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DA facts of the situation

Ted Lasso synchronous content – contextual report

My digital artefact is a collection of synchronous content to go along with Ted Lasso season 2 as it was released on apple tv +. 

My DA addresses the main problem of a lack of content for Ted Lasso fans as episodes are released weekly.

I developed this project to help me in a few ways, firstly to develop my editing skills on my laptop. Now I no longer have access to the setup I used to use for video recording and editing. Second, to help me understand youtube posting and optimization better. Third and last to help me remember what I need to do before watching the next episode of Ted Lasso each week as I am more accustomed to binge watching shows these days.

Based on talking to friends who watch Ted Lasso, especially those like me who had binge watched the first season discovering it after it was fully released sometimes were not sure of all the story points as they watched the new episode. I decided to make content that summarised the previous episodes and main story points to remember before watching the next episode.

I decided I would develop this project by taking notes when I watch each Ted Lasso episode. Next I take the key story points from the episode and unresolved ones from the previous episodes and write them all down. Then I turned this into a rough dot point script and recorded audio with audacity. Next I got relevant screenshots from the episode to use as the visuals for my video matching the topic of conversation.

This is then all put into and edited together in imovie. Next I upload to youtube and make a thumbnail in preview (while I have a photoshop like program for a thumbnail preview is sufficient and faster). Then I chose a title, release time, make a description and put in time stamps for the video.

learning from this experience

The main class learnings I focused on including in my DA this session was the minimal viable product discussion combined with iterative design/prototyping and allowing these to be produced when I can and just sent out to see what feedback returns. This combined with the idea that no-one knows what a good idea is especially if its never been done before like the snow mobile example used throughout the lectures. This lead me to try and be more willing to upload my DA without trying to be a perfectionist then leaving everything to the very last minute.

Learning moments:

(also learning how to do a proper photo gallery in WordPress only took me 5 years 😅)

The evolution of the thumbnails here shows the main learning experience I wasn’t expecting for me during this DA was how YouTube/people on YouTube interact with content. Looking at release time, thumbnail, title and video chapters.

So when I first uploaded I just used one of YouTube’s automatic thumbnail suggestions and got a few more click initially then just my family/friends who watch Ted Lasso but nothing huge then the next week I thought I had a more professional thumbnail and overall YouTube package and got less interaction then for my next video I tried the same again thinking it was just a one off and the same. Then remembering to actually think about maybe why the first thumbnail worked, it looks more engaging than my next iteration. So I combined the two and got similar to maybe slightly better interaction than the first thumbnail although now it was had to tell because YouTube decided to recommend my first video to a lot of people so now it has over 35 times more views then my other videos (850+). But my latest thumbnail is my second most watched both numbers and interacted with video behind the first.

also worth noting was the increasing viewer retention in my content so I hopefully that shows improved content.

overall learning to use all of YouTube analytics to a base level is showcased here and meets social utility for me.

next using audacity rather than apples inbuilt recording software allowed me to react to feedback from friends that the audio wasn’t the best in my videos. and also another bonus actually meant I could not get blasted with static though my headphones when I start to record and even listen to music to help calm me if needed.

what I learnt here was people were actually listening and using my recaps when I received useful verbal feedback based on detail from people who have no investment in this subject/ uni which was good to see.

While specific feedback to This change afterwards is hard to see ist shows the social utility for my friend and Ted Lasso fans coming through well I believe with the increased average viewing time and increase in viewers on my videos that were from people unknown to me also shows this.

Another learning experience I will take from this subject is it helped me improve the editing skills I have for both audio and video. I have gotten faster as the weeks progress and even been able to chose to do video presentations for other subjects over the written alternatives with increased confidence and efficiency in these skills.

Overall reflection on this DA

To be honest coming into BCM114 I wasn’t really sure I would be learning anything from it and while most of the lecture content just served as reminders for previous learning I believe I learnt a lot more that I expected.

  • First off the way I produced content was challenged to remember getting content out in a timely matter has strong value (also relevant to the memes – OP assignments)
  • Secondly I think I relearned the value and meaning of if its new no-one knows if its good and it doesn’t hurt to try with a FIST attempt
  • Third more content is not always great good timed simple content can be more effective
  • Forth if you have ,missed the boat time wise often its better to skip then try play catch up and again not be timely
  • lastly there is still a lot to learn with all the details YouTube gives you to analyse and new data appearing after certain viewer count thresholds

anyways that it for my DA write up this session but I think ill keep making some Ted Lasso content when I have time.

Finally it’s worth noting I have planned my next episode but not yet had time to record it. This will be a confirmed details for season 3 video.

Sources

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Prototyping a better project, aiming for a better me. success?

Hello again here we are to reflect on what I’ve been up to since we last checked in in a more reflective way.

If you’ve just joined me I have been working on a series of videos creating synchronous content for Ted Lasso viewers.

In BCM114 this session we have looked at Ideating which is discussed here in my previous reflective blog post. Since we moved on to Prototyping which is the main focus on this timeframe we are looking at and we move into the process of using both of these in making before the end of the subject and into the future.

The biggest learnings from this part of the project is the act of breaking and remaking.

These two concepts go quite well hand in hand and holistically the two are the process of looking at our ideas / creations challenging our assumptions and why we are doing things then trying again with adjusted assumptions and changed models. The key facts to remember in this stage is that just because a model worked in the past does not guarantee future success and in a similar vein to remember the world is changing by how we and other interact with it so by merely creating a model the world changes.

While I had quite a few different learning moments and changes to my DA the best example of these concepts was with the thumbnail for my videos.

talk about the thumbnail and challenged the idea I had that it needed to look professional.

The first thumbnail was born of me being tired at 1 am overseas at a training camp and needed to get something done and is literally just a farm YouTube grabbed from the video.

while this thumbnail on the next few videos I thought was better and more professional and closer to what I want to replicate in a completed product.

However it turn out that this type of thumbnail was less likely to be clicked on by those viewing it. this made me remember that I should be challenging my preconceived ideas. As while This type of thumbnail had worked best fro previous DA projects it shows the world is not one size fits all or simple and keeps changing and I think thats indicated well with what I ended up with make thumbnails like hereafter.

this thumbnail is a combination of the previous ones combining the most effective elements of previous iterations and will currently be the same moving forward. But if I have learned anything from this experience is even in my 5th year at university I need to remember the basics and that I have the perfect model for everything and sometimes the unexpected is what solves your problems.

This is also greatly indicated by the fact suddenly my initial DA video in this series suddenly started to get recommended by YouTube and currently sits at just over 850 views compared to between 5-30 on my other videos for this DA project.

Thanks for reading along feel free to check out my series of videos or drop a comment and let me know what you think.

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Beta now then n/ever?

YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLM4SlpRdg0iQBtCTGwKt6g/

DA playlist:

So here we are checking back in with the beta progress of my DA.

I have gotten into to a decent rhythm and despite a couple setback due to limitations from a mostly filler episode and an episode taking place at a funeral which I couldn’t make notes on for various reasons I think my DA is improving with every post.

So lets look at the more in depth reasons for my iterations.

thumbnail changes:

My first thumbnail was borne from necessity as I finished the video late and published rapidly, so going into my second and 3rd posts I tried to provide a more professional video but notice a huge drop off in impressions compared to expected.

-this is not including the huge surge in impressions my first video got by somehow ending up on peoples home page ect labeled as “browse features” by YouTube-

so in my last post I went back to a picture much close to the first and have received 4x the impressions of the last two video although this could also be link to the scheduling changes I implemented.

Scheduling changes:

As discussed in my video the large US viewership of my videos was apparent so this change was added and as just discussed I believed help contribute to the video receiving more external from my core group views.

This change while doesn’t really advance towards my main goal helps me understand YouTube posting strategies and proficiency.

Video Chapters:

Adding video chapters was a direct response to a conversation with one of my friends who watches my video before the new episodes of Ted Lasso. however, it has also helped provide more key words to be potential traffic sources for my video outside my core group.

Achieving my goals?

Utility for friends:

  • I believe that I have succeeded in creating good content fulfilling the needs me and my friends first talked about with us having watched Ted Lasso in a binge setting but now needing reminders with the weekly release schedule of Ted Lasso seaon 2.

Utility for the Ted lasso Fan:

  • I also believe this is become more and more successful with each post as I provide more refined content and can see what parts of my video people watch and there is now more content for Ted Lasso fans that isn’t just clips from episodes available for them to watch

Utility for me:

  • Learning to edit on my laptop has been slowly improving and I also am definitely getting faster so in that regard it’s a success
  • learning YouTube posting skills has also been successful as I have been slowly targeting and improving different metrics although i’m yet to understand why one of my videos randomly got prompted to the algorithm shown to almost 8k people and watched 800 times

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Reflecting on reflections

An update to where my BCM114 Digital Artefact (DA – an online public facing project for the subject) is at and how the subject is shaping its progression.

At the start of the session heading back to some first year subjects was a bit of a shock to the system and remembering how to do/chose a DA was a bit of a shock to the system after it had been awhile. However I quickly settled on wanting to do something based on an activity I was already doing I worked out I would be quite busy throughout the session.

This led me to Ted lasso a show I am watching that weekly ‘airs’ episodes if you can call it that on Apple TV Plus.

This show follows Ted who is now coaching a football club (FC Richmond in England) coming from a background of only American football.

as I dragged my heels as to what this would/could actually look like and tripping up on the utility of the DA again this made me think it wouldn’t work.

However Sir Unicorn (Richard my tutor for bcm114) graciously encouraged my idea despite my somewhat hesitant attitude and made a plan for how this DA can help me and others.

since I have refined this even more as I realise this DA is to help me. So now my goal is for my DA to help my friends before they watch each episode and be fine if they are the only ones who watch it and secondly to help me improve my editing skills on my laptop now I can’t edit on my gaming pc now I am not in the same country as it.

if you look closely at this you might notice the time and the fact that it is dark everywhere except my laptop screen. This is a result of me being even more time strapped than I thought I would be. This and looking at travis’ tweet reminding us to work in our own means.

so now I am focusing on only doing episode before you watches and doing them as well as I can.

So effectively where I am at now:

  • My DA is on Ted Lasso and help me and my friends and that’s okay
  • I am not focusing on ‘big growth’ or being viral
  • I hope to up skill myself
  • portable work is even more necessary then I thought it would be eg: with not know I was going to Sicily till like 2 days before which was after just being somewhere else
  • focus on a single element and everything else is bonus

feel free to watch my DA, here is a playlist of my before you watch episodes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_XaL4MWl4Y&list=PLXjw8DOqf0pFy7EToFttSlS-N6MSJIyGI

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Pitching the synchronised Lasso

Utility:

My DA will be useful for those that like watching Ted Lasso and those that don’t yet know they will like Ted Lasso and my content can provide a gateway into Ted Lasso for new fans of Ted Lasso.

Problems Solved:

  • Providing extra content for those craving more Ted Lasso content then 1 episode a week
  • Gateway to the next episode reminding viewers of previous episode story points
  • Creates ongoing engagement for me with Ted Lasso
    • especially providing a solution to me and some of my friends memory issue when watching the new episodes of Ted Lasso
  • Improves my editing skills on my laptop (previously used a desktop pc which I do not currently have physical access to)

Research:

Pagey is a YouTube channel that makes this type of content for DC tv shows as discussed in the pitch video above. While he also makes content based on set photos as these shows are filmed while episodes are airing his other episodic synchronous content such as trailer breakdowns and episode reviews.

Starting with content similar to his episode reviews leaving the option for more FIST content with Ted Lasso trailers if they are also well received.

I also sent out a twitter poll to #bcm114 and YouTube was the strong winner for this content but I am still leaving options open after seeing how the content does on YouTube.