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Bricks in Motion
Bricks in Motion
We are a friendly filmmaking community devoted to the art of stop-motion animation using LEGO® and similar construction toys. Here, you can share your work, join our community of other brickfilmers, and participate in periodic animation contests!
A place to discuss, share, and create stop motion films.
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Apparently YouTube finally admitted to the youtube thumbnail brightness """"bug""""
https://twitter.com/TeamYouTube/status/ … 9308342273
We are actually experimenting with image processing and enhancement technology to improve thumbnail quality, we appreciate all the info you have given.
I figured this is what it was, but it's so dumb that they dont just admit it ahead of time. Also what purpose does rolling out buggy "features" to the public do? Are they seeing if I'll click on washed out thumbnails more often than darker thumbnails? Anyway, that's that.
It all seems pretty pointless to me. People likely want their thumbnail to look a certain way so why interfere with that?
Anybody else have YouTube tell them to make their videos "Made for Kids" or not? I have, and I just edited my videos so that they are.
But it says that in January you won't be able to comment on "Made for Kids" videos, and you won't get notifications about them either. So I think that that part is annoying.
But it is making YouTube safer for kids (There's a lot of bad stuff out there), so that's good.
Wondering what everyone else thinks of it.
It's going to decimate the brickfilm community. This is quite possibly the worst thing to ever happen to YouTube.
Honestly, while I think it's an understandable policy in general, it puts us brickfilmers in a bad spot. We all use LEGO (or similar brands), a toy, as our medium. But many of us don't make films specifically for kids. Most of my films in recent years aren't remotely directed toward children at all. Sure kids may want to watch them, but I don't write with kids in mind.
So where does this leave us? If we mark our videos as made for kids, that hurts our ability to grow as a community on YouTube because of all the disabled features. It also decreases revenue for those to whom it matters. If we mark our videos as not made for kids, and YouTube decides otherwise, we can be penalized for it. Due to our medium, this is unfortunately more likely than it should be.
What I like least about this, though, is that there's little information that I've seen about how marking a video for one audience may or may not impact its discoverability by the other. Does marking a video as made for kids simply because it is kid-friendly make it difficult to discover by everyone else? Does marking a video as not made for kids, because it's written for an older audience, make it near-impossible to find by children even though it wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing for them to watch it? How does this impact channel growth for those of us with videos in both camps?
Personally I'm going to set my channel as "both" and determine each video separately depending on content. Unfortunately YouTube has already flagged a few of my videos as made for kids, a couple of which I disagree with...we'll see how this works out.
EDIT: All done and no immediate ramifications. However, I marked my three highest-grossing videos as made for kids given their subject matter and execution. Not that I made much via monetization in the first place, but I imagine my revenue is going to decrease another order of magnitude...
Last edited by mysteriouspi (November 14, 2019 (09:06am))
I claimed that my channel "isn't made for kids" - I'll update you guys if Youtube thinks otherwise and forces me into anything.
You know, for me - it's not about the money. It's about making entertainment. And, I tend to make content directly aimed at kids. Sure, some of my films like De Mortem and Stuck/Unstuck push the avant-garde and are a bit darker - but it's all family appropriate content.
'For kids' videos aren't going to be shuttered from the rest of regular users - but some features are being disabled. I understand how this is a significant blow for some (like those actually able to make more than 4 cents on the platform) but labeling your videos as 'not for kids' is taking it a bit too far IMHO.
The new policy states that ANYTHING using toys or childrens' characters will be labeled 'for kids.' ForrestFire101 would probably be labeled as 'for kids' under this technicality. If his videos likely won't 'fall under the radar' neither will yours. For people like Forrest and even Michael Hickox - these changes could be life-changing for the negative. And it sucks.
But I don't think draft dodging is gonna cut it in YouTube's eyes here. Either move and/or safety back-up to another platform, or stay and abide by the rules. I've already set the majority of my videos as 'for kids' and have downloaded every video just in case (unlisted videos as well). In the coming months, I'll be downloading videos & brickfilms I enjoy and could be at risk of going away forever.
And, while its certainly a giant change - it's not going to 'destroy the brickfilming community' or anything like that. And I'm not here complaining. With YouTube claiming they're going to drop millions into YouTube kids and will essentially give 'for kids' content free promotion on the site - we (who aren't ineligible) may be able to utilize this for added exposure - and perhaps link to a patreon or something for external revenue.
You know, for me - it's not about the money. It's about making entertainment. And, I tend to make content directly aimed at kids. Sure, some of my films like De Mortem and Stuck/Unstuck push the avant-garde and are a bit darker - but it's all family appropriate content.
'For kids' videos aren't going to be shuttered from the rest of regular users - but some features are being disabled. I understand how this is a significant blow for some (like those actually able to make more than 4 cents on the platform) but labeling your videos as 'not for kids' is taking it a bit too far IMHO.
The new policy states that ANYTHING using toys or childrens' characters will be labeled 'for kids.' ForrestFire101 would probably be labeled as 'for kids' under this technicality. If his videos likely won't 'fall under the radar' neither will yours. For people like Forrest and even Michael Hickox - these changes could be life-changing for the negative. And it sucks.
But I don't think draft dodging is gonna cut it in YouTube's eyes here. Either move and/or safety back-up to another platform, or stay and abide by the rules. I've already set the majority of my videos as 'for kids' and have downloaded every video just in case (unlisted videos as well). In the coming months, I'll be downloading videos & brickfilms I enjoy and could be at risk of going away forever.
And, while its certainly a giant change - it's not going to 'destroy the brickfilming community' or anything like that. And I'm not here complaining. With YouTube claiming they're going to drop millions into YouTube kids and will essentially give 'for kids' content free promotion on the site - we (who aren't ineligible) may be able to utilize this for added exposure - and perhaps link to a patreon or something for external revenue.
Focusing a bit too much on the money bit as most brickfilmers who are upset make little to no money off their vids (I even set my channel to no ads before they auto demonized me for not being big enough).
The big issue is no comments, no playlists, and that ai which has shown in many ways is very unable to discern nuance.
I make content for general audiences (not kids), and loosing both comments from fellow teens-young adults (I don't mind if no one under 13 can't comment if that is how they did it) and the ability to organize in playlists the works of other animators is really annoying.
I've even seen children's educators annoyed by these as if lets say an educational video for kids gets set to "kid's content" the educator can no longer use playlists or "watch later" to keep it organized for when they teach.
Also, these moves from youtube doesn't fix the problem, just crushes the ad funded kids channels while hurting everyone else who is family friendly. Youtube has in their tos a 13+ requirement and a version made for kids that already has these restrictions. If kids going on a site logged off or on a parents or falsified age account is breaking the law, then all websites meant for non-kids break the law. Maybe youtube could have just put a "confirm your age" for non-logged in people like many sites or restrict targeted ads/playlist viewing/comment viewing to logged in people (for what little that would do as my previous point stated), but no they nuke everyone like youtube always does and why everyone hates youtube policies.
The short answer is that everyone here should probably mark all your brickfilms as for kids, even if the themes are not typical kids fare. If you even suspect that kids under 13 make up a disproportionate percentage of your audience, you should go with "for kids". I have been thinking about and researching this topic for the last 2 years, so I've put quite a bit of thought into it. I'll be doing a live stream about this topic tomorrow if y'all have specific questions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93JRFQyiZWs
The big issue is no comments, no playlists, and that ai...
No comments - utilize Bricks in Motion, discord servers, and other brickfilm community spaces.
No playlists - playlists aren't being taken from 'for kids' channels right? I thought it was just that playlists will be inaccessible on the viewer side of things.
Ai - They're going to be altering the algorithms in the coming months/year - and, I'd argue, potentially promote brickfilm content along with other, existing kids content.
I know that the YouTube kids app has been a thing for a while now - but I was under the impression brickfilms and similar media actually were very sparsely featured. (Mostly those, overtly child-targeted sing alongs, the Elsagate like videos, etc.) Granted, I never checked myself - but I personally would actually want the large majority of my content highlighted on such apps and to younger viewers - as (apparently fairly uniquely, according to the other posts from other site members) that's actually my intended audience.
Seems to me that, flawed a.i. aside, the monetary effects are most people's only real gripe here. Video descriptions aren't being taken away (yet) so linking to discord, patreon, Bricks in Motion, or just about anything else is still acceptable. Plus, one could always invite viewers to leave comments on social media sites through an end card or short 'follow on twitter, comment on BiM' sort of message displayed at the end of said video.
I mean, I've only ever been a part of the brickfilming community post-YouTube, but before then the community was still able to thrive through other ways of video sharing and constructive comments from the community. YouTube comments are just a small aspect of that, IMHO.
Seeing it go isn't the end of the world. It's just the start of a new era.
No comments - utilize Bricks in Motion, discord servers, and other brickfilm community spaces.
The problem isn't as much about total inability to comment (as you point out) but it will now require more effort to comment on others' films. Take someone who is subscribed to you or me but is not a BiM member. If they see that we have links to BiM where they can comment, what's the likelihood that they will visit the site, register for an account, and then still comment on the thread for the video? Generally, follow-through like this is extremely low. Having to go to another site means most people won't bother unless they're already involved there.
Seems to me that, flawed a.i. aside, the monetary effects are most people's only real gripe here.
As far as I've seen, the disappearance of comments has been criticized more because it makes it difficult/impossible to build a community on the site with the videos themselves. Few of us earn enough revenue on YouTube for this policy to make a huge difference (though it absolutely will make it difficult for said people).
one could always invite viewers to leave comments on social media sites through an end card or short [...] message displayed at the end of said video.
Aren't end cards being disabled for "made for kids" videos as well? You're right that end-of-video messages or links in descriptions should work for the time being.
Anyway, after doing more research today I've changed my mind and am setting my entire channel "made for kids." I don't like doing this because some of my films are/will be closer to PG-13 in nature and seem weird to label as "made for kids." But I get the impression the label is less "is this child-appropriate content?" and more "will children want to watch this video?"
I've set my channel to 'Not for kids' and written in the description in each of my videos that they're not made for kids.
The thing that's really making me do this is the comments thing, and stuff like notifications, end cards and community (although I can't actually use that feature yet). Sure, like Dyland said, you could link people to other sites, but it usually doesn't work. People, unless they really want to say something don't often
The thing is, I just simply don't feel comfortable making my videos 'for kids'. They're much closer (and getting much closer) to more adult content, like Rick and Morty, and I don't think I have that many kids under the age of 13 watching my stuff (although, tbh I'm really not sure)
Other platforms, like newgrounds do exist,but they don't really have the features and audience of youtube to match the site. I also get what you mean mysteriouspi, but setting all of your videos as 'for kids' seems to really limit the people your video can reach.
Seeing it go isn't the end of the world. It's just the start of a new era.
If this stuff goes for many lego youtubers, I don't think it'll be the start of anything that mainstream, it'll be very niche, shrinking the brickfilming community even more.
Ai - They're going to be altering the algorithms in the coming months/year - and, I'd argue, potentially promote brickfilm content along with other, existing kids content.
I wouldn't really trust this. I hope that this is true, but Youtube's Ai has never prompted much hope for me, although I always felt that it never really did anything to the brickfilm community.
Honestly, it's stuff like this that makes me want to quit brickfilming.
I also get what you mean mysteriouspi, but setting all of your videos as 'for kids' seems to really limit the people your video can reach.
I don't necessarily think setting your video or channel as "made for kids" will make it more difficult for older viewers to find (though it may to a certain extent; I am not wholly sure). We may not see how this pans out until YouTube fully implements the changes by January.
But the problem isn't deciding which audience you have or prefer. It's a legal issue that can carry consequences if you mislabel your videos from the FTC's perspective. If you haven't disabled information collection on your videos (by marking them "made for kids") and the FTC determines your video appeals to kids (by featuring LEGO), you could be in trouble.
I just simply don't feel comfortable making my videos 'for kids'. They're much closer (and getting much closer) to more adult content
And that puts you right in the awkward zone here. Your subject matter is definitely not intended for kids, but you still feature kid-appealing content (LEGO products), meaning that you probably should label your videos "made for kids" anyway. I am not a lawyer of course, but this is what people who have studied the issue more extensively than I are suggesting. I know limiting your YouTube features sucks, but receiving heavy fines from the government sucks much more.
Maybe the issue is overblown for the time being—how could the FTC possibly police most or all of YouTube?—but it's not a risk I am willing to take.
Lord Ringozinglyzong wrote:I also get what you mean mysteriouspi, but setting all of your videos as 'for kids' seems to really limit the people your video can reach.
I don't necessarily think setting your video or channel as "made for kids" will make it more difficult for older viewers to find (though it may to a certain extent; I am not wholly sure). We may not see how this pans out until YouTube fully implements the changes by January.
But the problem isn't deciding which audience you have or prefer. It's a legal issue that can carry consequences if you mislabel your videos from the FTC's perspective. If you haven't disabled information collection on your videos (by marking them "made for kids") and the FTC determines your video appeals to kids (by featuring LEGO), you could be in trouble.
Lord Ringozinglyzong wrote:I just simply don't feel comfortable making my videos 'for kids'. They're much closer (and getting much closer) to more adult content
And that puts you right in the awkward zone here. Your subject matter is definitely not intended for kids, but you still feature kid-appealing content (LEGO products), meaning that you probably should label your videos "made for kids" anyway. I am not a lawyer of course, but this is what people who have studied the issue more extensively than I are suggesting. I know limiting your YouTube features sucks, but receiving heavy fines from the government sucks much more.
Maybe the issue is overblown for the time being—how could the FTC possibly police most or all of YouTube?—but it's not a risk I am willing to take.
Thanks for the reply & advice. I'm watching/listening to Brick101's livestream rn, and I've marked all of my videos as 'for kids'. They're all not actually going to be for kids, and I'm going to put a disclaimer at the start of each of video stating that it's not really for young kids. I'm also gonna post my stuff on newgrounds, and do some more self advertising on reddit/twitter/instagram.
I still want to make videos though, it's a hobby I like to have. There is just basically no reason for me to think of this as a potential revenue stream.
The problem isn't as much about total inability to comment (as you point out) but it will now require more effort to comment on others' films... Generally, follow-through like this is extremely low. Having to go to another site means most people won't bother unless they're already involved there.
I'd argue that comments from those who won't/don't care to take the time aren't worthwhile comments in the first place.
If this stuff goes for many lego youtubers, I don't think it'll be the start of anything that mainstream, it'll be very niche, shrinking the brickfilming community even more.
I hate to break it to you, but the Lego community is a niche within the toy community. And, as Nathan Wells has said before, brickfilming is a sort of niche within a niche within a niche. (Filmmaking -> Stop Motion -> Toy Animations -> Lego -> Brickfilms) Many would argue that the brickfilming community was actually stronger before YouTube, if not as popular and """mainstream."""
The only (in this community) who really stand to lose here are brickfilmers like yourself who make borderline PG-13/R content. Thus, it's understandable if you're upset at these changes. But, just as with people like SML and ForrestFire101 and Trey Parker & Matt Stone - regardless of the actual 'intended' audience or actual content; cartoons, toys, and children's characters inherently appeal to an under 13 demographic. And the abundance of misleading inappropriate content (e.g. Elsagate) coupled with Google's shady tracking practices led to this whole situation in the first place.
Understandably upsetting because people like Trey Parker and Seth MacFarlane can continue making their content as is... although, to be fair, they're directly complying with the FCC and their broadcast guidelines. (Which restricts when their shows can air and designates a rating per episode) YouTube is still a wild west; and these changes are like our FCC now.
I still want to make videos though, it's a hobby I like to have. There is just basically no reason for me to think of this as a potential revenue stream.
That's a healthy way to look at this. Ultimately this is a hobby for 99% of us. We started because it was fun, not because we earned money or received lots of comments.
I'd argue that comments from those who won't/don't care to take the time aren't worthwhile comments in the first place.
I totally get that. I will not personally miss comments on my videos such as "i wanna the next" and "i like cheas" and "rdjfu" (these are real, lol). But as far as YouTube is concerned, engagement such as comments is positive and helps grow your channel. I'm sure they will reevaluate how to help grow "made for kids" channels with these metrics disappearing, but it will likely hurt for a time. You're right that many of the people who write thoughtful comments are already on BiM and related websites, but not all of them.
The only (in this community) who really stand to lose here are brickfilmers [...] who make borderline PG-13/R content.
This is one of the things that worries me because it's not clear where the line is drawn. I don't think YouTube has done a good job clarifying whether marking your videos/channel "made for kids" simply removes data collecting features or if it is also a statement that the content ought to be child-appropriate. If the latter, any brickfilms approaching R ratings don't fit well into either category but still have to choose.
And what about brickfilms closer to PG-13? Like, there's a lot of World War II brickfilms that aren't graphic or anything but I wouldn't necessarily recommend to children. Yet under the guidelines they should absolutely be marked "made for children." It's just awkward, and while I suspect such brickfilms are safe, the ambiguity is doing no one any favors.
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