Content Recap
SWTOR Gameplay Video Pitch
So, immediately after finishing CyberGunk I wanted to open the biggest can of worms I had access to and folks, I have done that. I’m still actively working on it every chance I get, and the finish line is in sight, but man oh man.
She-Hulk Discourse
Had She-Hulk in my calendar/on the back-burner, as a possible tentpole video idea. Saw the posts about it. And then it came out, I watched it, and I thought it was actually really bad, so I managed to turn this video around in a few days.
Bonus Content
Saints Row Reboot – hot takes, unverified. the sort of thing that would have made a good entire main channel video if anyone cared about it at all.
prey, predator, and 4 half video ideas – burning a bunch of video ideas. the sort of stuff that would never make for a good main channel video.
How Lord of the Rings Screwed New Zealand
Another tentpole in the calendar, I thought there’s no way I’d be able to do anything with it because I’ve no interest in the franchise. Then I remembered “Oh yeah there’s all that labour law stuff that I’m always cross about.” And turned this around in a few days.
Bonus Content
Pitching the Next Thing to You – Pitched the next thing to you.
HUGE Star Wars Hot Takes Collection – Cooking up a video in real time really, idk if it really works as a way of doing things, but not bad. Shows my working I guess?
Ranking Every Star Wars Movie
Banal YouTube Shit.
Bonus Content
all my tentpoles gone – Talking about all the stuff I could’ve been talking about.
Andor First Impressions – Don’t remember what my first impressions were, ideally they line up with my current impressions. Good show, lets get some content out of it.
blonde good
Pretty happy with this one. Simple. Could have pushed it further. Absolutely sucks for it to be my most recent video before getting Viral Attention.
Bonus Content
Making Spaceships Procedurally – Found some silly shit to get into for a bit.
Procedural Spaceships: Cockpit Generator – Got really into it.
Jack Antonoff
The Internet’s Top Jack Antonoff Hater DESTROYED
For a while I’ve been trying to figure out how to do a more personal, narrative-driven, character-focused video in a way that isn’t contrived.
This whole thing (being slightly misinterpreted as a person) did initially genuinely stress and upset me. I was pretty stumped for what to do off the back of it. So you can imagine my surprise and excitement to see a guy suggesting I were a sexist in an article. After that it all clicked together pretty quick (1-2 weeks).
I feel like I could’ve pushed it further, and its like 1 week more work away from being *actually good* but, I’m pretty happy with it.
Bonus Content
How Does He Do It: freak of nature can guess if jack antonoff produced a song – The immediate, knee jerk, elaboration video. Fine.
Black Country, New Road’s New Material, Review – A not very good re-recording of a very good bonus video that I lost.
elontwitter – elontwitter
The Tyson Ritter Incident – Another story with a similar flavour to the Jack Antonoff stuff
What’s Next?
Since the release of CyberGunk, I wanted to do fortnightly topical tentpole slop, and weekly website content. I don’t know if I’ve ever managed that exactly, but I’ve been consistently within 1-2 days of it. It’s been good. I’ve been able to achieve some fast-turnaround main channel videos that I’m happy with (She-Hulk, Lord of the Rings), and I think the website content has improved for it (Saints Row, Procedural Spaceships, Elon Twitter).
Alongside that I want to be working on the next big thing, which is currently (inadvisably) my SWTOR gameplay video (soon to be something better).
Now.
This “quickly turning around slop while I work on something good” idea is based on two other ideas:
- “I’ll never be producing hit content”
- “My best bet is to play the game of the YouTube algorithm”
I’ve never been entirely sold on this, but I thought it was worth experimenting with. And now I have experimented with it. And I don’t think it’s any good. For a few key reasons:
- The quality of the average “YouTube user” is shit. I much prefer the people coming in from word of mouth or other sites
- The Jack Antonoff tweet shows that *hit content* may not be entirely unattainable for me
- And it was disastrous that my most recent video at that exact moment was “blonde good”
- I think YouTube is more my “video hosting provider” than my *platform*
- To make a video that I’m happy with I need time
“Blonde good” or “Ranking Star Wars” are fine videos, that I’m happy with. I like to imagine I’ve tackled “low-quality fast-turnaround clickbait,” with an unusual level of depth and nuance. And I personally agree with a lot of my opinions that I present. But they are almost indefensible next to my good videos.
The fast-turnaround tentpole videos that I would defend have been the ones where I’ve really had something to say going in.I always try to make something good that I can be proud of, but I think forcing out a tentpole for the sake of scheduling, has never fully worked for me.
So What?
In my calendar, the Andor finale is the next tentpole to do a video on (great show, fits the schedule, on brand). And I think I will do a video on Andor. But, I don’t think I want that to be main channel content. I’m thinking (as I did for the Obi-Wan show) I will publish that in addition, publicly, on the side channel.
This Elon Musk Twitter stuff is an area where I have unique takes (so far, unique and correct takes (congratulations me)). And I now think it’s worth taking the time to really think about that, and ideally put out one of these “good videos” next week-ish.
I have been pretty happy with a lot of my “tentpole filler content,” and very happy with a bit of it. I don’t think it’s actually bad content, so I don’t want it to go away entirely, but I’m thinking to move more of it over here to the website.
Basically, through to the end of the year: Easing off the YouTube schedule a little, but keeping up the weekly website content. With a view to improving the *quality* of both.
Oh also, I’ve been incredibly busy lately, haven’t had a lot of time for my YouTube stuff, and on top of that I’ve set up a community area on the website lol.
Cheers,
Caleb Gamman