Any ideas for winter uploads?

[Guest]

As for me, today I'm going to shoot the first 20 seconds of a video in the shop, then I'll say "It's cold, let's do this inside" and do the bulk of it the rest of the video in the house. I'll conclude with a quick 15 second outro back in the shop. That's it.

You don't have to be on your bike to make motorcycle content. In my case I don't even have to be near the bike as long as I have the parts and tools I need indoors.

Keep in mind there are other ways to work on your channel that don't involve uploading. Imagine you could make your worst videos get 20% views? That's what I'm doing.

Three weeks I changed 20 of my worst performing thumbnails. They went from an average CTR of 3.25% to an average CTR of 4%. That's 23% more views!

Once I have a full month of data on what worked and what didn't, I'm going to go back and change another 20-40 thumbnails.

I also have another project which is just writing 20 scripts before mid-March. It's a big job. It's also why 4 of my last 5 videos have been under 4 mins, compared to my usual 7-10 minute videos. Getting myself set up for when the temperatures get back above freezing.

 

[Baldbiker]

Sure thing Adrian. Your vids deal a lot with gear and accessories, so I thought you may have some input on this one:

 

[Guest]

Sure thing Adrian. Your vids deal a lot with gear and accessories, so I thought you may have some input on this one:

Thoughts and timestamps:

0:50 to 1:50 nothing really happens that would harm your story if you cut it out. Especially since right after this you explain that you were looking at your map. Anything over 15 seconds that doesn't add value to my video I try to cut.

5:38 to 6:08 you've said basically one sentence in these 30 seconds, I would cut cut cut

7:36 you ask for comments and suggestions and haven't spoke in a while. No more mic, I know, but that makes a watcher think "ok this is over" and want to click away, meanwhile there's 2 minutes of footage left. May want to do a voiceover to speed things up.

Ok, that's all minor stuff, I think the real thing here is there isn't an overarching story to tie this together.
We could call this video "9 minutes of a stranger riding a motorcycle in the rain" - we don't know who you are, what you're riding, how you got there, or where you need to be. You're a stranger riding in the rain, a bad time, the end.

What separates a stranger from a hero? A story!

Think of the traditional three act play. Act 1: Setup, Act 2: Confrontation, Act 3: Resolution.

Act 1: Setup
introduce yourself, where you are, how you got there, and what the problem is (387 km from home, gotta get home from work, nothing but rain in all directions, because of covid i can't even find temporary shelter)

You don't even have to film this before you leave, you can film this 5 weeks later from a strip club, as long as you have a motorcycle helmet in the shot and stick the clip at the start of the video, no one will know or care.

Act 2: Confrontation
You have this in spades. You're facing sideways rain, you're dealing with a lot of splashing in your face, you have fogging issues, visibility is garbage, the weather is miserable, you can't even stop inside to drink a coffee and warm up, the view from inside your helmet shows us the struggle is real.

You've got this part down, the problem is, you're missing the before and after.

Act 3: Resolution
This you film, dripping wet, outside your home, looking like a wet but proud dog. It's your conclusion and your triumph.

"This was supposed to be a 4 hour ride, it took me 18.5 hours. No accidents, but at one point the rain was so bad that a cow got washed through a fence and flooded into the car behind me! Hit subscribe for more adventures! If you guys have any ideas what to do about my helmet being a PITA, please let me know. Thanks for watching, I'm gonna go take a hot shower."

~~~~~~~~~~

Your entire film was ACT 2. I think if you hacked it down, and shot an ACT 1 and ACT 3, it would have made this a complete start-to-finish story, instead of just "9 minutes of a stranger riding a motorcycle in the rain".

People don't like strangers. They like heroes. Heroes have stories. Be a hero. It's written on your camera anyway

 

[Baldbiker]

Well thank you Adrian for the analysis and breakdown, critique of the video. It's not really what I was going for when I asked you to give it a view but I certainly appreciate the effort you put into all the advice, and I shall certainly take it to heart.

What I was really kind of hoping for was some advice on what gear, products, techniques you would have used for such an issue, since you like to cover those sorts of topics. Something like "I have used furniture polish and found it to work very well!" lol. but it's ok I always love a good constructive critique too.

I should give a little background on that video since you brought up the lack of engagement it has. The video was really just a slap together of some extra footage I had left over from the trip. I thought it would make some extra content and address the serious and dangerous fogging issues I was having. I managed to get a good 10 minutes together so it made for a makeshift bonus episode. Had I cut as much as you suggested from my limited footage I had, it would have been a 3 to 5 minute video tops, and I like to shoot for 10.

Yes, I do agree that the focus in future videos should perhaps have more of a "plot". Like you said, a beginning, a focus goal, engagement and execution of that goal with conclusion at the end. See, I told you that you could teach a course in this stuff!

I could give some examples of successful vloggers that do just that. Sabbatical, Bald and Bankrupt, Itchy Boots, they all start the video with introduction and/or teaser, a statement of focus (where I'm going and what I want to do today) , execution (doing what they said they were going to do, or at least trying) and conclusion (that little talk about how the day went at the end) Definitely a plot line for sure. If you have these things you have a good content formula for sure I agree and I think I will definitely give that a shot in the upcoming season.

Up until now the vids I've been putting up are mostly "the continuation of the trip" where you could pretty much just string the whole series together and you have one trip, without separate goals. Covid makes it more difficult to find new goals as everywhere I go everything has been closed, but hopefully things loosen up soon so we can get some great new content.

Again, I always welcome reviews and feedback on my videos and truly appreciate it!

 

[Guest]

Oh. Totally misunderstood what you were asking for! lol sorry. Damn. Could have saved myself a lot of time haha. *facepalm*

When I worked in a dealership, Studio Cycle in Toronto, there was some guy from Newfoundland who would come by once a year and sell us a bunch of some product his family made. I have no idea what it was, but all I know is it worked so well, we just kept buying it.

You could try giving them a call and seeing what they recommend these days. That was a while ago. They would know better than me!

Had I cut as much as you suggested from my limited footage I had, it would have been a 3 to 5 minute video tops, and I like to shoot for 10.

But who do you make them for though? Are you making them for you or for your audience?

 

[Baldbiker]

I understand the argument about video length. There are all kinds of 5 second videos out there that have hundreds of thousands of views. (Usually some hot girl in a bikini) Not that I spend my time watching those... not at all...well.. maybe a little...

 

[Guest]

YOu posted another video last night asking for feedback, looks like you deleted it though?
I watched it but it was late so I figured I'd share my thoughts today... Basically I thought it flowed way better than the previous one. I would have ended it as soon as you got back to your motorcycle because it's two different stories, the railway part and the riding part, and they weren't tied together.

[EDITED BY ADMIN AS PER BELOW POST]

This video is one I made that gets around not wanting to work out in the shop in the cold.
Out of a 6:36 video, only half was in the cold. The rest I set myself up so I could shoot indoors.
The cold shop shots were done on three separate takes, so I was able to run out, shoot a minute of footage in just a hoodie, and run back inside, even though the temperature was below freezing.

 

[Baldbiker]

The video was actually moved to another thread by the admin. I don't think Hippo likes it when we start linking our vids all over the site, so he moved it there where I was supposed to tag you in it there for any comments. However, I don't know how to tag you on this website so it kind of stayed there.

Anyways, I get the idea. As always, I like the feedback, lots of food for thought. It's the only way we get better is to listen.

P.S. You should get some heat in your shop!

 

[Guest]

Ah, got it.

Got heat, but it's a noise versus temperature battle, especially when it's -15 C out like it is right now.

If I had my burners going while I was filming the videos would all sound terrible.

What I might do for some upcoming how to videos is just record everything, but work in silence, and voice over in editing... Only way I can have my cake and eat it too until spring.

 

[Baldbiker]

I need to have some sort of inspiration to just do a non-riding type video. I need some sort of plan, else it would just be me rambling on in the garage. I'm working on it, when it comes to me I'll grab the camera!

 

[HippoDrone]

If you want feedback on a video, please put it in the members vlogs section, the reason the original video was allowed here is because @Adrian asked you to post it, I will delete all the others. For clarity, videos go in the members vlogs section, and you can use the drop down to select "Feedback Required" for in the title if you want a critique on it. If you wish to show examples of a vlog you have done in a certain way, again, post them in the members vlogs section, and then cut and past the url of that thread into where you wish it to be seen, not the video. Ta all... I am just trying to moderate fairly across the board here so new members don't get confused on the rules.

 

[Guest]

aaaaaaalllll good!

 

[Baldbiker]

No problem, sorry for stepping out of bounds!

 

[HippoDrone]

no one stepped out of bounds, it is just the forum rules (I didn't set them) require things doing slightly differently. I am hoping to sit down at some point and re write the rules, and if approved by the forum owner, may make this sort of stuff a little easier and certainly less confusing. The rules are hard to follow, as they are different in different sections of the forum. I need to make it clearer and easier for you all to have a better forum, it is on the cards, but for now, we have what we have!

 

[Motogato]

Hey Baldbiker,
I hope all is good your way.

I know many on here have mentioned back logging videos, but you could also try going through your videos and doing edits. Some videos with edits could be, 2021 recap, a compilation video of funny moments, good riding, ect..

Hope that can give a bit of inspiration.

Cheers and safe riding!

 

[Baldbiker]

Hey Baldbiker,
I hope all is good your way.

I know many on here have mentioned back logging videos, but you could also try going through your videos and doing edits. Some videos with edits could be, 2021 recap, a compilation video of funny moments, good riding, ect..

Hope that can give a bit of inspiration.

Cheers and safe riding!

I like the way you think and I'm actually ahead of you because I thought of the same thing, then put a twist on it by comparing two past trips. It actually came together quite nicely into a pretty good upload for the channel! You can check it out on my channel if you like. I just uploaded it a few days ago.

 

[Baldbiker]

no one stepped out of bounds, it is just the forum rules (I didn't set them) require things doing slightly differently. I am hoping to sit down at some point and re write the rules, and if approved by the forum owner, may make this sort of stuff a little easier and certainly less confusing. The rules are hard to follow, as they are different in different sections of the forum. I need to make it clearer and easier for you all to have a better forum, it is on the cards, but for now, we have what we have!

Learn something new every day. I thought you were the forum owner and administrator!

 

[HippoDrone]

nope just the caretaker!