Looking for feedback

[deerhuntinghippie]

I decided to make a trailer for my youtube channel. I've posted several of my videos here and I'm curious as to what you folks think. Does it sum the channel up pretty good? Is there anything that needs reworked or changed? Don't be afraid to critique too harshly. I will take all the opinions and use them as tools to help me make better videos. Thanks everyone.
https://youtu.be/C7La0oHEIC8

Facebook: Zach Byrd Adventure Hour

[crashdive123]

Way, way too long. If I'm searching for a vid on a specific subject and it has a really long intro or trailer - I either skip the video or the intro/trailer. I would say for an intro - maybe 15 seconds tops is my limit. If it is truly a trailer, I doubt I'd watch it after having watched the content.

I will also add - I watch very few videos or look at blogs provided by members on a forum (I'm on a few) where the appearance is just to get video or blog hits up. I prefer to watch vids and read blogs of individuals that I have interactions with - not those whose only contribution to a forum is posting vids or blog links.

[deerhuntinghippie]

Way, way too long. If I'm searching for a vid on a specific subject and it has a really long intro or trailer - I either skip the video or the intro/trailer. I would say for an intro - maybe 15 seconds tops is my limit. If it is truly a trailer, I doubt I'd watch it after having watched the content.

I will also add - I watch very few videos or look at blogs provided by members on a forum (I'm on a few) where the appearance is just to get video or blog hits up. I prefer to watch vids and read blogs of individuals that I have interactions with - not those whose only contribution to a forum is posting vids or blog links.

Thanks for the feedback.
I know there are many bloggers and filmmakers who boost their traffic with the Jonny Appleseed approach- throw out as many seeds as possible and hope the trees grow. Most of the time they've forgotten more places they've posted their video or blog links to than they remember, making it safe to say that they usually aren't back to respond to any replies.
I'm a member of quite a few forums. Mainly because I have so many hobbies. I didn't start taking video making too serious until about a year ago, although I've been playing around with it since high school. Once I started making videos regularly, I posted a few of them to forums I belonged to. On every forum that I post to currently, I've had several people ask me to continue to post my content.
I know that there's a lot of spam out there and I know there are a lot of people who have given content creators a bad rep, but I hope I don't come across that way. I try my best to respond to every person who gives my content any amount of their time and I try to learn as much as possible from their feedback.
It's an amazing time to be alive with the technology that we have today and forums are indeed one of the best ways find like minded people to share content with. With that being said, it also makes all forums subject to spamming.
But thanks again for checking out the video and for replying.

Facebook: Zach Byrd Adventure Hour

[WolfVanZandt]

That was moving.

I can't think of anything bad to say about it. I can't even nitpick.

Unless......and this really is nitpicking.....Was that last section a central statement of your series? It "felt" a little anticlimactic. The first part actually got me sorta misty-eyed - then there was advice. In fact, specific advice. It didn't even feel introductory. But if it was a central idea, it belongs there - I think I would have placed it at the first though - that first part was sorta stunning and nothing should blunt it.

There's not a whole lot of critique that can be made about the "way" you present something. You tell the stories the way you tell stories. They're your stories. If you mess with that too much, they are no longer your stories. And that seems to be a strength of yours.

[WolfVanZandt]

Heh. I started posting before Crashdive did and got interrupted. It's pretty obvious we have different perspectives. Perspectives being what they are - they could both be completely valid at the same time.

I would say: type of blog and audience have a lot to do with the kind of introduction that is needed.

I think that Crash is right for sites that are primarily for information dissemination. People want the information - not a personal profile.

On the other hand, there are some topics that may require considerably more "briefing". For instance, a topic that may carry a lot of baggage may require an intro that "breaks people in" a little more slowly. For instance, when the topic of therianthropy comes up, mental doors start shutting pretty much immediately and, if you really want to inform, you'd better get your foot in the door and hold it there for a minute. I've been following a lady named Shannon Jackson who hosts an informative YouTube channel about the Therian community called, Therian Nation. The introduction is a little under two minutes, which may seem a little long, but she wedges her foot in the door pretty well with a professional demeanor and solid citations. It's one of the few such presentations that actually impressed me from the start.

When a blog is not purely informative and is trying to present a feeling or philosophy, it may take a little longer to get the point across because you're trying to make the listener "feel" your point. Until very recently, people wrote letters and even the most ignorant, backward letter writers tried to make their letters readable. Research documents today are intended to be as dry and informative as possible. Even up to the 1950s, scientists were writing in an interesting and engaging manner. I miss the days when people wrote to be read.

Perhaps I'm just that old......

[deerhuntinghippie]

That was moving.

I can't think of anything bad to say about it. I can't even nitpick.

Unless......and this really is nitpicking.....Was that last section a central statement of your series? It "felt" a little anticlimactic. The first part actually got me sorta misty-eyed - then there was advice. In fact, specific advice. It didn't even feel introductory. But if it was a central idea, it belongs there - I think I would have placed it at the first though - that first part was sorta stunning and nothing should blunt it.

There's not a whole lot of critique that can be made about the "way" you present something. You tell the stories the way you tell stories. They're your stories. If you mess with that too much, they are no longer your stories. And that seems to be a strength of yours.

Thanks man I really appreciate you taking the time to check it out.
As far as story telling goes, I do feel that it is my strongest ability, however, up until recently, I told my stories strictly through writing. Now that I'm incorporating my writing into video production, I'm more than eager for feedback. Especially regarding particular editing aspects like transitions, texts, the overall flow.
As far as the last half of the video goes, that was a clip I filmed a few weeks ago. I usually delete clips if I don't immediately use them but I felt like I needed to hang on to that one. I think I added it to the end because it seems that I'm running into more and more people online and in my personal life who are battling depression and I feel that this is largely due to our overall detachment from nature. I guess the timing of everything made me feel as if it was, in a strange way relevant to my channel as a whole because of what adventure and nature does for me personally.
Thanks again the the lengthy response.

Facebook: Zach Byrd Adventure Hour

[Rick]

I think it was a great tribute to your grandfather. I liked it. I thought it was well done. It probably is too long for a trailer but as a stand alone it was very good.

[deerhuntinghippie]

I think it was a great tribute to your grandfather. I liked it. I thought it was well done. It probably is too long for a trailer but as a stand alone it was very good.

Thanks man.

Facebook: Zach Byrd Adventure Hour

[crashdive123]

I might have been a bit confused when I gave you my answer. I was answering in the context of intro or trailer on every video you make. I now believe that by trailer you mean the video that viewers see every time they call up your channel and it is a stand alone video rather than attached to every one you make? If that is the case, then the length and content are both good.

[Batch]

I'd say it was pretty good. The message that adventure is available to all of us is true and a good one.

[deerhuntinghippie]

I might have been a bit confused when I gave you my answer. I was answering in the context of intro or trailer on every video you make. I now believe that by trailer you mean the video that viewers see every time they call up your channel and it is a stand alone video rather than attached to every one you make? If that is the case, then the length and content are both good.

Oh yeah, definitely a stand alone trailer that plays when a new person arrives at my channel. I completely agree that it would have been way too long for an intro.

Facebook: Zach Byrd Adventure Hour

[deerhuntinghippie]

I'd say it was pretty good. The message that adventure is available to all of us is true and a good one.

Thanks man.

Facebook: Zach Byrd Adventure Hour

[ronjnk]

Zack, well done! Nice job. Ron

[deerhuntinghippie]

Zack, well done! Nice job. Ron

Thanks Ron

Facebook: Zach Byrd Adventure Hour

[hunter63]

I add my nice job, as well.....
Thanks for posting.

[deerhuntinghippie]

I add my nice job, as well.....
Thanks for posting.

Thanks man

Facebook: Zach Byrd Adventure Hour