Allow me to gaze upon your channel...

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@Johnny_Seagull

MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE!

Your videos are entertaining to watch, however I'm noticing a lot of inconsistencies with lighting, audio and the quality of cameras used. Part of me thinks it's part of your schtick and part of me thinks you're using whatever cameras you have on hand at the time of recording. With your short films, you definitely have better production values but your visual effects need work, unless of course again it's supposed to look that way.

Branding wise you're consistent with your use of your mates' faces and the same typeface used in your thumbnails and channel header. The quality of the assets is consistent with the quality of the videos themselves - bugger all and all over the place. However, it's a good reflection of the content and humour in the videos so I don't honestly know how you want to proceed with the future of your channel. You can go full-on professional - get a colour scheme, style, typeface and logo to use in your channel header, avatar and thumbnails - or keep going with the current style. It's really up to you since you know what you want to do with your channel and you know it far better than I do.

Example of a consistent, professional style: https://www.youtube.com/user/filmriot

While they're mostly a tutorial guide to show different filming techniques and special effects, they also do sketch comedy. They seem to blend over-the-top humour with a professional look so it's something you might want to consider for your channel.

Overall I like what I see. You and your mates definitely have some skill and you're all pretty f***ing funny. It may seem discouraging that you've only got over 100 subscribers over 2-3 years but keep at it. Remain persistent, keep doing what you're doing and you'll eventually find success.

Aussieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...
 
@Johnny_Seagull

MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE!

Your videos are entertaining to watch, however I'm noticing a lot of inconsistencies with lighting, audio and the quality of cameras used. Part of me thinks it's part of your schtick and part of me thinks you're using whatever cameras you have on hand at the time of recording. With your short films, you definitely have better production values but your visual effects need work, unless of course again it's supposed to look that way.

Branding wise you're consistent with your use of your mates' faces and the same typeface used in your thumbnails and channel header. The quality of the assets is consistent with the quality of the videos themselves - bugger all and all over the place. However, it's a good reflection of the content and humour in the videos so I don't honestly know how you want to proceed with the future of your channel. You can go full-on professional - get a colour scheme, style, typeface and logo to use in your channel header, avatar and thumbnails - or keep going with the current style. It's really up to you since you know what you want to do with your channel and you know it far better than I do.

Example of a consistent, professional style: https://www.youtube.com/user/filmriot

While they're mostly a tutorial guide to show different filming techniques and special effects, they also do sketch comedy. They seem to blend over-the-top humour with a professional look so it's something you might want to consider for your channel.

Overall I like what I see. You and your mates definitely have some skill and you're all pretty f***ing funny. It may seem discouraging that you've only got over 100 subscribers over 2-3 years but keep at it. Remain persistent, keep doing what you're doing and you'll eventually find success.

Aussieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...

Cheers man, I appreciate it.
As for the visual effects in the short film, it was a university project and we ran out of time when it came to the vfx side of things.
We don't have any kind of lighting setup, so thats why the lighting is all over the place, haha. We mostly shoot on the same camera, so the inconsistent camera quality you're seeing is mostly because of low light... my camera doesn't handle indoor stuff so well, what with not having lights and all (Although occasionally we'll deliberately shoot on a s****y camera for a certain effect).

But yeah, thanks for your feedback, every bit helps.
 
Thanks for the pointers.
I have just moved so wont be in such a tiny room which I hope helps reduce background noise.
 
@Bubblychief

Branding wise you're all set. Colours and typefaces are consistent across all your visual assets and they look great. Well done on that!

Content wise, what you need to do is spruce up your montages a lot more. At the moment all you've got is a musical track over random gameplay footage with a few fades here and there. After a while it becomes droning, tiring, dare I write boring for your viewers. A good way to counter this is to edit the clips of gameplay to the beat and timing of the music.

Example 1 - For a simple/easy way of doing this:


Example 2 - For a more complex, heavily edited approach:


You should be able to notice a striking difference between the way your videos are edited and the way the example videos are edited. The examples I've provided, as short as they are, do a lot more to hold the attention of viewers than your videos. The problem of course, is that it takes a lot of time and effort on your part to be able to edit your videos in this way. I don't know how much time you have to spend on your videos, however editing your clips in time to your music selection is something to consider for future videos.

Your channel is definitely on the right track. Spruce up your clips and you're golden!
 
I run a small YouTube channel on a game called Squad. Would like some feedback on how I can improve and capture a larger audience even if the player base for the game I play is small. Some background information is that I make the most high-quality content for this game and have a small name in the community for it. How would you suggest I capture a larger audience? https://www.youtube.com/user/iTzKaRMaKuT Thank you so much and I await your feedback!
 
@Mr_Oujamaflip

As inconsistent as your thumbnail designs are, as you've already admitted, you've at least kept your branding and overall colour scheme intact which is great to see. I actually like the style of thumbnails used from "Ori and the Blind Forest" to "Rise of the Tomb Raider" as it remains consistent with your channel header and overall visual style. That's not to say they're perfect though but they're pretty darn close.

I would suggest if you do decide to continue to use that style, remove the drop shadow from under the 'OUJ REVIEWS' text or at least not make it as intense as it is now. Try a few variants; one with just plain orange text, one with the styled text and no drop shadow, one with a light stroke etc. Also keep the game logo relatively large and centred as you did with the "Ori and the Blind Forest" and "Banjo-Kazooie" thumbnails.

Overall from a visual branding perspective I haven't really got many suggestions or any severe complaints. It's on the right track and is consistent for the most part. Well done on that!

Content wise the biggest issue for you at the moment is audio mixing. Your intro is significantly louder than your vocals. Bring the volume of the intro down or bring up the volume of your vocals. For future videos, make sure your audio mix is levelled so one aspect doesn't completely overpower another.

Other than that, your channel is off to a great start. Keep the uploads frequent, work on your audio mix and your channel will definitely grow. Excellent work, my friend!


@Karmakut

Right off the bat, I love your branding. Simple, clean but incredibly beautiful. I also love how you've carried the typeface, colour scheme and logo into your thumbnails. Everything is nice and consistent. Well done!

I did do an incredibly quick mock-up of a logo variant that you might consider. Basically I've taken your logo, rotated it and used it as the 'K' for Karmakut. Not sure if you already tried it or not but here it is:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xoqth4xod37z2aq/karmakut.png?dl=0

You weren't kidding when you said you make the most high-quality content for the game. It's absolutely incredible, from your audio quality, mixing and your high FPS game footage. There is absolutely nothing I can advise you on as you clearly know what you're doing from a technical level. Again, well done!

As for how to grow your audience, it's the same issue I brought up with @MBGaming early on in this thread. You are primarily concentrating on Squad and he is primarily concentrating on Mount and Blade. The problem I see is that both games are incredibly niche and while successful in their own right, still have a long way to go before being noticed by more people. You're not exactly going to convince someone who plays Call of Duty to suddenly take an interest in a realistic simulator like Squad for instance.

To be honest, I didn't even know Squad existed until you decided to post in this thread. Considering it's still in Alpha the game has yet to hit the 'mainstream' so to speak. Once the game is 'officially' released or has a final release date and promotion across digital distribution store fronts begins, your channel may very well explode when people decide to gather information about the game. Think about it - you're the biggest YouTube channel that has provided the most comprehensive coverage of a game that up until official release, no one has ever heard of. You're sitting on a potential gold mine if the game ever takes off in popularity.

That being stated, another way to grow your channel and your audience, as much as you may dislike the idea, is to start branching out into other games. You currently have the advantage in that your brand isn't specifically tied to Squad; yes, you only make Squad videos but your branding does not indicate that all. When I look at your brand, all I see is a channel dedicated to military shooters, so you could theoretically branch out into other games of a similar nature - ARMA3, Insurgency etc.

I like what I see with your channel. You're doing well for 2 months worth of work and I have no doubt in my mind your channel will grow one way or another. Your videos are extremely high quality and your branding is absolutely solid. Good luck to you and I hope you succeed!


@richard83

It's good that you're taking this opportunity to practice your speech. As bad as you think you may be, to me you're quite clear and easy to understand.

At the moment what you need to do is save up and invest in a high quality condenser microphone to give you the cleanest, top notch audio quality for your voice overs. Currently I can hear a lot of echoing from the room you're recording in. If that's the only place you're able to record your vocals, investing in a reflection filter to surround the mic will also help drown out the background noise.

One more point to your audio - your audio mixing needs work. Your 'Xiaomi Mi5' video is fine as you have no background music playing but in your other videos, the music at times overpowers your voice, making it hard to hear what you're saying at certain points. If you're adding background music to your videos, make sure that your vocals are set at a higher volume and the music set low enough that it doesn't impact your vocals but loud enough to be heard. It takes a bit of practice but you'll get it.

From a branding perspective, it looks a little plain and something that I've seen countless times before. There's nothing unique about your brand that seperates you from any other channel of your type. If you like the colour yellow, use it at the basis of your branding and think about creating a logo that incorporates yellow strongly. Also start thinking about fonts/typefaces that not only you like but also something that represents you and your channel perfectly. Use that font/typeface in your channel header and in your thumbnails.

It's a good start to your channel and you'll no doubt improve the more you keep creating and uploading videos. Best of luck and have fun!
 
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Thank you so much for that feedback, I really do appreciate it and your idea with my logo and the K was absolutely genius, I never thought of it! Thank you for your encouraging words and I will attempt to branch further into military shooter! Once again thank you so much this feedback means worlds to me!
 
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