Soaping videos on YouTube

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rainycityjen

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Sometimes when I'm too busy to soap that week I'll watch soaping videos on YouTube to get my "fix."

But oh my gosh, some can get so annoying. One was a full five minutes of talking, focused on a still shot of her gloved hands, before she started mixing all ingredients. In real time. Gosh I can't stand half the video being prepping and mixing batter - unless there's some new technique going on.

Lots of others have Interrupting Kids and Dogs (I love them but they do tend to run underfoot), give terrible advice (put vinegar on your lye burn!), or feature the soaper being terribly self-deprecating which I hate to see ("oh, this might be no good, I'm never very good at this.")

Can't decide if I need to take a break from the vids for a while or just focus on the positive and start Liking the ones who beat the trend!
 
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I personally like when someone does a little light narration on their techniques, but I don't like the ones who get really chatty about other things. It's the worst when it's really lame music; I just have to watch in silence. And not showing/speeding up things like stick-blending is a must.
 
I love soaping videos on youtube. I really do, but I have seen so many of soapmakingvideos that goes like this:

*Loud intromusic, violently cut off by a high pitch ladies voice* Hey, you guys, welcome to snappetygloppsoaps and things - where we, weeeeell, you know, make soap! (*high pitch voice*) Check out my site at wwwsnappetygloppsoapsnthingscom, and don`t forget to share and like my page, you guuuuuyzz!!

Here I have uhm- a new fragrance I want to test out, aaaaaaaand, I don`t really know if - uhm, it will move on me oooor what it will do. We`ll see.
Soooo, I want to show you the fragrance that--- SUSANNAH.LIZETTE .CARPATULA, you leave that dog alone! Go play with your baby brother in the corner, don`t make me come out there...

Aaaaaaand
- sorry about that you guyzz - this iiiiiiiiiiis (*squinting at 8oz bottle turned towards camera - shows crispy clear image of a yellow sock on floor - bottle totally out of focus*)

Uhm
...anyway, this iiiiiis *reading bottle yet again* a Jasmine fragrance you guyz, and we uhmmm all know what that means, don`t we ..

Aaaaaand
, uhm here we have, I mean, this is a uhmm start of what we uhm, call uhm, trace. (*lifts stickblender up and down the soapbatter many times over and over again, hitting the bowl, whilst uhming and aaand`ing while trying to get the camera to focus on the trace and not the countertop*)

Sooo, (*takes a deep breath*) what we, or uhm, what I want to uhm, add now is uhm, color and then the...fragrance. Buuuut,
(*putting away stickblender with high clanking noice*)
- uhm...- aaaaand uhm...uhm... where is that thing.. ( *wispers while looking for spatula and whisks - camera picks up the wispering*)
-Ah, here it is! Soooo, UUHM --

-Me - clicks to next video with soothing backgroundmusic to recover from all the uhms...-

(I am so bad. Please don`t hate me....)
 
I just watched that video! ^^^^ Well, about a minute and a half out of 36. I just can't take it! If a video is longer than 8 minutes (unless it's a soaper I know does great work) I don't even click on it. Not worth the irritation.
 
Oh I agree, I agree, I agree. But somehow I can't seem to stay away. There are some soapers' vids that I know I just can't watch and am not even tempted to 'take a quick look'.
 
Some of them are quite terrible. I like them short and sweet.
When I see a soaping video that goes for 25+ minutes I don't even bother. I know 2/3 of the video is useless yap.

Mysoapyheart haha! That reminded me of one soaper, it could be the same one. Screaming kids, mess, horrible audio and video quality.

I only watch few, but sadly some of them post videos every few weeks or even months.
 
What I just can't seem to understand or wrap my head around (and this goes for other videos, too, not just the soaping ones), is why so many people post such cringe-worthy, ill-planned and/or badly edited videos. It amazes me how many videos look like the film-maker didn't even try to put in the least amount of effort to make the video look even halfway to the least bit watchable. Is it that hard to plan it out or edit it? Why the mad rush to upload the 'rushes'?


IrishLass :)
 
I have about 10 folks I get really excited about about seeing and a bunch of others I follow and kinda watch while reading posts on the forum. I don't mind a little chit-chat (especially from couple of soapers that make joint videos and crack me up or folks with very engaging personalities and good information). I love some explanation of the technique and choices. Bonus points for telling me the colorants you're using and FO.

My big pet peeves are mainly noise related: kids screaming, real time SBing, drama-baiting snark, and nose clearing are the worst offenders... basically anything that would bother me while eating dinner. Of course, there's poor video quality or sound that make me not want to watch something. Obvious safety issues or just plain wrong information make me immediately stop watching. If I hear someone say that HP doesn't need a cure one more time...

Also - post a cut picture at the end or wait for the cutting video and post both at the same time. I need the cut pic gratification!

All that said, I love that folks are willing to take the time/effort and put themselves out there. Hats off to them!
 
I love soaping videos on youtube. I really do, but I have seen so many of soapmakingvideos that goes like this:

*Loud intromusic, violently cut off by a high pitch ladies voice* Hey, you guys, welcome to snappetygloppsoaps and things - where we, weeeeell, you know, make soap! (*high pitch voice*) Check out my site at wwwsnappetygloppsoapsnthingscom, and don`t forget to share and like my page, you guuuuuyzz!!

Here I have uhm- a new fragrance I want to test out, aaaaaaaand, I don`t really know if - uhm, it will move on me oooor what it will do. We`ll see.
Soooo, I want to show you the fragrance that--- SUSANNAH.LIZETTE .CARPATULA, you leave that dog alone! Go play with your baby brother in the corner, don`t make me come out there...

Aaaaaaand
- sorry about that you guyzz - this iiiiiiiiiiis (*squinting at 8oz bottle turned towards camera - shows crispy clear image of a yellow sock on floor - bottle totally out of focus*)

Uhm
...anyway, this iiiiiis *reading bottle yet again* a Jasmine fragrance you guyz, and we uhmmm all know what that means, don`t we ..

Aaaaaand
, uhm here we have, I mean, this is a uhmm start of what we uhm, call uhm, trace. (*lifts stickblender up and down the soapbatter many times over and over again, hitting the bowl, whilst uhming and aaand`ing while trying to get the camera to focus on the trace and not the countertop*)

Sooo, (*takes a deep breath*) what we, or uhm, what I want to uhm, add now is uhm, color and then the...fragrance. Buuuut,
(*putting away stickblender with high clanking noice*)
- uhm...- aaaaand uhm...uhm... where is that thing.. ( *wispers while looking for spatula and whisks - camera picks up the wispering*)
-Ah, here it is! Soooo, UUHM --

-Me - clicks to next video with soothing backgroundmusic to recover from all the uhms...-

(I am so bad. Please don`t hate me....)

Hahahaha ... perfect impression!! Cue to me moving the slider to the very end to see the cut pic, and then exiting to the next video.
 
I have done one video about salting-out soap scraps. It's in two parts, each about 4 1/2 minutes long. That way people can pick what they want to see. It took a LONG time to edit almost 50 minutes of video down that far, although I hope I'll get better and faster as I get more experience.

IMO, if a person wants to publish a video without doing any editing whatsoever, the video is a lot more about building their ego than it is about their wanting to share knowledge. It doesn't take too long to figure out the people who really care about the quality of the information they're presenting and care about the person at the other end of the YouTube channel versus who people who don't give a rip.

I'm not saying we all have to be pros to put videos up on Youtube -- good grief, I'm certainly not! :)
 
I judge whether or not to watch one based on a few criteria:

First, length of video. I just refuse to click on one over 30 minutes.

Second, are they showing anything new and/or interesting? Titles matter, people! Tell me why you felt like I need to see it in at least the intro.

Third, are they someone I know already gives bad advice and/or is really annoying? (background noise, extraneous babbling, etc) If so, I am just going to skip them. Life is too short to watch bad videos.

Then, I almost always watch in 1.5 or 2 speed. I just do not have the patience for watching in real time. There are a few people who do consistently produce good videos that I watch in real time because every second is loaded with info that I need to hear/see all of.
 
I have done one video about salting-out soap scraps. It's in two parts, each about 4 1/2 minutes long. That way people can pick what they want to see. It took a LONG time to edit almost 50 minutes of video down that far, although I hope I'll get better and faster as I get more experience.

I watched those videos, DeeAnna, and wanted to thank you for doing them, especially since there is so little that's readily available on the topic. I was glad of your explanations of what is happening chemically during the process. Also, you have a very practical and no-nonsense "presence" on-camera that is calming and encouraging. You may never want to invest that kind of time in doing another video, but if you do, I for one will be very glad.
 
I love soaping videos on youtube. I really do, but I have seen so many of soapmakingvideos that goes like this:
(I am so bad. Please don`t hate me....)

You cracked me up!!!

crack me up.gif
 
I have done one video about salting-out soap scraps. It's in two parts, each about 4 1/2 minutes long. That way people can pick what they want to see. It took a LONG time to edit almost 50 minutes of video down that far, although I hope I'll get better and faster as I get more experience.

IMO, if a person wants to publish a video without doing any editing whatsoever, the video is a lot more about building their ego than it is about their wanting to share knowledge. It doesn't take too long to figure out the people who really care about the quality of the information they're presenting and care about the person at the other end of the YouTube channel versus who people who don't give a rip.

I'm not saying we all have to be pros to put videos up on Youtube -- good grief, I'm certainly not! :)

You have hit the nail on the head. If a person cares more about their internet fame than the topic of the video, I cannot bare to watch it. Those instances are the ones that I cannot tolerate. Also equally as unwatchable are the well meaning people who think that the YouTube audience is their best friend who wants to sit down and chat with them before they make soap.
 
My ideal video format is something like Soaping 101. Short intro, recipe shown on the screen, mostly showing (not telling) starting from stick blend out, and a satisfying conclusion.
 
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