For my creator analysis, I focused on YouTuber Chris Smoove, who makes videos centered around sports video games.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EjANSMTYQc
When I read the instructions for this assignment, I knew immediately who I wanted to focus my videos on. In middle school and high school, I was an extremely consistent viewer of Chris Smoove. I loved playing sports games like NBA2K and Madden, but I couldn't always play them because of my busy schedule. I discovered Smoove when I was looking for gameplay of NBA2K14 before I bought it. Even though my original intent was to just see the game, I was hooked on the creator of the videos.
This is a virtualized version of Smoove in the game NBA2K
I don't watch Smoove as often now but will form time to time when new games come out. Because of my familiarity with his content, I felt focusing on Smoove would make this project enjoyable and fun. I can say with certainty now that I'm done I had a ton of fun breaking down his videos.
At the onset of the project, I perused his channel for videos in the past six months. After watching and rewatching a handful of videos, I selected one he published back in August. The video specifically focuses on Madden20, and a new game mode added into the game. This video was a no brainer to use because it perfectly encapsulated who Smoove was, and why he has so many viewers. A lot of people on YouTube seek out early footage of games before it is released. Smoove has early access to Madden games because of his popularity, so this video showed why people tune in.
After I chose the video, I watched it multiple times. After the first time through, I took notes on the various analysis questions we learned from class. Once I fully broke down the video, I elaborated on various points I made.
From here I developed a script for my recording that hit on all major points in the criteria of the assignment. The script I wrote was done intentionally to explain who Smoove was, what he typically makes, what is unique about him, and so forth.
Before my production process, I knew I was going to approach making this differently than most of my classmates. Because I am a content producer with my own equipment, I chose not to use the suggested screencast software. Instead, I used Adobe Audition, Premiere Pro, and my own microphone. Even though this sounds like extra work, for me it made the process easier and also a learning experience at the same time.
For recording my voiceover, I used my Blue Yeti Pro microphone and recorded into Audition. After finishing the recording from a few takes, I put processors on the audio to make it sounds clean and even.
Adobe Audition is a great source for audio content production
I then uploaded both Smoove's video and my audio to Premiere Pro. While in Premiere, I cut up the audio into chunks that displayed continuity. With those chunks of voiceover, I found accompanying clips from the video. As I proceeded with this process, I focused on creating a compelling story. My goal was to not just pause and talk over parts of the video, but rather find examples and cut them to work together.
Throughout this clipping and editing process, I added in things like audio fades and cross dissolves to make everything flow nicely. This served as great practice for video editing and using Premiere.
I used Premiere Pro, a video editing software, to produce my video.
Once I finished editing, I went back through to rewatch the video to ensure everything was the way I wanted it. I was fully satisfied with the final piece in terms of answering the questions asked in the assignment and for production value.
Overall this project was an awesome experience. Getting to cut audio and video like this gave me a creative outlet and added to my curiosity about producing my own content. As I've said through multiple weeks in the class, I've wondered how easy it would be to produce my content. I was able to do that with the project, and it helped me realize I want to try making videos similar to Chris Smoove's.