Time for a change (need your help!!)

Tommy Mila

Tommy Mila

Active Member
Hello guys. I'm Tommy and today I need your help. Let me explain you.

On my channel, I've always been uploading music, piano covers, a few originals, but mostly piano covers, for a total of about 30 videos. I reached almost 500.000 views and 5000 subscribers, which are numbers that made me proud of my work. After 30 videos though, I started kinda getting bored of what I was doing. I loved the feedbacks I was getting, on YT and Twitter, spend time tweeting back my followers, all the love I was getting. But even if people like what you do, you have to be the one who absolutely love what you do, otherwise you can't keep going. I got bored by what I was doing probably because I play piano since I was a kid, and playing pop songs it's a super easy thing for me. And also because many times I was covering songs I didn't even like that much. Not songs that I hated, I wouldn't have been able to make them, but still songs I don't really like, but I still made them because I could get good views with them.

At the end of the day, I stopped uploading videos 8 months ago. But I never lost the motivation to do YouTube.

Let's say it's been a rough year, in which I traveled and worked a lot, so it would've been hard to upload regularly anyway, but now, finally, I have the time to do it, and I also have a new amazing camera to film (always worked with iPhone so far). Plus, after 8 months without new videos, I have a huge motivation. But I don't wanna comeback doing what I was doing before: otherwise I probably will get bored again and lose all of my motivation again. That's why it's time for a change.

And that's why I need you guys. I need an idea.

I don't wanna completely change style of videos, I don't like who does that. Plus, playing piano it's probably the thing I know how to do best, and I love piano, so I don't wanna completely stop with it. So my question is: what can I do in my videos, that still includes music and my piano, that can differentiate me from all the other piano players, and at the same time make me show different kind of contents?
I can tell you the only idea I had so far, so maybe you can start with it, rate it and maybe change it in a better way:

I thought that in all of my videos, as you can see, I never talk. I just sit there and play. But on Twitter and YT comments I received tons of questions about me, my life, what I do, and that they wanted to hear me talking and know a little more about myself. So I thought that I could make a video like always, with a piano cover, but instead of show me playing the whole time, also include some shots of my life. With no audio, still keeping the audio of the music. That's easier because I currently work in a graphic studio, and we always film what we do, inside and outside of the studio, for a project. So I could use some of those shots and include them in the video.

So, for example:
0 to 3 secs: me saying something to start.
4 to 25 secs: me playing the song
26 to 45 secs: me working on some projects with my friends, or doing something else, with still the music going.
46 to 1:00 secs: me playing again
1:01 to 1:30 secs: another shot of me doing something with still the music going etc.

And maybe end it with 20-30 seconds of me talking. This just to give people what I always do: play piano, but also to update them with my life, showing what I'm working on, who I work with, what we do etc, without the sounds, so keep playing the music also when other footage are on. I think it could be interesting, because with my studio we always do very different kind of things so I think I'd always have something interesting/funny to show. By doing this I would find new motivations and also be different than all the other piano players.

How does this all sound to you? Is it something you, as a viewer, would actually enjoy? Do you have any suggestion to make this idea better, or maybe a completely different idea?

This is very important to me. So thanks in advance.
 
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If you find out, let me know... :p

In all seriousness though, you could do a number of things... intersperse other footage which fits in with the theme of the piece, use multiple cameras and then cut between them to create more interesting footage, add other instruments and/or musicians... you're only limited by your imagination. :)

Personally, if I'm subscribed to a musician's channel, I'm there for the music; I do not want to sit through someone talking, but that's just my opinion! I guess you could create a playlist where you introduce and talk about each song in between videos so people can skip the talking if they want to?

I am reaching a stage where, like you, I feel my videos need a change, as they are mostly static video. Some videos I put a little more effort in and play with multiple cameras etc, but it takes a lot longer to do and sometimes I feel it's not worth the effort. If you get chance though check out my video of Ólafur Arnalds - Ljósið, it may give you some ideas. :)
 
If you find out, let me know... :p

In all seriousness though, you could do a number of things... intersperse other footage which fits in with the theme of the piece, use multiple cameras and then cut between them to create more interesting footage, add other instruments and/or musicians... you're only limited by your imagination. :)

Personally, if I'm subscribed to a musician's channel, I'm there for the music; I do not want to sit through someone talking, but that's just my opinion! I guess you could create a playlist where you introduce and talk about each song in between videos so people can skip the talking if they want to?

I am reaching a stage where, like you, I feel my videos need a change, as they are mostly static video. Some videos I put a little more effort in and play with multiple cameras etc, but it takes a lot longer to do and sometimes I feel it's not worth the effort. If you get chance though check out my video of Ólafur Arnalds - Ljósið, it may give you some ideas. :)
 
marka87uk said:
Personally, if I'm subscribed to a musician's channel, I'm there for the music; I do not want to sit through someone talking, but that's just my opinion!
Click to expand...

Yeah I agree, but maybe I wrote it down in a wrong way. I don't mean to put the sound to those footages. Not like 20 secs of music then it stops to show something else and then it continues the song. The audio will still be music, for the whole video. A cover of Justin Timberlake is 3:00 minutes? The audio will still be 3:00 minutes of that Justin Timberlake's song. The difference would be that, instead of 3:00 minutes of me sit playing, also some mute footage of what cool I do in my life. Just so they can enjoy the music, because that's obviously why they opened my video in first place, but also see some cool stuff and get to know me a little better, since I received many questions about it.

Multiple cameras is always a good idea.

Thanks for your answer.
 
Tommy Mila said:
what can I do in my videos, that still includes music and my piano, that can differentiate me from all the other piano players, and at the same time make me show different kind of contents?
So I thought that I could make a video like always, with a piano cover, but instead of show me playing the whole time, also include some shots of my life. With no audio, still keeping the audio of the music. That's easier because I currently work in a graphic studio, and we always film what we do, inside and outside of the studio, for a project. So I could use some of those shots and include them in the video.

So, for example:
0 to 3 secs: me saying something to start.
4 to 25 secs: me playing the song
26 to 45 secs: me working on some projects with my friends, or doing something else, with still the music going.
46 to 1:00 secs: me playing again
1:01 to 1:30 secs: another shot of me doing something with still the music going etc.

And maybe end it with 20-30 seconds of me talking. This just to give people what I always do: play piano, but also to update them with my life, showing what I'm working on, who I work with, what we do etc
Click to expand...
That actually sounds like a pretty neat idea! No doubt there'll usually be something new happening with whatever goes on in your life, so the content wouldn't change. Like marka87uk said, people will usually go to the videos for the music. Even a little bit of talking may not cut it for them. I know some would not mind it, though. If it were me, I'd probably buy/download what you produced if you had it as an option if I really wanted no talking. That way, the music's available on its own, and options are available, so there shouldn't be complaints! :p

I've done pretty much the same thing in the past: record myself playing the piano or show some music I've come up with and nothing more. Even I would agree that it seems to be lacking some sort of charm. Doing what you proposed will basically keep people watching and listening instead of just the latter. I don't really have any suggestions, because that sounds like an awesome idea on its own. :cool:

Would it be anything similar to what Lindsey Stirling does? Play some music and switch to some other cuts of film while the music keeps playing? An example of this could be one of her videos titled "Child of Light".
Whoa. I never knew I couldn't post video links.
 
I finally made a new video, after 10 month, using this idea I explained in this topic. What do you guys think about it? footages start around 0.40!

Code: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SWdgow3tM8
 
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