Hey everybody! Are you looking for some constructive criticism and feedback to help improve your videos? Or would you like to help others by offering some feedback of your own? Then you've come to the right place!
My goal with this thread is to create a community where you can find and give real, honest, and critical feedback to new let's players who are looking to take their videos to the next level. It is my hope that everyone will treat this with maturity, and will understand that criticism is meant to inform and help the creator, NOT to inflate their ego with false praise or to demoralize with unhelpful insults.
You are encouraged to post your videos here only if you are comfortable receiving serious constructive criticism. And if you are giving criticism, please don't say it unless you mean it! Things like "nice video, keep it up" are not really constructive, they just give the creator the vague notion that you kind of liked it, yet it didn't have a meaningful impact.
Be specific! What did you like exactly? What didn't you like? Where in the video did you lose interest? Why? What would you like to see more of? Less of? The answers to these questions are what will really help content creators the most, so put some serious thought into it, and don't be afraid of hurting people's feelings. The people seeking feedback here recognize that they have room for improvement, so please be open and honest!
And to those of you looking to post videos, please realize that you are asking the critics to take 15, 20, 30 minutes of their time to devote to watching and critiquing your content, so put your best foot forward! The forums are filled to bursting with stacks on STACKS of uninspired series that are very similar to each other, so ask yourself, why would someone want to watch this instead of watching a different series? What makes me unique and interesting in the crowded sea of youtube?
I look forward to seeing everyone's work, so don't be afraid to post some videos or share your thoughts on the videos of others!
Cheers!
P Town
P.S. to get the ball rolling, I'll include a video of my own for you to critique
So regarding your audio, I couldn't really hear any game sounds. I think you're picking it up a little bit with your voice mic, but it would be nice to hear the game sounds in a dedicated channel (this will also make it easier to edit and balance the game sounds with your voice.) Some people like them pretty low, I kind of like to hear them pretty loud and clear. For your voice, it's best to be pretty close to the mic. The closer you are, the more of the lower frequencies it will pick up, which will make your voice sound fuller. Without those low frequencies, your voice can sound thin or far away. Also, don't be afraid to project a bit more and breathe deeply when you speak.
As for gameplay, we as an audience generally like to hear what the video is going to be about in the first few minutes. Check out guys like Etho and Doc, and they tell you the plan for the episode almost immediately. This also helps give the video a focus and will help keep the audience interested (and it will help keep you focused too!) I would also like to hear more plans about the series in general. What will make this series stand out among the rest? Having guests sounds like a neat idea, what kind of things are you planning on doing with these guests? These are the kinds of things the audience would like to hear you talk about too!
If you're going to include collecting resources in the video, caving is generally more interesting than cutting mineshafts. It's riskier, which means more interesting for the video.
Oh and I almost forgot, I think you should say your name right at the beginning!
I'm gonna post here on Friday. That's when i'll be getting a good recording software for mine craft, so far i'm using the lite and i just have a intro to my channel and a thank-you message. But this is a really good idea! And i like your voice. I tend to judge people on their voice, as a personal thing :P.
But i want to ask you - Do you think it would be a fun idea (after gaining at least 10 subs) to do something like a Q&A on special days? Just a idea.
For sure, Q&A's are great! I think the more involved your viewers are, the better. A full on Q&A might take a little more than 10 subs though, unless they all have tons of questions. Even asking questions in a video and responding to comments in the next video is a good way to connect with your audience.
The Meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything.
Join Date:
6/29/2014
Posts:
167
Member Details
Thanks, I've been trying to fix the game noise issue since the beginning but never found a solution. I wasn't sure about the video since I woke up and decided to do it when my family was quiet. Thanks again!
Well to state the obvious, the game sounds are so much louder than you are that it almost completely drowns out your voice. I can't really hear most of what you say. Which is amazing since the master volume was at 4%?!? Even when you turned it down to 1% your voice was still quiet. You should move closer to the mic, boost the gain, or amplify it in editing.
I'll tell you what I told FatherUnicorn too: the audience wants to know what you're planning to do, both in this episode and in the series as a whole. How many minecraft let's plays start off with punching trees and collecting the basic resources? Pretty much all of them. So why should someone watch you do it too? What makes your series worth watching? This is what you have to ask yourself every time you sit down to make a video.
Sometimes you just start doing things that don't make sense at first. Why are we walking over here? Why are you digging into the side of this hill? Why are you placing these blocks? Most of us play this game already so we can kind of figure out pretty quickly that you're building a house, but it would make the viewing experience a lot better if you explain your actions before or as you do them.
A pet peeve of mine is when something interesting is happening in the background of a video that the player completely ignores. At about 5:30 to the end of the video there are TONS of zombie sounds coming from underneath you, which probably means there's a spawner right beneath your house! Go check it out!!
You ask for a lot of audience feedback and input, but you have to give them something to respond to first. You have to do more than just ask for people to talk to you. They don't know you yet, so why should they tell you how their life is going? As the video maker, you have to initiate that conversation. Share an interesting story or something that will make people want to respond.
After watching your video, I agree with some of the comments you made about yourself, but I don't necessarily think that off camera work is a bad thing, especially if it's particularly tedious or old hat. There's a lot of grinding in modded series and it's nice to just see the progress without all the sweat behind it.
Don't forget to consider new viewers (the guys that are seeing any random episode of yours for the first time). I can understand well enough what you're doing, but is there a larger goal you are working towards that you've stated in past episodes? It would be nice to let new viewers know what the big plan is (and to remind old viewers as well).
@FatherUnicornMC:
First of all, I'm impressed that you were able to save the bat lol!
When you're starting a caving episode, there are a couple things you've got to consider. First, we've seen and done exactly what you're doing many times before. Second, it's pretty grindy except for the few moments of excitement (creepers, unexpected falls, etc.) So right off the bat, the audience pretty much knows how the episode is going to go, so there's not much reason to watch. This means that you have to MAKE a reason to watch. A lot of people tell stories about themselves to build a rapport with the viewers, some people work in an interesting twist to caving to make it something new. It would be a good idea to have something like this ready to go when you jump into the caves.
If you don't want to turn the floor into obsidian, don't! Do something creative instead, maybe build a path along the edge of the lava lake. Never pass up a chance to do something creative and different, especially on camera!
@Espie23:
First impression: why do I want to watch someone play minecraft if they're bad at minecraft?
So the title kind of tells us what you're going to talk about during the episode (and a dark topic indeed) but you don't really tell us what you're planning on doing during the episode and how this episode fits into the series as a whole besides the little progress updates at the beginning.
The video is kind of dark (in addition to the commentary) probably because your in-game brightness setting is pretty low. Things on youtube tend to look darker than when you play, so consider turning up the brightness for cavey episodes. I wouldn't call too much attention to your little voice cracks. Just let 'em go.
I'm not going to criticize the commentary itself too much because that's kind of personal taste, but just be wary of sharing your opinions or suppositions as facts.
Thanks for sharing your videos, and thanks to the other guys who are sharing their criticisms and suggestions too, keep up the good work everyone!
The Meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything.
Join Date:
10/31/2010
Posts:
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Member Details
I was messing around with Youtube's video enhancements, and had no idea until you mentioned it that it made the caves so dark, yikes. Won't be doing that again, haha. Thanks for the feedback!
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Minecraft Let's Play / Competitive Pokemon Battles / Other things??
Your video's audio is lower than most videos on youtube, as in the whole thing. Not necessarily bad, just an observation.
I appreciate your clear enunciation. The explanation about the mic issue was a bit long, which isn't a terrible thing, but you could go ahead and start doing things pertinent to the video during this sort of chatter. Asking about your viewers is a good idea, but you might want to be more specific than just asking how they're doing. I think that people generally want to answer more specific and more provocative questions.
So how does this episode fit into the continuity of your series as a whole? This may be obvious to someone who has seen the previous episodes recently, but I'm guessing you would like to attract new viewers, so try to consider what they would like to see. You mention your base a bit but we don't get to see it. In general consider having changes of scenery instead of keeping the whole video in the same place. It will help keep your audience interested.
Your video in the darker caves is pretty hard to see, (I told Espie23 the same thing) consider boosting your brightness level.
Ok let's turn the tables! Here's a video I made a couple days ago, let me know what you guys think! Don't hold back now
Some tips to boost your audio quality: the best thing is to invest in a quality mic. If you are strapped for cash at the moment, try to get very close to your mic so that it pics up the full spectrum of frequencies of your voice. This will also allow you to turn down the gain which will reduce outside noise.
Speaking of outside noise, everyone should have audacity (or a comparable audio editing program, but audacity is totally free). Audacity has an excellent noise removal plugin that can basically eliminate noise from computer fans and other white noise in the background. I also like to add a bit of compression, it boosts some of the things I say quietly to a more audible level.
You should also do whatever you can to get your framerate up to at least 30fps while recording. Turn down the render distance, allocate more ram to minecraft, close background programs that task the cpu, all of these things should help.
My goal with this thread is to create a community where you can find and give real, honest, and critical feedback to new let's players who are looking to take their videos to the next level. It is my hope that everyone will treat this with maturity, and will understand that criticism is meant to inform and help the creator, NOT to inflate their ego with false praise or to demoralize with unhelpful insults.
You are encouraged to post your videos here only if you are comfortable receiving serious constructive criticism. And if you are giving criticism, please don't say it unless you mean it! Things like "nice video, keep it up" are not really constructive, they just give the creator the vague notion that you kind of liked it, yet it didn't have a meaningful impact.
Be specific! What did you like exactly? What didn't you like? Where in the video did you lose interest? Why? What would you like to see more of? Less of? The answers to these questions are what will really help content creators the most, so put some serious thought into it, and don't be afraid of hurting people's feelings. The people seeking feedback here recognize that they have room for improvement, so please be open and honest!
And to those of you looking to post videos, please realize that you are asking the critics to take 15, 20, 30 minutes of their time to devote to watching and critiquing your content, so put your best foot forward! The forums are filled to bursting with stacks on STACKS of uninspired series that are very similar to each other, so ask yourself, why would someone want to watch this instead of watching a different series? What makes me unique and interesting in the crowded sea of youtube?
I look forward to seeing everyone's work, so don't be afraid to post some videos or share your thoughts on the videos of others!
Cheers!
P Town
P.S. to get the ball rolling, I'll include a video of my own for you to critique
So regarding your audio, I couldn't really hear any game sounds. I think you're picking it up a little bit with your voice mic, but it would be nice to hear the game sounds in a dedicated channel (this will also make it easier to edit and balance the game sounds with your voice.) Some people like them pretty low, I kind of like to hear them pretty loud and clear. For your voice, it's best to be pretty close to the mic. The closer you are, the more of the lower frequencies it will pick up, which will make your voice sound fuller. Without those low frequencies, your voice can sound thin or far away. Also, don't be afraid to project a bit more and breathe deeply when you speak.
As for gameplay, we as an audience generally like to hear what the video is going to be about in the first few minutes. Check out guys like Etho and Doc, and they tell you the plan for the episode almost immediately. This also helps give the video a focus and will help keep the audience interested (and it will help keep you focused too!) I would also like to hear more plans about the series in general. What will make this series stand out among the rest? Having guests sounds like a neat idea, what kind of things are you planning on doing with these guests? These are the kinds of things the audience would like to hear you talk about too!
If you're going to include collecting resources in the video, caving is generally more interesting than cutting mineshafts. It's riskier, which means more interesting for the video.
Oh and I almost forgot, I think you should say your name right at the beginning!
But i want to ask you - Do you think it would be a fun idea (after gaining at least 10 subs) to do something like a Q&A on special days? Just a idea.
Eyyyyy hope its good?
I'll tell you what I told FatherUnicorn too: the audience wants to know what you're planning to do, both in this episode and in the series as a whole. How many minecraft let's plays start off with punching trees and collecting the basic resources? Pretty much all of them. So why should someone watch you do it too? What makes your series worth watching? This is what you have to ask yourself every time you sit down to make a video.
Sometimes you just start doing things that don't make sense at first. Why are we walking over here? Why are you digging into the side of this hill? Why are you placing these blocks? Most of us play this game already so we can kind of figure out pretty quickly that you're building a house, but it would make the viewing experience a lot better if you explain your actions before or as you do them.
A pet peeve of mine is when something interesting is happening in the background of a video that the player completely ignores. At about 5:30 to the end of the video there are TONS of zombie sounds coming from underneath you, which probably means there's a spawner right beneath your house! Go check it out!!
You ask for a lot of audience feedback and input, but you have to give them something to respond to first. You have to do more than just ask for people to talk to you. They don't know you yet, so why should they tell you how their life is going? As the video maker, you have to initiate that conversation. Share an interesting story or something that will make people want to respond.
Also this is my part 2, I still haven't fixed the audio issues, but it could still use some criticism
After watching your video, I agree with some of the comments you made about yourself, but I don't necessarily think that off camera work is a bad thing, especially if it's particularly tedious or old hat. There's a lot of grinding in modded series and it's nice to just see the progress without all the sweat behind it.
Don't forget to consider new viewers (the guys that are seeing any random episode of yours for the first time). I can understand well enough what you're doing, but is there a larger goal you are working towards that you've stated in past episodes? It would be nice to let new viewers know what the big plan is (and to remind old viewers as well).
@FatherUnicornMC:
First of all, I'm impressed that you were able to save the bat lol!
When you're starting a caving episode, there are a couple things you've got to consider. First, we've seen and done exactly what you're doing many times before. Second, it's pretty grindy except for the few moments of excitement (creepers, unexpected falls, etc.) So right off the bat, the audience pretty much knows how the episode is going to go, so there's not much reason to watch. This means that you have to MAKE a reason to watch. A lot of people tell stories about themselves to build a rapport with the viewers, some people work in an interesting twist to caving to make it something new. It would be a good idea to have something like this ready to go when you jump into the caves.
If you don't want to turn the floor into obsidian, don't! Do something creative instead, maybe build a path along the edge of the lava lake. Never pass up a chance to do something creative and different, especially on camera!
@Espie23:
First impression: why do I want to watch someone play minecraft if they're bad at minecraft?
So the title kind of tells us what you're going to talk about during the episode (and a dark topic indeed) but you don't really tell us what you're planning on doing during the episode and how this episode fits into the series as a whole besides the little progress updates at the beginning.
The video is kind of dark (in addition to the commentary) probably because your in-game brightness setting is pretty low. Things on youtube tend to look darker than when you play, so consider turning up the brightness for cavey episodes. I wouldn't call too much attention to your little voice cracks. Just let 'em go.
I'm not going to criticize the commentary itself too much because that's kind of personal taste, but just be wary of sharing your opinions or suppositions as facts.
Thanks for sharing your videos, and thanks to the other guys who are sharing their criticisms and suggestions too, keep up the good work everyone!
I feel like I've come across your channel before...
I appreciate your clear enunciation. The explanation about the mic issue was a bit long, which isn't a terrible thing, but you could go ahead and start doing things pertinent to the video during this sort of chatter. Asking about your viewers is a good idea, but you might want to be more specific than just asking how they're doing. I think that people generally want to answer more specific and more provocative questions.
So how does this episode fit into the continuity of your series as a whole? This may be obvious to someone who has seen the previous episodes recently, but I'm guessing you would like to attract new viewers, so try to consider what they would like to see. You mention your base a bit but we don't get to see it. In general consider having changes of scenery instead of keeping the whole video in the same place. It will help keep your audience interested.
Your video in the darker caves is pretty hard to see, (I told Espie23 the same thing) consider boosting your brightness level.
Ok let's turn the tables! Here's a video I made a couple days ago, let me know what you guys think! Don't hold back now
please do mine!
Some tips to boost your audio quality: the best thing is to invest in a quality mic. If you are strapped for cash at the moment, try to get very close to your mic so that it pics up the full spectrum of frequencies of your voice. This will also allow you to turn down the gain which will reduce outside noise.
Speaking of outside noise, everyone should have audacity (or a comparable audio editing program, but audacity is totally free). Audacity has an excellent noise removal plugin that can basically eliminate noise from computer fans and other white noise in the background. I also like to add a bit of compression, it boosts some of the things I say quietly to a more audible level.
You should also do whatever you can to get your framerate up to at least 30fps while recording. Turn down the render distance, allocate more ram to minecraft, close background programs that task the cpu, all of these things should help.