At the end of each year, I evaluate my previous year on YouTube, my website, and my social networks (Twitter, Facebook, & Instagram). One of the main things I look at is the overall professional look of my work. For that reason, I thought it was time to update my banners on all of these places. The German flag with the bow tie was cool for a while, but the more I look at it the more I think it just looked cluttered. So I started redesigning my banners. In the process, I also decided to change the way my "lecture-style" videos look. Everything will now be consistent. I'm replacing the old chalkboard style with a brick background and a whiteboard. This should make my videos more like a classroom instead of a fantasy land where the entire wall is a chalkboard. Also, it makes no sense that I have used a chalkboard in my videos for so long. I'm allergic to chalk. I never use it in real life. Above you can see the new banner for my website, which is pretty similar for all of the other locations. Below you can see an example of my classroom set up for new "lecture-style" videos. This is actually a still shot from my new "outro".
While I think the quality of my videos has been pretty decent in the last year, there are a few things that could be improved upon. Last Christmas (2016) I got some sound deadening foam, a green screen and a semi-professional lighting kit for my "studio". (below)
About half way through the year, I rearranged my setup so that the editing process was more streamlined, I had more room to record videos, and the sound quality improved a bit more. Above you can see the initial setup from the beginning of 2017 (left) and the new setup on the right. Clearly there was room for improvement.
This year I asked Santa for a pop filter and a shock mount for my microphone (left). This should improve the audio quality just a bit more in the future. It also allows me to mount my microphone on a tripod instead of setting it on top of a few boxes, which was really starting to bug me.
As you can see above, there is still one glaring problem. I use my computer to keep me on track and follow my video script as much as possible. It's kind of like my teleprompter. Unfortunately I haven't found a good way to get my computer to sit behind my camera at the right height. For about a year and a half I have used a combination of a plastic container, Sophia's "Frozen" ottoman, and a box or two. A couple of days ago I ordered a set of shelves that will not only give me a place to store some of my equipment, but also give me a place to set my computer and separate my "studio" from the rest of the basement.
Long story short, I am working to streamline my video making process and organize my "studio". I say "studio" in quotes, because it is really just a corner of the basement that is separated a bit from the rest, but it is slowly becoming a place that I can feel comfortable working.
According to my Google Analytics for this site, the pictures above represent the most viewed posts of 2017. Strangely enough, however, several of the posts are from 2016 and one is from 2015. Below are overviews and some links to each of the most popular posts on this site.
#1: German Word Order: Direct & Indirect Objects - In this video and blog I explain how the word order is sometimes switched around a bit when using direct and indirect objects in German as pronouns instead of the original nouns.
#2: Best YouTube Channels for Learning German - There are a ton of YouTube channels out there that can teach you German. I don't claim to be the best one out there. I compiled my list of channels I think are the best and posted them here.
#3: Comparative & Superlative Adjectives - Learn how to say "bigger", "the slowest" and more in German by learning about the comparative and superlative forms of adjectives.
#4: Haben & Sein Song - I was playing around in class one day and started singing the conjugation of haben and sein. The students liked it so much that I decided to upload it to YouTube. The result was apparently pretty popular.
#5: Two-Part Conjunctions in German - Some conjunctions in German have two parts and they get separated when you write a sentence. This blog post explains how they work and what they are.
#6: Lingoda: The Online Language School - In 2017 I have been fortunate enough to be sponsored several times by some companies that I believe can really help you advance your German skills. Way back in October of 2016 I was given an opportunity to review Lingoda. Since they sponsored several videos on my channel in 2017, I have a few promo codes that can be used for a discount on your first month. The easiest one to remember is "ANTRIM".
#7: Transitive & Intransitive Verbs - Some German grammar jargon can be confusing. When teachers use these terms it makes students more frustrated, because they don't even understand the words in their own language, so they can't get it in the foreign language. In this blog and video I explain how transitive and intransitive verbs work and why that matters to your German learning.
#8: Smarter German's Irregular Verb App Review - One of the best YouTube channels for learning German is smarterGerman. In addition to the awesome videos on their channel, they also have a few apps that can really help you with some of the trickier parts of the German language. I did a review of their app for learning irregular verbs in the Imperfekt and Perfekt tenses.
#9: How to Fill Out a German Form - I thought this was going to be one of the worst videos of the year. I was bored when I made it. I was bored when I uploaded it. I expected people to be bored when they watched it, but it is one of the best performing videos in terms of percentage of the video watched per view and total number of views. If you want to know how to fill out a customs form in German, you can find that in this video and blog post.
So what is happening in 2018 on this site? I hope to be back to making 2 videos each week starting with a video about how to say "Ow, my... hurts" in German on January 8th. After that I will have a beginner level video on Mondays and an intermediate level video on Fridays. The plan so far is to have the Monday and Friday videos have similar themes, so on Friday, January 12th I will be uploading a video about going to an annual checkup at the doctor's office. If you are ever curious about what I have planned for my upcoming videos, you can always find that on my "Video Calendar" page on my website.
Comments