Raw_and_Vital

I would like your thoughts/input.

I am thinking about creating a channel on youtube with DVD reviews + more. Now, I'm not just talking about reviewing whether or not the movie is good or bad, but also doing a disc review such as how it's packaged, the number of discs, bonus content, etc.

I understand you can easily check out reviews and stuff on this website, but this would be more interactive. Request a review, etc.

What do you think? Think it might be fun to actually SEE a 5 minute review rather than having to sit and read a review?

I also want to review different versions of the DVD. Such as my Evil Dead collection for instance. Show the rare and out of print versions, hard to find, etc.

What you think? Would you be interested in watching or not? Who knows, I have multiples, could possibly toss out a give away once a month.

Please discuss, argue or beat down my idea with a stick. Let me know if anyone would have any interest in this.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

I wouldn't watch but if you're going to do it, there's places online, like http://www.expotv.com/, that pay when you submit video reviews.

There's also ones that take written reviews or guides. Those I've tried and I was getting around $5 for a one page thing.

If you're going to do it, might as well try to make money for the submission and you also get more based on how many unique hits you get also.

SPIDERone

I generally prefer video reviews to text reviews, but more often than not they end up just dragging on, providing less information and just adding a lot of "filler" (usually giving a little information about the movie, going into a clip from it (or more often, a clip from the trailer), then their thoughts ("I thought it was a good movie and I didn't expect the twist at the end. I'd give it 8 out of 10"), another clip from the movie, then "I thought the DVD looked good, I didn't see anything wrong with it. 10/10", another clip and then into the extras, usually dragging the video out to about 5 minutes.

I would be much more interested in reviews going over the extras or different versions. Most reviews just list the special features and sometimes give a run-time - I'd like to see someone go over the extras, give more information on them (whether they're interesting or just press-kit type pieces), and over different releases of the movie. Something like DVDBeaver (I think thats the name?) - I would probably find that much more interesting than just normal DVD reviews of new releases.

If you were to do DVD Reviews, I'd be more interested in obscure releases that come out but never get any attention, or foreign films which can be hard to get full reviews on sometimes.

Travis McClain

Here are my thoughts--do with them as you see fit.

1) While a 5-minute review seems brief, it's very easy for something that long to include a lot of extraneous rambling. You should probably write your entire review first, and while reading it might be boring and get you into trouble, it'll at least keep you focused.

1A) After you've posted enough reviews, it may be discouraging for new viewers to get into. You're asking five minutes per movie, which seems reasonable, but then you're looking at spending a half an hour to watch six DVD reviews. You might try to keep the run time to 3 minutes or less.

2) If you're going to review the DVD properly, you should include a remark about the features, including any commentary tracks. Are they insightful or generic? Do they enhance the experience of watching the film?

3) You should be careful about what you show in your review. Footage from the film should be considered "fair play," but there's always a studio lawyer out there willing to shut you down. Still, you'll want to do something to liven it up because a camera focused entirely on you narrating your review for a few minutes can quickly become uninteresting regardless of how insightful you are.

4) You might consider starting off by established a formula for your reviews. I post DVD reviews on my blog periodically, and my formula is:

DVD title, release date, stars, director and rating
First paragraph: Spoiler-free synopsis of the film
Second paragraph: DVD release comments, including bonus features
Third paragraph: Recommendation - purchase, look for in $5 bin at Walmart, rental or outright avoid?

It keeps a consistency throughout my reviews, and keeps me focused. By restricting myself to a paragraph per component, I also limit the rambling.

4) If you can do it, you might consider also posting as a video podcast on iTunes. There are several reviewer podcasts out there already, and you might consider watching/listening to some of them to get an idea what's already being done. This way, you can either find a way of improving it or doing something else.

5) You might consider familiarizing yourself with other reviews, and mention ones with which you disagree. Don't slam the other reviewer, but it can lead you to a professional, critical way of promoting discourse.

5A) You might also look at the Cinescopes project and consider trying to determine which of their personality types might appreciate the movie. Not sure how much leeway you'd have in doing that, but the authors seem generally okay with their project being referenced in movie discussions.

Best of luck, and let us know what comes of this idea.

TomOpus

If I was going to watch a video review, I'd want to see the following:

1) How do the menus look?
2) Special packaging highlights
3) Are there easter eggs? Maybe show how to find 'em (save that for the end so people can find it themselves).

I think it has to be something different from a written review. Take advantage of the medium. Have some fun... if the disc sucks, you can show yourself flinging it out a window.

Raw_and_Vital

Thanks people! This is what I am talking about. Feedback.

MinLShaw
I agree with everything you said. Good stuff. Thanks for the tips.

TomOpus
I'll be sure to incorporate those things when I start making my videos. Thanks.

And SPIDERone
I agree, the extras could make or break someone's decision to buy that movie.
I'll definitely touch base on the extras. I also want to do different versions of the movie releases.

I have been thinking. I don't have all the money in the world to drop on New Releases. I definitely will be doing a lot of old releases, movies that deserve credit but don't get any, etc. Perhaps some foreign films. Like the Vengeance trilogy or Tarkovsky films.

I'd also like to take requests eventually. I think that might be interesting.

manicsounds

I like the quick video reviews on IGN for their video games. I think it would be a good thing for DVD reviews, as a supplement to the written one of course.

tylergfoster

The two things I think are most important, for any YouTube video even:

1) On-screen text is your friend. Don't be afraid to summarize things using on-screen text, just try not to spell like an idiot.
2) Don't try too hard to be funny. Nothing makes me turn off a bad YouTube video faster than someone making terrible jokes.

asianxcore

Agreed (Example Included!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=os0YnojHV_A

I agree with everyone else's points. I definitely would like a good balance between the content of the film and the technical specs. I think some of the YouTube channels for reviewing tend to be more film content related and miss important technical things.

If I don't care about how bad a film I like is but maybe I was wondering if this might be the first time the film is uncut or in OAR. In that case a film review shouldn't take up 99% of the video.

goodiet

I guess if you can manage to do it long enough and bring in enough audience, you can probably get a lot of pre-released DVD. That would be a great motivation to do it.

Raw_and_Vital

Yeah, good points.

I think reviewing the movie is pretty important, but it's not everything, ya know? I mean, I could hate the film but other people will love it. I always see people giving their opinion about what sucks and what's good, etc. etc. etc.

I think a neutral review of the film would be better. I mean, a straight up synopsis of the film and not a rant why I liked or hated it. I think that is KEY.

Aside from that I think everything else should cover technical/packaging specs. If the DVD is packaged in a cool way with cool contents, that can seriously be a selling point for me. So, I figure if I cover that area, how it's packaged, does it come with a slip cover or not, how many discs, extra inserts and so on... It would be a good thing.

Covering the extras/bonus content would be a good thing too.

And to finish, maybe let everybody know where the best place to get the movie at the cheapest price. What other versions do they have and if they are worth paying for the extra disc (which is sometimes just a stupid digital copy) etc.

I figure a tight little 3 minute review would suffice.

How's all that sound?

Also, what are your thoughts on taking review requests?

kevinlord190

well i am one of the many ppl who post reviews on youtube and it is very simple. there is a whole community of ppl who show what dvds they have
its awesome

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

I disagree, movie reviewers that are successful in getting people to come back to them over and over say what they did and didn't like about a movie.

It's one way for people to gauge whether or not they'll like something because of how they can relate to the reviewer on how accurate they'll be for the person looking at that review.

Look at Ebert, if he's reviewing a movie that he doesn't like but kids may like more, he's not going to not say he doesn't like it and why not. He'll give it a rating for how he feels about it but will mention in the review that kids may enjoy it more.

canaryfarmer

Five minutes is way too long. It doesn't sound like it, but trust me, it is. Keep it to around 2-3; if it has to be longer, so be it, but definitely aim for 2-3 for regular reviews. I can get everything I need from a DVDTalk review in under a minute by skipping sections and finding what I want to know by quickly skimming and scrolling.

For the love of all that is good with the world, please use a good microphone.

Keep it upbeat, keep it snappy, keep it fun--there's a million dvd review options already available online, why should somebody watch yours instead? That's what you need to keep in mind.

Travis McClain

Rentals, my friend, rentals! Netflix, Redbox, even your local library is bound to be able to help put new releases in your hands long enough to generate an insightful review. This, of course, applies to catalog titles as well.

It also brings up an interesting idea. Since this is your review series, perhaps you should at least begin by starting with your library. What were some of the first titles you made sure to buy? What are some of your favorite finds? That sort of thing will not only address the point Mister Peepers made about letting the audience identify with your taste, but as an added bonus, it will help ensure you knock off a lot of your unwatched pile. (And I know you have one--you post on this forum!)

I've been blogging for about two years now, on subjects from DVD and CD reviews to my experiences living with Crohn's disease. Nothing makes it worthwhile like feedback. I recently blogged about President Obama's Cinescope personality, and one of the Cinescope authors actually found and replied to it. Very exciting, and very fun. Those are the moments that make worthwhile all the posts that go ignored.

Raw_and_Vital

Alright.

This is all good stuff, guys. Please, keep it coming.

So, I think I am going to keep it short and sweet. The videos/reviews will be only 3 minutes. If needed, I will go longer. But I want to keep it around 3 minutes so people will sit and watch the entire video.

Also, I am going to break up the video in 2 parts...
First 1 1/2 minutes will be: Release year, Who is in the movie, Who's the director, Brief description of what it's about and my thoughts on whether it was good or bad.

The second 1 1/2 minutes will be: Packaging and what is all included, the menu, Special features overview, *Where to purchase...

* I decided to include the best place to purchase because I usually look for the best deals. For instance I recently picked up Kill Bill 1 & 2 and got a free 10 dollar gift card to Best Buy. I only paid 12 bucks for the two movies and gift card - just to give you an idea.

Anyways, I am thinking about sticking to the above format. Thoughts.

milo bloom

I don't like this trend of video reporting and podcasting in general. I do a lot of net reading at work during lulls, and I can't watch videos here. And at home I have a pretty loud toddler that often has one of his video's going, and I can focus on a written review easier. I imagine there's a ton of information out there on my hobbies and interests that I'm missing out on because of this, but I'm making do without it so far.

Just my thoughts.

Raw_and_Vital

Alright, I have a couple reviews up. It's kind of still in the trial period. Comments and advice is welcome.

If anyone has a youtube account, please subscribe to me. One of the things that I am doing that nobody else does is update daily. I'm trying to bring in the content and have a large array of DVD reviews. Let me know what you think...

Thanks.

manicsounds

Just flipping the case back and forth, opening it, that's it? You gotta make it more appealing.

If it's possible, edit some video footage of the actual disc together and review over it.
Here is a good example:

http://www.sogoodreviews.com/reviews...chopsticks.htm

canaryfarmer

Don't bother linking them or anything...

edit: okay, found your site by rummaging through your profile. Honestly, your reviews are neither raw or vital. I love Primer, but I couldn't make myself watch the whole review. So....boring.....

2nd edit: Somehow the Evil Dead BotD review was even worse. These are really plodding. One loooooooooooooooong, unedited shot for 5 minutes (that almost never changes) is not the way to do these. If you're not going to cut or edit these, you need to write a script first. So much dead space, so many "uh's & ah's"....

3rd edit: If you're going to focus on dvd packaging, don't review ones that only contain a dvd in a keepcase. Yawnsville. Highlight the funky, unique stuff that people might be interested to see without spending the money first (Big Lebowski bowling ball, etc).

4th edit: and one of your first reviews is an obvious bootleg of a movie most people have never heard of. You don't show us any of this "classic", and then beg the viewer to shell out money for what is obviously shoddy product on ebay. Fantastic. "So uh.....yeah!" "So uh.....yeah!" "So uh.....yeah!" You really need to plan these out more; these are not fun to watch.

Raw_and_Vital

Alright, good stuff. I kind of knew they were bland, boring and anything but Raw and Vital

Editing is kind of limited due to me only having the ever so pointless Windows Movie Maker. You are so limited. It's good for basic cuts and tacky dissolves. That's it. I need Premiere or Final Cut Pro but don't have the $$$ to dish out for the program.

I do agree though. It does need to be more interesting. Stills/clips or something. Like I said, I have ridiculous Windows Movie Maker but I have a couple ideas in my sleeve.

Thanks for being honest though, it's exactly what I wanted. I don't want to keep putting out boring stuff. I want to craft these videos and make them acceptable. At least to the point to where you watch through the entire clip.

story

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darthdelegate

His reviews are good. He's good at talking through his DVD review videos, no stuttering, no filler, no wasted time. No dragging things out. He'll talk about a movie for a minute and then move on to the next. He just enjoys movies and it shows. And he doesn't say "ummmm" every few seconds.

canaryfarmer

There is never anything wrong with a simple cut.

Raw_and_Vital

Alright...

Got a new DVD Review posted on youtube. Was wondering if you could watch it and see if this is a little better than the older ones.

Hope I made it a little more interesting. Post your thoughts and let me know...

Thanks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g57UpwqBSiY