Simple Editing in Quicktime

Hello YouTube family! Andrew (Strugsnotdrugs) here.

As many of you may already know, there have been some exciting developments in the Apple camp – especially with their recent release of Mac OSX Lion, or technically known as “10.7”. I want to share with you some sweet details about this new operating system for you Mac users out there, and how these features come in handy for your YouTube video editing and posting.

Behold the mighty Quicktime.

I feel that Quicktime is a really powerful media player that is growing to handle more and more tasks than only playing back your video. With the release of Lion, it is now possible to make simple movies without even opening your video editor.

Am I crazy? Definitely not! Building on top of the ability to ‘trim’ videos in Snow Leopard, Quicktime 10.1 now supports ‘merge’ which effectively allows you to adjoin your Quicktime compatible videos together.

I have three files that I want to merge together, and edit each clip’s ‘in & out’ points. I then want to upload the video to YouTube.

By opening one movie and dragging another movie on top in Quicktime, the video timeline shrinks up to make space for inserting the new video.

Double-clicking on a clip will open the ‘trim’ dialogue. Here you can shorten your clip by determining ‘in & out’ points, and saving the trim.

Editing completed, your video is ready for exporting and uploading directly to YouTube for viewing.

I can’t wait to start editing more simply like this using Quicktime.

One can now edit together really simple videos taken on a camera-phone, or point-and-shoot camera, and have it up on YouTube in no time.

There are some other great new features in Quicktime like the ability to rotate your videos and save them again. You can now also screen-capture sections of your screen for making easy video tutorials also – a feature I’m sure to use in the future to teach about editing.

One note I will make about the Quicktime ‘merge’ feature however, is that it is highly recommended that you merge together videos that are of the same resolution. Mixing different resolutions may result in your video being zoomed in, and ultimately crop out the peripheral video detail.

Hope this helps you edit your videos more efficiently in the future.

Happy explorations in the new Mac OSX Lion!

- Andrew

Tips&Tricks: The Social Network?

Hey guys its Tofu (theTofushow) here with a little something I learnt about YouTube. While the core mechanic of YouTube is to Host and share creative content uploaded by the person, YouTube has a side function of sorts and that is Networking.

Networking on YouTube has a purpose. While it isn’t easily assessable like twitter or Facebook it is crucial to the whole “YouTuber experience”. It breaks down the walls between YouTubers regardless of place, style of content or even culture. This is not only beneficial for popularity (bringing others viewers to your channel) but is also really good for building a social community (as Ryan (TheRyanLamont) can attest).

How to network you ask? Easy, subscribing, commenting and private messaging are good ways to start. Personally if I wanted to talk to another YouTuber I would subscribe and send them a PM. An important thing to remember is (as horrible as this sounds) that you aren’t trying to get the person to look at your channel, as much as just trying to talk. I’ll put it like this, how many times have you got a spam email sharing some random video?

Lets look at what’s stopping Networking. Personally I think that the only thing that stops me from contacting somebody is me. If we think about it like that, then the only thing stopping a response is the other person and their role in YouTube. If I sent an email to someone insanely popular like Tobuscus then the chances of me getting a reply are insanely small, simply because of the amount of other doing the same as I. It is in this way that it seems that popularity is stopping Networking. But is this really the case? I don’t think so, to me it seems like a Youtuber’s popularity has little to do with whether a person networks or not.

In any case networking is important. So do it. And honestly, who doesn’t want more friends?

Thanks for reading

~Tofu

Tips&Tricks: Commenting

Hey guys, Ryan (TheRyanLamont) here with another wee Tips&Tricks article for you all to read. Something that I’ve noticed in the NZYT community recently is the lack of commenting. Whether it be on a blog post or a video, people tend to watch and/or read and then click on the next video. But this prevents you from building that connection with the person whose videos you’re watching, or blogs you’re reading.

Now there are many benefits to commenting, with the main one being the bond you can build through them. When you leave a comment on someone’s video or blog, you are showing your appreciation. People love comments! it makes them feel appreciated and valued by their readers or viewers. When someone takes the time to leave a comment on your video or blog, it really brightens that person’s day. So be sure to leave a comment on the next blog you read or video you watch, since you never know what might come out of it. You might start a conversation that will really improve your relationship with someone, or you might find out something interesting about a person you don’t know too well. Comments show your appreciation to someone and improve relationships – so be sure to comment!

Another benefit of commenting is it gets you known. I’m sure we all have those subscribers who comment on all our videos, and we all like them and appreciate them a lot for commenting, and recognise them. I remember when I first joined NZYT under the username TheNewZealandishBrit. I hadn’t uploaded a video or spoken to any NZYT’ers, but everyone knew of me and had subscribed to my channel before I posted my first vlog. How? I quite simply commented on all the videos I watched. When someone starts commenting on lots of NZYT videos, the NZYT community will notice you, and will be curious enough to check out your channel and perhaps subscribe. So if you’re a video maker who is just starting out, or someone who wants to become more involved or known in the community, then commenting on lots of videos from the NZYT community can get you that exposure. But don’t leave rubbish comments, be sure to actually interact with the person whose video you’re commenting on.

So commenting:

-It builds and/or strengthens the relationship between you and the vlogger/blogger

-It shows that you appreciate the effort the person has put into their video/blog

-It can get you good exposure in the community

But be careful with commenting. Be sure not to become a person who is known as a ‘spammer’, who simply comments rubbish on everyone’s videos. Since doing such a thing will get you exposure, but for the wrong reasons. Instead of being welcomed into the community, you’ll be quickly shunned. So be sure to leave respectful, positive and constructive comments on people’s videos and you’ll gain a variety of benefits from it.

Thanks for reading guys!

-Ryan Lamont

Tips&Tricks: Channel Projection

Hey guys, Felix (ImJustFelix) here and I’m going to give you a few tips on Channel Projection.

I may not be the most subscribed in New Zealand but I think I know a thing or two about it that has worked well for my previous youtube accounts.

Socialising

It’s difficult to get a big channel by being in your own little world. Make a few YouTube Friends by engaging with NZYT or by making a Twitter. It will really help & it’s nice to have connections from many countries.

Collabs

Collaborative videos can be a great help for bringing two or more fanbases together. Include people in your videos. Even though it seems like you’re just promoting them you will probably get noticed by quite a few of their subscribers over time through related videos. The person or people included may tweet about or favourite the video too.

Here are a few old NZYT Collab videos if you need inspiration :)

Controversial VLogs

Fights are usually bad but with Videos debate can be healthy. Think of something recent and/or somewhat popular and just post a video saying your opinions on it. While a few people are having a little war in the comments you’ll shoot up to Most Discussed & Most Viewed Videos in New Zealand. It’s best not to do topics some people are really attached to such a Religion & Politics, but hating on Justin Bieber doesn’t matter.

Cheers for reading guys,

-Felix.

Tips&Tricks: Video Regularity

Hey guys Ryan (TheRyanLamont) here with another set of Tips&Tricks for you! First of all I’d like to thank Marc (BarkMarc) for submitting the first Tips&Tricks post about ‘Equipment basics’. I shall be posting links to all these helpful posts in the Tips&Tricks tab at the top of t he site, building a wee directory of helpful information for all you NZYT’ers. So today I shall be writing about video regularity!

Now there are a few ways of doing this, each with their own pros and cons:

DAILY POSTING

Now daily posting works well for some (E.g. SHAYTARDS) but for others it can be a painful way to find out that no one wants to watch you that much. To post daily is quite the feta, and to do it successfully is even harder. You nee dot have a varied and interesting life for this to work well. If you simply vlog in front of your computer everyday in a monotone voice, no one will watch you. But let’s take Shay Carl from the SHAYTARDS for an example. He is very funny and entertaining, and has four adorable kids and a beautiful wife, along with his other family members who are also very entertaining. Shay also travels a lot and does a load of awesome things with his family. He has the entertainment factor form him and his entire family, plus the cut factor form his kids and pets, and the hot factor form his wife and sister. He then uses alluring titles and thumbnails to pull in people to view his extremely long videos (15-35 minutes). So you need a lot to be successful with daily vlogging – but if you’re up for the challenge, are entertaining and can bring much needed variation to your videos, then go for it!

WEEKLY POSTING

This is what a lot of partners do and other YouTubers do. It means more polished videos, vlogs, character sketches and/or parodies with this schedule. I personally use this schedule since anything more frequent means my video quality plummets since i don’t have the energy, inspiration or entertainment factor to post more frequently than that. Weekly videos mean you can also film more than once in a week and can save them up, so you don’t have that pressure to make a video above you. I’d recommend weekly videos to beginners and NZYT’ers who want to become a partner. Since to be a partner you need regular videos and this is an easily achievable routine.

WHENEVER

This is what I see a few youtubers do, and it works for some, but generally weekly or daily is much more effective. If you want to build a report with your subscribers and gain loyal viewers, then a regular schedule really helps in this process. Although some YouTubers such as CorporalCadet have gained such huge followings, that his subscribers are just happy whenever they are gifted with a video. But I would not recommend posting whenever, it only works for very few people.

So I think that covers the basics of posting, as I’ve stated I’d recommend weekly posting to the other two options. And also there are other options, Communitychannel (Australian YouTuber) for example posts every 3 days, and that works well for her. So experiment with video regularity, but try and get a routine soon! It really helps with subscriber relationships and for gaining subscribers.

Thanks for reading guys!

-Ryan Lamont