by Alex Langley
PROS: Early content ideas are easy to generate; easy advertising-integration opportunities; easy to get freebies
CONS: Strict requirements regarding ethical advertising; content ideas may run low if you choose a line of products that has a limited number of variants; new channels won’t get freebies from the companies they’re reviewing, so recurring costs can add up
ASMR/RELAXATION CHANNELS
Example channels: ASMRrequests, Heather Feather, Massage ASMR, GentleWhispering, GibiASMR
The autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) is a nonscientific term for a phenomenon that, despite its apparent online prevalence, is relatively unstudied. ASMR refers to a tingly, pleasing sensation moving up the spine and back of the head, often described as feeling like having your brain purr. Whether ASMR is a distinct phenomenon or something else people are confusedly mislabeling as ASMR is a matter for debate; meanwhile, the videos designed to cause ASMR are very real and very profitable.
Every night, countless insomniacs flock to YouTube looking for videos to help them punch the Sandman in his stupid face so they can get a few hours’ sleep. Such videos have a range of content to them. Some are obviously relaxing, like narrators gently explaining massage techniques as they massage someone or soothing music set over a nature scene. Some are oddly intimate, with “ASMRtists” giving first-person cranial nerve examinations, haircuts, and makeup tutorials to the camera. Some are a bit unusual, like videos of people pretending to be soft-spoken plague doctors, holodeck operators, and characters from pop culture.
PROS: Very low cost to start; only requires a single person to set up and execute; viewers are generally friendly if you’re male
CONS: Making high-quality videos requires expensive microphones; can be exhausting to do alone; can feel extremely silly and/or awkward to pretend to massage a camera or give it a haircut; hard to do if you don’t have a soothing voice; viewers are generally creepy if you’re female
MUSIC
Example channels: Smooth McGroove, Taylor Davis, OC Remix, Dwelling of Duels, Neil Cicierega*
Since the advent of the music industry, we’ve had gatekeepers at the very top dictating what sort of music others could listen to. If your sound was too weird, too experimental, or went against the grain too hard, the likelihood of eager ears ever getting to listen to it was low. Today, anyone can get their music out there, no matter how nontraditional their channel may be. Smooth McGroove performs a capella renditions of famous video game tunes, while Taylor Davis creates violin-oriented remixes of film, TV, and video game scores. Neil Cicierega has several albums of eclectic mash-ups of pop music (and what seems to be an unhealthy obsession with Smash Mouth’s “All Star”). These folks have had stirring success through their online videos, allowing them to find fans who would have never been given the chance to hear their music in years past.
PROS: Can be monetized both through videos and through sale of audio; music fans are generally pretty chill peeps
CONS: Very high skill requirement; good-looking music videos require serious work to shoot; lots of restrictions and royalty issues if you primarily post covers of other people’s songs
SHORT FILM
Example channels: RocketJump, Corridor Digital, Film Riot, Final Cut King
Thanks to the increasing power of computers (and their increased availability), it’s easier than ever for aspiring filmmakers to create the short video story brewing in their hearts. Short-film channels are often special effects–
oriented, as it’s easier to grab attention online if you’ve got something flashy to do the grabbing with. Plus the format is flexible enough to make it easier to integrate products once you start getting offers for advertising money.
PROS: Less competition due to comparatively high cost of entry; trendy short films have an easier time generating views and going viral
CONS: Making good short films is friggin’ hard, people
ANALYSIS
Example channels: Feminist Frequency, Every Frame a Painting, Pop Culture Detective, Lindsay Ellis/Nostalgia Chick, The Film Theorists/The Game Theorists
Analysis channels turn a critical eye toward their topic of choice, discussing the good and the bad, the smart and the dumb, the well known and the esoteric. These channels teach us audience members how to think critically and absorb media critically. Tony Zhou’s Every Frame a Painting, for example, generally focuses on particular film directors or cinematographic techniques to educate future filmmakers and storytellers. Anita Sarkeesian’s Feminist Frequency looks at pop culture (primarily video games) to discuss the ways in which different stories represent women.*
PROS: Fosters conversation and encourages repeat viewers who are often contemplative and conversational
CONS: Analysis channels are troll magnets that will very likely draw the jerks away from their bridges and three billy goats gruff
EDUCATION
Example channels: CrashCourse, VSauce, ASAPScience, minutephysics, TEDTalks
The ability to concisely convey complex subjects in an entertaining way is one of the most important skills a human being can have; the spread of information is what elevates us above the rest of the critters we call roommates on this big ol’ planet. If you’re someone with a strong background in research—hopefully with extensive experience in a particular field of study—and you have a knack for boiling big concepts down to their diluted essence for easy swallowing, an educational YouTube channel might be just the ticket for you.
PROS: Gains numerous views over long periods of time; helps increase the world’s general knowledge levels; helps students who are confused and desperate because they have a paper on Noh theater due in three hours and they don’t know what the hell Noh theater is
CONS: Requires a strong knowledge base; videos require a high degree of research; viewers can be argumentative beyond what’s reasonable or productive
PRANKS/SOCIAL EXPERIMENTS
Example channels: No one worth mentioning
While pranks and “social experiments” make for a somewhat popular style of YouTube channel, they also present a major problem—the people making those channels are being serious jerks and exploiting others for money. Pranking your friends and family gets old fast and will lead to their resenting you for feeling like they can never fully be at ease if you’re around.
Pranking strangers is even worse, because these strangers 1) didn’t ask to be involved with your dumb video, 2) get nothing out of being involved, and 3) are generally made out to look really foolish.
“Social experiments” are the bottom of the barrel because they’re frequently fake while having deep-rooted elements of sexism, racism, and bigotry to them, as exemplified by the number of “social experiments” that involve sexually harassing women or doing things in the “hood.” From a scientific perspective, these “experiments” are anything but; they lack control groups, independent/dependent variables, ethical codes of conduct, and all the other stuff that makes science science. If you want to make a prank or “social experiment” channel, be better than that—the world has enough jerks in it already.
OUTSIDER ART
Example channels: Poppy, HowToBasic, LasagnaCat, Hydraulic Press Channel
Here we have the truly avant-garde, the beautiful post-modern weirdos who turn the mirror back on YouTube by eschewing tradition. What they do is bizarre and fantastic, and they do it not because they crave the likes and subscribers but because it must be done. Poppy, a parody of YouTube Personalities, posts apology videos apologizing for controversies that don’t exist, repeats the mantra “I love my fans” for forty seconds straight, and argues with a mannequin wearing a birdcage. HowToBasic describes itself as a handy how-to channel, yet its videos are from the perspective of a deranged nude man destroying roasted turkeys and smashing eggs. LasagnaCat is a Garfield parody series that goes so far beyond simple parody that I simply don’t have room to get into it all. Hydraulic Press Channel posts videos of stuff getting smooshed by a hyd
raulic press. If you’re tired of the Reaction Videos and generic Let’s Play channels, examine the avant-garde and consider joining their beautifully weird ranks.
PROS: Highly unique content
CONS: You may go insane
WORDS FROM WORKING NERDS
Allen Pan, YouTuber and science communicator
I’ve always had a sort of bucket list of projects—things I wanted to make because I thought the idea was cool but that I didn’t have an immediate reason to actually build. In 2015, I realized I’d never get around to building those cool ideas unless I had an excuse to, so I created a YouTube channel called Sufficiently Advanced as a reference to the Arthur C. Clarke quote. I figured having a YouTube channel would finally be the excuse I needed to start building. The idea was that I’d build functional, real-life versions of sci-fi and fantasy gadgets and weapons using contemporary, off-the-shelf technology (hence the Clarke quote). I thought that if I kept at it, it might pay for itself in about a year. In October [2015], I uploaded a video of a replica of Mjolnir (Thor’s Hammer) I’d made, and in the first week, that video got over seven million views. It was the second video I had ever uploaded to YouTube! Suddenly it seemed like I could do this sort of thing for a living, rather than just a side hobby. I’ve been doing that ever since!
What sort of work goes into each project?
When I start a project, there’s a ton of research up-front. Not only for the build and what technology I can use to replicate some science-magic object, but also the fictional canon of that object. Building a real version of a fictional gadget almost always comes down to interpretation, since fictional gadgets are rarely constrained by real-world physics. Once I have a few ideas, I start testing for feasibility. A lot of the stuff I build doesn’t have much precedent, so there’s usually a lot of experimenting to be done to make sure the idea physically works. Once I’m confident that everything will probably work okay, I start the final build and refine as I go. This is when I start thinking about what the final video is going to look like and start planning out the shots I want in my head. When the build is done, I start filming the results, and I sometimes have to backfill by recreating parts of the build process on camera. It might not be efficient, but I can’t stand being constrained by a camera when building. I’d rather recreate a necessary shot of me building a part than worry about lighting and angles while I’m actually trying to build that part. Once I’ve got most of the footage I need, I start editing and usually end up cutting out about half of the stuff I’ve planned and scripted. You have to keep videos tight on YouTube, and I tend to overexplain things anyway. Once the video is done and uploaded, I sleep for a couple days and start planning out the next video!
How do you go about explaining what you do to people outside of nerdy/Internet-y careers, like kindly grandparents or easily confused in-laws?
Saying I’m a “YouTuber” usually suffices actually, since a lot of people have a general understanding of what that means. The most common follow-up question is how I make money, at which point I have a canned and concise explanation of how ad revenue works.
What was your first paid, professionally nerdy project?
The first thing I did “professionally” on YouTube was a video series I filmed with Mouser Electronics. I was tasked with building a real flying version of Captain America’s shield (a foam shield mounted on a quadcopter) and was to compete head-to-head with their brand ambassador, who was building an Iron Man gauntlet with a real burning laser inside. The brand ambassador turned out to be former Mythbuster Grant Imahara, and the whole experience was ridiculously awesome. Mouser flew me out to their headquarters in Texas, and Grant and I faced off in a balloon-popping competition with our builds. That’s when I felt like I had really made it on YouTube.
How important do you feel social media is for your line of work?
It’s very important but not necessary. On YouTube, you eat what you kill. People can have successful YouTube channels and careers without ever touching social media, but they would do even better if they did. Audiences really respond to creator interaction, and nowadays there’s an expectation that you’ll be able to talk to your favorite content creators directly on Twitter or Instagram. If you can provide that interaction, your audience will be more likely to sit through an ad or pitch in a couple bucks on Patreon. So not strictly necessary, but it can help a lot.
What tool or material do you like working with the least?
I hate Photoshop®. Not for any technical reasons; mostly because the video thumbnail is always the last thing I end up working on for a video, and it’s almost always at 2:00 A.M. I’ve just associated opening Photoshop with dread and exhaustion.
Are there any particular obstacles you feel you’ve had to overcome to get where you are?
It takes money to make money! I was extremely poor when I started my channel, and it can be tough to make good content when you’re using cardboard boxes as tripods. It’s no coincidence that so many YouTubers are middle-class white dudes; it’s a lot easier to have a successful channel if you’ve already got free time and resources. Fortunately, I basically won the virality lottery and was able to get by while filming on my phone and editing with free software until I saved up for nicer stuff!
Who or what are your inspirations?
Other YouTubers! Specifically William Osman, Peter Sripol, Evan Kale, and James Hobson. We’ve got a secret chat group online where we discuss YouTube-y things, and their help and support has been invaluable.
What tips might you recommend to newcomers looking to get into the business?
I’d recommend focusing on making good, unique content on a consistent schedule. Don’t chase fads, and make your audience feel like they’re your friend. A small and loyal audience is better than a large and fair-weather audience. If you can do all that, your odds of succeeding on YouTube are much greater!
BE A NEIGHBOR
Regardless of what sort of channel you want to create, if you intend your viewing audience to be kids—particularly very young kids—then you should be careful about how your content is presented. Kids are impressionable. Incredibly, adorably, dangerously impressionable. For years, there’s been a seedy underbelly to online video content in the form of bizarre, barely regulated “kids” content that preys on the tendency of children to watch things based on key images or words without any regard for content. Videos with titles like “Spider-Man and Elsa Drink Poison from the Toilet” or “Peppa Pig Pulls the Legs off of Peppa Pig Junior” draw kids in and then often disturb them or reinforce dangerous behavior. Most of these videos seem to be made by shady overseas companies spending pennies to buy cheap animations and abuse SEO (search engine optimization).
Fred Rogers, better known as Mr. Rogers to most of America, believed children are constantly learning and that children’s entertainers have a responsibility to present children with content that’s respectful, positive, and educational. There are more than enough people in the world willing to exploit kids for a few quick bucks. If you’re going to make content for the next generations, be like Mr. Rogers—be a neighbor.
STARTING POINT: ONLINE VIDEOS
Now that you have some idea of the sorts of video channel you might want to start, it’s time to make like an ill-advised horror movie character and split up for supplies.
A camera. Lower-quality video is fine for streaming since many viewers don’t have fast enough Internet to stream fully HD video. If you’re not streaming, then the more HD you can go, the better. Don’t, however, feel like you need to buy some $1,000+ DSLR camera. Plenty of great channels get by on far cheaper equipment; some even use the most versatile and expensive piece of hardware they already own—their phones.
A great microphone. Viewers are more forgiving of a fuzzy video than they are of fuzzy sound. Get a good mic and test that everything is coming through nice and clear. The built-in mics on computers and cameras usually suck the snot from a dead ogre’s nose. Read some reviews so you can find a m
aneuverable, crystal-clear, free-standing mic within your price range.
A green screen, if you’re feeling fancy. The big secret about green screens is that they’re just big green blankets.
Lights. Having fluctuating light levels is distracting to the eye and mighty unprofessional. Get some lights to keep your beautiful punim lit up nice and consistent. Nice, shiny daylight is your best lighting, but that’s not always possible. When it’s not, a three-light set-up will keep your lighting from making you look like a murderer watching partying teenagers through a slit in the windows. When that’s not possible, get a lamp or two and test the lighting until you find an arrangement that doesn’t make you look so serial killer–esque.
Editing software. If you’re only streaming videos, you don’t really have to worry about editing anything together. If you want to do something more complex, however, you’ll need a program to edit it. Sony® VEGAS®, Adobe® Premiere® with After Effects®, Final Cut Pro®, Avid® (which is powerful but has a steep learning curve), DaVinci Resolve®, and the no-cost Lightworks are all solid choices.