Behind the Scenes: Motion Magic

Kyle is a YouTuber who has been covering the Wizard101 and Pirate101 Spiral in his videos for several years now! If you're not a YouTuber, you might not understand what goes into making a video. Kyle is going to walk you through his process from start to finish!

Hey everyone, my name is Kyle Donahue, also known as Kyle IceWielder! Playing games and making videos have always been a passion of mine. Since Wizard101 and Pirate101 have been released, I've always wanted to record videos to entertain and help others. Eventually I posted my very first video! Ever since then I've fallen in love with making videos about the games that I enjoy and hold very close to my heart! I'm going to share my process on how I record and edit my videos before they hit YouTube.

As August approached, The Test Realm had been out for a few weeks. Just about everything new had been covered, and I needed a new video idea. That's where it all starts - the idea. Without any new content having been released, the game would need to be covered from a more unique angle. Browsing Twitter brought a new NPC to my attention who had yet to have her turn in the spotlight: Abby K. Doodle. That was it! Abby wasn't just a guide for new players, she had a potentially significant connection to an artist on Twitter. I opened up OBS Studio, my screen recording software of choice. This software allows gamers or anyone to record their screen. I personally make sure to be standing close or near by something that is relevant to what I'm talking about. For example, in the Abby K. Doodle video, I made sure to be standing in Ambrose's office to have viewers understand where the quest is. When people just run around and talk in the Commons, it doesn't make much sense especially if you are talking about something very specific. On the other hand, if you're ranting about more than one thing in your video then that can be an exception. Recording videos can be tough! Your OBS could crash or you could be in a hurry and forget to mention something. I make sure all my settings are correct before hitting the record button. The amount of times I've blindly started a video and realized my mic was MUTED is incredible. It's important to make sure you are ready before starting. The same goes for when you are finished recording. Setting aside time is very important as a content creator. Always assume your product is incomplete until you are certain it is perfect! Once you finish recording, check your video. Make sure you covered all the important points.

After recording, I make sure to name my video with something interesting or very specific. Going back to the Abby K. Doodle video, I figured I could grab people's attention by naming my video "Who's Abby K. Doodle?!" It makes viewers want to click and find you! After naming my video, I have a dedicated Videos folder, where I drop it into another editing folder, preferably on my Desktop so it doesn't get lost. Before I get to editing, I make myself a thumbnail. I personally use PhotoShop for this process. I make sure my thumbnails are the required 1280x720 pixels in size. Also try to make the thumbnail relevant to the video and simple to understand so that people will want to click on it. Keep in mind that a thumbnail is supposed to attract the viewer's eye, so make sure it's colorful and welcoming. Once I finish making my thumbnail, I immediately start editing my video on a program called Adobe Premiere Pro. While editing, I pretend that I am a viewer and I cut things that are not necessary or that might drag on. When I edit, I have a sense of humor. So when I find something interesting or hilarious, I'll zoom in on that bad boy to focus on it. Editing can be a long process depending on the length of the video but entertaining and exciting. With that in mind, sometimes I'll stop and wait before I finish editing. I might wait an hour or, even better, might wait to finish until the next day if the video doesn't need to be posted right away. Or maybe I'll wait a week. Or a month. Maybe the video dies a horrible death and never sees the light of day again. *Looks at Abby K. Doodle* Kidding! It helps to take a second, refreshed look at the video overall rather than pieces while you were editing. Suddenly, you realize your Abby K. Doodle joke wasn't as funny as you thought. So it dies in the edit. Once it's to my liking, it's time to render. It's the digital equivalent of watching paint dry. Fortunately, my computer is equipped to handle even the most graphics-intensive battle... or just an overly-energetic NPC. *Looks at Abby*

In the meantime, I'll make sure my thumbnail looks up to par and that there are no spelling errors! There have been many times I've rushed a video up only to realize that her name is NOT, in fact, Abby K. Diddle! While I am waiting on the rendering to finish, I'm always looking forward to the response. I can't wait to show Mia specifically, along with the Twitter community, and yes, even the Facebook crowd. They get to see, too.

Ding! Once I hear the sound of the video finally completing its rendering, I'm ready to start the upload process. I take the video to YouTube for uploading! While it loads, I prepare my post for Twitter or any other social media. Creating a juicy description is also very important! If I talked about anyone's info, I make sure to grab links for their sites. A trick I've also learned as a YouTuber is putting the name of your video in your description will get your video to pop up sooner when someone searches whatever is in the video! Make sure you put your thumbnail in. Having proper tags for your video will also help it pop up in searches for relevant subjects.

Uploading is finished... the videos is done! I think the process is cool. But having a community of my own is even better! Being able to do what I love and have people watch and enjoy my content makes it even more fulfilling and lets me know that what I do is important! People are definitely what drives me to work harder and be better! When Abby finally got to see the light on my channel, the feedback was positively amazing!

Creating a YouTube video can be difficult but well worth it! I love playing video games and I just so happen to also love recording and editing videos! I hope that Abby and I taught you a thing or two. Be creative and most importantly, have FUN!