Hey everyone, I'm Mike.

Mike Moore - 2015-04-24 15:04:31 UTC - Parent #

Hi Mike, I'm Mike.

My opinions on your video:
- I dislike when videos open with something irrelevant. If "fire and rescue" had been a theme through the video, that could have made the beginning interesting, but as it stands, I didn't like the intro.
- The juggling was very cool, and I feel like you ran the patterns for a good span: long enough that I could understand and appreciate them, not too long that I got bored of them.
- The little cut to the balls and the "it's too bright" punctuated the video nicely. I felt it was a suitable length for a pause.
- I thought the ending (quick repeated clip) was annoying.
- The length of the video was appropriate for what you showed. This kind of setup of straight up showing tricks/patterns works for me until about 3 minutes, but shorter videos are definitely not bad. IMO, show things until you've shown all the things you think are interesting. There were no boring, tired patterns in your video, so I think you selected them well.

For introductions, I prefer something that makes me interested in the next video, something that is indicative, but not spoiling of the future. Ohio does this well, with quick clips of interesting things that make me curious about what's coming next:

https://www.youtube.com/v/tRefG62zRNo

Łukasz does something similar in themanwhothrowsballs:

https://www.youtube.com/v/gzYnWR7I340

Another intro style that I like is the "do something very hard, start music/introduce video after that". Hay Ye is a good example:

https://www.youtube.com/v/ApUYDBuo6A0

Small breaks in juggling throughout the videos to give the viewer's mind a break (ease cognitive load) are welcome in my books. But they shouldn't be too long, and they should be something simple (cut to the props is often used, and I find that effective).

For endings, I like to see either ending on a tough trick (finish strong!) or, in longer, more technical videos, something that humanizes the juggler. It can be a blooper, something with the juggler looking relieved they got something, or even credits.

Note that all these opnions are for videos made to focus on juggling tricks/technique/discovery. Videos that focus on aesthetics are ones that I have thought (and care) less about.

Chris - 2015-04-24 17:02:22 UTC - Parent #

Hi Mike. I've recently been thinking about videos more than usual, so this is a good thread for me to get other peoples opinions too!

Good stuff:
The patterns were really good. I especially liked how rhythmic the quadruplex was. The patterns were also run for a good length of time
I laughed at the ending. Caught me off guard.

Bad stuff:
The intro, as discussed by other people
There were only 3 tricks. 3 good tricks, but more would have been better. Although too few is better than too many.

Unsure stuff:
Not sure how I feel about the cuts. It was obvious that cutting right at the point where the balls hit the floor was on purpose though.
Lack of music. It's not unusual for technical juggling videos to have no music, however I still think I prefer at least some background noise to my videos.

Overall, I liked the patterns more than the video. I will certainly be trying some of these tricks myself!

Orinoco - 2015-04-24 18:11:15 UTC - Parent #

Hi Mike, I'm not Mike

Good stuff:

Everything in shot, in focus & well lit (so you're already better than half of the video makers on Youtube!).

Interesting patterns run for exactly the right length of time.

Asking for feedback. I approve of this greatly!


Not so good stuff:

Irrelevant stuff is fine as long as it is interesting. The fire & rescue stuff, it's too bright bits & the repeated scream didn't grab me at all, sorry! However, if they were less than a second long that wouldn't have mattered. In internet video EVERY MILLISECOND COUNTS. Have a look at the films Hot Fuzz or Requiem for a Dream (both great films, Requiem for a dream is truly amazing although I've only watched once & I don't think I could make myself watch it again, I've loaned it to several people who have all said similar things, one has even bought her own copy purely so she can loan it to other people, but I digress...) where the directors use short sequences of film literally tenths of a second long quickly cut together to produce effect. You only need to see an image for a flash to get the point. The 10 second shot of the sign was just too much. If you hadn't taken the trouble to ask for feedback I would not have watched the rest of the video (& I would have missed out).

You introduced it as 'my new video' which for whatever reason had me expecting a video with lots of long sequences of tricks. If the video was called '3 multiplex tricks' & the title was the first thing on screen, I would have the correct expectations & I wouldn't have felt disappointed. I know you say there are 3 tricks in the text description on the Youtube site, but most people on the Youtube site will only watch the video itself, they won't scroll down for more info. Plus many people will watch the video embedded in another website (here for example) so if you want to say something about the video, you need to say it in the video itself. An internet video must be entirely self contained. I think captions are great for internet videos, TOTP2 (a pop music show that used to be on UK tv) did this very well, you'd obviously have the music playing, you'd have the visuals of the band playing live or the music video, & you'd have captions popping up with anecdotes or bits of trivia about the band or the music. The format gives you three channels of information to the viewer. There are several comedy news shows that do something similar with a news ticker running across the bottom of the screen.

If you feel inclined (I know re-editing is a grind) try cutting the video down to:

10-23secs
31-41
44-55

Either stick a brief title screen at the start stating 3 multiplex tricks or something or add a caption over the first second of the first segment. Also add a number as a caption on each of the 3 clips so the viewer knows where they are. Finally set it to a bit of suitable music, something quiet if you want to keep the rhythm of the juggling audible.