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What video content do you enjoy?


RuneBrush

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Hi all,

Bit of an oddball one but, here goes :)  I've recently picked up a decent webcam and microphone and starting to mess around with YouTube videos, putting my first one up last night (unboxing a new Cult of Paint, H&S infinity).  Quite enjoyed filming it and contemplating what I should do as the next video.

So thought I'd throw the ball out and see what type of thing people enjoy watching*.  I'm thinking along the lines of reviews, painting, modelling etc. 

cheers!

* I'm not including battle reports in this as that requires dedicated gaming space :D

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Plain Unboxing videos are one of those things that makes me despair of humanity. Wretched things.

interesting painting guides, well edited and presented are always nice, especially if it’s digging into things that, say, WHTV wouldn’t cover. Conversions, terrain building stuff like that for sure.

reviews when done well (of course) are always appreciated when they actually give you some solid info and provide an excellent an interesting perspective. Deep dives into Lore and the like are good when done with some humour and skill.

I’ll be honest a lot of the time it’s really down to the host, and 90% of people who do YT channels in this hobby come across awfully no matter what they’re talking about, especially the ones that take themselves and all this absolute nonsense too seriously. Whereas someone like Adam from Tabletop Minnions could read out a GW catalogue and it’d be a pleasure.

 

 

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I am not a super competent painter, so I always appreciate more basic videos that assume viewer (i.e. me) has approximately five functioning braincells 😁 In general, more hobby stuff is better- how to do X, Y and Z in a simple, easy-to-understand way, rather than a battle report which would take me over an hour to watch, or unbearable thoughts on how broken the new rules are, or some hobby-adjacent rant about why this or that is great or terrible.

Lengths of 10-20 minutes are ideal for me if you want me to actively watch. Anything else, it's either not getting watched or it has to compete with Critical Roll or podcasts for 'hobby background listening' spots.

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A few thoughts

1) Unboxing. I like Unboxing on product lines where the contents of boxes are not always clear or where there is little material out there showing the items, especially showing their scale. GW unboxings are a little less interesting because GW itself often puts a lot of material out there prior to a release and on the store page. Heck a lot of other lines often just put up a 3D sculpt and nothing more, so not even an idea of what parts, sizes or such. 
Unboxing has a place; that said a lot of unboxing videos are bad because the host often ends up rambling (no script) or has a mic that picks up way to many rustling packaging noises. Sometimes unboxing is more interesting when the person opening the box knows what's in there and what they've got to say and show. Also some of the "I just got this" unboxings are done without cuts so you get loads of "hey look at this cool bit" where its held too close for the camera to focus; and things shown half off screen etc.... REALLY annoying! 
Unboxing isn't reality TV it doesn't need all those annoyances

 

2) Painting. I, like some above, am not a good painter. Videos are a fantastic way to show how to paint and if done well are a very valuable guide to many. Even if its as simple as following a GW Scheme they can show way more than a photo or description of painting. You can also show lots of things that often go without saying; such as how you hold the model and brushes; how you manipulate and move the brush around; how to get fine detail paint into tight corners etc... Such things can be not only instructional but also inspirational as you can see that there are ways to paint like a pro and its often lots of little methods that add up to the skill. 

 

3) Battle reviews. Wargamergirl is one of the best to watch for an idea on clear, fun battle reports. They can be a lot of fun when properly put together. Esp when its recorded without having loads of background noise and bad camera angles and wobbling cameras and such things. 

 

4) I dislike "here is my face for the next 20mins-1 hour just talking about stuff. I dunno but in my view I question why bother making a video if you've got nothing to show. Might as well make a podcast. If you're going to show video have something to show beyond your face; show pictures, artwork, models, clips etc....
Also don't underestimate the power of background music. A subtle suitable song can help just fill in natural gaps in talking (esp if doing a report); it can even be used to manipulate. Building up suspense for opening a box; raging war on the table top etc.... Heck Wargamergirl swaps tracks when playing different armies in the same game - it adds a feel and flavour to the video. 

 

 

edit - note one big difference between good and bad is often having a script and rehersing and doing. retakes. A script means you cut out a lot of ums and oohs; you focus on what you're saying and know where you're going with a train of thought or description. You don't leave things out and have to backtrack (or just plain forget about them); you don't even up going off at a tangent and losing your way. 

You also sound more confident, so long as you're not bending your head down to read the script and thus muffling your voice. 

A good microphone is a must, even if you record video and audio separately. Bad audio is a nightmare because now the viewer is distracted trying to hear what you say. Many a battlereport videoed live at a club could be improved immensely with overlain audio instead of making the viewer have to battle balancing your quite voice with the background club chatter.

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1. Regularity with posting. The YouTube Algorithm will destroy you if you aren’t posting regularly.

2. improvement of the end product when things are clearly off. There is so much that can be done with a basic software editor.

3. You can edit your audio in post if your face isn’t on camera. This lets you speak your mind and take out the uhhs later.

4. Background music at a low volume will distract from the jumps in sound.

Things people like:

Strategy/Battle Reports

Painting Tutorials

Honest Opinion/Insight

Comedy

Things People Don’t Like:

Dull Monotone/Personality

Personal Projects

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I think there is no point to unboxings of GW product unless its a blind box thing like the spacemarine heroes or what ever. I mean the boxes just have sprues in them. The best kind of content is box reviews talking about the stats and usefulness of different units and bundes. I think 2+tough does amazing start collecting reviews and I would enjoy content like that for single unit boxes aswell.

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47 minutes ago, Kaleb Daark said:

how so? :)

It's all about exposure. Youtube shows suggested videos to people based on multiple things and they change it up every so often. But in general having a high number of views helps, but also regular posting of videos. There are loads of other oddities to it and there's whole websites dedicated to working out how to rank well.

This is, more a concern for those wanting to make a channel into something monetized and have a decent return on that investment; or who want to be popular on youtube and search engines. Be under no illusion its hard work today compared to what it was 10 or 20 years ago when content creators (esp those with any quality) were far fewer.

 

It's why some channels do things like unboxings even though they are not super interesting; because they are quick to make, simple to setup, require few resources and generally let you put out a regular video slot. Then you put your more serious work interspaced between them. OF course another is, say, if you were doing painting to do long painting tutorials and then have lots of little ones like how to paint a cape; how to make red; how to paint yellow etc... Again little presentations where you might even record the material in a block over a weekend and thus give yourself several weeks worth of short videos to throw up one every few days regularly.

 

 

 

But if you're just doing it for you and because you want to and you're not hunting for a huge audience then do things at your own pace and your own way

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Thanks for all the comments so far!  I can completely see where you're coming from on the unboxing side of things - very much a case of "does an unboxing video add anything previously unknown or unclear".

I also completely agree with the waffle element!  Really frustrating when 50% of a video is somebody talking about how wonderful they are and to subscribe to their channel/patreon etc.   The way I've done my first video and numerous presentations/training's in the past has been a set of bullet point notes so that you keep to the point, but have a bit of freedom to talk naturally to your audience, I struggle to read from a script (I really couldn't be an actor :D), which I think has kept the waffle to a minimum (plus people don't really want to watch my mug for too long).

Microphone wise I picked up a Blue Snowball mic.  So though not top of the range, it does a really solid job of recording audio - far better than the webcam would and I think that comes across.

Hobby hangouts is certainly a bit of a goal at some point in the future.  It'd need a bit more investment in equipment as my PC and hobby desk are separate (thus no way to read a chat window currently) and I know that one trend tends to be a face camera in addition to a painting area & palette camera.

9 minutes ago, Overread said:

But if you're just doing it for you and because you want to and you're not hunting for a huge audience then do things at your own pace and your own way

Oh, I want to be the next YouTube sensation...  xD 

In truth I'm doing it for a couple of reasons, first and foremost is I think it's a reasonable step on in my hobby "life" if that makes sense.  I've been in the hobby since the early 90's and picked up loads of things along the way, which people genuinely seem interested to know.  Secondly we're doing more and more YouTube bits where I work, and I've always found the best way to learn something is to embrace it as part of a hobby.

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one small tip from experience of live broadcasts/performances is to really focus on and control the tempo of your speech. there's a real tendency to speak faster and faster in these situations, the best presenters tend to have a much more relaxed, and slower, style.

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I haven't actively looked for it so it might exist already.

However, my understanding is that you won a golden daemon? I think that "reading" a top quality painting, or choosing colour schemes would be something I'd probably be keen on watching. Not talking about a detailed "beginner to golden daemon" type of tutorial which is unfeasible, more offering insight to people who like me, paint to play and to a really average level, but lack sometimes guidance on where to start to improve painting, rather than just following step by step if that makes sense. 

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Ahh if you're looking to go big then I'd say you want to spend a good month or more planning and preparing for launch! 

Use that time to not only work out what you are going to show, but to bulk record a block of early guide videos. Eg if you are doing painting you could record several long "how I painted this ....." videos. You could also record a block of methods and other such content. The idea being that when you launch you've not only got a direction and theme established, but you've got several weeks worth of videos already prepared and ready to go. You can interspace these with more recent videos as your community grows and you can then work on the next batch. 

The idea is that as much content as possible which isn't tied to the "now" can be recorded for the future. This gives you a nice buffer if you get a few busy weeks where you don't have time to record videos since you'll still have content to release. It also gives you a chance to play around and mess around with videos - perhaps even put up a few finished demo videos to show people on forums for some early feedback before you launch your site proper. 

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1 hour ago, JPjr said:

one small tip from experience of live broadcasts/performances is to really focus on and control the tempo of your speech. there's a real tendency to speak faster and faster in these situations, the best presenters tend to have a much more relaxed, and slower, style.

Funnily enough that was one thing I realised - it's really easy to start to speed up and go high pitched at the end of a sentence - makes you sound like you're asking lots of questions and time limited xD

1 hour ago, Ninelives said:

However, my understanding is that you won a golden daemon? I think that "reading" a top quality painting, or choosing colour schemes would be something I'd probably be keen on watching. Not talking about a detailed "beginner to golden daemon" type of tutorial which is unfeasible, more offering insight to people who like me, paint to play and to a really average level, but lack sometimes guidance on where to start to improve painting, rather than just following step by step if that makes sense. 

I did indeed pick up a demon this year.  A video on the key bits I focused on could be quite fun once I've got the model back as there were quite a few bits that could easily be applied to any model.

1 hour ago, Overread said:

The idea is that as much content as possible which isn't tied to the "now" can be recorded for the future

That makes a lot of sense.  Knock out a load of videos and then release over time.  Quite like the idea of putting some up for early release.  I'm not planning for a massive site or being grand (next internet sensation was meant a little tongue in cheek), but I am a massive perfectionist / pedant and very much of the opinion that if a jobs worth doing, it's worth doing well!  I know one thing I do need to sort out is some kind of branding & a general style for things like text overlays :)

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I roughly divide my YouTube viewing into three:

1). Things I actively watch regularly

2). Things i passively watch while painting

3). Things I search for to answer a specific problem

In the first category it's pretty much just battle reports. In my opinion the best of these are from the gents at Rerolling Ones, who manage to make humorous and entertaining battle reports, without losing the flow of the game. The lists aren't hyper-competitive and there's the odd mistake here and there, but these guys are just having so much fun playing Age of Sigmar and bouncing jokes off each other that it's infectious.

In the second category are the 'informal chat' style of show. Chief amongst these is Warhammer Weekly. Two smart and knowledgeable guys giving their opinions on an issue in depth each week. I'm sure everyone is aware of this show and if you're not, then do yourself a favour and get watching! The key thing for me again, is that here are two guys really enjoying what they're doing and what they're talking about. They pick up on some of the negative issues surrounding the hobby, but it's always approached in a constructive manner and from a position that reflects their readily apparent positivity. There are plenty of other good shows out there, but none hit the balance I'm looking for like Warhammer Weekly does.

The third category is Hobby Tutorials and these are things that I dip into as and when I need them. I don't watch these as they come out, even if I see a content creator that I subscribe to or who's tutorials I follow often, but only to answer questions that I have.

I know you aren't planning to do Battle Reports, but I thought I'd include those because they're great, but also because it's a pattern that's become apparent to me in my watching habits: I like watching people who're clearly enjoying what they're doing. So I guess my (unsolicited) advice would be to pick stuff that you  definitely enjoy doing, as, if you're not enjoying it, then the chances are that your audience won't either.

One pet peeve: Live content creators who either say hi to everyone who enters the chat, or reads out the list of people that're in the chat. I just don't get the point in this. By all means if someone has asked a question, or has made a noteworthy statement then fine, but otherwise... There's a good chance that I'm just missing the point here and don't understand these kids with their Snapchats, skinny jeans and reading out Youtube names... grumble...

Anyway, best of luck and I'll go and have a watch of your video now! 👍

 

 

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22 hours ago, Overread said:

A good microphone is a must, even if you record video and audio separately.

This. I am a professional videographer and one thing I learned is to -never- rely on camera mics.

As I what I like in videos, it varies. As long as the host is good (engaging, sense of humor, not to strong an accent, knows how to put a sentence together, leaves bitterness it if it, etc.) I can watch most things. I strongly dislike runaways egos or disingenuous/illinformed content.

 

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I like in videos what I like in any media; people who communicate well about something they are interested in or have a means of making what they are doing seem engaging. That’s the trick. Really doesn’t matter what you’re doing.  My favourite Youtubers cover all sorts of topics and do it in different ways with different budgets, but the key is they make it interesting. You can make anything interesting if you’re a skilled communicator.

By the same token if you’re nervous or diffuse or just explaining what people can see you doing it’s going to be dull regardless of context.

There’s so much stuff out there right now and I imagine making content is hard work. If you’re doing it for just you then great as doing something you enjoy is always time well spent! But if you’re really wanting an audience and can’t answer why your painting or modelling x mini post etc is different to the thousands already available I wouldn’t expect people to be particularly interested.

 

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So I mainly watch batreps just because I can listen passively whilst doing other things (I really struggle to focus on just one thing, even when playing video games I often have a video on in the background!).

That said, I do occasionally watch painting tips and the like but I've found many of them to be majorly dull and overly focused on the technical side despite being long videos. They often either do everything live and this can't focus or fast forward with audio recorded afterwards and thus focus entirely on what is happening. They also often assume you know techniques prior to watching their videos (if I already knew why would I be watching your videos!).

What I'd like to see in a painting video is something a bit more casual whilst still helping out. I find the Warhammer TV stuff is the best out there because it clearly explains things and doesn't rely too much on prior knowledge. They also make good use of cuts, showing you just enough of the process and things to be careful of without feeling the need to make you sit through 2 minutes of sped up footage of them base coating a space marine *yawn*.

As others have said, given your experience as a golden daemon winner maybe you could show off techniques you used whilst also painting up another model? Showing the finished model first and then showing how each step brings it closer to that would be careful as often I feel like you don't know what the artist is aiming for without skipping to the end of the video first.

Additionally, if you're going to use more advanced techniques or names someone new to the hobby doesn't know (I'm still unsure exactly what feathering is 4 years later for example) make sure you either explain there or put a link to a video explaining it (preferably an older video of your own but promoting other good painters is a nice way to show you care more about people improving their skills than just getting views sometimes).

Given your experience you could interject with small facts about the models as you go or add some humour about some experience you have with them (eg. with the upcoming grots you could talk about an humourous experience with opponents fanatics whilst you paint one up) to just break up all the downtime whilst painting.

 

As for other things, army collecting tips are always handy as many new players may be lost. A series on how to expand on your SC! could be interesting, especially as you seem to be neither heavily into narrative or matched play meaning you can give a more balanced opinion between hobby and gameplay reasons.

Unit reviews are nice too but make sure you're adding something new to the discussion. I'd actually like to see reviews on less taken models as I find many of them are 'Look here as I 'review' this unit everyone knows is strong and reiterate the same talking points for 20 minutes'. A video that instead shows a more nuanced approach towards more unsung units like Gryph Hounds, Zombies or Snotlings could attract people looking for outside of the box unit choices.

Lastly, if you choose to do things like unboxings, please at least show one model finished and a size comparison to a Liberator and something else in the same army! I find these invaluable when thinking about conversion options because it can be hard to imagine model size when looking at them in the website (Melusai turned out to have longer tails that id expected for example).

 

I hope this helps! Its a bit ramble-y but it's honestly difficult to pin down exactly what I'd be interested in watching. Hope the channel goes well and would definitely be interested in watching when you start uploading :)

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As long as you don’t make videos that are an hour plus, that could be covered in 10 minutes. I can’t stnad the video lengths of many Warhammer related youtubers. I don’t have time, and more importantly I don’t want to hear you ramble about how you day went when you’re supposed to be talking about new releases or painting a model. 

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