RE: LONG VIDEOS. Not to beat a dead horse....but

[BigBoozer]

Hey Big Boozer:
... Hollywood has gone to 3 hour movies but we are forced to go to 3 minute movies.
...If you would like to see some of my longer videos (Greece,Democratic Republic of Congo-gorillas, Iceland). Dale Davis and scroll to "more" to find them. Enjoy.

...Hollywood has gone to 3 hour movies... I wonder who and how can see a full movie today, with this frenzy of 30 second max attention capacity...
...If you would like to see some of my longer videos... Will do! Enjoy.

 

[irpnetgb]

FWIW, I got dissappointed the same way about how few views some of my uploads got. But, I never intended to use YT as a monetary reward program (I work a full time job).
My initial reason for uploading to YT was just to use as an archive for my work. If people want to view it and like it, so much the better. If not, it is there for posterity, as long as YT exists anyway!
When I remembered this initial reason I couldn't care less about how many views I get or how many subs I have (not my main income source).

If on the other hand you do YT as a means to earn income, then I feel for you. I do appreciate the amount of work that goes into editing/posting videos.
One thing I might suggest is that you post a message on any other of your social media that you have uploaded a new video. And choice of keywords can also help get a better viewership.
I also used Airvuz (stopped now) which got me some extra views. Try other platforms to, advertising your YT channel.

I apologise if you already know all of this and I'm teaching you to suck eggs. Sometimes it's easy to lose sight of where you want to be and what you need to do to get there.

 

[scdronemedia]

Yes sorry too long for me, I got through about 1/2. I must say the quality is fantastic but just too slow. I think if you sped up the video about 400% and played some more upbeat music it would keep my attention longer

It is a shame that you feel like that. Not everything has to be fast paced and 'mental' and I feel sorry for you that you need to live life at such a speed. Pushing the speed up to 400% would destroy the mood of the creation.
Personally, being new to the hobby, I make videos that I enjoy first and foremost. If others like them that is a bonus, but if not then so be it.

 

[scdronemedia]

FWIW, I got dissappointed the same way about how few views some of my uploads got. But, I never intended to use YT as a monetary reward program (I work a full time job).
My initial reason for uploading to YT was just to use as an archive for my work. If people want to view it and like it, so much the better. If not, it is there for posterity, as long as YT exists anyway!
When I remembered this initial reason I couldn't care less about how many views I get or how many subs I have (not my main income source).

If on the other hand you do YT as a means to earn income, then I feel for you. I do appreciate the amount of work that goes into editing/posting videos.

Exactly.

 

[Dale D]

Exactly.

Thankfully, I do not depend on anything photographic for income of any sort. I have never sold a single photo or video on my web sites of SmugMug daledavisphotography.smugmug.com
nor from my Vimeo site Dale Davis

I use these site to merely store my work for family and friends and anyone from a forum who is interested. I am comfortably retired from the practice of medicine.

 

[rconradvt]

Yes sorry too long for me, I got through about 1/2. I must say the quality is fantastic but just too slow. I think if you sped up the video about 400% and played some more upbeat music it would keep my attention longer. Sorry but I must be A.D.D....

I agree, my rule is cut it to look good then speed it up 4x, then post it. Try to keep it under 4 min. Remember most TV sitcoms were cut to fit in a 30 time slot, 20 min of high quality pro vid. It is very hard to hold the public’s attention. ?

 

[mfc]

Your comments are the reason we have these forums. Videos are not everyone's cup of tea, even if they are well done. To each his own, I say.

So can I assume that you belong to this forum and do not use the video capabilities of your drone? Do you only use the drone for still images? Or if you do use the video capabilities of your drone, what do you plan to do with the video once it is filmed?

I did try some videos when I first got my drone (3 years ago, now), and have found videos useful to give an impressions of the depth of a cave entrance, etc. I initially recorded video for full flights -- but rapidly discovered those videos were neither interesting nor useful.

But after the several years of use, I only record video when I have a particular reason to (that is, it shows a view that adds something to a still view -- typically a 15-second clip).

Nowadays, other than a few specific stills, I almost always position the drone and take a spherical panorama (the minute it takes is well-spent choosing where to position next). Then when I get home, I stitch the panorama and then use PanGazer to view it and save specific views if useful.

Hope that helps! Happy to discuss further if you like; [email protected]

 

[mfc]

Take an example of a 30 second US Super Bowl commercial, the highest paid time for advertising. These commercials cost multi-millions for even 30 seconds. They put a lot of work into each one of them and cram so much stuff into 30 seconds it's amazing. Think of what that is like to edit, if it's not totally fantastic it gets cut and only the best of the best makes it to final footage. I had a video class at the local college that made us create different length projects from 30 seconds to 2 minutes, when you are given a hard deadline you learn to make it fit. That was a great exercise and I did learn how to get right to the content and let go of a lot of stuff not needed for the task.

For me it's simpler ... if anything shows a video advert that I haven't asked/looked for, I turn it off [switch to something else]. So I've never seen a " US Super Bowl commercial" -- curious to hear why they are 'amazing'. Why does anyone watch TV channels when there are commercial-free channels? (And yes, I turn off BBC 'trailers', too. I value my time -- there is always something better and mor interesting to do than watch an advert.)

 

[irpnetgb]

It is a shame that you feel like that. Not everything has to be fast paced and 'mental' and I feel sorry for you that you need to live life at such a speed. Pushing the speed up to 400% would destroy the mood of the creation.
Personally, being new to the hobby, I make videos that I enjoy first and foremost. If others like them that is a bonus, but if not then so be it.

A person that shares my own thoughts.
TBF though, most people who bother to upload YT videos do it for the money and that IS the only reason. The problem with drone videos (as a means of income) is they are so-called 'niche' videos, so the viewership is unlikely to go through the roof because it isn't mainstream enough.

I'm glad to see there are others whose only purppose of using YT for drone videos is to give others an oppurtunity to view them. I've seen some amazing videos because of YT and that was what inspired me to buy my MA.

 

[Chip]

So I've never seen a " US Super Bowl commercial" -- curious to hear why they are 'amazing'.

Here is a recent one that was voted in top 5 superbowl ads of all time:

Here is the "making of" video which gives neat behind scenes look including use of digital body doubles:

 

[mfc]

Here is a recent one that was voted in top 5 superbowl ads of all time:

Here is the "making of" video which gives neat behind scenes look including use of digital body doubles:

What did you not understand when I said I did not want to see adverts?!

 

[BushWacker]

What did you not understand when I said I did not want to see adverts?!

You totally missed My point (I get you are making your own point) but my comment about Superbowl Commercials was Not about the content but about the amount of time and effort put into such a short time frame of video which is what this thread is about.

 

[CountryGuy]

For me it's simpler ... if anything shows a video advert that I haven't asked/looked for, I turn it off [switch to something else]. So I've never seen a " US Super Bowl commercial" -- curious to hear why they are 'amazing'. Why does anyone watch TV channels when there are commercial-free channels? (And yes, I turn off BBC 'trailers', too. I value my time -- there is always something better and mor interesting to do than watch an advert.)

Hello fellow commercial hater!

Could not agree more. I haven't watched ANY kind of TV commercial in years. Occasionally a friend will ask, "Did you see the commercial where... ?" Uh-- no, sorry.

We only watch recorded programs on TV and simply FF through any commercials.

 

[BushWacker]

Totally missed the point....

 

[Dakarenduro]

I guess my experience is the same. I initially used YT for archive purposes and to allow friends family to view stuff we wanted to share. I use it in Private and Public modes. Works very well for that purpose.

It's very interesting to see which videos get hits and which dont. Experience as others have said, shorter ones tend to get more 'watched to the end' statistics. Drone videos are generally really really boring, unless you are another drone hobbyist. But no one wants to watch 30 seconds of a city flyover or whatever. I try to cut my sections down to 5 secs, then transition to another view or object. That seems to work best.

I have published a few city specific videos that seem to have garnered a lot (for me)of attention. I guess for people searching for what a particular location looks like, they will sit and watch the majority of the video. I have one that I quickly slapped together in the hotel room, kept it to about 1min in length and that one (either because the topic or something i dont know about) gets 2k+ views a month. Crazy compared to the hours I spent editing other ones and they get nothing compared to it. Oh well. if you search the video forum you can find mine otherwise if someone wants to see it i will repost this particular one.

I also think Vimeo has significantly less viewership than YT in general. but thats not based on any data, just what i feel.

 

[Jeff A]

In this forum, I have commented often about long and boring videos, long duration clips, and aimless wanderings of the drone with no plan in mind. Today I got my weekly Vimeo analysis, and it confirms again the following. Viewers simply do not want to watch videos very long and have a very short attention span. Attached are my results which show that my new 4 minute video (which involved 5 pre-dawn sessions to film a sunrise (about 10 hours of work and travel) , and a full week-end processing the video(about 12 hours) was viewed as follows;

30 views, average time watched 1:53 minutes (out of 4 minutes), and 8 finishes of this 4 minute video which took me 22 hours to make. I received no likes, and no comments.

I would like to modestly say that I thought I did a fairly nice job on the video. I am tempted to attach the video again but I won't unless requested. Just saying....

Thanks for the reminder, Dale. I have yet to really get started on Videography, mostly due to Covid-19 restrictions. I will remember your lesson. It's got to be pretty hard to leave all of your good work on "The cutting Room floor".

 

[Jeff A]

Dear Forum friends who follow me:

I have taken all of your advise into consideration and spent another hour today revising my Sunrise video. I have shortened the body of the video from 3 1/2 minutes and 30 seconds of end titles to 2 1/2 minutes for the body of the video, and 30 seconds end titles. Thus, the main video has been shortened 1 minute. Give it a look. Full screen, sound as usual.

I never saw the original but I really enjoyed this work.