Not really sure how to ask this except for, how do you make your Graphical Intros look professional?
I’m such a newbie in my skills even though I’ve been at this for a while, but it’s hard to find time to learn new techniques and improve.
I don’t want mine to be over-the-top professional, in front of a home-made video, but I also don’t want mine to look as cheesy as they do.
Does it come from learning Shotcut more or do most of you use external software animation products? I’ve read about programs like Blender but it seems to be too much and I’m not looking for 3D.
This is an example of my latest, starting at about :20 seconds. It’s hot in Texas so I thought it would be neat to relay this with some burning aspects in my title. Unfortunately I have many short comings in this arena and it just looks pathetic.
What direction should I go? Ramp up Shotcut skills or go onto some other “open-source” software graphic packages?
You have some suggestions to get the ball rolling. One thing I will say is that if you decide to go the cool text route, that suggests to me you are probably somewhat limited in your graphics/animation abilities and maybe you could learn to become proficient in GIMP (since that is definitely a useful skill set to have). GIMP is much easier than Blender.
First, watch this:
At any rate, this is an exercise in Marketing (branding) and can still be very simple. The planning of your intro will be at least as important as the flashy bells and whistles. So you need to ask yourself what kind of topics you feature or plan on featuring on your channel. Do you have a logo, is it always mountain biking, is it sports related, is there a tips and tricks feature section, what is your target audience, what is the objective of your channel (education, entertainment ) etc etc??
You can make some pretty cool basic effects IN Shotcut, but have you tried to use Glaxnimate? That is a simple animation program bundled with Shotcut and it is relatively easy to learn. Here are some examples of what I’ve done, and I am far from a video expert.
That intro was made purely in Shotcut, then further down is the Glaxnimate version (which you can download to study if you want).
Here is another I made for a Hillclimb.
For that one I downloaded the speedometer for free from YouTube, and the rest is all done in Shotcut.
There are many others from members on this board if you are looking for inspiration, but really it comes down to you, your imagination and creativity, and then turning those ideas into a snazzy intro.
You could study some of the favourite intros from YouTube channels you like and apply those ideas. Or you could even use one of these:
Thank you for the response and I appreciate it. I’m following through in the review of it all.
I’m not conveying very well what I’m looking for. I don’t want flashy or over the top. The ShotcutGlaxIntro you posted is clean, professional, and well received without anything grandiose . That’s what I’m looking for.
I think the problem is that I’m limited in my creative abilities in that aspect. I wouldn’t have the slightest idea on how to envision something like that on my own. With that limitation, I think the more simple boilerplate intros may be my best option.
Our videos are just something fun to share with family, friends and groups. Nothing serious, just a fun little hobby amongst many. We mountain bike the most but also have our vacations and other activities on there as well. No target audience but of course want to keep it fun and engaging for whoever might view it.
Oh I think you were relatively clear. I might have gotten a little carried away trying to cover various possibilities, but that’s why I linked some different options, including “clean and simple”. There are more free clean templates on YouTube, so it might be worth your while doing a quick search and watching some more.
Personally, I would start by designing a logo - that’s a good way to learn GIMP and then transition into a short video intro using the logo as a base.
I’m not super creative so don’t stress. Just be patient, do some planning, don’t get frustrated, and you’d be surprised at the quality of the end result.
Used Gimp for text instead, which gave it a smoother and cleaner look, but I had to stop and move on as friends and family were anxious. Hopefully in the future I can spend more time on it and improve, although I’m sure it will be in baby-steps.
