Please critique my 1st video!

Hey everyone, I made my first YouTube video! It’s all about something I call “Cuddle Baby Magic!” Warning, it’s 34 minutes long, so if you do watch it, thank you from the bottom of my heart in advance!!!

Also, if you have some time I would so appreciate critiques of this video! I definitely have things I want to do better, but I want to know what you think. Pretty please! :smile:

For example, if it’s too long, please let me know. (It went longer than I planned.) I know I need to improve picture quality. How do you feel about how I held the babies? They are dolls that I try to hold like real babies, but I think sometimes I held them more like dolls than babies. What are your thoughts? On all of the above and anything else you think of. Thank you!!! :two_hearts:

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Nice ! Beautiful babies ! I like that you explain where you picked the bodies and how you stuffed them.
Light and poses are great.
Two things maybe : talk toward the cam, as sometimes it’s hard to understand. And yes, you handle them a bit rough :wink: maybe put them on a blanket or a cushion ?
Good video !

Oh and I am a specialist of too long videos, so I will not comment on that :grin:

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Thank you so much, I truly appreciate the critique! Do you find that people still watch the longer videos, or do they watch the shorter videos more? I think a cushion for the babies, as well as trying to remind myself to hold them in a gentler way, will definitely help. And thanks for the tip on talking towards the camera, I didn’t even think of that, but I can see how that would be much better. Thank you! :heart::heart::heart:

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As I mostly make tutorials people watch till the end. My discussion videos are less popular. I try to discuss a specific topic in each one, like, different type of reborns, how to choose a kit, etc.
Find something you like to talk about.
I personally prefer longer videos as I watch them while painting…

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I haven’t watched the video yet, but I intend to very soon. :slight_smile: As far as watching long videos, it depends on the video and the interest level it holds for me. :slight_smile:

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I watched the video and think you did great. I was expecting the handling of the babies to be a lot more rough than it was just the way you were mentioning, could be a little gentler but I was prepared for worse. Haha. For me I would prefer shorter videos so I can have more crafting time than watching time.

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Off to a great start, I love the neutral back drop, babies are cute, and I think it will be a nice video to have out there for people who are not familiar with cuddle babies.

What other videos are you planning to make?

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Great informative video of the babies. After watching approximately 8 minutes, I stopped watching but returned to finish it later. As the baby’s head bounced in the table, I wondered how passionate collector would respond to the demonstration. I would recommend creating a video 10 min in length, dressing one baby to demonstrate the transition and place a blanket under the baby when handling to reduce the head bouncing off the table sound. I loved the way they were displayed. And, I know people will find the information useful in determining which reborn design they like! Great job.

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I haven’t watched your video yet, but I will do so later this evening. As far as video length, it really depends on my mood. Sometimes I will select a longer video so I can just listen for a while without having to find something else to watch. It’s important not to let your audience get bored though.

@ShawnP makes some decent topic videos about the reborn hobby and actually makes lists to keep himself from rambling, which seems to work out really well from the viewer end of things. @Gabriell makes more of a stream of consciousness type video, which I also really enjoy. I’m sure that there are more BB forum peeps on youtube, but those are the two that are immediately springing to mind as the ones I watch most often. Sometimes I only have a few minutes to watch videos so I go for the quicker ones.

Kudos to you for taking the plunge into youtube. I’ve considered doing so for a while, but I lack both the know-how and the courage. I’m actually really excited to check out your video and I’ll be back later to let you know what I think.

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I LOVE how floppy they are! I had to pause the video several times before finishing but that’s just me not having much of an attention span for videos I have to be up and doing something. On a quick sidenote what is your Facebook page you was mentioning? I’m going to have to keep a eye out for when you sell some cuddle babies. Wasn’t originally a fan of cuddle babies but the way they flop and move is so realistic I just absolutely love it. I’m hooked.

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I’ve just finished your video. Overall, I liked it. I particularly liked your friendly tone, your background, and the way your beautiful babies were arranged so nicely and perfectly in frame.
Warning; because you asked for a critique, I watched it as critically as possible. Here are a few small things that you can do to improve.

@Leabelle was absolutely correct, you should always face the camera when speaking, even if your face is not in the shot. I learned through live theater performance that when you face away from your audience, they can lose much of what you say. Your volume faltered a bit throughout the video, but that could have been down to my horrible laptop speaker. Your giveaway babies looked adorable…but they were a bit difficult to see. Perhaps your lighting or your white balance could be adjusted to help show off details? You rambled a little bit, but I think much of that was down to nervousness.

You apologized for your pronunciation too much. I completely get it! I don’t know how to pronounce many sculptors names either. If I were brave enough to make videos, I would make a disclaimer statement at the beginning of the segment where I planned to mention sculptors saying something like, “I apologize in advance for the mispronunciation of any names, but I’ll try my best.” Then I would try like heck to get through them as smoothly as possible without letting myself stop to apologize or second guess. Again, I think you’ll get more comfortable with each video you make.

Regarding the handling of your babies, you jostled them around a bit more than some people prefer. If you try to keep in mind that the kit is sleeping and do what you can not to “wake” it, it might help. As a fellow artist, I wasn’t bothered by the way you held them, but then I carry a head and limbs around, one on each finger. :rofl:

As to the content of the video (and this is nit-picky, but…) you seemed to have not had a specific audience in mind. You began by explaining what reborns, realborns, and cuddle babies are- as well as the history and process of making them. Later on you seemed to be speaking to artists, telling them where you buy your cuddle bodies and providing reviews of the different types. All of the content is good for videos, but perhaps splitting them into separate videos based on intended audience in the future could work out well.

This is completely from my own personal preference standpoint, and I know it’s sometimes hard to resist- but baby talk fits in really well with reborn roleplay/changing videos, but shouldn’t be overly used in other types of videos.

I really feel like a jerk now, but I wanted to give you as much of a critique as I could manage. Please know that I enjoyed your video very much and I look forward to seeing more.

When you are more comfortable, perhaps you can film a video with you on the screen holding the babies and showing up close all of that wonderful detail that you paint so well.

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@Babies facebook nursery page is

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Oh my goodness you guys are the best, thank you so very much!!! I’m going to respond to you individually on this post, I just wanted to say how helpful your critiques are and how much it means to me that you took the time to watch and give me advice! :heart::heart::heart:

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Thank you so much for your feedback! I actually have 3 other videos that I recorded before I posted my first, luckily they are all significantly shorter. I won’t be able to apply any of the tips or advice people are giving me on them (which is too bad because they would be better if I could) but I’ll be able to make my following videos better:)

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Than you so much! I’m glad the handling didn’t seem too rough. I am definitely going to try and be gentler in the future.

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Thank you very much! I plan on doing a short video of all babies I make from now on. I have a box opening video from a Giveaway I won, that I already recorded before I posted my first video. I might do product reviews, but I’m not sure about that… I want to do some tutorials for collectors on stuffing and/or re-stuffing bodies. A video on general care and maintenance. Basically stuff I can direct my customers to if they need help. I am working on a video series of a fun reborn project I’m working on. Not a tutorial, more just a look into what I’m doing, and then sharing the final result.

Thank you so much for your thoughts! I’m definitely going to make shorter videos, and I definitely need to place a blanket down on the take to eliminate that head bounce, poor babies! :joy:

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Thank you very much! I’m going to check out the videos they make, I honestly have not watched many reborn videos at all. I’ve seen plenty of reborning tutorials, but I haven’t ventured into the other reborn topics, which I really should if I’m going to make videos like that! Thanks for letting me know that sometimes longer videos are okay. It’s definitely something to think about. I might made a bunch of shorter ones, and a couple longer ones for variety.

As far as courage, I have to say making and posting the video was a bit terrifying, haha! It is fun too though. I definitely think you should make videos if it’s something you want to do! :heart:

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Thank you so so much! My hope with the video was too spread awareness for how awesome cuddle babies are, they really are amazing to snuggle and I think if the reborn community was more aware of that they would soar in popularity. I am trying not to post exact dates of when things will be up (due to my chronic illness and not knowing if I’ll have a good day or a bad day health-wise) but I’m hoping to have the sale babies up this week:) Thank you again for your comments, it makes me so happy to know I was able to spread awareness of cuddle baby magic:)

First of all, thank you so much for coming back and watching the video! Second if all, you are not allowed to feel like a jerk for doing such a kind thing for me! Honestly, I thrive on critiques! You have given me a gold mine of information, things that are really going to help me! Thank you so much! :two_hearts:

I’m going to have to work on facing the camera. I have a few other videos I already recorded before I released my first and asked for critiques, I wish I would have asked for critiques right after the first one, they would have turned out better. Do you have any advice on how I can remember to face the camera?

I’m going to have to work on the lighting. All of this is total amateur hour for me. I’m also wondering if my camera isn’t this best at taking videos, but I need to play with the settings a bit more to see how I can improve picture quality.

I like your advice on how to handle name pronunciation. One of my biggest fears is to offend someone or make someone feel bad from something I say or do. I will work on being more confident, or at least work on sounding more confident:)

Haha, I carry heads and limbs around in my fingers too. :joy: I need to work on pretending they are more real!

You are so right about my switching audience! I never would have thought of that, thank you! That is definitely an important thing to remember for future videos!

Thank you again for your critique, and your compliments! I know that took a lot of time to watch the video and then write or your thoughts, that means more to me than I can say!