the actors, and you'd spend more time focusing about the parts that really grabbed your attention, etc. This is the type of relationship YouTube viewers typically want - if you can find a way to be less formal, I think it comes off better.
I saw another review of this movie that I think might be interesting for you to watch as well - they have a pretty "bickering" style, but they're pretty good at being accessible to the camera:

Honestly, I'm looking forward to seeing more of your stuff; I'm sure it's only going to get better :)
 
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Hey bro. You've shared some critiques with me before on my banner design, and I really appreciated it. Please tell me what I can do better as far as a new vlog series I'm doing. I know a few things I can definitely improve on, so I am hoping you will find the same things I did. Thanks!
This was pretty well-done. Here are my thoughts:

  • I think with longer lists like this, it probably makes sense to just skip listing the numbers - unless you're making some sort of joke about them.
  • Volume could be a little bit higher, though it wasn't problematic, except for the one sound effect you added, which was much louder.
  • I'm not sure the music you chose kept pace with your style of delivery.
  • I'm not a huge fan of the sunglasses, just because of the reflection. Also, not maintaining eye-contact distances you from your viewers.
  • Your editing is very good - though it could be tighter. There are a couple places where you want pregnant pauses, but for most of it - trim that up :)
  • I'd recommend putting the outtake after your outro - it gives people a reason to stick around through the very end of the video (which helps your audience retention).
Looking forward to seeing more :)
 
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M424Filmcast

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This was pretty well-done. Here are my thoughts:

  • I think with longer lists like this, it probably makes sense to just skip listing the numbers - unless you're making some sort of joke about them.
  • Volume could be a little bit higher, though it wasn't problematic, except for the one sound effect you added, which was much louder.
  • I'm not sure the music you chose kept pace with your style of delivery.
  • I'm not a huge fan of the sunglasses, just because of the reflection. Also, not maintaining eye-contact distances you from your viewers.
  • Your editing is very good - though it could be tighter. There are a couple places where you want pregnant pauses, but for most of it - trim that up :)
  • I'd recommend putting the outtake after your outro - it gives people a reason to stick around through the very end of the video (which helps your audience retention).
Looking forward to seeing more :)
SWEET BRO! Thanks for the feedback! I appreciate every bit of it, and will put it into action. You caught a couple of the things I though about too, and added a few more. Thanks again bro, you kick a**! ;) Are we allowed to say a** here? LOL
 
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