Hi man, If you have time, what do you think of my channel?
Thanks
Hi Ashley,
In the process of looking at your new channel, I made the connection with your vlog channel and took a look at that as well. I think it’s cool that you’re keeping them separate, not because one is bad and the other is good, but because they have very different brands. I think letting the ADTV thing stand on its own is a great idea. You clearly have some ideas for some fun quirky stuff you want to try and I think it’s going well so far. Here are a few bullet points that encapsulate my thoughts on your very new channel.
- Have I mentioned that it’s a very new channel? Your videos look good, but your page, as it appears to guests, isn’t great. Right now it’s set to just show all your recent activity including what you’ve been watching and what you like. I’d run, not walk, to a computer and address that right away.
- Which brings me to my next point. ESPECIALLY for a channel with a format like yours, you need an intro video that’s short and that plays automatically. If you can set a great tone with a very tight edit that’s a lot of fun, you’re going to get people to stick around. Without that, they’re more likely to bolt.
- I love the first half of the chili/chocolate video. It was JJ Abram’s mystery box. It’s such a great way to get people to stick around. I know others have done that challenge or things like it, but I thought you set it up really well. I was disappointed in the big reveal though. Some editing and a musical and/or sound effect cue would have really bolstered the effectiveness at that point. You did a great job setting your audience up with this video, but we’re looking for a clear payoff with a video like that. Still, it was a good first effort.
- I’ve seen other non-Americans eat American treats, and I thought yours stacked up well. Good comments, light-hearted, and you were charitable toward our strange junk food tastes. This video also would have been strengthened by a tighter edit.
- I liked the interaction between the two hosts in your jelly bean video. It was fun to see who got what, but would have been more punctuated with a tighter edit, titles to help us keep track of the score, and some cues to let us know who got what. Again, despite these critiques, I still liked it.
- I’m sure you’re catching the theme here, but I’ll repeat it for the sake of clarity: Tighter edits = Better. If you’re doing something informational or dramatic, you can afford to let it flow a little more, but with the format you’ve chosen, I think you need to keep it really tight. Only keep that which is necessary to provide a basic structure to what’s going on and your very funniest, wittiest, sharpest stuff. Ruthlessly ditch everything else. Your viewers will come away with a more positive feeling from a 50 second video where absolutely everything hits, than they will from a 5 minute video with 50 seconds worth of great stuff.
- I dig the fashion choices you’ve made in your videos, but it might be wise to steer clear of the super busy patters for light and aliasing purposes. Your Paris shirt in the jelly bean video is sweet, but it flickers a ton. Part of that might have to do with your shutter speed or your sequence settings regarding frame rate in your editing program. I just screwed this up in my last video and I caught my mistake too late. Resultantly it flickers like crazy.
- I really like the three videos you have up, but I dislike the decision to include music playing in the background of the set. Even in the background like that, you could get flagged for a copyright violation, and on top that it’s just lousy audio that detracts from everything else going on. It comes off like the kid in Call of Duty who puts rap music on and sets the mic next to it.
- I like the depth of field effect you’re going for, and the look of your images in general is good if a little over exposed. When there’s a short distance between your subject and background and you have a degree of depth to your shot (as you do), it becomes easy to have you move out of focus when you lean forward or back. I screw this up constantly. Your stuff looks good, this is just something to be aware of while you film.
In general, I think you’re doing great. I hope you find my suggestions useful, and I hope you can tell that I’m rooting for you. Best of luck moving forward.
Take care,
Matt[DOUBLEPOST=1431292873,1431226282][/DOUBLEPOST]
If your not to busy could you check out my channel?
I haven't seen you around for a while and your site seems to be down, so I'm going to skip over you for now. If you'd still like a review, please let me know.
Thanks,
Matt[DOUBLEPOST=1431325201][/DOUBLEPOST]
I would love to get feedback from you. I'm slightly nervous to ask . . . okay, I'm shaking in my boots. I do want to get better though, so I would appreciate your advice if you have time.
Hello Heels to High Tops,
No more shaking in your boots! I had a blast with your channel. Here we go!
You have a wonderful young family and I’m honored that you let me take a look in on your lives. You’ve got a fun, multi-faceted site with a nice touch of production value. I’ll try to give you feedback on some video-specific stuff as well as on some big picture stuff.
- I really like the way you and your family come off on camera. You’ve got a ton of energy and you just seem genuinely kind – you come off like a great mom and a great wife. You’re the main character of the channel, and the story is told from your POV, so you being likable is crucial. It’s tough when a friend or acquaintance does a family vlog and comes off as a snarly mom and condescending wife, because it makes her look bad and there’s no good way to tell her that. You convey the exact opposite of those negative traits and it’s relaxing and joyful to watch your family days play out.
- For the most part your production value is good. Here are a few suggestions for improvement:
o Your how-to videos aren’t lit well, and aren’t quite as flattering as they could be just because the lighting in your bathroom isn’t great for video.
o While the hair videos look good enough, you could make them look much better by improving your lighting setup with some simple chicken coop clamp lights for 10 bucks a pop. You need coming from the front left, from the front right, and one up above behind you that lights up your shoulders and hair.
o That third light is very important because you have very dark hair and it’s difficult to appreciate all that you’re doing with it in the absence of that back light. You’ll be amazed at how much better those videos will look if you can find a way to cram the setup I’m describing into your bathroom.
o At times you audio mix is off. You may need to adjust the input gain on whatever mic or external recorder you’re using in order to get a natural sounding recording of your voice which you can then bring forward in your mix. Viewers will turn off a video quickly if you’re talking and they can’t easily make out what you’re saying. Remember, you’re the star of the channel, and therefore hearing you is the most important aspect of your mix.
- You’ve got great taste in music and you do a solid job of picking appropriate music to put over the top of your videos. Nice job working within the boundaries of copyright rules while still having a nice soundtrack.
- Your editing style is generally good, though at times I think you linger a little longer on shots than is necessary. Remember to cut on action, and think of your audience first in choosing what stays and what goes. If you’re trying to grow your channel, you should probably consider cutting much tighter resulting in shorter vlogs. If you’re mostly trying to connect with friends and family so they can see your little guy grow up on YouTube, then I think the way you’re doing it is fine. The kid’s adorable, and I understand why you give him so much screen time J
- I think it would benefit you to adjust the look of your front page with visitors in mind. Right now it’s just a feed of your channel activity, and it would be better if it were organized and had a channel intro video that autoplayed for visitors.
- I love the channel name and art. Very creative and telling. Love it.
I really think you’re doing a great job. You’re a solid communicator who presents herself very well on camera, and you’re production value is well above average. Your husband is a likable good dude, and your child is fun and fully of energy, which means you’ve got interesting characters for people to watch and care about. Your how-to stuff is where you’ll get your views and draw your visitor, but your family vlog stuff is good enough to turn visitors into subscribers.
My family has been looking over my shoulder as I write reviews, and they say hello!
I wish you the best,
Matt
