by Crazy Ivan
I have a feeling that this is a subject that we'll be coming back to again and again on this blog but I thought I'd get the ball rolling with a quick introduction to what makes a Myachi video fun to watch. Remember that a lot goes into your ultimate view count and there's more to it than throwing down a clean jam.
I've broken things down to 7 major points and provided a video that exemplifies each point. Special thanks to all the Maniacs whose videos make this blog possible.
#1) Background
If I had to venture a guess, I'd say that about 2/3rds of all the Myachi shreds on YouTube take place in either somebody's bedroom or somebody's basement. That's cool because some of these videos contain spectacular shreds, but you have to throw down some incredible skills to make a static camera video memorable if the only thing in the background is your dresser and a few sweatshirts on the floor.
Shooting outdoors gives your video some flavor but it still depends on what's in the background. If we're just looking at the back of your house it's not as interesting as it would be if there was a forest behind you or maybe a playground. Better yet, a landmark that is unique to your hometown or general whereabouts.
For a perfect example of this, I'm turning to a pretty recent video. This is our good friend Downtown showing that if you take the time to think about your backdrops your video will be unforgettable:
#2) Editing
The least interesting Myachi videos and the ones that get the least play are the ones done in a single shot where the camera is mounted. This works great if you're just putting down an instructional video or if you're giving people a general sense of your skills, but if you're trying to put together a top notch video you're going to want to get several good shots from several different camera angles. Ideally, you'll do like Downtown did in the video above and get several different backdrops as well.
The quality of a video can be made or broken in the editing room. Okay, so your YouTube submission probably isn't going to an "editing room" per se, more like iMovie or something like that. Still, the choice of cuts and clips can make a huge difference in how much play your video gets.
Now, Downtown did a pretty good job with that in the video above so I'm really just giving a second good example of how to edit a really fun video. This is a much older vid and you can see that despite lacking the precise skills that Downtown displays above, these guys still manage to put together a mad entertaining video:
#3) Variety
If you just hop in front of a camera and start jamming odds are that you'll do what most people do. You'll throw down a really sick jam for half a minute or so and then you'll start running out of ideas. You'll come up with some more tricks, but there will be a lot of "holding pattern" tricks in between. A Fu for a few seconds here, a Fusion for a little too long there.
To put together a truly epic shred, you're going to want to give some thought to what tricks you're going to do before you even start. The best of the best plan out their entire routines and know exactly what tricks they're going to do before they even start the camera.
Even if you don't do that, it's a good idea to have several series of 7 or 8 back to back moves that you practice so that you won't accidentally do the same few tricks several times in the same shred. It's probably also a good idea to know what trick you want to start with and what you want to end on. One absolute must is a big finish and if you don't think it through you might get to the end of your shred and realize you've already use all of your biggest tricks.
For a great example of that we're going to turn to one of those "best of the best" folks I was talking about earlier. Mantis shows here that skills can make up for breaking those first two rules we were talking about:
#4) Flow
Alright, so if you just watched Mantis' video you're probably thinking to yourself, "yeah, it's easy to make a great video when you have skills like that" and not everyone is going to be able to bust out the multi-Myachi tricks right away.
There's no denying that skills make the video. You can do a lot without huge tricks but there are already people out there like Mantis prying eyeballs away from the newbs. But there are also people out there that make their tricks look so good that a relatively simple move can be a thing of beauty. These people get there by having good flow.
Linking tricks together and flourishing them by moving your whole body makes a big difference on your final product. When you're doing a 360, make a huge circle. When you're doing a Fu do it as fast as you can without losing control. When you do a Flying Clipper, set it up slowly.
Now for my example I've actually chosen a dude with some really serious skills. He might not be the best example of how to turn a small amount of skill into a big video because he busts out of the gate with some pretty big tricks. He is, however, a perfect example of how to make a routine flow.
#5) Humor
One thing that nearly every good YouTube video has in common is that it can make you laugh. Adding a bit of humor to your video can make up for pretty much anything. Now, this can be done by doing fun and creative moves, it can be done by leaving in a little out take reel at the end or it could be done by inserting some kind of gag in there.
It can also be the whole video. There are plenty of good examples I could have chosen that incorporate elements of humor in them, but for most of them I would have to set it up and say, "check out what he does at 1:14" or something like that. Instead I chose one of my all time favorite Myachi Videos and it's all gag:
#6) Skills
I've already touched on it a bit, but I certainly can't overemphasize this point. The better you are with a Myachi, the more impressive your video is going to be. If your video ranks high enough on the skill scale it won't matter what kind of background you use or how many different angles you edit in. It won't matter if people laugh because they'll be too busy saying "did he really just do that!?"
Now, don't fall into the trap of thinking that skills means difficult tricks. Obviously difficult tricks are great, but it's every bit as important to show people something they haven't seen before. Bringing in some other skill or adding an original trick can really be the highlight of a video even if it isn't the toughest move you throw down.
For a perfect example of skills I didn't have to look very far. I've already shown you plenty of extremely skilled Myachi players in this entry so there's really only one person I can put in here that won't be eclipsed by the talent that came before him:
#7) Creativity
This is really sort of a catch all category that reaches out and sticks a finger in every point I've made up until now. Being creative is something that you should be applying to every level of your video. Creative backgrounds, editing, photography, flow, variety and tricks will ensure that your video is something that the Myachi community will remember and pass along. As the game increases in popularity there's more and more competition so you'll have to work harder and harder to think of something that hasn't been done before.
One of the key factors that brings it all together is how much time and effort you put into your video. People will be able to tell if you just jammed in front of your webcam for a few minutes or if you really set out to make a good video. If you didn't put much effort into making it, people probably won't put much effort into watching it.
On the flip side of that coin is the fact that if a video is well made, people can't look away. They will appreciate the effort you put into your video and they will be far more likely to "like" it and/or share it with their friends.
For a good example here I'll use another recent video. This one comes from our good friend and Myachi Master in Training Rush and it's a fun video just for the game of Fu that it captures. Still, you can see that the added bit of elbow grease and editing time he put into it really elevates it from a mediocre video to a really good one.
Obviously this is a big subject and there's plenty more to say about it, but for now I'll leave it there. If you would like to add some advice, feel free to join the conversation in the comments section below. Look for more pointers in the future.
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