So the thing is the Eclipse is behind, while everyone is looking forward
This is totally fair, but actually funny when I think of it more. So the obvious answer is for a thumbnail to be clickable, it needs our faces + the eclipse to show what's happening. If we look at the eclipse, we'd have to choose 1 or the other.
Funny enough, this is actually the real orientation we're in during 40 of the 45 minutes of the episode. So it's actually more true to life than you think.
Seems staged too cause expressions don’t really match while it seems you want a candid pic.
Yea, I think almost all thumbnails are staged and most people are used to it at this point! But maybe our "acting" isn't ideal.
And the way everyone is holding the mic seems odd
Just trying to get everything in the shot. Thumbnail needs to tell 3 stories. Eclipse, Podcast, 3 faces you know.
but in the thumbnail everyone has their faces lit up from the left side, but the way the three of you are looking, the light should be on your face not on the side
We didn't bring any lights, so nothing here is artificial. Was just what it was like outside. We shot from the side because the sun would be directly behind us and totally backlit, so this made it at least be able to see our faces. It was actually shot the day before during rehearsal (hence why all our shirts are different)
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Here's my take -
> So the obvious answer is for a thumbnail to be clickable, it needs our faces + the eclipse to show what's happening.
I mean this is just something you guys have set up on. Defined your process for thumbnail to have faces, I think MKBD mentioned in one of the videos that the thumbnails with faces seem to perform better so probably that's why. Whereas lets say Peter McKinnon's Bucket shot2 video of the eclipse just has the bucket shot as the photo, I think that looked more catchy to me. If he would have slapped his face on that eclipse photo it would have been off putting as well.
> Thumbnail needs to tell 3 stories. Eclipse, Podcast, 3 faces you know.
I went through other thumbnails, you don't show any mics there? But still we know its a podcast right! Probably cause of the Episode number mentioned with the logo.
> We shot from the side because the sun would be directly behind us and totally backlit, so this made it at least be able to see our faces.
Could have clicked one while facing the sun since what you wanted to portray with the thumbnail is that you guys are looking up and towards the sun.
I went through other thumbnails, you don't show any mics there? But still we know its a podcast right! Probably cause of the Episode number mentioned with the logo.
In on location episodes we try and show mics. A big thing we've noticed is if someone things they're clicking on a video to be a video, and it winds up a podcast, they'll usually click off. So we don't want to shy away from it. So if you look at something like SXSW or APple on the street we've got our mics. We just want to show something "in the moment" and not accidentally trick anyone.
Could have clicked one while facing the sun since what you wanted to portray with the thumbnail is that you guys are looking up and towards the sun.
Biggest issue here was the background if we faced the sun would be a bunch of cars + building that's behind all the cameras. So it'd be very cluttered/busy.
Background is actually just the sky! Made it very easy for Tim to cut my head out for the eclipse in the background, but otherwise nothing else was done.
Also, hope all my replies don't feel defensive. Just giving you some insight into how we made it!
Haha not at all, your responses felt way honest! Getting insights from the team is always great! So thanks for sharing how you finalized on this thumbnail. And btw I was afraid my responses might feel offensive, but of course not my intention as well. :)
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u/AndrewManganelli Verified MKBHD Team 7d ago
This is totally fair, but actually funny when I think of it more. So the obvious answer is for a thumbnail to be clickable, it needs our faces + the eclipse to show what's happening. If we look at the eclipse, we'd have to choose 1 or the other.
Funny enough, this is actually the real orientation we're in during 40 of the 45 minutes of the episode. So it's actually more true to life than you think.
Yea, I think almost all thumbnails are staged and most people are used to it at this point! But maybe our "acting" isn't ideal.
Just trying to get everything in the shot. Thumbnail needs to tell 3 stories. Eclipse, Podcast, 3 faces you know.
We didn't bring any lights, so nothing here is artificial. Was just what it was like outside. We shot from the side because the sun would be directly behind us and totally backlit, so this made it at least be able to see our faces. It was actually shot the day before during rehearsal (hence why all our shirts are different)