I’ve been making YouTube videos since I was 12 years old. None of them are anything to brag about. They are mostly just compilations of outfits I created using an online fashion website called Polyvore, but I have managed to get over 70,000 views:
As years have passed, I’ve taken video production classes and I’ve gotten better video editing software, and the quality of my videos has gotten better. I don’t have any kind of upload schedule, and videos come out at random intervals, but with every video I make I think I get just a bit better at video editing. Video editing is something that I really enjoy, and I think that a lot of it is definitely related to art. Just think of all of your favorite movies. The pace of the movie, the graphics, the scene changes, the credits, the filter, etc. all were a product of the editing. Here is a youtube video that highlights how one of the most popular movies of all time, Star Wars, only became the masterpiece we all know today because of incredible editing:
How Star Wars was saved in the edit
A video essay exploring how Star Wars’ editors recut and rearranged Star Wars: A New Hope to create the cinematic classic it became. Check out more essays at http://youtube.com/rjfilmschool Written by David Welch (@watsonwelch) Narrated and Edited by Joey Scoma (@joey2meals) References: Deleted Magic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2r4Nffrc6Y&t=1585s Deleted Scenes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f00IkrWvur4 Harmy’s Star Wars: Despecialized Edition https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHfLX_TMduY&t=201s Empire of Dreams https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw_VeZk_q0U More awesome videos at RocketJump.com!
They say the best way to get better at something is to practice, so if I ever want to be half as good of an editor as Marcia Lucas was when she edited Star Wars, I’m going to have to practice, and I have been. Today I wanted to document the progress I have made through video editing, and show my process for creating a new video.
My Progress
Visit my channel Here
2012
The first video I ever made is called “Cute middle school and highschool outfits”. Yes, I spelled “high school” wrong, but I was only 12 at the time when I uploaded this video on September 16th 2012. It’s really really bad. All I did was search “cute outfits” on google then I used an app to put them in a slideshow. The quality is awful, none of the outfits were actually made by me, and there is no music. I don’t know why anyone would want to watch it, but it currently has over 19 thousand views.
Just by the thumbnail you can tell that it isn’t going to be a good video. Half of the screen is just black bars. A lot of old YouTube videos have black bars on the side since they changed the dimensions a few years ago, but I don’t think the video player was ever a square shape, so that means that this video was always the wrong size. Why does this video have so many views? I have no idea. My main theory is that a lot of middle schoolers watch it since it has the word “middle school” in the title, and a lot of middle schoolers probably haven’t had a YouTube account for very long so they don’t know what a good video looks like.
If you read through the comments, you can see that most of the people who watched this video are probably about 11 years old:
I think that the fact that this awful video has thousands of views has motivated me a lot to try and make a better video that gets more views, but so far it is still the most popular video on my channel.
Watch it here:
Cute middle school and highschool outfits
Cute outfits for grades 7-12
2013
My second most popular video was made on September 22nd, 2013, and it is called “Cute and Cheap Autumn Outfits”. This one is definitely better than the first one, but it still isn’t great.
Right off the bat you can see some very major improvements. I actually spelled every word in the title correctly, and the thumbnail makes you want to maybe click on the video. That girl isn’t me and none of the outfits look like the one she is wearing, but the photo makes it look like the video is going to be quality so people click on it. Another improvement with this video is that I actually made the outfits myself, and I included links in the description for each item that I included.
Here is a screenshot from the video:
These black bars are wayyyy smaller than the ones in my first video, so I think they are the result of YouTube changing the dimensions of the video player, and not because I suck at editing. The outfit shown is not awful, and the background and arrangement are pleasing to the eye. I also included music. It is a weird dubstep remix (but to be fair I wanted to include a song that wasn’t going to be copyrighted) and I recorded it with my phone instead of inserting the MP3 file, but it doesn’t sound awful. It isn’t the best video, but it’s a lot better than my first one, and I hope that one day it surpasses the amount of views that that one has.
Watch it here:
Cute and Cheap Autumn Outfits
All items under $50 Links to everything below 10 cute and trendy outfits that will impress all your peers during those cold Autumn days. *Outfit 1 Sweater- …
An interesting thing about this video is that it instantly started to get a good amount of views, so I tried to make another video that was similar to it. This video is called “Cute Outfits That Are Perfect For Autumn” and it came out on October 14th, 2013. It only has 462 views. That’s a lot less than the 15k+ views that my original fall outfit video had. What went wrong?
1. The Thumbnail
The outfit in the thumbnail of this video doesn’t look as nice as the outfit in my original fall video.
2. The Title
“Cute and Cheap Autumn Outfits” gets more to the point than “Cute Outfits That Are Perfect For Autumn”, and the word “cheap” makes it a lot more appealing to teenagers who don’t have that much money to spend on clothes.
3. The First Video is Just Better
There are those ugly black bars again. I also didn’t include the number of the outfits so they are harder to match with the links in the description. Also, the music in this video is just awful. It’s really bad quality of a weird song that repeats the same 5 notes over and over again. It’s also way too loud, so some one might click on the video, get blasted with awful music, and then leave. This video is also less than a minute long, so that might make it seem like it isn’t worth watching since it’s so short.
Watch it here:
Cute Outfits That Are Perfect For Autumn
All items incthe sets under $50 Links to sets below http://www.polyvore.com/autumn_outfit/set?id=100513001 http://www.polyvore.com/autmn_outfit/set?id=100513424 http://www.polyvore.com/fall_outfit/set?id=100514961 http://www.polyvore.com/fall_outfit/set?id=100514305 http://www.polyvore.com/autmn_outfit/set?id=100513707 All outfits created by me My polyvore- http://outfitsbynicole.polyvore.com/
Around this time I was really into a show called Doctor Who, and I uploaded a lot of videos featuring outfits I made for specific characters on the show:
All of this videos have gotten a decent amount of views, and I think it’s because I discovered a certain niche type of video. If you search “Autumn Outfits” on YouTube, you are going to have to scroll through hundreds of videos before you see mine. But, if you search “Rose Tyler Outfits”, my video comes up second:
Not that many people are making Doctor Who outfit videos on YouTube, but there are a decent amount of people who want to dress up like one of the characters for halloween or for a convention, so they are going to click on my video since it’s one of the only ones.
Let’s look at my most popular Doctor Who outfit video, “5 Clara Oswald Inspired Outfits (Doctor Who)”:
It has a good thumbnail and the title is straight to the point. We are off to a good start. What does the video itself look like:
There are minimal black bars on the side, I included the prices, and the clothing items actually resemble what she is wearing. I also used screenshots from the show as the background images. The music that I used was a remix that I found of the show’s theme song. This video is definitely watchable, and I have already shown major improvement in just a little over a year. The editing aspect still isn’t that great. I still basically just used an app to put a slide show together, but in all it’s not that bad.
Watch it here:
5 Clara Oswald Inspired Outfits (Doctor Who)
5 outfits inspired by the doctor who companion in seasons 7b and 8 “Clara Oswin Oswald” Links to items below (Outfit 1) Dress- …
2015
I didn’t make any videos in 2014, but in 2015 I made two videos, and one of them is the third most popular video on my channel. I uploaded “Cheap Gift Ideas for Teenage Girls” on November 27th, 2015. It currently has about 6k views.
The thumbnail looks pretty good and the title is straight to the point. These are probably the reasons why so many people chose to click on it. We’re starting off pretty good. Let’s look at a screenshot from the video itself:
Most of the gift ideas are pretty good. I included things such as fun socks, a polaroid camera, a bluetooth speaker, and decorative pillows. I’m pretty sure that these are all gifts that most people would be fine with recieving. There are a few problems though; for some reason a lot of the prices are in pounds, the black bars are back, and the entire video just looks lazy. It’s obvious that I just put text over a pink background. It doesn’t look very nice. The music that I picked was very bubbly and upbeat. I could see it being used as the background music on some virtual store for a video game or something, so that was a plus. In all, this video was okay, but it didn’t show a lot of growth since the Doctor Who videos two years prior.
Watch it here:
Cheap Gift Ideas for Teenage Girls
Cute present ideas for teenage girls that they will love. Bluetooth Duck http://www.prezzybox.com/bluetooth-duck-yellow.aspx Galaxy Pillow …
2017
I didn’t make any videos in 2016, but I started to make a lot in 2017. The first few I made were about the same quality as my Doctor Who ones. But, I finally stopped using a crappy app on my phone to edit videos, and I instead started using Adobe Premier. I had gotten experience using this software in high school, so I was already familiar with it when I got it. The first couple of videos I made with this software were okay. I tried to go with a niche again, but I used thumbnails that I found on google, and they had black bars because I still didn’t understand how to make a video the correct dimensions. The first video that I made where I actually got things right is called “Pitch Perfect 3 – Steal Their Looks CHEAP”. It was uploaded on December 7th, 2017, and it currently has only 84 views.
This is the first video I made where I made my own thumbnail instead of just using an image I found on google. So, why doesn’t it have more views? For one, the title kinda sucks. I think that I’m actually going to change it right now. I just changed it to “Pitch Perfect 3 Inspired Outfits”, but I don’t think that is going to help it get too many more views. Why?
The movie apparently sucked. I didn’t even see it. I doubt that anyone wants to look like characters from a bad movie. I made this video before the movie came out, hoping that people would love it. They didn’t. I’ve thought about taking this video down since it hasn’t even broke a hundred views in five months, but it was kind of an editing breakthrough for me.
I finally got the dimensions right! The background is black, but there are no black bars on the side. Also, I figured out how the keep the Pitch Perfect 3 logo in the upper left corner while everything else changed. Plus the outfits resemble the ones the characters are wearing and I actually used an MP3 file for the music! I also used an actual good song. For a while I thought I might be able to make money from YouTube so I tried to not use copyrighted songs, but now I’m back to reality and I know that will never happen so I don’t care if I can’t monetize videos.
Watch it here:
Pitch Perfect 3 Inspired Outfits
Pitch Perfect 3 2017 steal their look for cheap. All items less than $55 If a product goes out of stock after this video is uploaded, I can’t do anything about that. Sorry. LINKS Make America Eat …
I really quickly want to mention another video that I made in 2017 called “Miraculous Ladybug Outfits”. It was uploaded December 10th, 2017, and it has about 250 views. Again, it is not a very popular video. I tried to go for a niche again, but Miraculous Ladybug is just too popular I guess. If you search “Miraculous Ladybug Outfits” on YouTube, my video doesn’t come up.
I also made the thumbnail for this video myself. The main reason that I’m mentioning this video is because it was the first one where I included video clips instead of just images:
That is obviously a still image, but the image to the left that has the “nick” logo is a video clip from the show. I’m pretty proud of this video. I think it looks visually appealing, the outfits match the characters pretty well, I think I did a good job on the thumbnail, I used the theme song of the show as the background music, I figured out how to include video clips, and I think that it shows a lot of improvement from my first video.
Watch it here:
Miraculous Ladybug Outfits
Miraculous Ladybug Inspired Outfits for Costumes and Cosplays. All items are CHEAP- Most under $40. Includes new Season 2 heroes. Ladybug- https://www.polyvore.com/miraculous_ladybug/set?id=231714378 Marinette- https://www.polyvore.com/marinette/set?id=231714516 Adrien- https://www.polyvore.com/adrien/set?id=231714802 Chat Noir- https://www.polyvore.com/cat_noir/set?id=231714955 Ayla- https://www.polyvore.com/alya_c%C3%A9saire/set?id=231728439 Chloe- https://www.polyvore.com/chloe_bourgeois/set?id=231730986 Nino- https://www.polyvore.com/nino_lahiffe/set?id=231731079 Queen Bee- https://www.polyvore.com/queen_bee/set?id=231715372 Ren Rouge- https://www.polyvore.com/rena_rouge/set?id=231715599 Carapace- https://www.polyvore.com/carapace/set?id=231729391
2018
I’ve made a few videos already in 2018. A few of them are okay, but none are great enough that I feel like I can talk about any progress that I’ve made. Instead I actually want to talk about a failure that I have learned not to do again. Over the past few years, I’ve been uploading videos then just kinda ignoring them for a few months. I would upload then come back later and see that it had gotten hundred of views. But now, since I really want to track my progress and see what works and what doesn’t, I’ve been checking pretty much daily to see how my videos are doing. None of them have instantly become viral, and it kind of sucks to spend hours on a video then a month later it only has like 70 views. I had an idea to go to other channels that were on the smaller side like mine and leave a comment then subscribe. I found this community of channels that subscribe and comment back, so I made sure to comment on as many of the videos of people in this community that I could find. This was a mistake. What ended up happening is that all of these people saw my comment then went to leave their own on my newest video. At the time this was a Valentine’s day outfit video I had made. What ended up happening is that this video got 22 likes (with 0 dislikes), and 29 comments, but it has barely broken 100 views. It just looks really fake.
The video itself is pretty good. No black bars, the outfits are pretty cute, I included prices, and the song isn’t half bad. The comment section just looks so fake though:
Most of the comments themselves are okay. A few make it sound like the person didn’t actually even watch the video, but most of them are fine. The problem is the number of comments. This video with 102 views has 29 comments while my Clara Oswald video with 5k views has one comment. It just looks really fake, and I don’t like that. The worst part is that all these people only commented on this one video, so it makes it look like I bought comments for this video specifically or something. I don’t like it, and I won’t make this mistake again. If my next video only gets 20 views, that’s fine. At least I’ll know that those people actually wanted to watch it.
Watch it here:
Cute Valentine’s Day Date Outfits UNDER $100
CUTE and CHEAP Date / Valentine’s day outfits, hair, and makeup for dates. Look 1- https://www.polyvore.com/valentines_look/set?id=231777677 Look 2- https://www.polyvore.com/valentines_look/set?id=231780132 Look 3- https://www.polyvore.com/valentines_look/set?id=231780584 Look 4- https://www.polyvore.com/valentines_look/set?id=231780952 Look 5- https://www.polyvore.com/valentines_look/set?id=231781378
So, Why Don’t I Include My Face in Videos?
I actually made two videos in January of 2018 that had my face, and I planned on making more, but I unlisted them and cancelled my plans for multiple reasons:
1. The Quality Was Not As Good
I don’t have a fancy camera or anything, so I was filming with my iPhone 5c, and the quality was just too bad for my standards. If I just use pictures or videos that I download from online, I can make sure that the quality is HD. I actually bought a video camera from Amazon that said it was HD to make videos, but the microphone sucked, and the quality wasn’t even better than my iPhone.
2. I Can Only Use Outfits I Own
I’m not going to go out and buy five outfits based off of a Doctor Who character for one video. That’s a lot of money. If I’m not in the video then I can just use images of the outfits from online.
3. My Teeth
This is kind of weird, but I hate how my teeth look in videos. I can’t upload a video without thinking my teeth look bad.
4. I’m Honestly Afraid That I’ll Look Stupid
I made a few videos on another channel in like 2015 that had my face. One of those videos was SOOOOO cringey. I’m not going to tell you what I said, but it got over 800 views and I’m so scared that one day I’ll be scrolling through my homepage on YouTube and I’ll see a video that is titled “Teenager Cringe Compilation” or something that has a million views and my face will be the thumbnail. If I make another video that I later realize makes me look stupid, at least I’ll feel safer since my face isn’t in it.
5. My Room
I’m currently living in a tiny dorm room that has one tiny window in a city that never gets any sun. It isn’t the best place to film.
6. I Don’t Feel Like I Need To
I think my videos might end up getting more views if I show my face, but I don’t think I need to be in it since I’m mostly focusing on my editing skills.
My Process
That was the journey of my progress through the videos that I have created. Here is the process I go through now when I have an idea for a new video:
1. Choose a Niche
Lately I’ve been trying to make videos based off very specific TV shows or movies, so that my video hopefully shows up high on a search results page for that specific thing. The problem is that I can’t just pick a random TV show to make an outfit video for without knowing anything about the show. I won’t know who the main characters are, what the character’s usual style is, etc. So recently I’ve been making videos for one of my favorite shows, Rupaul’s Drag Race. Yes, Rupaul’s Drag Race is a show about men who dress up as women, but I swear that it stops being weird after only like two episodes. The truth is that it’s a great show, and that’s why it has so many dedicated fans who might choose to search for YouTube videos about it. One of my favorite things about the show is that it showcases the talent of individuals who are often overlooked. For example, one of the show’s break-out stars Timothy Wilcots, better known by his drag name Latrice Royale, is an overweight black gay man who dresses like a woman for a living. He also has gone to prison. This description would probably make a lot of producers not want him on their show, but he’s hilarious, and a good person who has obviously learned a lot and grown since his trouble with the law. I’ve also seen him perform live twice, and he’s so much fun to watch. He’s hilarious, he puts so much emotion into his performances, and he’s amazing at color guard, which is personally appealing to me since I’m on my university’s color guard squad. I’m so happy that Rupaul’s Drag Race gave him this chance to showcase his talent when other shows might have not. Another reason why I’m drawn to the show is that every episode has a runway challenge where contestants can show off amazing outfits that they have created. Since my YouTube channel is mostly about outfits, these runways give me a lot of content that I can make videos about.
2. Make the Outfits/ Collect Images or Videos
I now make all my outfits using the website Polyvore, and if I’m basing the looks off of characters from a TV show then I usually just use google to find images of the characters. I’ll then use YouTube or the show’s website to get video clips.
3. Edit the Clips
I use Adobe Premier to edit my videos. To start off I’ll make a title screen then I’ll just drag all my images/videos in and arrange them together.
4. Chose Music
Since I don’t get enough views to make money off of my videos anyway, I don’t care if a song I pick is copyrighted. Usually all that that means is that the producer of the music will get ad revenue off my videos. It wasn’t like I was going to make any ad revenue anyway. I usually just use the theme song for a video based off of a TV show or Movie, and for some reason I’ve been into using Pentatonix songs for other videos such as my seasonal outfit videos.
5. Add transitions
I usually just use “cross dissolve” for every transition because it looks the nicest.
6. Make a thumbnail
I actually usually just use Adobe Premier to make my thumbnails because the images I want to use are usually already in there from when I used them for the video.
So there we go, that was my progress I’ve made through video editing, and my process for making a new video. This was by far the longest post I’ve ever made, and thank you so much if you actually read most of it. Once again, here is the link to my channel if you wanna check it out: