Producer Profile: Julian Ilett
On the face of it, Julian Ilett’s channel shouldn’t work. He has no real video camera or DSLR to shoot with, doesn’t use any editing software, hardly appears on screen – his hands feature most often – and is, how can we say this gently, not in the “youthful” genre of YouTube Creators.
What’s more, his videos, though produced at a steady stream, are neither comedy skits nor music videos nor vlogs (those three being the most popular forms of YouTube entertainment). In fact, they’re all about transistors, solar panels and circuit boards.
Despite this apparently unpromising premise, Mr Ilett has built up an enthusiastic fanbase of around 13,000 subscribers and hit almost four million views. Each subscriber is keen not only to view such delights as “Roundup of Switched Mode Buck Convertor Voltage Regulators” and “Charging a Lithium 18650 Cell using the TP4056”, but to chip in on his Comments with their own suggestions for how to overcome any problems he encounters.
Filmed handheld on a Nexus5 mobile phone with a splendid disregard for the kind of production values that YouTubers are so often urged towards by the site itself, Julian’s videos are nonetheless a hugely useful exposition into what makes good content.
Three key elements are instantly discernable:-
1. Relevance. Each video, niche though its target audience undoubtedly is, addresses exactly that audience with precisely the kind of information they seek. If you subscribe to this channel, you know exactly what you’re getting each time a new video is uploaded and it’s exactly what you want.
2. Reality. There’s nothing fake, rehearsed or scripted about Julian’s delivery; he’s absolutely natural and chats merrily away to the viewer as he disects his latest project almost as if they were in the room with him.
3. Interaction. Like many successful YouTube Creators, Julian clearly takes the time not only to read the comments left for him by fans but to respond to them as well, both in the comment replies and within videos. Such a two-way street serves to reinforce the community aspect of the channel and build a loyal community which will return for more, and share what is posted.
When he reached 10,000 subscribers, Julian posted a video explaining that he now needs only to work part-time due to the financial rewards from his channel. Such achievements – which, no disrespect intended, are relatively lowly in the great pantheon of YouTubers – are nonetheless surely an incentive to any aspiring Creator on their journey.
Visit Julian’s channel at www.youtube.com/julius256
Julian is a very good instructor, added with a superbly melodious British accent, that captures the attention of all of us eager to learn something new every time we go to see his videos. Julian, we sincerely love you!
Julian is nothing to do with this site, he won’t read your questions. This is a profile of him as a video producer. You need to message him on his own website or YouTube channel.
Watching one of Julian Ilett’s videos is like visiting your British next-door neighbor: he offers you tea and biscuits, and then invites you to visit his backroom workshop, where he casually chats about the ESP32 computer-on-a-chip that just arrived in the mail. “I’ve been looking for an operating system for it and finally settled on Mongoose OS. Let’s download ‘Mongoose’ and load it onto the chip. Oh, look! It works!” You’re sitting beside him, witnessing his successes and failures. And he’s always gently cheerful and polite.