Author Topic: Something I need to get off my back  (Read 5082 times)

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Offline PaladinCecil79

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Something I need to get off my back
« on: September 20, 2017, 01:28:54 am »
I have something I need to bring up that's been bothering me for a time. It relates to YouTube videos.
What I'm about to say is going to surprise some of you and there probably isn't a lot of truth to it if any.
But it is an expression of what it has felt like for me over the past several years.
Before I go any farther, I want to make it clear that I'm not trying to sound selfish or come off as a prima dona, nor am I asking anyone to feel sorry for me.
This is just something that has sometimes bothered me and I need to get it off my back.

I've noticed that videos from Kumoricon on YouTube in recent years have rarely garnered a lot of views and I feel that I might be single-handedly responsible. Like I said before, there's very likely no truth to this, as these words are an expression of what it has felt like to me during the time.
I started recording and posting clips at anime conventions since 2007 and at that time, Kumoricon didn't get as many voice actor guests. The majority of the clips I posted that year and the next two were from fan panels and gatherings. I was hoping that they'd get a lot of hits, but they were never among the most popular and usually had a much smaller view count in comparison to others.
I felt that it was because most people who were looking for videos weren't involved with those panels.
I can understand people not wanting to watch every con video they find, because looking at them all would be time-consuming and I know that clips that might be to one person's interest might not be to another. And I admit that I don't watch all the ones that get posted either.
But the reason why I've felt disappointed over the lack of feedback from mine is because con aftermath is a depressing thing to all of us, but if you're someone who posts a ton of clips, it's much easier if people frequently watch and/or comment on them. Whenever I tape a lot of stuff and when the con ends, it's hard not to be excited over sharing the footage when you know you got some good material, only to find out that most of them don't even get 100 hits.
It's also because of the way the results occurred.

For the first couple years, even though most what I posted wasn't that popular, I still got a few comments early on.
After Kumoricon '09, the set I had was pretty much the same, and although I didn't expect to see a large number of hits again, I still felt that I'd initially receive a few comments like before.
But I got next-to-none and the view counts were much smaller as well. Because of that, I felt that people searching for videos were getting annoyed and fed up with me posting so many from panels they didn't attend.
Then the next year, Kumoricon started to get more voice actor guests and that year, I had gotten a lot of content from the VA panels, which had good turn-outs with some popular names.
But when I posted them, the results were still the same.
It felt like people noticed they were put up, only to see the name PaladinCecil and think something like, "Oh, they're from the guy that posts stuff from panels we never attend. Screw this."
At first, I felt the lack of hits came because I couldn't upload them until a while after the con ended, and that was also the case for most of the ones I put up for the next two years.
But in '13, I had gotten what I felt was a treasure trove of amazing content and that time, was able to post it early and often.
But despite much of it being from popular voice actors, which included most of Todd Haberkorn's VA On VA panel (which had a huge turn-out and a lively audience), practically no one watched.
I couldn't believe it, because there were so many clips like these from other people at different conventions that got tons of hits and I couldn't understand why these would be an exception.
I didn't attend Kumoricon the next two years and when I looked for footage from both of them, I noticed that the view counts overall were a lot smaller than before and when I came last year and posted the stuff I recorded, many of the results, along with mine were still the same.
Because of the smaller number of overall hits Kumoricon videos have received the past few years compared to before, I just feel responsible for it because of the large number that I had that seemingly no one wanted to watch.

For those who search YouTube each year for stuff from the convention or used to, has there been any moments where you felt annoyed over the number that I had?
If that's been the case for even a few people, I wanted to mention that I've never tried to bother anyone with the amount I post. I just do it because I like to record a lot when I'm at anime conventions and I like to find stuff that I feel would be worth sharing.
And if there really are others fed up with the amount of footage from fan panels they didn't attend to the point where they didn't even want to bother with my VA clips, just because they were from me, you shouldn't let the name of the poster bother you if it's something of your interest.
If the fan panels I've been to or held aren't ones to your liking, but you're a fan of the voice actor guests I've shared, you should be excited to watch and comment on them anyway, regardless of who uploaded them.

I hope none of this came off as selfish and I apologize if any of it sounded that way.
If anyone reading this feels there's no truth to what I've said, I understand. And I agree that there's a lot more to life than having popular videos on your YouTube channel.
But the reason why the lack of views has affected me is because of the way it's happened. When your clips don't get a lot of comments regardless of the content, I know that it's not good to think you're being intentionally neglected, but because of what I've been through, it's been hard for me not to sometimes suspect it.
And I won't deny that I've been experienced quite a bit of this at other cons. It's been common with Sakura Con, Aki Con and SacAnime, but at those conventions, I've had a number of them that were popular as well, so the overall results were more mixed.
But with Kumoricon, it's been rare and I find it odd.
« Last Edit: May 23, 2022, 02:47:38 pm by PaladinCecil79 »

Offline Tsukinya

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Re: Something I need to get off my back
« Reply #1 on: September 20, 2017, 07:02:30 pm »
Firstly, social media is a fickle beast.  The one thing I've learned: NEVER value yourself by likes/comments/views.  You can have the most amazing content on the planet, but if people don't see it, or if it just doesn't resonate with them for whatever reason, you won't see the reactions you expect.  It is also nearly impossible to gauge what people will like.


I have found, more often than not, the problem is more with the former.  For me, personally, I never search for con videos directly on YouTube.  I don't know these videos even exist.  My suggestion: post them to the Facebook group.  This is where most people are the most active, and I'd imagine you'd get far more activity by putting your content in front of people.  Each con is different.  Even these forums are nearly dead.  Go to them, and you'll have more success.


Another thing: I hate to say it, but most people are selfish (not always in a bad way).  Especially with videos from a convention, the thing people generally want to see most is themselves (I'm generalizing; don't hate me :D).  So film lots of attendees, and you'll get shares with, "@Susie!  That's us at 1:14!"  Fun moments from panels are great, but a lot of your target audience experienced it in person.


Finally, I'm nearly certain I speak for everyone when I say no one will ever complain about your posting too much on YouTube (possibly on Facebook - only because it's so visible.. so just be careful ;)).  And I can pretty much guarantee no one will look at a username and immediately discredit your videos (unless you're specifically known for posting bad content - which, given the low views you report, it doesn't sound like you're known at all, good or bad).


I completely sympathize with your frustration, as I'm also a media artist (photographer).  I frequently post images I absolutely love, and I get nothing.  Then I post something somewhat subpar that ends up getting a lot of attention.  It's so difficult reading people.  And it's a lot of work trying to be successful in that kind of field.  You can't control how others will react.  What you can control is making sure you have the best content possible (put yourself in their shoes; would you want to seek it out and watch it?) and making yourself as visible as possible.  Sometimes the latter is more important than the former.  Visibility gets viewers; quality keeps viewers.  You can't keep what you don't get.


Sorry for the long-winded response... I hope it's somewhat helpful :)  TL;DR: low views on YouTube is probably mostly an issue with visibility

Offline Sailor-Jeimi

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Re: Something I need to get off my back
« Reply #2 on: September 21, 2017, 08:19:24 pm »
That's just youtube....That's completely normal. In general, unless you are extremely well known and popular, views will fluctuate GREATLY! One reason you're views may not be going up is due to where you post them. Youtube is the obvious answer here, but you need to SHARE your video. You need to have business cards to hand out with your youtube channel on it, you need to promote your channel at any good chance you get. Otherwise, you're counting on nothing more than someone searching the con name looking for some videos. That will get you basically nowhere.


What are your titles and tags like? Are your titles using phrases people are searching for? Is a todd panel video titled "todd haberkorn panel" or is it titled "Kumoricon 2017 Tood Haberkorn Panel" (using this year as an example). Most people will be searching specifically "Kumoricon 2017" in the search bar.


What about your tags on your videos? Are you even using them at ALL? If not, USE THEM! That is what will get your video seen. use phrases in your tags. For the example above you could easily put things like:
kumoricon, Kumo, Kumoricon 2017, Kumoricon2017, todd haberkorn, panel, cosplay, cosplaying, con, anime, anime con, voice actor..
So many more..Even things like the title of the video. or "todd haberkorn panel" in the TAGS and that will help.


What about sharing? There's a share buton for a reason. It's not just for the viewers to use. Use that yourself. Share your videos on twitter and facebook. Kumoricon videos? Share them in the Kumoricon facebook page and here in the proper sections. If you know people's twitter handles or facebook handles that show up in the video, tag them in the shares. Twitter has a tagging section that doesn't take up the character limit, and facebook doesn't really HAVE a limit, so you can tag everyone in the post. That will get those peoples attention to see it, and gives them a chance to share it as well. If they have a large following, that will REALLY help.


What about the videos themselves? Are they engaging and fun to watch? I'm talking about the non panel ones. Panels are self explanatory on what you're gonna see, but things like vlogs you need to have a story there. Be on camera and actively talk to your audience. Show off things you bought in them, or better yet, show buying the item, them later show opening it if you open your merch at con. Also if you speak, or have others speak, make it exciting. Don't record a boring conversation when you guys are eating. No one cares. Record when you guys see that awesome cosplay you're fanning over, instead. Get some shots of the different areas like merch hall, atist alley, and the con space in general. Using slow-motion correctly will help look a lot more cinematic, and adding a time lapse in a video could really show a good time pass. Like, what I'm gonna do is put up a sign that says Wave To YouTube!" and time lapse it, then slow it down whenever someone waves. It's more interesting and it's like they are engaging my audience. I also film CMVs. My first ones were not well received as I was not that good. But I've gotten a LOT better, and now even my Anime PDX2 CMVs have way more views than how many people I thought even attended since it was so tiny. So think about what content you're even making and if it's something that if someone else filmed, would you watch it? If not, then you should be finding out how to improve.


So, what about the quality? Do you film in 1080p? You should be. Most phones record at that, and some even better quality. My iPhone 7 records in 4K, but my cameras top out at 1080p30FPS but also do 720p60FPS, so I use that now, since the 60FPS makes up for the 30FPS at 1080p. I don't know what camera you use, so idk what else to say here. But even a normal point and shoot camera will be fine for just vlogs.


From what I'm getting by reading your post, you don't post that often. And maybe at complete random. That's also not good. Myself, I try for at least 2 videos a week. Every Wed and Sat. If not I put out a video explaining why I'm gonna miss my schedule. But I'm pretty good at getting them out on schedule. If you ONLY post videos when you go to cons, then I would just stop worrying completely about the channel, and just post them for the memories. If you only go to a few cons a year, you'll never have enough content for people to stay long term. Eventually youtube will see they aren't watching your videos (because you aren't posting them to be watched for long time periods), and it will automatically stop showing up in their subscriptions. It makes it look like they aren't interested in your channel because since you aren't putting videos out, they have nothing to click on and watch, so youtube thinks you aren't interested and will stop your videos from appearing in their feed.


You need to stop worrying about the counts (views/subs/etc.) in general too, because that will only keep you down. I don't care what people think of my videos. I post them anyway.


I know that was also a lot, but it's all true. If you need any more advice or help, feel free to ask me.

Offline PaladinCecil79

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Re: Something I need to get off my back
« Reply #3 on: September 23, 2017, 06:03:45 pm »
Tsukinya: Thanks for the advice. I relate to a lot of what you're saying. In recent years, I've posted a lot of my videos in Facebook groups relating to certain voice actors, and while it did give them a little more exposure, the overall results weren't much different. It also didn't help that people who responded usually gave a like, but rarely commented. I'll continue to do it, because I know it's still something, and I'll start sharing them on the Kumoricon Facebook page as well.

I especially relate to what you said about something subpar getting a lot of attention. When you post stuff that people usually don't react to, that is the most frustrating thing that can happen and I've had a few of those experiences. The one that burned the most was from a music improv panel Johnny Yong Bosch did with Eyeshine, where he'd improvise different kinds of anime songs that people would request. I posted a ton of videos from it, with the second one being of him just doing a Lelouch laugh. After I posted it, people were watching it like there was no tomorrow, and although I quickly posted several other clips from the same panel that were far superior, none of them got half as much attention, even after I removed the former clip. It just shows how there are way too many people in the anime fandom who tend to over-obsess. I can understand it being appealing, but if his fans can enjoy a video of him doing a brief in-character moment, why can't they have the same excitement and appreciation over videos where he's doing something original and creative?

Sailor-Jenni: Thanks for the advice.
Some of what you suggested are things that I do, but I'll keep the other suggestions in mind.
Whenever I post videos, I always give the necessary tags. If it's of a Todd Haberkorn video, I'll tag his name, along with the name of the convention and the character or anime that's being discussed in the clip.
Regarding how often I post videos, I usually do them after conventions because those are the majority of my content. I agree that uploading stuff more frequently would definitely not hurt and I should come up with different ideas.
The content that I record at cons isn't always of voice actors. Along with fan panels, I also sometimes tape footage from cosplay gatherings and most of my content is from events that many people were at.
But I'll definitely work on looking for more places to share them, including Twitter.
« Last Edit: October 02, 2017, 12:23:15 am by PaladinCecil79 »

Offline Sailor-Jeimi

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Re: Something I need to get off my back
« Reply #4 on: September 23, 2017, 08:51:02 pm »
Sorry, but to start, you spelled my name wrong..Just thought I'd point that out. Then again, This is such an old name..I don't even use it anymore lol I now go by the name on my YouTube channel that I sent in the reply to your PM. Jei Cos (Or just Jei, which is pronounced like he letter J).


Anyway back on topic. Since you do use the correct tags (or at least, you said so, I didn't look so....) that is certainly a good thing. But you can also make them semi related. Like cosplay, cosplaying, cosplayer or vlog, vlogging, or something like those because their still related in certain ways. Again, Idk what tags you put on what videos so you very well COULD already be doing that too..lol


The reason that channels who post only videos at conventions will get attention is because they go to TONS of them. Like one every other month, sometimes one a month for a while. Like easily hitting 6-8 cons a year. That means they have more than enough content to post semi regularly. Honestly though, I can only think of one such channel. Convention Reviews. The guy who runs it (Cody), goes to that many cons. He uses the highest quality cameras he can get (He use to do 720p60FPS, but now does 1080p60FPS), which DRASTICALLY changes how many people will want to watch his videos. But he also personally engages with his audience. He does cosplay music videos, but that's only one type of video. NO ONE on YouTube will get anywhere filming shaky, handheld, point and shoot footage that isn't at the quality that people are watching (as in older point and shoots that only say HD, but only really go to 720p30FPS, which is the quality where people stop watching because it's not the norm). I don't know if that's what your videos look like, I'm just making a generalization, but it's a true one.


Basically think about it this way: If your videos don't have anything worth watching, who can you expect to watch them? If people aren't watching your videos, then that means you need to change something. If I could see your videos (which I can't since you have yet to post a link to your channel), maybe I could see what might be causeing this issue.


But like i mentioned above, you can't JUST record a few things at a con. Look at literally every channel that's actually popular that does this stuff. They also do what I do. Tips&tricks, tutorials, reviews of the con, merch unboxings, and topic videos that are related to the con. All of these videos are usually done at home, with the camera on you. Meaning yuou'll need good equipment, but still.


Heard the phrase it takes money to make money? Or you need to spend money to make money? Same here. You need to get the equipment to be professional at it if you want those views.
« Last Edit: September 23, 2017, 08:53:57 pm by Sailor-Jeimi »

Offline PaladinCecil79

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Re: Something I need to get off my back
« Reply #5 on: September 23, 2017, 09:31:57 pm »
Here's a link to my channel.
http://www.youtube.com/user/paladincecil

PS: Sorry for saying your name wrong. I misread it.

Offline Sailor-Jeimi

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Re: Something I need to get off my back
« Reply #6 on: September 24, 2017, 01:40:05 pm »
Here's a link to my channel.
http://www.youtube.com/user/paladincecil

PS: Sorry for saying your name wrong. I misread it.
Don't worry about the name, just mentioning it was all.


Alright so right off the bat, clicking onto your page, I can see you have over 1,000 subs, which is good, and your view counts for videos are reflecting that..Sure, a few of your videos are getting less, like 100-300 views, but take my 300 subs, and 20 views on a video that doesn't directly involve others..My CMVs are my popular videos for the sole reason of others saying "Hey look, I'm in this video". Where as any other video get's little to nothing. And my videos are literally to help other cosplayers. Giving tips and utorials and stuff. You're view count shows a much healthier channel than mine.


Anyway, a few things I did notice though. If you want to succeed with a channel that is. You're page is very plain. You have a picture of what I assume is you, playing guitar (or maybe a GH controller, or a mini V). Which has nothing to do with your channel. Mine's an avatar until I can get some good photos, but at least I use the avatar on my channel sometimes. The way you film would be more of a company channel than a personal one. By filming OTHER stuff, it's less about you, and more about them. So having a random picture of yourself doing something not related to the channel is off putting. Someone looks at that and thinks "music?" but then clicks on your page and sees no music and is confused. Even if it's a GH controller, people would think games, which also isn't what you do. If you aren't comfortable filming yourself or addressing your audience (which is still fine, you can completely be a cameraperson, it's been done, just not usually in this setting, normally it's people making short films, but same idea), then you don't want your channel having personal things like pictures of yourself. They never see you, so that's kinda pointless. You'd be more like a company. PaladinCecilProductions or PaladinCecilMedia or something like that would work WAY better for what you do. Then I'm assuming your name is a FF reference..FF4 I believe? You could use a picture of him (or better yet, a silhouette of him because it looks cool, and use a production type name Like maybe a bust-up pic of him with the name at the bottom of the image. It would suit the channel better than a pic of yourself doing something completely unrelated.


You also need to change the banner and layout of the page. That's that horizontal image at the top of your channel page. Right now you have a stock image they provide on youtube. Not changing that will subtly tell people you don't have the time to waste on he little things, and if you can't bother taking a few minutes to make it look nice, why should they bother with you. If you don't know how, I don't have anything better to do, I can help you with all of the image stuff. If you check out:
https://www.youtube.com/user/brenden4987
That's my friend who also goes to this con. On his channel, I made his banner. I also took his profile picture.
For a channel like yours, you could have images put together in a similar way, but have them of the con spaces and even screenshots from a few of your videos all together on a large picture. That's easy to do.


I can see you already have the front page with playlists, but the top one is Kumoricon 2007.. Aint no one even gonna bother on a channel that on first glance looks like they haven't posted in 10 years. Google "how to customize youtube layout". There's a button you need to press to get to a custom setting thing, where you flip a switch for a certain layout style. The common most used one. Use that. If you look at my page you'll see what I mean. Your recent videos will show up at the top of the page, then you can add playlists or videos or whatever in sections under it. For damn sure don't have 2007 as the first thing people see. That will make them leave right away.


And yep. I was DEAD ON about quality. You only produce low quality video. In panel situations it's near impossible to get good audio so no need to worry about that as much, though a good mic would be a good idea. It looks like you shoot straight off your phone, and in basically it's lowest setting (or it's a really old phone). In a time where every phone sold on the market can do 4K video quality, and normal 1080P30FPS capable cameras are only a couple hundred dollars (even cheaper if you find one at a pawn shop, which should be easy enough), there's absolutely zero reasons your videos should cap out at 480p video quality. Anything under 720 is pretty much not worth looking at because it looks bad. So people won't want to watch. They will see the bad quality and leave. That will get a view on your video, but not a subscriber. I know you don't MEAN to, but when you don't spend the money to make your videos better, that's no different than saying "I don't care what the people watching want". If you want people to watch them, and they aren't being posted just so have them saved somewhere, then you need to up your game and show people that you want them to watch. By using the lowest quality settings, and not putting out things people want to see, you aren't gonna get anywhere.


EDIT:
Just noticed something else. You're last uploads ALL say 8 months ago..there are 41 videos that all say "uploaded 8 months ago"..That's another problem. You're making a ton of the same video and uploading them all as fast as possible. That's why your schedule is so bad. You have all this video, but they are extremely short, and in rapid succession. That's gonna be boring as hell, and clog up someones subscription box. They are gonna wanna see their other subscriptions too, but instead they see 41 videos by one person, all 1-2 min long, and they are all basically the same thing. Someone asks a question and the guest answers it. ALL of those videos could be edited into one video. And the fact that they aren't tells me you also don't have editing software..I'm wondering what you think you need to do to be a youtuber? Do you think it's just "record and upload, literally nothing else"? because that's what your channel screams. You don't actually put effort into your channel at all. You need to if you want to get anywhere.
« Last Edit: September 24, 2017, 01:45:20 pm by Sailor-Jeimi »

Offline PaladinCecil79

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Re: Something I need to get off my back
« Reply #7 on: September 24, 2017, 11:41:12 pm »
Thanks for willing to help. I appreciate it. :)
Over the years, I never put any real thoughts into a unique banner, but now that you say it, I agree that having one is encouraging, so I added one. I plan to change it around from time to time as well with some similar content.
The avatar pic you saw is of me. In it, I'm dressed as Ryusuke from BECK Mongolian Chop Squad who plays guitar and poses that way on the band's album cover.
I can understand the pic being seen as undistinguished, since a lot of people don't know who the character is, so I changed it.
My name is a reference to the Final Fantasy 4 character and I agree that a pic of him would've worked, so I replaced the Ryusuke one with a silhouetted cake of Cecil from my 30th birthday.

When I saw that the Kumoricon '07 videos were at the top, I never really thought anything of it. I admit it had been that way for a while and the thought of changing it to a more recent playlist never came to mind.

Regarding quality, the videos were recorded from a Kodak digital camera/video camera combo I got back in '07. The program that came with it didn't have any fancy editing options, so I don't know how to stick multiple clips together.
The reason why a lot of the videos are under three minutes is because a lot of people who were at the panels asked forgettable questions. When I attend guest panels, I tape a lot of footage with many of the clips being several minutes long. But in more than half of them, there's only one or two minutes worth of good material and when I post the footage, I prefer to post only the best parts. If I knew how to combine multiple clips into one, I would.
Because a lot of people prefer higher quality, I'll work on getting a new camera. I did consider it until I found out that digital cameras won't die out that quickly after ten years and I wanted to save money after hearing that.

When it comes to the upload frequency, I've always intended to get them all up as quickly as possible. I feel that most searches for con videos occur the first few days after it ends. Because of that, I feel that they're all more likely to get more hits if they're posted sooner than later. I never intend to post mostly short videos, but like I said, a lot of it had to do with luck and the fact that I don't know how to combine them. When people ask a ton of great questions and I have them all in one clip, then the video will be longer, or if the videos are from a panel like Story Story Die or the VA On VA one that Todd Haberkorn did at Kumoricon four years ago.
But I will definitely work on merging the clips I post. I agree that it makes them easier to watch.

When you get a chance, check out my YouTube channel again and you'll notice that I made a few changes.
Although it won't guarantee higher view counts, I agree that it'll help a lot and I appreciate you suggesting it.
Also, on a more random note, do you have any advice on how to color shorts? I want to cosplay as "Free!" Link from Breath of the Wild and I need to find out what kind of material to use to color the fabric.
« Last Edit: September 25, 2017, 11:45:35 pm by PaladinCecil79 »

Offline Sailor-Jeimi

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Re: Something I need to get off my back
« Reply #8 on: September 25, 2017, 07:31:45 pm »
Well I can say that is certainly better. It's no longer default or plain.
If you take that same image into a paint program (like Microsoft Paint, or GIMP, both of which are free), you can even figure out where in the image you can add a name to it. If you look at your banner, there's some nice open space in the upper right, there's a good half of the image that shows only what seems to be a rug. I'd say this image would be great for making the focal points the items. Meaning getting rid of that rug space up on top. Which is easily where you can fit a name. I can DO that for you if you want..But honestly, you will certainly need to learn some editing skills for thumbnails anyway. If you want, I actually did a video on that..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSGjgbI4Q2c&list=PLBP_EM4c-6mU0KG7QX731tXdTheoYL7-i
I provide in that video how to get GIMP as well as how to basically use it for thumbnails, but the tips work for literally any other things too. And if you save the image and the name ends up maybe too large to fit on the banner, or something else is wrong, as long as you leave gimp open and don't close the project, you can move the pieces around and resave it. giving you multiple tries to get it right. That's what I did with my banner. I kept moving the parts around the image and resaving and testing to see if it fit.


I see you made the more recent playlists be up at the top. That helps for sure. I'd say still if you can do that "custom" thing I mentioned before, that'd make it look a little more like a professional channel. It looks more casual right now, as in one you aren't using to try to gain exposure. It still comes off as a "just a place for my videos" channel.


Yea, that is for sure a bad camera to be using then. You basically from here on out will never grow with that quality. You're very VERY far behind everyone else. You aren't even in the lowest quality people would bother with these days. Again, you have to spend money to make money. You need to get better equipment and put WAY more effort into your content before you can expect any growth. Idk if you've been uploading since 2007, or you just uploaded them later, but I'm gonna guess since then. I thought your over 1,000 subs was impressive for such a niche, but never mind that. That's actually REALLY bad progression for 10 years. Nothing about your channel says "watch me". I'm trying to not sound like a prick here, and it's hard. Because these days saying anything bad about anything get's you the title of satan. So I'm trying to be as nice as possible, but like I said, nothing about your channel give off the impression that you WANT subscribers or views. It looks like a memory bank and that's all. You have zero efford put into any of your videos. And no, holding a camera and hitting record is not effort. Effort is going out and getting a camera that can produce the quality that people actually watch, which is some type of HD, usually higher HDs like 1080p. It's not required, but getting one with a microphone input and getting a good shotgun mic to put on the camera for better audio, and at least putting some kind of editing effort in. These videos are not a quality (in general, as in good or bad quality) that says "I was made to be watched by a bunch of people!", but rather they say "I was made to be watched by the friends and family of the recorder for memories". THAT is why your views went down. The effort. Or lack there of. If you want to edit, download Movie Maker. It's free. The fact that you also didn't bother to se if there was any free software to edit your videos is abundant by the 30 videos from one single panel you have that all for some reason were separate videos. Even 7 year olds who film on their phone know that. By not bothering, you're basically telling your viewers that what they deserve isn't worth your time. They deserve a video that's good, but you don't bother with it, so why should they?


Now I don't want to get something twisted around here. So I'll say it now. Everything you're doing is fine. BUT, it's only fine for a "just for me" channel. If you want an actual audience, you have to actually DO something to make that audience want to stay there. That's where the effort on your part comes in. You can't put zero effort into your channel and expect people to subscribe to it.


As far as a camera, like I said. Pawn shops are your best friend. They are usually filled to the brim with slightly older models., You can also find them on anywhere that people are selling things. Facebook groups have been made for this purpose, where it's similar to offerup, letgo, and craigslist. Where you can pick a populated place like a starbucks, to meet up and do the sale. You can test it out before buying and make sure they work. Same with the pawn shops, you test before you buy. Pawn shops legally have to let you test items out before any money is given, so no rip offs there. Go through the menus of them and look for the "movie settings" (usually called that, depends on the camers, but the settings for recording), and if they say at least 1080p then you should be fine.It'll have a little "film strip" icon next to it with the frame rate, 30FPS is usually 29 point something, but it's the same thing.


You'd be amazed at how many people look weeks after. In fact, most people are trying more to get back into the swing of their daily lives before they look online. In fact, I don't think literally ANYONE stops looking around for them after a few days..So far, out of every channel I've ever seen, literally EVER, you're the only one who thinks that. EVERYONE I've ever seen takes teh time to edit theirs a little at least, then upload it on a schedule. Of course, I mean the ones who are on youtube for more than just a memory bank.


And the multiple questions making it longer is a good idea. If you want to make your life easier, start with a camcorder. The Sony Vixia HF R700 (Review from me below), is only $200 at walmart, and way cheaper if you can find it used (which you can, it was popular before the newer version). It does 1080p60FPS. And it can record for hours at a time. You can easily get the majority of a q&a panel on one single video. Trust me, people will watch it even if it's like half an hour, because that's what a panel is. It's also a good camera to get footage around the con. It also does auto everything. Auto exposure, auto focus, auto white balance, etc. so you never have to mess with the settings to get a good video quality. It takes a second to auto adjust, while recording, but that's every camera.
You don't need the best camera in the world. You just need something that is up to date with quality standards.
Here's the camcorder review:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRYvJtNfYnY&index=13&list=PLBP_EM4c-6mXTpSo2x-ToMCe5hDFFbH8N&t=1295s


Also with editing, you keep saying you don't know how to merge clips together. This would be because you didn't put that effort forth that I mentioned. 5 seconds on youtube and you'll get millions of videos on how to use any program. But honestly, you just open whatever editing program it is, and drag the files into it. it auto puts them all side by side in movie maker. Heck, you can drag your mouse to highlight all of the clips you want to make into a single video, and drag the entire highlight into movie maker, and it'll auto put them in the same order you had them in on your computer (which is usually Alphabetical).


I have an idea if you don't mind hanging out at con for a little while. We can meet up and I can try to go over things a little better. It's easier to explain things that way. When I type, I have to think about my words a LOT more, and I start to get confused with what I'm typing, so I don't usually like explaining this way lol


As for the shorts lol Depends. If you're going a lighter color, don't. Usually won't work. If you are going to a darker color (as in going from white, to literally any other color, or from gray to black or whatever) then it depends on the material. If it has a mix of material, I'm not sure. Natural fibers like cotton you need regular dyes. Like Rit, or whatever that you can get at joanns or something. Most dyes are for natural fibers only. So it would need to be 100% natural for that. If polyester, or other man made fibers iDyePoly is the most well received brand. It's, as the name states, for polyester and other non natural fibers. So basically a natural fiber is something grown, like how cotton is not produced in a factory, but is from a plant. whereas polyester is plastic that's cut SUPER thin to be used as a fiber for fabrics.
« Last Edit: September 25, 2017, 07:33:06 pm by Sailor-Jeimi »

Offline PaladinCecil79

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Re: Something I need to get off my back
« Reply #9 on: September 28, 2017, 02:19:19 am »
Regarding being nice: I relate very well to what you mean. I have been through way too much backlash the past two years over expressing myself in calm and constructive manner and those troubles were a major reason why I started doing Anime Therapy.


I'll definitely keep pawn shops and Sony Vixia in mind and will work on how to edit as well. I'll still be using my current camera for the upcoming Kumoricon, but I'll work on getting a new one after.


I'd be happy to hang out at the con when it comes. I know what you mean about typing. Although I have an easier time explaining things that way, a lot of the words take a long time to come up with, especially when it's a topic that takes more to use. There are times where I want to express something to get it off my back, but it's not always easy to get around to because of how long it'll likely take to finish it.
Also, who will you be dressing as? That way, I'll know who you are when I see you. If I don't get "Free!" Link done in time, I'll be doing Ranka from Ouran and briefly Ryusuke from BECK for a picture with Jerry Jewell (who played Taira in that show).


Regarding the shorts, I'll keep your words in mind.

Offline Sailor-Jeimi

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Re: Something I need to get off my back
« Reply #10 on: September 28, 2017, 12:36:58 pm »
Well that's good then. I'm glad I'm not coming off as rude or anything.


Yea if you can't afford anything at the moment, then of course just use whatever you have. But what about a phone? Do you have a current or semi recent smartphone? If you have one that came out in the last couple of years, the camera on that will be WAY better than the camera you own. Just use that instead. Completely ditch the other one if you have a recent phone. Pretty much every phone from 2014 til now, will have better recording quality than your camera. In fact, I'd be hard pressed to believe any phone from 2010 and later would be as bad as the camera you have. 720p was normal in 2010, and your camera can't even do that.


Yea, I feel like I'm only one of a small % that hates trying to explain things in writing lol
I'll go ahead and post a few photos below (one edited with arrows pointing at me), and one that's of literally me since it's not finished, but very close so you'll know when you see it.
Just in case you see me out of cosplay:
http://s88.photobucket.com/user/RazorXCore_2006/media/IMG_0064_zps6v0hhpra.jpg.html
Gohan (It's pointing at 2 of us because I'll also be with that Yamcha):
http://s88.photobucket.com/user/RazorXCore_2006/media/IMG_0064_zps6v0hhpra.jpg.html
Cloud (The wig will be a little different, see video link):
http://s88.photobucket.com/user/RazorXCore_2006/media/IMG_0064_zps6v0hhpra.jpg.html
Video Link to styling the wig, so you know what it'll look like):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLzP_mzB1Y8
SAO OC (again, not finished yet, but it's Kirito's jacket from SAO: Hollow Realization, and my wig):
http://s88.photobucket.com/user/RazorXCore_2006/media/file-3_zpst38mmslt.jpeg.html

Offline PaladinCecil79

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Re: Something I need to get off my back
« Reply #11 on: October 01, 2017, 02:33:20 pm »
Do you have these pictures on any other sites? For some reason, my computer doesn't respond well to Photobucket.

Offline Sailor-Jeimi

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Re: Something I need to get off my back
« Reply #12 on: October 01, 2017, 03:15:43 pm »
Do you have these pictures on any other sites? For some reason, my computer doesn't respond well to Photobucket.
Yea, on my facebook page. I'll just grab those.
I'm the Gohan, and the Yamcha will be with me:
https://www.facebook.com/JeiCosCosplay/photos/a.670980976422324.1073741841.453466791507078/670980979755657/?type=3&theater
My Cloud cosplay. I'll also have a Squall with me:
https://www.facebook.com/JeiCosCosplay/photos/a.670983959755359.1073741843.453466791507078/670983969755358/?type=3&theater
My SAO cosplay. The first 2 posts are it. The first post has 2 pics
https://www.instagram.com/jeicos/
Then to see what I look like, literally the majority of my videos on my channel will have my talking to the camera.
https://www.youtube.com/jeicos
The link to the video of me styling the wig in the previous reply should still work, since it's YouTube, not photobucket. The wig in the image above is not the same one I'll have this time. The one in the video is.