Meet YouTube Creator Chariii5 

If you’ve haven’t heard of Chariii5 then you are missing out on a great YouTube channel, from gaming to parodies his channel is hidden gem in the overcrowded genre of gaming on YouTube. His channel features a unique combination of parodies and original content. Here’s what Chariii5 had to say about his YouTube career.

What go you interested in YouTube?

What got me interested in YouTube was, as for many, the videos themselves. When I was younger I came across Sonic Paradox's Sonic Shorts, which were a compilation of Flash animated shorts, made by members of the Sonic the Hedgehog fan community. From there, YouTube's Recommended section led me to discover a lot of video game parody animations and it really got my attention, leading me to eventually find out how to make my own animations using software like MS Paint and Windows Movie Maker. I, like many others, wanted to show people what I could do; even if wasn't much at the time. At the time, I only took it semi-seriously, since it was simply a passionate hobby of mine. What got me interested in doing it as a profession was not only the drive to be creative and that I could do what made me happy, but that I could also make others happy. Straight out of high school, I couldn't really go to college because none of the colleges nearby offered Animation, as a field of study and that was what I wanted to be, an animator. I thought about going back to the States for college (I was born in California but have lived in Mexico since I was 9) but sadly it didn’t work financially, since animation is an expensive career. In April of 2014, after going to check out one of my colleges of choice in the States, I was sent a request from the MCN (Multi-Channel Network) Channel Frederator Network. I had grown up watching Frederator cartoons and I loved them. I couldn't believe it at first. Luckily, I had just turned 18 and, when I got back home, I signed on immediately and started monetization on my videos. At first, it wasn't much of a big deal, I had about 300 or so subscribers and no one really watched my content and that's how it was for a while, until August of that year. I had graduated two months ago and job hunting wasn't going as planned. Nothing interested me and, being the stubborn person that I am, wanted something that would fill me, both creatively and emotionally. I didn't want to work a factory job like 80% of the people my age did. It was a rough time, so I worked on my YouTube stuff, trying to create content people would be interested in.

Your biggest videos are the ones that parody "Everything Wrong With" and "Honest Trailers." What attracted you to those ideas?

The Honest Trailer parodies were what started my "career" on YouTube. Back in April I had just discovered the channel Screen Junkies and I thought they were hilarious. Also in April I had gotten a Nintendo Wii U, with the game Sonic Lost World. I was so astonished about my feelings towards the game. It wasn't bad, per say, but there was something about it that I just didn't like. It was fully functional, there were no glitches, but I just didn't like it. I was so distraught that I just had to tell the world how I felt. So, it was my little social experiment. Instead of creating something original by means of reviewing it, since I had never reviewed something before, I decided to make fun of it using the Honest Trailers style, since it was something that people were familiar with and liked. I'd had some Best Practices sessions with the people over at Channel Frederator and with their help I tagged the video correctly enough, made an engaging thumbnail and people eventually found the video and really liked it. So I made another video in the same fashion (Super Mario Sunshine) and people loved it as well! So for my third video, I was going to cover Shadow the Hedgehog but I thought to myself, an "Honest Trailer" parody isn't going to cover this. I need to go beyond. A while back I had watched Disney's Frozen and that led me to the CinemaSins “Everything Wrong With” video on it and I loved it. In order to expose Shadow the Hedgehog's confusing storyline, I used the "Everything Wrong With" format to make fun of it, and it blew up. Initially, the reactions were negative (some still are), by people taking the video way too seriously, but eventually people started flooding the comment section with nice comments and saying how the video kept appearing in their personal Recommended Section! The video took a week to make; I worked from day to night with barely any breaks. It was my first time making a video in that fashion. I had no presets and I was using an old, slow laptop to make it. It was exhausting and I never wanted to tackle anything like it again, nut the reception was insane. More and more people watched the video and wanted me to make more. Eventually, I gave in and made “Everything Wrong With Sonic Unleashed” and went on from there. Essentially, what attracted me to those ideas was proving that originality really didn't have a place on a platform where sharing your original content was a possibility. People often won't bother watching or sharing something they're not familiar with, unless they're familiar with your work to begin with. To do that, you have to show people something that they're familiar with themselves. Sure, I could've made a parody cartoon, where I'm showcasing more of my personal writing/animating skills, but I wasn't even really expecting people to find my channel either way.

Is there a video you want to make but haven't had the time or resources to do yet? 

Actually, I want to make more original stuff. I want to continue my series "What I've Thought About...", which is a proper review show, where I can tackle anything from video games to animated shows and movies. I go pretty in depth and it takes a while to develop, but I just haven't had the time to make it. On the other hand my original animated series "LuNaTiCoS" which has been in development since before I even started on YouTube. Right now, it's development is progressing better than it's ever been, but I still have long ways to go. Thankfully, I have a good friend that's really pushing me to work on it since I've gotten her involved with the production. For anyone interested, it follows the tale of a group of friends that go on different quests, both collectively and individually, as they discover their newfound Soul Powers and how to use them to fight against the forces of Darkness, which might not be what everyone thinks they are. It's very much a fantasy story with it's own world, it's own history, it's own rules, it's own animals! It's a story about Light and Dark and how we have to learn to make peace with both in order to feel complete. Light can leave you as blind as Darkness can. It has a lot of elements from some of my favorite video games stories, such as Kingdom Hearts, Xenoblade Chronicles, even slightly less complicated stories like Bayonetta and a hint of Resident Evil and so much more. In this case, however, it's not a matter of resources or even time; it's more a matter of finding an audience. Sadly, I don't think my audience would care much, since that's not why most people subscribed and, as a result, it wouldn't be worth it to develop at the moment, especially with how long animation takes and how little it's remunerated. I definitely want to do it, however, because I'm confident that it could potentially find an audience that would love it as much as I do.

What's upcoming on your channel?  

A lot more of everything, really. 'Everything Wrong With' parodies, animations I hope to finally work on, 'What I've Thought About...'; I've actually compiled a list with the help of some friends on what things I should cover and there's so much for me to work on! I've never been one to plan out things accurately, so anything could happen, but those things are definitely what I want to work on next. Whenever my animated series comes out, I'll probably focus on that, but for now, I'm strictly sticking to putting out gaming stuff.

Check out Chariii5's channel here and let him know Geeks sent you!