This ONE THING Can Make or Break Your Videos — Here’s How to Fix It (Video ROAST)

Time for a video ROAST (so you make better videos)! These mistakes can be avoided with a few simple changes, and will increase your videos watch time and views a LOT.

Check out my YouTube program Project 24! https://channelmakers.com/go
My thumbnail guide includes why I made the program (and what’s in it): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfieDyZq0D8

I use vidIQ on my channel: https://vidiq.com/channelmakers
This is why I use vidIQ: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gKpLNGRVlc

Chapters:
0:00 Why Roast a Video?
0:27 The Video and Channel
1:10 Intro to Roasted Video
2:08 Awkward Transition
3:10 Looong Segments
4:45 Slow Energy and Music — How?
5:45 Engagement Booster
7:04 Rapid-fire Questions
8:45 Terrible Thumbnail, How to Fix It
9:53 The BIG Failed Reveal
11:37 Nailing in the Point

Got something to share with me (feedback or an interesting YouTube find)? Go here: https://airtable.com/shre0hEysXMEeEz9g

#growonyoutube #getmorewatchtime

Legal Notice: Channel Makers is a product of Income School LLC. The “Channel Makers” name and O logo mark are trademarks of Income School LLC. Income School LLC is a limited liability company headquartered in Idaho, USA. Results mentioned not typical. No business is guaranteed to succeed, in fact, most new businesses will fail. It takes hard work, skill, and time for a new business to grow. The name “Project 24” is not a guarantee of success in 24 months, but refers to those who have a goal of creating an online business in 24 months. Some will succeed, others will not—just like any business.

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so you said you liked video roasts and

in a recent collab with dan from vidiq

he made this

so

howdy howdy everyone nate here i care a

lot about people and i never want a

video roast to feel like a personal

attack on the person so it’s definitely

not that but the video that i am going

to tear apart today does need to change

there’s a few key things that it once

changed will dramatically affect the

success and the quality of the video so

you watching this will apply to your

videos also so what is the video in

question nate you ask it is this one

this ugly duckling challenge whimsical

pet bed uniquely ursula design so this

video is about taking an ugly piece of

furniture and completely refinishing it

to make it look totally new now from the

get-go if i am totally honest 85 of this

video is doing just fine in fact a

viewership of almost 5000 views for a

channel that’s just under 800

subscribers is pretty darn good but the

thing here is the remaining 15 are the

things that just really stand out that

really need to change oh and also i

should mention that this roast is done

completely with the permission of

uniquely ursula designs because i asked

here in my youtube community for your

videos that you wanted roasted and yes

you said yes if i submit this video i am

happy with nate roasting it alright

alright but enough about that it’s roast

time

hi everyone welcome back to my channel

and welcome to my channel

and today i’m competing in the ugly

duckling challenge

where we find an ugly piece of furniture

and

repurpose it boom where are we at 12

seconds in

that was actually pretty good for a

beginning of video it’s hey everyone

welcome back to my channel this is

exactly what this video is about um i

begin this project with really well i’m

going to pause we’re not even at 30

seconds and you’re already i’m going to

begin this project you’re already into

the content that is a very solid start i

wanted to acknowledge this here and i

know i’m going to get to the roasting

here but that i just wanted to say

before 30 seconds are in we’re already

doing things and because this is a

project style of video there’s a

different set of rules than if i were

doing just a talking head or another

type of video on youtube this is a

project and people are here because they

want to see a transformation of a piece

of furniture so to get to it within the

first 30 seconds solid choice

okay here we get to the first thing that

little transition was a little bit

awkward i love the i appreciate the

effort of the transition between one and

the other a few issues the first issue

and this may just be me but when i first

saw it it looked very much like i was

doing this to the camera which we

definitely want to avoid so the way to

remedy that pull it back a little bit

angle it a little bit so it’s not a

straight up like this and then cut out a

just a few micro seconds of the

transition so when i make the snap it’s

immediate from one to the next i’m using

a dixie bell box

in clear

and i do two coats all over the whole

okay what i’m liking here is that you’re

showing what you’re using but the big

problem here is

i just want to know why like what okay

this is what i’m using but why it would

it would just enhance the uh the

engagement of this video if we put in

here hey i’m using dixie bell boss

because i tried these other ones and

this one’s the best remember this is a

project people are here they want to see

the whole event happening but they also

want to know why you used the tools that

you used all right i’m going to jump

ahead to see if you guys can pick up on

this next part here i’ve taped them and

i’m painting the vintage jacket

[Music]

[Music]

okay i can’t do it anymore i can’t that

segment of just painting with jess music

was too long there’s a few reasons for

that one is you’re doing the same thing

for the entire segment that may sound

more obvious than it is but really

listen closely here she’s doing the same

thing for the entire it’s an entire

minute a little bit over a minute

segment i know because i timed it an

entire minute of this 11 and a half

minute video is the same thing for an

entire minute straight what’s wrong with

that once we’ve gotten a sense of what’s

happening we can then confidently move

on and show the final product and

tighten it up for engagement’s sake the

exception to that here is if we want to

do a long relaxing sequence of events

usually that’s not very good for

engagement but if we do want to do that

because the audience is there for that

then what you do is you add variety in

the music this music it’s it’s free

music from the youtube library i get it

i think that the music loop is only

about one and a half to two minutes long

and if we’re going to rely on music so

heavily like in this clip it’s going to

be very very repetitive so add variety

to the music at the very least now this

is my first attempt ever and probably my

last attempt ever

on i like the commentary good commentary

good harlequin pattern

and i didn’t get a lot of footage

because no

no

get the footage if you’re gonna say

something like this was extremely

difficult oh man it would enhance this

video so much if we got the footage

because of the mistakes i made

i love the commentary here i just wish

there was more a little bit more energy

a little bit more commentary that would

just

just bump it up just a little bit make

it a bit more interesting because it’s

good but again we’re relying on the

energy of the music to pull it forward

and insider tip here if you’re ever if

you are ever relying on music to pull

the energy of a video along you’re doing

it wrong 99 percent of the time if you

are in your video and you’re editing for

example and you feel like i just need to

add some music to this the issue is not

the music and it would be greatly

enhanced if you up the energy elsewhere

before you add the music and speaking of

engagement there’s another clip i wanted

to show you to illustrate just a little

tweak that you can make to make the

engagement just a little bit better and

a little bit more interesting to an

audience let me play it for you and i

didn’t like it so

it’s going ducking

[Music]

okay i’m gonna pause right there what is

she doing she explained it wouldn’t be

sufficient without the color change

that’s great and she starts painting but

then what happens next watch this

[Music]

exactly that happens for the next while

in the video now i get it there are

times when people want to watch it’s

kind of like asmr people want to watch

you just painting something and that’s

satisfying my issue here is that we’ve

got an interesting mix of content types

and if we’re going to go with the whole

asmr like natural you know i’m making a

project and come along with me that’s

great we already talked about some of

the ways to tweak it but that’s not the

direction that i’m thinking this video

should have gone so the change that we

needed to make here is take that okay i

showed that i’m going to paint the

interior now jump to done don’t show

another whole minute of you painting the

interior or the other option here is to

show you painting a little bit at normal

speed and then speed up the footage

quite a bit until you’re finished in

fact when ursula submitted this in my

youtube community for roasting she asked

several questions i wanted to address

them rapid fire style you ready are face

on videos better than voiceovers not

always and in fact in this case it

worked just fine but if you’re talking

about taking your channel to the next

level this video would have been greatly

enhanced if you had shown your face and

talked to the camera while you were

doing the project a few times just

giving a narrative update okay i just

did this i just did the first coat now

here’s what i’m going to do next i’m

going to use this product here’s why i’m

going to use the product now back at it

and then you get back to a music

sequence because what you’re doing is

you’re combining music sequence the kind

of relaxing element with the connection

element that will build your audience

you see this piece of content up at this

point could have just been fairly

generic almost anybody could have made

that piece of content so what we’re

looking to do is add those extras just

little elements so the audience has

reasons to stay for the rest of the

content on the channel because it’s big

you can have one video take off but if

the rest of your content if you aren’t

building a core ongoing audience then it

was almost for nothing okay i meant for

that answer to be rapid fire back to the

questions is my music too loud well we

already talked about you need new music

and you need to not just loop the same

music aren’t my videos too fluffy not to

the point and along well see the rest of

this roast is my voice irritating i

didn’t find it irritating are my angles

wrong no actually it felt pretty

hands-on like i was there working on the

project with you am i too far out or too

close okay if there are detailed things

to show then yes zoom in but all the

rest of the shots seemed just fine to

the people watching this video boop the

like button so the youtube algorithm

gods are pleased why yes you should

should i build a designated filming area

for my workshed yes but only if it’s the

style that you want people with project

videos often like to see you working in

your natural habitat so to speak so they

like to see what your workspace looks

like the lighting is crap i know yeah

big issue here with the thumbnail if i

look at the thumbnail here big big big

big concern here it’s pretty it’s cutesy

which is great it’s great but oh this

thumbnail would be so enhanced if we did

a before and after like if you do a

project of this is what it looked like

before this is what it looked like after

this video is perfect for that so we’re

missing out in a big way because our

before photo is tiny way way too small

you look at this way too small the ugly

duckling text is too small as well as

it’s going to be covered up by the time

stamp here in this corner and then this

doesn’t really demonstrate what the

final product looks like as a whole so

by all accounts this is an awful

thumbnail i get it it’s cutesy but it is

not a very good youtube thumbnail what

you needed to do here was have a before

and an after before from the same angle

the same piece of furniture so you can

see framed exactly the same way here’s

before here’s after the only other way i

would take this thumbnail is if you took

just a really nasty photo showing the

before and all it’s disgusting glory and

you made the feeling or the text like oh

can i turn this into something better

because this is a big old project i

don’t know if i’m going to be able to do

it that’s the feeling i would go for

here this thumbnail does none of those

things and if we look at the audience

retention what is this right here at the

end the spike right at the end well you

can probably guess actually it is the

reveal people want to see okay it’s this

project what did it turn out like you

see we’ve got the final moments of the

video we’re finishing up some stuff we

have a final thank you and then what

happens organizing this amazing

challenge

[Music]

i get it okay it’s cute it is very well

done i am not missing the art itself

photographs

seriously you’re gonna take an entire

video show you working on the project

and then only show photographs for the

reveal

no ah that just makes me so so upset for

your sake okay

you did this whole build up and then you

threw it away

you threw away the reveal you just said

oh yeah by the way here’s some nicely

staged photographs no

what you needed to do pick up your

camera like your iphone whatever it is

pick up your camera and say all right

guys so i’ve just finished the project i

wanted to show you what i did

boom and then show it wait for that

moment that just oh look at this this is

really cool you can have your lighting

everything that’s good show it and then

say look at what i did look at how it

turned out give them a little tour of

the after effect what you did by only

showing photos is you took a huge reveal

like a 10 out of 10 reveal like this is

a big project that’s a lot of work you

did a lot of great stuff there you took

a 10 out of 10 and turned it into like a

2 out of 10. okay i know this sounds

harsh but when we’re talking about

making a good piece of content the

reveal is the most important piece of

this video if you’re doing project

videos this

we missed it okay okay i think you get

that i think you get the point i’m

nailing in there if you have an

important moment in your video make that

moment good okay there’s one other thing

i wanted to say about uniquely ursula

designs that is actually going very well

if i scroll down here every single

comment that i saw at least has a like a

heart and a reply from uniquely ursula

design so that is solid keep doing that

okay

so

i have a video coming out this next week

which represents probably a hundred or

more hours of work that’s not an

exaggeration everything that went into

it the behind scenes all of that it’s a

big video i put a ton of work into it

and it’s a video that i think will be

extremely helpful to anyone that’s

looking to build a youtube channel so i

am super excited for that if you’re

watching this video more than a week

after it’s being published the video is

going to be right here i’m going to put

it right here if you’re watching this

video right when it comes out i’m going

to give you a playlist of more video

roasts if this just tickled your video

roast fancy then you can go check out

the playlist and watch more of nate just

roasting the heck out of videos so go

watch that video next and we’ll see you

there