Thumbnail Close Reading – Javier Serrato Rojas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLJiVcDW7IA

This video from YouTuber Cody Ko is a video that showed up on my recommended and caught my attention. The title of the video is “SCARY DRONE VIDEOS!!” and shows a scary clown within the thumbnail. The thumbnail is very resemblant of what I’d consider a typical YouTube thumbnail because of the different elements that make up the overall mood. These elements include a reaction of the YouTuber,  bright colors, big text and a background that previews the video. In this case, YouTuber Cody Ko is seen giving a shocked reaction while the background shows a zoomed up photo of a clown on a beach circled in red with bright yellow text that reads “CLOWN?”.

I think what initially caught my attention were the bright colors and big text that allows me to be interested in the video enough to decipher the images in the thumbnail. The background images of a closeup of the clown on a beach made me question wether the video was clickbait or not. I think the video causes fear and makes you wonder about public spotting of creepy clowns. I am familiar with Cody Ko’s videos and know he mainly does reaction of other videos, therefore, it made me curious as to what videos he is reacting to.

In my opinion the thumbnail is read from left to right, however, the text is what first thing that catches your eyes. The video is intended for people who are fans of scary/thriller entertainment and i believe it does a good job at targeting that audience because the thumbnail portrays a shocking reaction to a scary subject.