Intro or no intro?

I made a post about getting a pro intro for free (making one, not getting someone to do it), let me find it and edit.... brb.[DOUBLEPOST=1455288072,1455287529][/DOUBLEPOST]Argh, its lost in the ether. My suggestion, DL Adobe After Effects trial version. You get a month with it. Spend some time on YT looking at free intro templates. The channel PushedToInsanity has a lot of good ones.

Do's; keep it under 5 seconds, 3 is amazing. They get old fast
Don'ts; DON'T do a 3D text intro with dubstep. No matter how amazing it sounds at the start those are all over the place and pretty s****y, stick to 2d. Find one that suits your channel and makes sense.
Music; go to http://incompetech.com/music/ and search royalty free music, use it and credit it (in your descriptions, see one of my vidoes for an example). Even if you use a free intro template the music isnt always free so you could get copyright claimed. Protect yourself.

Outro's; are a bit more complicated if you don't know how to do Picture in Picture to place random videos in your outro. I tend to use the thumbnails I created and place my voice at the end stating what the two annotations lead to instead. This is just as professional in my eyes, takes less work if you pump out a lot of videos but do as you please.

Sidenotes; use pixlr (a free online software, requires NO DL!) to make good thumbnails. Ziovo is a youtuber that shows you how to make free quality thumbnails, check his stuff out
You should learn how to make PNGs, you can use pixlr, or also, if the magic wand is being picky, you can cut out your own pngs with a free program called inkscape. There are also videos on this, search "cut out picture background inkscape". I'm sure you will find it.

I learned all this slowly over a month, learn from my research, make professional level stuff for free! It's very satisfying and you will need to get there someday anyway.
 
QuiteGoneJin said:
I made a post about getting a pro intro for free (making one, not getting someone to do it), let me find it and edit.... brb.[DOUBLEPOST=1455288072,1455287529][/DOUBLEPOST]Argh, its lost in the ether. My suggestion, DL Adobe After Effects trial version. You get a month with it. Spend some time on YT looking at free intro templates. The channel PushedToInsanity has a lot of good ones.

Do's; keep it under 5 seconds, 3 is amazing. They get old fast
Don'ts; DON'T do a 3D text intro with dubstep. No matter how amazing it sounds at the start those are all over the place and pretty s****y, stick to 2d. Find one that suits your channel and makes sense.
Music; go to and search royalty free music, use it and credit it (in your descriptions, see one of my vidoes for an example). Even if you use a free intro template the music isnt always free so you could get copyright claimed. Protect yourself.

Outro's; are a bit more complicated if you don't know how to do Picture in Picture to place random videos in your outro. I tend to use the thumbnails I created and place my voice at the end stating what the two annotations lead to instead. This is just as professional in my eyes, takes less work if you pump out a lot of videos but do as you please.

Sidenotes; use pixlr (a free online software, requires NO DL!) to make good thumbnails. Ziovo is a youtuber that shows you how to make free quality thumbnails, check his stuff out
You should learn how to make PNGs, you can use pixlr, or also, if the magic wand is being picky, you can cut out your own pngs with a free program called inkscape. There are also videos on this, search "cut out picture background inkscape". I'm sure you will find it.

I learned all this slowly over a month, learn from my research, make professional level stuff for free! It's very satisfying and you will need to get there someday anyway.
Click to expand...
Thanks. What I have been doing so far is just editing clips together in Camtasia and putting music and/or sound over it. I've been looking for a good program to make 2D intros with and you say After Effects is good for that?
 
See for yourself. Go check some out, mine is also an AE template I edited and added 8bit music to, I get complimented on it all the time. You have to search for a good one that no one else has that is the hard part. Now stop posting and get to researchin'!
 
I honestly don't think you do! Unless you spend $ to make a animator make a unique one for ya' it is just boring and takes up the viewers time and if he watches lots of videos he will see the same boring couple of intros every one uses. I don't use one and don't even introduce my self at the beginning! Some will say this is a mistake but I don't think so, if someone watches my video and they like it they will look at my channel and see who I am, no need to say it.
 
I myself have a fully 3D animated, 9 second intro, done for me by my cousin. As for if you should have an intro or not, that's completely your decision. The first 15 seconds or so are about the time that viewers stay on a video before deciding whether to keep watching or click away. It depends on if you think your intro would be a hook, or attention getter, or if you think you could grab attention better with a simple voice intro or something at the beginning of your recording.
 
I suggest that you add a hook at the beginning then add your intro(2d is more professional in my opinion) then if you want get into your introduction doing a quick 5-10 second run down of what is to happen so users know if they want to stay tuned
 
For starting out it would be beneficial to have an intro as it will set your content apart from others, as well as your unique personality but I do agree that it can be very helpful
 
I've seen many people us 3D DUBSTEP sync intros. I think they are being overused and is not original anymore. What do you guys think are the best intros and should you even have an intro, especially if you are a starting channel. What are your opinions on this situation?
 
I use to hate intros in videos, but then I saw some that were short and snappy and they worked really well! It depends how you use them. If you want an intro, keep it very short. Plus you'll want an intro that gets people pumped to see the video! Music should be punchy but happy! And no wub wub wub.. (personally dislike it)

My intro format is as follows: A short funny or eye catching snippet from the same episode (roughly 5-8 seconds long) - Followed by intro logo with music (keep short, few seconds): Then straight into the action!

Hope this helps and keep it up! :D
 
I had a thought about this just today when I clicked onto a video from my feed.

I think a short 2-5 second intro can be very good. It creates familiarity with your viewership each time they come back. It also helps set a vibe for what to expect in your videos. But I also think it's important to make the intro very appealing. I like a chilled vibe, so I would want something soothing and almost meditative.

Based off a quick look at your intro, I think it's great and you should definitely keep it. It will definitely create familiarity with your regular viewership, and I also think it's quite professional.
 
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