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The Pixel Show
KitFez
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I felt this was the best place for this to go, but anyway: for thirty episodes now, I've been doing a weekly(ish) gaming vlog/discussion series called The Pixel Show, where I take a look each episode at a popular gaming topic and present my opinion on it - along with inviting community discussion.
In posting the show here, I hope to get some constructive criticism regarding my presenting skills, the show's sense of humour and the overall quality of its content - and hey! Maybe I caan pick up a fan or two along the way.
I hope you enjoy it! The three most recent episodes can be seen below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZ8_FERxpVQ
Episode 28: The Unskippable Cutscene Ultimatum
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XD-HpBHEe4
Episode 29: The Repurposed Game Ramble
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfsBN-m2qcw
Episode 30: The Halo 4 Hoedown
Have fun watching, and I'm on tentahooks as to what you think!
In posting the show here, I hope to get some constructive criticism regarding my presenting skills, the show's sense of humour and the overall quality of its content - and hey! Maybe I caan pick up a fan or two along the way.
I hope you enjoy it! The three most recent episodes can be seen below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZ8_FERxpVQEpisode 28: The Unskippable Cutscene Ultimatum
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XD-HpBHEe4Episode 29: The Repurposed Game Ramble
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfsBN-m2qcwEpisode 30: The Halo 4 Hoedown
Have fun watching, and I'm on tentahooks as to what you think!
Grifter on
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The problem with coming into gaming commentary is the first thing I'm going to do is think "What is different about this thing I'm looking at compared to the hundreds of other guys trying to say shit about video games?". I see the No Punctuation influence, even if its not actually an influence. I realise that there are a lot of differences, but its not enough for me to not to think "why wouldn't I just watch no punctuation?"
You need to find more that is unique to you. You don't seem nervous, which is good, but I would practice enough/become confident enough to reduce the editing. Get it all in one cut. This isn't a story being told from multiple angles. This is supposedly just you telling me what's what, you should be able to do that in one go (or really get so good at editing that I believe it is) Or make the cuts part of the jokes and make the editing part of it.
You have a pretty crazy face/mouth (I really don't mean that in an offensive way, Just like, as an artist I notice unique features, and your mouth moves crazy) and your voice is so ridiculous I thought you were doing a character. This is potentially great, As you can play up how this separates you from other vloggers who are soft spoken and expressionless. Watch your enunciation when you get to upper levels of excitement/voice levels.
Personally, as soon as I took away the video and I wasn't being a creepy animator and studying your crazy mouth, I realized that the content was super lack luster. For me as a gamer who keeps up with the industry, these aren't really opinions that I can't get more elegantly through a more easy on the ears longform podcast with a conversational tone (Bombcast) or articles (PA report), So I feel like you need to push the content.
vloggers tend to live on their personality, the visual stimulation of youtube, and rabid stalkerish fans. You have a very very short amount of attention span on youtube. So for instance, dancing in the beginning of your halo video, the good part: Visual, goofy, grabs my interest. The Bad part: I was literally bored 5 seconds in. I know that this is a ridiculous thing, but its the reality of capturing web audiences. You can say things Really really really fast, and comedy usually benifits from editing down.
Anyways sorry for the super long crit, but there you go!
Well, thanks for your critique! Though I'm rather disappointed to hear you got bored so quickly; usually that's about enough time for the intro and then the talky stuff starts! In the case of the Halo dance, that was designed to be oddly intriguing (plus a bit of a vehicle for the artist who did the track). Most of those intros, mind, are less than five seconds long and ought to grab your attention more succinctly.
The videos used to be done in one take, but I ironically shifted to rapid-fire takes after a few audience suggestions. Part of the show's charm (I hope) is that my opinions aren't being presented as unwavering fact, and audience participation is openly encouraged. The comments section is usually full of fairly intelligent responses given how YouTube's usual comment rabble behaves, and so I have to be doing something right for them to want to contribute! But are you saying my opinions need to be more controversial?
And as for my ridiculous voice, you, sir, are ridiculous! (But seriously, it's kind of a half-and-half camp in the comments on whether my voice is easy to listen to or ear-blastingly awful. Can't do much to change that though!)
Yes, yes you can. Even the least "gifted" vocalist of any kind and for any media have certain range in their voice. For someone who is trying to deliver information AND humor mainly spoken with some video aid, the voice is a big deal and its not just "something you are born with", you can shape your voice like you shape any skill. I must say though, that its not your "voice", but its the way you talk that has a lot of character, the same way we can say a nose has a lot of character, this can be very good or very bad. I agree with Iruka, that it seems as though you are playing a character. Hmmm.... Id like you to tell us how you choose your topics, why you chose that particular background, why the hat, why the dance. What is, or how long is your planing stage before doing this videos, etc, I want to see the sketches (metaphorical sketches).
The other intros are shorter, granted, but I was more saying that to get you to think about time overall. its not just true of intros, You have to find the right beats through out your videos.
I feel like some of my points may have gotten lost so let me break them down:
1) I don't think your voice is bad, its a little ridiculous, yes, but I think that's fine. The pitch/mannerism of your voice is something people are going to be opinionated about, and you cant change that. Enunciation, however, is always going to be important. Make sure you aren't muddying your words, which may require speech exercises (which do exist for a reason). You're a broadcaster, so you want people to be able to understand you, even when you are yelling, talking fast, or excited. "annoying" is one thing "hard to understand" is a huge problem.
2) With the cuts, I think you can go either way. Personally, I like more raw, unedited things, but if you don't then that's cool. I think the cuts are a little messy right now though. I cant tell if you are trying to hide them or not. If you are going to use them, no reason to not go crazy with them, Change out your fez for a new size one, change position in the room. You are being yourself but creating a persona at the same time, don't be afraid to be experimental and flexible.
3)For the content, controversial isn't what I mean. I think you have good information, but as a casual passer by, I'm not really convinced that there's content here that I cant get somewhere else. I realize that that is kind of vague, but basically you need to push yourself to find something unique. This may mean you need to take it out of your bed room and push the medium. Off set this with Lets Play videos, pull in your friends, do what ever you want, but don't get stuck in this format. I'm basically trying to tell you "Be crazy, and have crazy ideas" You can pull it back if you get too out there, but beating originality into a tired and overused format will be hard.
I really don't mean to be discouraging, or negative at all with any of this, Just hoping to be helpful and challenge you to move forward.