I poured too many hours into this not to want constructive criticism

Re: I poured too many hours into this not to want constructive criticism

Hi Lar,

I wanted to congratulate you on producing a video of this magnitude. Editing together thirty minutes of sound and video is a herculean task, especially if you did it yourself. I think it gets easier over time and you will come to realize what works for your workflow and what doesn't.

I could feel your passion for the console and its software throughout this video, which resonated me because I too grew up with the PS1 (and Blockbuster). You mentioned that you were interested in adding more PS1 content and I don't know what direction you will take, but regardless, I will share some 6am thoughts I have after watching the video (that might not be relevant for future content of yours):

1) This is actually a pretty interesting subject matter. Game reviews are a dime-a-dozen, but there aren't as many examinations into demo discs. This is a niche subject which appeals to fans of the system and of gaming history. (This actually kind of reminds me of a genre of content I enjoy, "Lost Media".) This is a double-edged sword, though, in that it might not be appealing to a broad audience. Whether or not this is a fault of the content is up to you and what your specific objectives are.

2) With that in mind, I was a little fuzzy as to what the objectives of this particular video were. There were three threads I could see here: there were the games themselves, the matter of the demos representing those games, and the function of the demo disc as a whole. Sometimes you were reviewing the games, sometimes you discussed the demos and how they differed from the final products (a la "Lost Media"), and sometimes you discussed how the demos served to get people interested in the games. I think balancing these threads in a more focused way, suitable to your specific objectives, would aide in understanding. Perhaps some others can weigh in on this point, and I'm not entirely sure I could balance this either, but it still felt a little confusing as to what my "take-aways" were supposed to be after watching the video. To be clear, you have enough raw observations in the video, but some synthesis of these ideas into a cohesive message would aid in audience understanding, I think. (Synthesis on a "per-game" basis as well as on a "per-video" basis: ask yourself "what is the point of this video as a whole?")

3) I liked your discussion of the gaming climate of the late-90's and how it pertained to the the demo disc contents. For example, it was interesting to hear your thoughts about there being little need for a Tomb-Raider 3 demo, since, well, everybody was going to buy it anyway. Same with Crash 3. If anything, the demo disc is a crystallization of gaming trends, since it captures what Sony finds most appealing to sell to their audience at the time. I actually would have liked more of this --- less of discussing the games as they exist as solitary artifacts in a vacuum, but more about where the games (and their demos) existed in the cultural climate they emerged from.

As an aside, I don't think the intro to console gaming and the NES was necessary.

4) A video like this is hard to sell without some overarching narrative. There are 16 game demos, and you go through each one one-by-one. It might be tedious for some audience members to sit through 16 nearly-unrelated discussions without some more abstract objective. This is partially a matter of structure, in that making the "video-as-a-whole structure" have some ultimate meaning makes for a more interesting video in the end.

For example, some YouTubers organize similar information in terms of "Top 10" lists. The "Top 10" narrative is immediately understandable and already provides a reason to stick through the whole thing: the tension of "what's the best?" helps engage the audience. With that said, I don't think a "Top 10" narrative is a good idea for this particular video, but some overlying structure so that the video seems less random would help.

This kind of ties back into my statements in 3). If you could draw some conclusions about the state of gaming back in the 90s and tie each demo to some of those conclusions, we now have a reason to see all of the examples. This is an example of a concrete "thread", for which discussion of these demos ultimately benefits. Threads are easy to build narratives out of, and narratives are easier to digest than a stew of disjoint analyses.

The example I mentioned of "talk about the state of gaming in the 90s" is just that: an example. But it's easy to justify that thread considering some talking points you already have in the video. Some narrative thread that makes the video seem less like a disjointed list I think would benefit a lot. In my opinion, that's what separates good analysis from mediocre analysis on YouTube. It's about synthesizing this information and, optionally, having a thesis that makes larger claims about the video's contents.

This advice is not useful just for looking at lists, either: it can apply to game reviews as well. Just look at how much more interesting "Mother's Basement" and "Extra Credits" are compared to, say, "SomeCallMeJohnny" and "Nostalgia Critic". The former have something to say, the latter just review shit.


5) Minor observations:

* The transitions between game demos could use a little work. At the end of each section, you gave a few moments of unnarrated gameplay, followed by a hard-cut to the next demo. An intermediate screen, or at least a sound-bridge would ease the audience into the next segment. I also think the unnarrated gameplay segments are a tad too long, but someone else can comment on that.

* Don't begin phrases with breaths. I know we have to breathe to speak, but hearing an inhale at the start of a narrated section is distracting. This can be fixed in a few easy ways:
a) Get a better mic and accessories (lol), or
b) Begin each take with bigger breath, then after a short pause, resume with the talking. With this, you can edit out the inhale in post-production easily without cutting any content

* There were a couple of times in your speaking where I felt you could have used another take. Also, perhaps breaking up longer voice segments into smaller takes would probably result in a slightly smoother video.

* You probably know the misspellings in the review outline

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Overall, I'm impressed with your dedication and was happy to see this kind of content on YouTube. This really feels like a labor of love. I am interested in hearing your takes as you make more videos!

--DBP

Re: I poured too many hours into this not to want constructive criticism

That's absolutely above and beyond Lar.
PlayStation is cool as heck on cellphone or tablet. Get MatsuPlayer. Runs smooth and has an HD option that works.
Feels good rerunning old games with speedhacks, HD, and savestates.

Re: I poured too many hours into this not to want constructive criticism

DBP that was well beyond the level of quality response I was expecting, and I truly appreciate it. Gonna actually save that post and refer back to it for my next project.

Pretty much every criticism you have is pretty much spot on IMHO, especially with the video lacking an overall point to it. I think the biggest cause of that is that alot of this video was made in pieces over too long a period, and I kind of started to lose track of the earlier parts. By the time I was finished and noticed it had some serious problems (did I ***king pronounce Cloud's name with 2 syllables?) I kind of felt like I was in danger of burning out on the project. That's not an excuse, and I probably should have knuckled down and re-recorded the whole script before releasing, but que sara sara. It's easy for me to think I don't have enough spare time for it, but it isn't like I had a deadline.

I now know that I need to keep a tighter schedule / script moving forward because things get disjointed way way WAY too easily. Luckily I don't have to relearn my edit software moving forward so future videos should not take that much time. I know the above paragraph makes it seem like I was dreading working the video, but it actually was a shitton of fun, and you are absolutely correct in assuming that I love the subject. The Playstation is something I could talk about all day.


The state of gaming in a given year or decade is a fantastic subject for a video, so I am tempted to do Best of Year List in the future. I'm glad to see people jiving with that notion. It's that or more standard reviews, which I was tempted to start doing but I think Youtube has more of that then it can handle