Do you want to interact with YouTube? It’s simple. Fill in the search box with a short description of what exactly you are looking for. You will get hundreds of search results, out of which you need to pick the one you want to watch, sit back, and enjoy. That’s how you watch a video on YouTube – remember it is only to watch it. However, there have been some significant changes now. YouTube has brought in some tools into the site’s video authoring system that allows you to hack in a little interactivity to the videos. The additions will help you do many things with YouTube which wasn’t possible in older times. So how to create awesome interactive videos on YouTube? Let’s find out.
The Setup
There has to be a game plan. Refrain from making an impromptu movie. Casually treat your project and you can come up with extra work for a longer duration. The interactive video can be of any type. However, you will, in all probability, come up with a movie that asks people to click somewhere to do something desirable. The interactive movie must have an outline that will help you stay away from unnecessary work. Make a giant flowchart containing all that you have thought about for the video, for instance, Clip A leads to Clip B, Clip C, or Clip D.
Irrespective of the plan you have to organize the video, ensure that you are in a position to reuse maximum clips in the interactive chain. For a video to be interactive, the users should be able to select the path with the help of the general narrative. However, making use of a single group of videos is the key. The annotation function of YouTube helps you to create several pathways through the same group of videos by reusing your shots in various combinations.
The Shoot
The process of filming your video for YouTube is quite similar to how you would usually shoot footage. If high-quality videos are your target, then do ensure that the camera you have chosen has a resolution of 1280×720 pixels. You can shoot the videos in either 4:3 or 16:9 format. The 16:9 format will be apt for the widescreen video player of YouTube.
After you are done, you need to think about the locations so that you can fit in the annotations while adding them to the videos. Annotations stay fixed at one position. Therefore, you won’t be able to utilize them for overlaying a bouncing ball, a moving car, or for that matter, any critical prop.
Annotations don’t exist beyond the total duration of a movie. In case you want to add them after the film ends to enable the users to choose new clips, the camera should keep on rolling for a substantial time after the scene is over. Viewers then have ample amount of time to decide what option to select.
The Annotations
After you are done with uploading all your videos on YouTube, click on the Annotations button on the My Videos page for the video you have selected to function as the main element – say, the introduction for the project you have prepared. All the searchable elements connected to YouTube – such as title, description, tags – should be there in this particular single video.
You should give different names to the clips and not attach any tags to them. You aim to lead the visitors on YouTube to the main video in the search results. Once you are at the annotation screen, you will have to wait till your video gets loaded. To make your YouTube video interactive, move the timeline bar to a position where the viewers can choose the way they want the story to get revealed.
Watch Interactive Videos on YouTube
If you want to watch the most interactive videos on YouTube, you can subscribe to The Time Machine, Interactive Card Trick, Interactive Fortune Teller, as well as YouTube Street Fighter. All of these can be used as inspiration when you are creating your own interactive video.
Using annotations for your videos is a simple technique. However, annotation is a powerful tool that allows your users to interact with the video you have created, as well as decide which direction they want their experience to shift to.
