# Snowboard YouTube video advice?



## bseracka (Nov 14, 2011)

I'd invest in some lessons


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## Rides with Nate (Feb 3, 2021)

Thanks, I’d like some lessons, but I used my budget for the season on my first snowboard. So much better than rentals


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## milutinho (Jan 10, 2011)

bseracka said:


> I'd invest in some lessons


Oh, man...that's brutal! I kind of want to watch the video now...nah nevermind


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## Donutz (May 12, 2010)

Decide what you want your youtube videos to be _for. _Not as in 'snowboarding' but as in 'instruction' or 'entertainment' or 'showing off' or 'personal diary', or ...

What you're trying to accomplish will inform how you do your videos.


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## WigMar (Mar 17, 2019)

Howdy Nate. Some of your camera angles were pretty cool. The one where we're looking over the nose of the board was interesting. The headstrap mount seemed effective in the trees. I think the best tree footage I've seen used a surfing mouth mount. I want to try that but I'm a little scared to bust my mouth open lol. Your music was pretty chill and inoffensive. I personally preferred the second track's vibe. I liked the narration about where you are and what's up, maybe add a bit more of that? 

When you're getting low on those carves, bend more at the knees than at the waist. Resist the urge to bend over and pet the dog. Squat your butt to your heels and slap the ground instead.


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## Rides with Nate (Feb 3, 2021)

Donutz said:


> Decide what you want your youtube videos to be _for. _Not as in 'snowboarding' but as in 'instruction' or 'entertainment' or 'showing off' or 'personal diary', or ...
> 
> What you're trying to accomplish will inform how you do your videos.


Thanks, yeah right now I’m just figuring out my purpose for my videos.



WigMar said:


> Howdy Nate. Some of your camera angles were pretty cool. The one where we're looking over the nose of the board was interesting. The headstrap mount seemed effective in the trees. I think the best tree footage I've seen used a surfing mouth mount. I want to try that but I'm a little scared to bust my mouth open lol. Your music was pretty chill and inoffensive. I personally preferred the second track's vibe. I liked the narration about where you are and what's up, maybe add a bit more of that?
> 
> When you're getting low on those carves, bend more at the knees than at the waist. Resist the urge to bend over and pet the dog. Squat your butt to your heels and slap the ground instead.


Thanks for the feedback on camera angles, I like to switch it up so it doesn’t get boring. Yeah I’d be a little scared to snowboard with the GoPro in my mouth too lol. Yeah I want to add a bit more narration, I still feel a bit awkward talking to the camera so I’ve been working on that lately. Thanks for the suggestions and feedback.

I’ll keep those carving tips in mind, thanks, hopefully I’ll be able to go try them out soon


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## Kijima (Mar 3, 2019)

Youtubing is easy, all you need is to be moderately good looking, able to stretch out 1 minute worth of info into a 12 minute video, collaborate with Ryan Knapton and you will have 10k subscribers in the first month. 
Dont worry about your snowboarding, you dont need good snowboarding for a snowboarding channel, people will watch anything that has good resolution and good sound because they are booooooored out of their minds.


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## Rides with Nate (Feb 3, 2021)

Kijima said:


> Youtubing is easy, all you need is to be moderately good looking, able to stretch out 1 minute worth of info into a 12 minute video, collaborate with Ryan Knapton and you will have 10k subscribers in the first month.
> Dont worry about your snowboarding, you dont need good snowboarding for a snowboarding channel, people will watch anything that has good resolution and good sound because they are booooooored out of their minds.


Haha so true. So your saying I just gotta please the bored people and I’ll get subscribers lol 😂
I enjoy making some fun videos while figuring out and progressing at snowboarding. It’ll be fun to look back 5 years from now and see progression


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## Kijima (Mar 3, 2019)

Rides with Nate said:


> Haha so true. So your saying I just gotta please the bored people and I’ll get subscribers lol 😂
> I enjoy making some fun videos while figuring out and progressing at snowboarding. It’ll be fun to look back 5 years from now and see progression


Don't forget the rest of us when you get famous ok


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## Rides with Nate (Feb 3, 2021)

Kijima said:


> Don't forget the rest of us when you get famous ok


Don’t worry I’ll give y’all some credit, when I get there haha


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## 16gkid (Dec 5, 2012)

Kijima said:


> Youtubing is easy, all you need is to be moderately good looking, able to stretch out 1 minute worth of info into a 12 minute video, collaborate with Ryan Knapton and you will have 10k subscribers in the first month.
> Dont worry about your snowboarding, you dont need good snowboarding for a snowboarding channel, people will watch anything that has good resolution and good sound because they are booooooored out of their minds.


The ignorance is strong in this post , or maybe I just missed the sarcasm?,


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## Manicmouse (Apr 7, 2014)

16gkid said:


> The ignorance is strong in this post , or maybe I just missed the sarcasm?,


Wow I forget sarcasm isn't a way of life for some people 😛


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## 16gkid (Dec 5, 2012)

Manicmouse said:


> Wow I forget sarcasm isn't a way of life for some people 😛


You would be surprised how many people don't realize how hard it is to edit together an entertaining 10 minute snowboarding video


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## Kijima (Mar 3, 2019)

Srcsm247


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## Crusty (Nov 8, 2018)

"You would be surprised how many people don't realize how hard it is to edit together an entertaining 10 minute snowboarding video"

Try it for a 10 yos basketball team when your wife volunteers you. And they didn't win once.

#Sarcasmislife


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## snow & pow adventures (Oct 28, 2020)

Well, I tried to make it short. I didn't succeed 

*Random Tips:*

Stabilization. Think about your camera when riding, think about your arm holding it. Try to compensate with your hand for every movement of your lower body - if you for example ride on bump and you bending knees - compensate with your hand that movement, and try to keep the camera on the same level as before the bump. . Otherwise, it's hard to watch. It's not easy to get it right away. Do not make sudden moves. Try to rotate the camera gently if you doing so.
View Angle / Scene - the worst thing you can do is to record yourself from waist to head and some sky. I see nothing as a viewer. If you hold the camera afront and record yourself, try to find the angle for the camera, where on Superview (GoPro) you'll be able to see your board and head. If not, better to point out the camera on the legs, than on the head if you have to choose.
To get this angle you need to experiment, remember where your camera should be to get a good angle, and learn how to hold your hand still.
Recording yourself from behind is even harder (backhand tend to move around more than front one, so you have to be even more focused where your camera is pointing right now.
Superview - is a must if you not recording someone else. Both for POV and stick - always supervise (or other largest POV setting for the camera). When you record someone, change to the smallest POV.
Good angles that work - after testing many, I stayed with POV (GoPro mouth grip) and Selfshot (holding stick afront, camera pointed at you) - those two are most entertaining to record riding. Some others work too, but not for longer parts, also they throw you off balance easily. You can learn how to ride with a stick in front hand and be stable (learn how to use camera weight to help your balance - but this is an advanced skill when you know how to ride). I don't recommend you using GoPro mouth until you will be riding well and you'll be sure of your skills.
I ride 3+ years with mouth grip, had over 100 crashes with a camera in the mouth (in the powder, of course, I don't fall on piste on my face ) and I never even felt it (I also know how to fall safely, years of experience). So I recommend you use a helmet mount. Just make sure, angle of the camera "catches" your board tip and horizon. The worst thing that can happen when recording, is when you only record the path in front of you, without seeing your board - it's boring for viewers in the longer term, you don't know what the rider is doing. That's important - make sure you know the angle of the camera on your helmet, that records both horizon and your board.
Length - 2minutes is the sweet spot of films like that. Viewers don't watch more than 2-3 min if there is no narration/interesting story etc. If you doing vlog format and your main "attraction" is you talking and narration, then it's different, videos can be longer. When you making clips from your trips, it's much harder to make videos longer than 3-4 minutes and keep viewers watching. Few words/sentences here or there is not storytelling.
Iterate. Make the first edit, then throw away all the most boring fragments. Do it 3times, until you left with only interesting moments. I don't care about you traversing the slope to get to the line (1:45) - at least 3--4 sec unnecessary. You have a lot of moments like that.
Music is most important. It has to match the rhythm of the clip. If you charging - dynamic and matching rhythm, if you're riding slow, don't use dynamic music. That's the very tricky part, there are free music libraries but they mostly have unknown music artists, or Noname songs, or just tons of shitty music. I use music I listen to and I like (electronic music in general with a good beat).
My channel is for me mostly, that was always my goal - my snowboarding diary, that I can watch how didI rides a year ago, two, etc. So 80% of my clips have copyright strike, and all earnings go to music rights owners. I don't care, about earning on yt, that's not my goal, but your goals may be different so bear in mind, that music will become a problem at some point.
Diversity - Since the beginning I was riding on few different resorts, 2-3 in Slovakia and 2-3 in Poland, to make it different somehow. Adding more than 3-4 clips from the same spot in a row, isn't good practice, as viewers may have enough of the same area if you doing the same things there as before.
Weather. Bluebird days clips have much more views, easier to keep viewers, etc. Keep that in mind. If you don't have to, do not add to the clip scenes where there are low light conditions.
Do not stay in the same scene too long. If you not doing anything interesting, change it after a few sec, make it interesting not boring.
Batteries - buy yourself at least 1 (best buy 2) battery and charger and always charge one/two batteries while riding in your backpack/pocket. I use a light power bank for that. Having 3 batteries that way, I never had a problem with no batteries left to record.
Render to 2.7k/4k and upload to youtube, this way, your 1080p (most common resolution ) will have better quality, than when you export to 1080p and upload like that.
Learn how to work with color correction, brightness, shadows - you will need that skill, trust me - there will be shots that will be too dark to match the rest and you'll need to know how to handle that.
LEARN THE SLANG. IT'S POWDER, not fresh snow  no one says that - or ppl who are newbies use that term.
Do not try to look cool on a snowboard (5:10) - this looks awful when you bend like that trying to touch the snow. BEND YOUR KNEES, not your waist.
Always test your videos, send them to 3-4 friends ask for honest feedback what did they didn't like when they get bored? etc. I always change small things after feedback like that - this way you're always upgrading your final product.
Hold your horses. Do not rush with the publication of the clip. Make sure you edited all you could, and you're happy with it. Once you upload...it's there. I did that mistakes few times, and I also held up to editing longer than usual because I wanted to make it perfect. Those videos I almost perfected have the most likes/views on my channel. Hard work pays off. Rushing things - not.
Thumbnail, Description, and Title - THIS IS MOST IMPORTANT to get views. Thumbnail has to be TOP! Title short, but interesting. Add some additional info like the name of the board, year, or name of the camera. Check other snowboarders how they are adding titles and descriptions. Set up tags etc. Initial views are only high in the first 1-2 days than when the video is older, you got most views from search/recommended. It's important to watch stats and change things if they are not working.
The painful truth - enjoy doing it for yourself. You won't get many subs in the first 1-2 years, you're skill is low both in riding and editing - you'll need time to get to some level, to be interesting to watch. Unless you have a hell of a talk (I have this rare skill, that when I'mfreeriding I say stupid things, and ppl like it, that's my feedback. I swear a lot when I'm crashing but in a fun way - ppl like it. That's important to find where you're good at and sell it).
*My story and progression*

I've started to add snowboarding videos on my channel in January 2018. The reason was, I recorded myself in Les Arcs, France in 2017, made my first edit, and had a breakdown, watching my style of riding. I'm riding since 94, never learned how to do it right, I had a bad stance, no riding on edge, the only thing I was ok at was treeriding/freeriding, because I had a lot of nice small hills/forest around my town and in my youth snow was everywhere in winter (not like now). So I started my channel with a goal - I'm recording myself, to see what to improve, and this way I'll try to be a better rider. This is still my goal. I record my snowboarding adventures, but I'm doing it for MYSELF, not to please anyone, and if ppl subs because they like it - super! IF they don't like it, I don't care. IT'S MY DIARY. - it's important to set yourself a goal as someone already mentioned. Set up a goal - why you doing this. What you will be showing. Will you be always talking? or not. In my first clips, I didn't say a word, it came naturally in my case. The worst thing to do is to look fake on video, trying to be someone else than yourself.

*Example edits

January 2018* *(15subs)*
First edit ever, GoPro session5, sony vegas 14







*January 2019* - (*50 subs) *
First video with some "story" and talking, I had very positive feedback, mostly because it was funny. I started to add my videos as a post on facebook freeriders group (10k users). It helped a lot to get traction.







*January 2020 - (112subs)*
It same spot as the year before, but here you have even more talking, and I started to use my buddy footage to make it more interesting. (riding starts after 1:00). That was the first video with a longer watch time - above 3min, which is a very good start on my channel (I have most clips 2-3min long with 1:54 average watch time).







*January 2021 - (580 subs)*
Around that time I developed "Marian" role model character - a snowboarder that does stupid things, is funny, and you can laugh at him (I'm like that in real life, so it's easy for me to get into the role). A year later I'm more know as Marian than by my real name, and viewers really liked it.
Two videos showing my current main film themes -

_Video 1 _
2-3min dynamic scenes changes, fast-paced, no much of a story.





_Video 2_
Storytelling video. This always has more watch time, more views, more likes, because ppl like to be entertained, not only watch someone riding.






Ok, let's end this. You have a lot of info, and material to study.
One more thing. My edit times changed from 3-4h per video to even15-20h I'm spending on one 4-5min clip.
If you want to hear my advice - make videos about learning a new trick or working on a carving, or hitting jumps and in general, your progression in snowboarding. That's more interesting to watch than you sliding here and there, bend like after paralysis, riding 10-15km/h  I know brutal, but that's what I saw watching your video. Don't worry, I hate my first clips, January 2018 video is NOT PUBLIC for a reason 

I hope I helped somehow.
Good luck.


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## drblast (Feb 28, 2017)

Just want to point out you'll progress faster if you're not trying to make good videos.

I don't mean to be harsh, but if someone is holding a selfie stick anywhere near me and their riding is not second nature, they get marked as "dangerous Jerry" in my head. So just be aware of other people so that when you fall because you were trying to make a video that you don't cause problems for anyone else.

Helmet mounts are great for that, because it doesn't impact your riding or progression at all but you still have a diary of your trips.


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## Mike256 (Oct 13, 2013)

Crusty said:


> Try it for a 10 yos basketball team when your wife volunteers you. And they didn't win once.


 Fk that cracked me up


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## freshy (Nov 18, 2009)

Donutz said:


> Decide what you want your youtube videos to be _for. _Not as in 'snowboarding' but as in 'instruction' or 'entertainment' or 'showing off' or 'personal diary', or ...
> 
> What you're trying to accomplish will inform how you do your videos.


This 100%!!! No one wants to watch some random guy doing mediocre riding in meh conditions. I think the best bet for you would be to record your progression. Have a goal in mind like landing a 360 for example, then at least we will watch to see if you make it. Maybe talk a bit about your goal and give as some background and future plans. 
Getting the software that removes the selfie stick is better than a stick, getting a drone would be awesome. I pretty much can't watch helmet cam footage unless it's someone like Travis Rice slaying huge pow lines, plus it makes the rider look like a teletubby.
At least you got some decent edits and music.


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## Crusty (Nov 8, 2018)

Mike256 said:


> Fk that cracked me up


Lots of scene fades right before the shot hits the rim. Or misses the rim entirely. But damn does the music sync.


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## Rides with Nate (Feb 3, 2021)

snow & pow adventures said:


> Well, I tried to make it short. I didn't succeed
> 
> *Random Tips:*
> 
> ...


Dang, wow, thanks dude! There is lots of good advice in there. I have one question about, “Render to 2.7k/4k and upload to youtube, this way, your 1080p (most common resolution ) will have better quality, than when you export to 1080p and upload like that.”
Do you mean to film and edit at 2.7/4K and export at that, then upload it to YouTube?
My goals for quality are something I’m proud enough of I would show to my friends and family, but nothing that take too much time. Maybe as I get better at making videos some more people will start to like them too.


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## Rides with Nate (Feb 3, 2021)

My younger brother is a skier and he was telling me about a video he watched the other day with a specific run he wanted to try at beaver mountain. He said I should do short videos with just one run and do it for lots of the runs. The only people that might watch them would be local people or people doing a trip to Beaver, but they would be good editing practice and would put some more videos on my channel.

I think I would just do a selfie stick shot from the back, my favorite for seeing the trail being ridden, or a follow shot of someone. Maybe ride it a second time with a helmet mount just to switch the angle for a second in editing. Anyone think that’s a good idea?


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## Rides with Nate (Feb 3, 2021)

drblast said:


> Just want to point out you'll progress faster if you're not trying to make good videos.
> 
> I don't mean to be harsh, but if someone is holding a selfie stick anywhere near me and their riding is not second nature, they get marked as "dangerous Jerry" in my head. So just be aware of other people so that when you fall because you were trying to make a video that you don't cause problems for anyone else.
> 
> Helmet mounts are great for that, because it doesn't impact your riding or progression at all but you still have a diary of your trips.


Yeah I get what you mean, I don’t film the whole day I just film a few runs and then just have fun and work on progressing. And I do my best to stay away from people while I film unless I’m really comfortable on the run.


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## Donutz (May 12, 2010)

Rides with Nate said:


> My younger brother is a skier and he was telling me about a video he watched the other day with a specific run he wanted to try at beaver mountain. He said I should do short videos with just one run and do it for lots of the runs. The only people that might watch them would be local people or people doing a trip to Beaver, but they would be good editing practice and would put some more videos on my channel.
> 
> I think I would just do a selfie stick shot from the back, my favorite for seeing the trail being ridden, or a follow shot of someone. Maybe ride it a second time with a helmet mount just to switch the angle for a second in editing. Anyone think that’s a good idea?


This would actually be a very useful theme. A video (or two, depending on complexity) for each run on your mountain, along with commentary about features and such. People would watch that, and you don't have to be really good. In fact, being more of a mid-level rider would be better, as people could identify with your riding.


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## deagol (Mar 26, 2014)

it's hard. I've ridden some things that felt amazing (to me) and on video, it's like "meh" on video.
Also, I agree in lots of ways with Freshy (I have helmet cam footage of him riding, coincidentally) but for me, it's a great trip down memory lane to see FPV helmet cam footage of a good day. Most days, especially in-bounds, are not worth filming though. YMMV

This video is my most recent and it's more along the "diary" type, I think ?? although there is no talking. Not sure if talking is required to count as a diary. I love the blizzard conditions in the beginning, but that's me.

The conditions were amazing and I wanted to capture the feeling of floating, not sure if I did. I hate the slow spot at the end (about 2:33 ish) but oh well.





I am lazy about editing and don't try to make eye-grabbing thumbnails. But yeah, do it for yourself and it's also possible you will get negative feedback. I got ripped on here pretty bad for a backcountry trip I did many years ago after posting the footage.


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