I've always wanted to have a go at commentating and have had the opportunity to do so over the last week. I'm still getting used to the concept of talking to myself, so the first videos aren't exactly unique or original, nor are they the most dynamic commentaries you'll ever see. Please take a look, it would be nice to get some feedback and some video views other than my own! Really enjoyed doing it so far; will eventually branch out into other games other than Call of Duty.

Jebby's Gaming Channel

Cheers,

Jebby

EDIT: the videos are very COD-centric, so it's totally cool if you don't understand half of what I talk about!  

I don't play CoD, but I'll subscribe anyway. This'll be cool!

Your voice is so much cooler than Livio's, lol. Sub and scribed (of course, I'm also subscribed to 15 other random COD channels so I may not always have the motivation to watch a video, lol)

Cool man!  This is something that I really want to do, but haven't been able to yet.  When I get on a computer that can load videos faster than 1 bit a second, I'll make sure to check it out and subskribe.

I will subscribe to you later, because I don't want to sign in right now.  ._.

Wow, wasn't expecting such a positive response! Thanks, guys. I may at some point do a commentary related to HATPC and/or Minecraft to keep my channel relevant to those who have subscribed from the Interguild. Any ideas for commentaries are always welcome.

And give Livio some credit, Yaya, he talked over some really long videos; I probably couldn't summon the patience to do that.

No, I liked Livio's videos. It's just the response was slightly humorous to his deep voice when they were 1st released.

Some tips, Jebby:
Be a little more relaxed.  It's almost seems like your trying to impress somebody.  Make jokes.  Do you even smile while doing a commentary?  Don't say I did this last night, and I thought this.  Get to it in a more indirect route, maybe tell a story related to the topic, and stuff like that.
Be casual.  The thing I noticed is that your introductions seem to be a little boring and formal.  Make a catch phrase, maybe slowly introduce yourself, not in the first 5 seconds of the video.  You always go "Hello!  Welcome, I am SillyWalks.  Today I'll talk about this."  You jump into the gameplay, which I think is a time for talking.  Maybe include a bit of the countdown, and make it your time to introduce yourself.  A slower intro, I think, would help your videos a lot.
You have a nice voice for commentaries, and you should use that to your advantage.  You seem a bit monotone through out the video.

Maybe it seems like I am being a little harsh, but these are just some things that I feel would help you out a lot.  TBH, for jumping right into commentaries, you're off to a great start.

Thanks for the feedback! I definitely wasn't relaxed in the first couple; I relied on notes a lot and wasn't really being myself. I think this is something that a lot of commentators go through when they first start out. Having watched many (perhaps too many), there certainly appears to be a phase where they adapt to talking to themselves. Because that is what this is essentially: talking to yourself. It's weird and it feels very unnatural at first, but I'm gradually becoming more comfortable with that.

Having a voice with a low pitch can make it a little tricky to produce a dynamic narration. My pitch varies a lot when I'm with friends, but when I'm in front of the microphone, it's hard to generate anything particularly energetic. I stuck with simple topics at first, but because they were kind of semi-informative opinion vids, it wasn't easy to sound too excited. I enjoyed the last few a lot more though as I was able to do them largely off-the-cuff and in a single take, while feeling more able to be myself. I took the advice of imagining I was talking to a friend and that helped a lot.

As for the intro, I think I'll stick with it for the time being. It settles me into the commentary and, to be honest, I'd rather get into the topic in mind sooner rather than later rather than rambling about myself. There are a lot of different commentary styles out there; I don't think I'll ever be one of the excitable, dynamic speakers without pretending to be someone else. This isn't my style.  However, when I'm interested in what I'm talking about and I feel comfortable, I believe my commentaries can become more than presentable enough for Youtube.  

Man, I think my sub boxes are broken. The last video of yours to appear in mine was your thoughts on MW3 and your Childhood thoughts video never showed up for me. I'll try and check your channel occasionally to make sure I don't miss anything (btw, your channel page background is awesome).

These are awesome jebby! I love these videos.