The ‘5 Second Intro’ Is Dead, Here’s Why…
It is interesting to see how over time, the viewing habits and responses of people watching videos on YouTube has evolved.
In the recent past, the most successful style of video was the one that started with a demanding or at least wildly enthusiastically arresting intro.
The philosophy was that you captured the viewers attention instantly, grab them by the throat and never let go!
However in recent times that strategy has begun to fade in its effectiveness quite markedly.
There is a newer style that is taking over and when you look at it, it actually makes more sense.
To explore this trend more fully here’s a video from Hillier Smith explaining exactly what is going on and why it is happening.
The Only 3 Cuts You Need to Tell Any Story – PowerDirector
Ah, subject dear to my heart!
One of the problems with modern video editing software is that they offer a shedload of premade transitions to make your videos look “professional.”
In reality those things actually make you videos scream to your audience, “I am a total amateur and have no idea what I am doing!”
You can imagine what that does to audience retention!
Anyway, the pro’s actually use very few preset effects like that and limit themselves to cuts that serve the content.
Here’s a look at keeping it simple from PowerDirector University.
Three Techniques for Creating a Lower-third in PowerDirector
Lower thirds refer to any sort of text that appears at the bottom (lower third) of a video.
You most often see these on T.V. news broadcasts where there is a constant ticker tape style display running most of the time.
Lower thirds in video making are usually used to add context or added information to what is being presented in the video itself.
In PowerDirector there are a few ways to add lower thirds and in this video you can see how to access and control their content and behaviour.
What’s New in Filmora 15.2: AI Relight, Topaz Starlight & Pen Tool End Shape
OK, so this is pretty epic as far as adding awesome tools go for Filmora.
Like everyone else around town these days they have been pursuing the whole A.I thing quite aggressively.
Many of those tools have been pretty useful, and some… yeah, not so much!
However this latest addition took me by surprise.
So to set the scene the absolute gold standard for A.I. driven upscaling and restoration of old or less than ideal video footage from the beginning has been Topaz Labs.
They were pretty much the first to create such a set of tools and have led the pack ever since.
The downside has always been the price of entry historically coming in at around U.S $300 which is a little steep if your needs are quite modest.
Also historically, Topaz Labs have remained notoriously isolated as a company and have collaborated with no other companies in their field or any related fields.
So I was shocked to see that somehow Wondershare have done a deal with them to include one of their models inside Filmora version 15.2, the latest release.
This is a really, really advanced tool and very useful of you have some dodgy footage you still want to use.
Additionally they have updated the Pen Tool which I have previously covered but wait, there’s more!
They have also added another A.I. tool called the Relight tool which is yet another enhancement tool for bad footage.
Check it all out in the video below.
How to Make a Vlog Using Only AI
The reason I am including this video from the folks at Movavi is not because I am a big fan of using A.I. to totally create something from scratch.
The real reason is that it goes into great detail on exactly how you should (if you want!) use A.I. correctly.
The bottom line is that A.I is not creative!
All it really can do is follow instructions so if you give it dull unimaginative instruction, you get dull unimaginative results!
And the final point here is that you absolutely have to inspect, tweak and edit the results to get something others would want to pay attention to.
Mixing Narration and Music levels in Premiere Elements 2026
This is another in the series from Steve Grisetti covering how to effectively use Adobe Premiere Elements 2026 in your video editing.
In this video Steve goes over how you can use keyframing on the timeline to adjust and mix your audio levels so that your narration or voices in the video balance against any music.
Cheap mic? No problem – Make it Sound Better with DaVinci Resolve
Probably the two hardest techniques to master in post production of your videos are color correction and audio quality.
Most video editing software these days offer pretty good modules for working with both but the downside is that you really need to understand what you are doing!
If you don’t, it can only take seconds to take something from bad to something terrible while you have no idea how you got there!
In the video below Daniel Batal runs quite comprehensively through the whole process of taking some less than ideal audio and lifting up to a decent standard.
He does it in DaVinci Resolve which had a sophisticated audio module called Fairlight, however don’t be put off by that.
Most editors these days offer at least similar control with the important part to learn being the understanding of what lies behind the corrections and tolls he uses.
How to Create a YouTube Channel in 2026 (Step-By-Step)
One thing that you can absolutely rely on is that the procedure and steps for setting up a YouTube channel are an evolving set of principles!
You only have to go back a year or two and compare it all to today and you will see what I mean!
So in light of that here’s a fully up to date tutorial on completing the task.
One thing of note is that although this covers setting up a new channel it is of equal importance to anyone that has one already set up.
You may very well find steps or settings that have changed since you did you own so from that point of view it is well worth watching.
YouTube Inauthentic Content- What Nobody Tells You About Inauthentic Content Demonetization Policy
When people started using A.I. to create videos for YouTube there was much discussion about how good an idea that really was given that the YouTube algorithm would eventually be adjusted to detect it.
YouTube themselves came out and stated that they had no problem with that kind of content BUT!!!
That content would still have to show some kind of contribution to the platform and the viewer experience in some way.
So the bottom line was, if it is good content then they didn’t care really how it was made.
They later added a requirement for the creator to disclose to what extent any part of the video was A.I. or auto generated and this was shown when the video played.
Right now anything they detect as being of low or no real value they flag as “Inauthentic Content” and can result in demonetization or a channel ban.
So, it is best to understand what that all actually means right now.
In this video Jacky covers the entire subject and where we currently stand.
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