Posted on by James Zahra

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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