Before I was so rudely interrupted
Oct. 1st, 2006 06:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwynWeek before last, I had posted a new Buffy- and Angelverse vid, though all I could get was a regular small QuickTime window, unfortunately, and feochadn was going to see if she could get a better compression for me with her apps. Even though I was unknowingly shortly to be on my way to emergency surgery, I was busy bemoaning the fact that I keep getting less and less feedback the more I vid. Wah, woe was me, and I was crying in my beer and Jo told me she couldn't get a better large file for me (I think it's the same iMovie filters I used on this vid that have caused me such a headache, too) and it was very woe, woe, woe. I promised people I'd try to get a bigger, better file if I could. But then I got kind of... you know, sidetracked.
Sorry for the delay if you were waiting for that larger vid file. Female of the Species is there now in a Divx avi file, mostly toned down on the pixelization problems but at the expense of a large file -- it's about 60MB, I'm afraid. I've got both the smaller QT file there as well if you'd rather grab that.
I was also kind of making this the last vid of my yearlong experiment to see if putting your URL or email address will help with feedback. Everyone insists that it does, but I've never believed it at all, and I can now safely say that it makes no difference whatsoever. I've done different approaches in subsets of different vid types: large, relatively current fandoms with mixed-interest followings, small fandoms with mixed-interest followings, large fandoms with devoted vid followings, small fandoms with devoted vid followings, and small fandoms with nearly no vid following, and not one subset has shown a difference in response. And maybe it's just that I suck and make bad vids, or whatever, but the only noticeable difference in feedback levels have come from... recs or links. This has been especially borne out by a vid I made in a super small fandom with a not very big vid audience (After Rain), where I did not put a URL or email address -- I've received more feedback on the vid because it's been recced in a couple of LJs by people who did not know the series at all, and was mentioned in a lot of Escapade review panels. Many of the feedbackers were fans of the series, but did not watch vids in it; a lot of them just tend to follow any of the recs made by certain people, and one of the recs was pretty awesome.
So, my theory was proven (you can announce a new vid till the cows come home, but it makes almost no difference unless your friends and viewers mention your vid in their recs or LJ space), but that is not exactly satisfying. I hoped I'd be wrong, that putting the URL at the end of the vid, or an email, would cause a significant result, but it hasn't. Nor has making my password more readily available made a difference as everyone insisted it would -- it just reminds you how many *more* people access your vid and will never say anything to you about it one way or another.
Of course, I suppose if I could ever care for a show like Supernatural, maybe that would change, since that seems to be all anyone wants to watch these days. One shot of the burning woman on the ceiling, and I'd be golden...
Sorry for the delay if you were waiting for that larger vid file. Female of the Species is there now in a Divx avi file, mostly toned down on the pixelization problems but at the expense of a large file -- it's about 60MB, I'm afraid. I've got both the smaller QT file there as well if you'd rather grab that.
I was also kind of making this the last vid of my yearlong experiment to see if putting your URL or email address will help with feedback. Everyone insists that it does, but I've never believed it at all, and I can now safely say that it makes no difference whatsoever. I've done different approaches in subsets of different vid types: large, relatively current fandoms with mixed-interest followings, small fandoms with mixed-interest followings, large fandoms with devoted vid followings, small fandoms with devoted vid followings, and small fandoms with nearly no vid following, and not one subset has shown a difference in response. And maybe it's just that I suck and make bad vids, or whatever, but the only noticeable difference in feedback levels have come from... recs or links. This has been especially borne out by a vid I made in a super small fandom with a not very big vid audience (After Rain), where I did not put a URL or email address -- I've received more feedback on the vid because it's been recced in a couple of LJs by people who did not know the series at all, and was mentioned in a lot of Escapade review panels. Many of the feedbackers were fans of the series, but did not watch vids in it; a lot of them just tend to follow any of the recs made by certain people, and one of the recs was pretty awesome.
So, my theory was proven (you can announce a new vid till the cows come home, but it makes almost no difference unless your friends and viewers mention your vid in their recs or LJ space), but that is not exactly satisfying. I hoped I'd be wrong, that putting the URL at the end of the vid, or an email, would cause a significant result, but it hasn't. Nor has making my password more readily available made a difference as everyone insisted it would -- it just reminds you how many *more* people access your vid and will never say anything to you about it one way or another.
Of course, I suppose if I could ever care for a show like Supernatural, maybe that would change, since that seems to be all anyone wants to watch these days. One shot of the burning woman on the ceiling, and I'd be golden...
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no subject
Date: 2006-10-02 02:40 am (UTC)You know, I just don't think that's true. I recently made a fairly squeeful multi-fandom recs post, in which one of the vids was Blood/Lust, incidentally. I've also seen several recs posts recently that contained no SPN vids at all, and so my personal experience suggests to me that this isn't the case.
I think nearly all vidders feel like they vid into a vaccuum, to some extent, wrt vids posted online. I've rarely talked to one who hasn't expressed some version of this. Yes, if you are vidding the hot fandom of the moment, you may see more feedback or more immediate reaction. But judging by the public feedback I've seen to recently posted SPN vids, not necessarily. And I've also seen lovely comments on your vids, in the past; the comments you received on There spring to mind. So does the quantity really matter more than the quality of the responses?
Maybe I'm missing your point, or we're just not coming at this from the same direction and it's a classic YMMV thing.
(And all this vidding stuff aside -- I hope you are feeling better. :)
no subject
Date: 2006-10-02 03:42 am (UTC)I was being facetious, too, but I think that didn't come across very well -- I do really think that if I ever was in a white-hot fandom for a change, it would mean a much larger audience base and thus probably statistically more feedback, but since that's never been the case since back when I first started out, I honestly don't have any stats to compare with. I think the quantity thing for a lot of us was made worse by things like LJ (I've talked about this before, i think, but I can't remember which posts) -- you see how crazy people go for other vids, other fandoms, other vidders, and you find yourself looking at maybe six comments in a huge fandom for a vid you think is pretty good, then you see something similar from Vidder Z with over 100 comments and it's all over your friends list being recced by everyone, so you get this disproprotionate view of what it means.
Back in the olden days before online vid posting, you pretty much had to judge effects by sales or trades of your tape collection and the responses you got at cons, so i think that is why quantity has a larger -- too large -- impact than quality, maybe. It's a psychological thing, totally -- the silence seems more vast, there are only a few voices... I had a lot of trouble recently getting betas for vids, and it kind of combined with lower and lower feedback to make me feel like maybe quantity is some kind of more legit measure, though I'm sure that makes no sense.
I definitely do feel like I'm vidding into a vacuum. If I could, I'd go back to writing, but all I can seem to do these days is vid, but I'm fearing lately that I just am turning out too many vids or something, and thus diluting the interest.