Yesss that's it. This setup might just be the archetype of that. It makes sense when you look at the 'anyone can make videos' mentality that is still central to YouTube - if a channel keeps on growing, there is little reason to deviate from those unprofessional habits. I've actually been watching Marques' videos for five years now. His review was why I switched from my iPhone 3GS to the Galaxy Nexus back in the day. There is honestly not a lot that has changed except the quality of the visuals and maybe his pacing.Know what drives me up the fucking wall? Unprofessionalism is a style now.
...where's the fucking camera in there? I will throw no shade on Marques. The dude does what works. But here's the fucked up thing: before the one-camera-jumpcut style became king, you could legit buy decent video switchers for under $500. But now you can't. Because nobody uses them. And shit - you've been able to cut multiple cameras live in Final Cut since 2006. but nobody does. Here's how bad it is - I worked at a goofy little studio that puts this together. It's got three not-great HDV cameras, a Newtek switcher, three Sennheiser Evos, a jib and some lights. And that rig is so flabbergastingly major compared to what everyone else is doing that they rent it out to Larry Fucking King.
Found it! It's a Canon Rebel. Couldn't find audio gear in the picture though. That said, I don't think I have a good idea on how to make YT less bad. They already switched their monetizing focus to minutes watched instead of views, which is the reason so many videos are now slightly over 10 minutes (which is when YT supposedly starts paying more). You'd think that YouTube with their obvious desire to become TV 2.0 should have figured something out by now to be the rising tide that lifts all boats.
Nobody knows how to use audio gear. It requires skill. So instead they record using the shitty mic on the front of the camera and then they go back, listen to it, watch their lips and record themselves lip-synching to themselves. It's legitimately fucking amazing. You know the way to improve Youtube? Give advertisers a demographic breakdown of who watches what videos, how long they watch it for and what Google knows about their purchasing habits and then let advertisers bid on ads that run alongside. The same way advertising with video content has been run since the dawn of fucking cathode ray tubes. You know why advertisers are bailing like a mutherfucker on Youtube? Because Youtube refuses to do this because then everyone would discover that the Emperor truly has no clothes. Youtube gets a billion views a month and isn't profitable. Let that sink in for a minute.