Hey everyone, just wanted to say I know I haven’t been very present in the community this last week. I’m helping my mom navigate a recent health situation, and that has been taking up much of my attention. The good thing is, I’m not the only one here in the community! You are all encouraged to post questions and comments, share ideas and ask for feedback. Have a question about something that’s in the classroom (or maybe something that ISN’T in the classroom)? Ask and see who helps you out! Or share insights of what has been working for you—it might motivate someone else to try something new 🙂 I hope to return to my regularly scheduled participation level soon. In the meantime, NewTubers is what YOU make of it 😎 Happy Holidays 🎅 -Woody

**There is a downloadable PDF of this checklist attached to this post** Before you hit record… 🎥 1. Camera Setup (Choose Your Section) A) Regular Camera (DSLR / Mirrorless) • ☐ Battery fully charged • ☐ Backup battery ready • ☐ Memory card inserted • ☐ SD card has enough free space (format if needed) • ☐ Lens cleaned (microfiber cloth) • ☐ Camera settings correct: • ☐ Resolution (e.g., 1080p or 4K) • ☐ Frame rate (24/30/60fps) • ☐ Shutter speed (e.g., 1/50 or 1/60) • ☐ ISO set low as possible • ☐ White balance manually set • ☐ Autofocus working OR manual focus set • ☐ Tripod stable and level ⸻ B) Smartphone Camera • ☐ Phone charged + plugged in if needed • ☐ Storage space checked (delete or offload old files) • ☐ Rear camera selected (better quality) • ☐ Lens cleaned (microfiber cloth or shirt) • ☐ Airplane Mode ON • ☐ Do Not Disturb ON • ☐ Video settings correct: • ☐ Resolution (4K if available) • ☐ Frame rate (24/30/60fps depending on style) • ☐ Lock exposure & focus (tap and hold on most phones) • ☐ Phone mounted securely (tripod, clamp, etc.) ⸻ 🎤 2. Audio • ☐ Mic connected • ☐ Wireless transmitter/receiver charged & paired • ☐ Lav or shirt mic placed correctly (no rubbing on clothes/beard) • ☐ Test recording made and listened to • ☐ Background noise monitored • ☐ Gain levels not too hot (no clipping) ⸻ 💡 3. Lighting • ☐ Key light on & positioned • ☐ Fill light / background lights placed • ☐ No harsh shadows • ☐ No glare on glasses (adjust angle of lights) • ☐ Background clean and intentional ⸻ 🧍‍♂️ 4. Framing & Composition • ☐ Camera slightly above eye level • ☐ Proper headroom • ☐ Subject centered or following rule of thirds • ☐ Arms/head not cropped awkwardly • ☐ Background tidy and not distracting ⸻ 👕 5. Clothing & Appearance • ☐ Shirt clean, unwrinkled • ☐ No loud patterns (avoid moiré) • ☐ No clothing rubbing your mic • ☐ Hair in place • ☐ Shine removed (quick powder or blot) • ☐ Lint/pet hair removed • ☐ No loud jewelry

✅ Make Your Thumbnail! If you’ve been following along, you have now come up with 5 video ideas, written some title and thumbnail concepts, researched at least one idea… now it’s time to make your thumbnail! You can use Canva, Photoshop, or whatever you like. We have Thumbnail Templates in the classroom. And if you need help, ask a friend in the community! To complete this challenge, you must share at least one thumbnail in this chat. It doesn’t have to be perfect—you can ask for feedback and then improve upon it 🙂 Let’s see what y’all got!

Just curious… indulge me!

If you have questions about what happens after you publish your video, you might find this helpful. I’m warning you now, this is a long post, but I promise if you are new to YouTube, it’s worth the read! And FYI I used AI to break it into cohesive sections, but it’s still 100% my own words. First, let’s go back to the uploading portion. As tempting as it might be to set your video to public right off the bat, this is not what I recommend. The reason for this is that it takes time for YouTube to process your video in standard definition, high definition, and 4K, as well as run their copyright checks. Standard definition usually processes first, and then some viewers might watch your video before the high definition or 4K processing is completed, meaning that they’ll think your video quality is not so great. This period of time where your video is private is also when YouTube looks at all the components of your video—including the title, thumbnail, tags, description, and transcript—to see what the content in the video actually is. And I’m sure there are a host of other things they look at that we don’t even know about. But you want YouTube to be able to gather all of this data before the video actually goes live. Everyone has different feelings on this and it’s certainly not an exact science because we’re not really sure what YouTube is doing behind the scenes, but I typically like to leave my video private for at least 15 or 20 minutes, if not a few hours. Some people even like to schedule it to go live the next day. Once Your Video is Live… Nothing Happens At least that’s what it might seem like at first! If you uploaded a long-form video, it might be a couple hours or even longer before you start to see any impressions for this video. If it’s a YouTube short, this waiting period might not be as long, but I have seen it take as long as six hours. So what is an impression? Well, an impression is every time that YouTube puts your video in front of the eyes of a potential viewer. Anytime they see your thumbnail—whether that be on the browse page, in search, in a list of recommended videos, or anywhere else—as soon as your thumbnail comes on the screen, YouTube counts that as an impression. You’ll start to see a few impressions trickle in at first, and you might think “what the heck is going on,” and then out of nowhere you might see a large surge in impressions relative to what came before it. This is YouTube testing your video with an initial audience. If you’re a small channel, then this first surge of impressions might only be between 100 and 500. But as you post more videos and gain some subscribers and viewers who have seen your videos before, then YouTube knows who to put your video in front of the next time, and so this initial surge might go into the thousands, tens of thousands, or even higher as you become a more established channel.