FAQ

1. Will You Review A Movie I Request?

By far my most asked question is: will you review _____ and if so when? Just so y'all know, my shtick is I review films that most people have seen (i.e. those that have grossed a lot at the box office). If a film has grossed at least $200 Million at the International Box Office, it's eligible for review. To see if a film has done this, check this list:

Highest Grossing Films of all Time

I may sometimes make exceptions to this rule if a classic film didn't do well on release but gained more notoriety over time.

I also do not review comedies as my reviews are mostly satirical. I can't make fun of something that's already funny. Films with occasional humour (like Home Alone for example) are OK, but anything purely for laughs (like Blazing Saddles or Monty Python's Life of Brian), I won't review. Though I may still talk about comedies in non-review videos (e.g. a Top 10 list).

On top of all sequels to films I've reviewed already, I would eventually like to review the following:

Die Hard
The Fast and the Furious
The Mummy (1999 Ver.)
Diamonds are Forever
Moonraker
The Living Daylights
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Avatar
All Marvel Cinematic Universe Films
Batman Begins
The Lion King
Toy Story
The Star Wars Saga
Indiana Jones
X-Men
Pirates of the Caribbean
Inception
The Hunger Games
Mission Impossible
I, Robot
Gladiator
Enter the Dragon
The Hobbit
The Mighty Ducks

My movie reviews take a very long time to make. I try to cover as much of a movie as I can and writing funny analysis and jokes is very difficult. Because my movie reviews take so long I try to fill the gaps between them with mashups and more critical reviews for games. If you want to know how long off a movie review is, I'm afraid I can never say. Though once writing is done, the review will be no more than a week away after that.


2. Where Are You From? / What Is Your Accent?

I have a Yorkshire accent and was born and raised in the UK, namely the city of Bradford. Otherwise known as the home of celebrities like Zayn Malik, Kimberly Walsh, Gareth Gates, Chris Fountain, Tasmin Archer, Dynamo, Ade Edmonson and Scott Waites just to name a few. The city is right next to Leeds which is a bit more well known.

Town Hall in Bradford

3. What Software Do You Use?

Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 - This is what I use to edit my videos. It's a fantastic program that's easy to use once you get the hang of it and can even do advanced stuff like keyframing. I have several plugins installed to help out (e.g. a feathered crop plugin which helps a lot when doing clone edits)

Adobe Photoshop CS6 - For any image editing, this is my go to program. I use this mostly for removing backgrounds on images and video thumbnails. Also, whenever I do green screen work, I make full use of the clone tool to remove any actor in the shot so I can replace them with myself.

Adobe After Effects CS6 - At the moment, I use this program for rotobrushing (i.e. removing backgrounds on video so I can get just a character on his/her own so I can overlay them onto something else in Premiere), green screen keying, motion tracking (creating a couple of tracking points on a video so I can put overlaying images or video onto it and have them move in relation to the video) and masking (whenever I need to remove elements from a video or add an object to a moving image).

Adobe Audition CS6 - This I use to remove dialogue in trailers when I do mashups of them. By using the central channel extractor tool, I can isolate the music. It's not perfect but it's the only choice I have when I can't find the music a trailer used. I'm also trying to learn how to use it to remove background noise in clips but I'm not having much luck with that yet.

Microsoft Word - For writing my reviews. Pretty simple really.

Handbrake - This is what I use to convert any video file that Premiere Pro or After Effects doesn't like. I use MP4 files to edit with. Handbrake is free too and conversion times are really quick so I highly recommend this.











4. What Equipment Do You Use?

Canon Vixia HFM300 Camcorder - This is what I use for all my filming. It's really not that good 'cos the battery life is terrible and it being a simple camcorder means I can't change the lens; but for what I need, it's fine. 

RODE Video Shotgun Microphone - To capture sound I use this shotgun mic. I could always adopt for an overhead mic for better sound I suppose, but this is much less hassle. Simply plug in and record. I made the mistake of thinking that this was compatible with my camera so I needed to buy an adaptor so it would fit on top of it. But it's not a huge deal.

Hama Traveller Compact Pro Tripod - Like my camera, this is pretty standard, but it does the job.

Hauppauge HD PVR 2 - This is what I use for capturing video game footage. I used to have the original Hauppauge but I needed the PVR 2 for PS4 capture.

Zalman PC - My PC is running Windows 7. It has a AMD FX-8350 processor, 16GB RAM and a GTX 770 graphics card. This was bought of eBay as I'm clueless when it comes to PC builds.

ATH-M50X Headphones - These are my go-to headphones right now. They sound great though they're designed more for editors in mind so if you want some more bass heavy cans for music, look elsewhere.

Logitech K400r Wireless Keyboard - My PC is actually connected to my TV, not a monitor 'cos I use it for watching movies, shows and YouTube too. So this wireless keyboard allows me to sit back and relax. I suppose it's a little weird to use a trackpad to edit but for me, this works great.


5. What Got You Started Making Videos On YouTube?

At first I was inspired by James Rolfe and his successful game review show: The Angry Video Game Nerd. I liked the idea of combining comedy and a subject close to my heart (i.e. video games). I also was wasting my life away at the time doing nothing else but going to School/College and coming back home to immediately play more video games. I needed something more productive to do with my time. And my initial idea was that if I review games, I can still play them and feel like I'm doing so for a good reason. 

So I started my own game reviews on YouTube on a channel called theshocksuspect. I eventually changed my channel to thenintendocritic after some copyright complications with some music mashups I made. After making game reviews for a little over a year, I realized my current style of reviewing wasn't right for me. I wanted to focus more on comedy and at the time, my reviews were mostly, well, reviews. So I started a new channel for movie reviews. These were inspired by Doug Walker (aka The Nostalgia Critic). I knew that my idea wasn't very original (as my film reviews are in exactly the same format as the Critic's) but I loved the NC's reviews so much, I decided to hell with it, and just made a review for the first Harry Potter movie in his style. The response was pretty good and this format allowed me to write more jokes and thus, make people laugh more. This is what I wanted.

Over time I also brought back game reviews and made them more comedic. I also love to create various kinds of mashups as editing is something I really enjoy doing. As of now I have over 80,000 subscribers on YouTube and am loving what I do. I am now on the verge of being able to do this as a career. It's amazing and I have you guys to thank!


6. What Is Your Favourite Film/Game/TV Show/Music Artist?

For favourite film, I'd have to go with 12 Angry Men. For a film about 12 guys who sit around in a single location just talking; it's amazing how it keeps you hooked. I also love L.A. Confidential, The Usual Suspects, Life of Brian, Blazing Saddles, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Ace Ventura 1 & 2, Toy Story, Monsters Inc, The Blues Brothers and The Lord of the Rings.

My favourite game would be either: Ace Attorney: Phoenix Wright, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves or Tekken 3. Can't decide between 'em. 

My favourite show on TV right now has gotta be Game of Thrones. Only 10 episodes a year is torture! Though I'm also loving The Walking Dead, Arrow, Agents of SHIELD, Attack on Titan and Gravity Falls.

And for music, it's mostly a lot of Korean, Japanese and Chinese artists mainly. I like pop music but I hate music that sounds generic. If that makes any sense. Right now, my favourite artists are: ONE OK ROCK, girugamesh, YUI, AAA, SKY-HI, Hilcrhyme, SoulJa, Aya Kamiki, Jasmine, Linkin Park, J-Min, BoA and TVXQ. Though my iTunes collection is mostly comprised of singles and not very many albums. I feel like I'm quite picky when it comes to music. I actually do a Top 50 songs of every year list now. Here's my number 1 picks from every year since 1991 (the year I was born):

1991 - Guns 'N Roses: You Could Be Mine
1992 - Tasmin Archer: Sleeping Satellite
1993 - The Proclaimers: 500 Miles (I'm Gonna Be)
1994 - Seal: Kiss From a Rose
1995 - Coolio: Gangsta's Paradise
1996 - R Kelly: I Believe I Can Fly
1997 - Will Smith - Men in Black
1998 - The Offspring: Pretty Fly For a White Guy
1999 - Incubus: Drive
2000 - Limp Bizkit: Take a Look Around
2001 - Linkin Park: In the End
2002 - Eminem: Lose Yourself
2003 - Linkin Park: Numb
2004 - Slipknot: Before I Forget
2005 - Fort Minor: Believe Me
2006 - Billy Talent: Red Flag
2007 - Justin Timberlake: Love Stoned (I Think She Knows)
2008 - Black Stone Cherry: Blind Man
2009 - girugämesh: ALIVE

2010 - YUI: Gloria
2011 - ONE OK ROCK: re:make
2012 - TVXQ!: Catch Me
2013 - Smiley: Acasa
2014 - Aram Mp3: Not Alone

7. What Advice Would You Give For Aspiring Reviewers?

I've done a whole section on this right here on my blog. CLICK HERE TO SEE IT