Okay, time for a confession of #unpopularopinion numero dos. I actually kind-of-sort-of maybe loathe video? There, I said it. I know, a digital marketer who loathes what will likely in the next two years be 75% of all mobile data is somewhat of an oxymoron, right? Well, call me old fashioned but I prefer graphics paired with copy myself. I know all of the data around why video works and why YouTube is the second largest search engine on the internet. I've been running extremely successful social media campaigns utilizing video and managing video shoots for years. I've even shot, cut and edited some myself but I just absolutely cannot stand when a video pops up in my feed! It moves and makes noise disrupting my scrolling (not in a good way) and rarely is it thumb stopping content. If I do happen to be drawn into a video I almost never watch till the end (like the majority of my human counterparts that only watch video for 15 seconds) and I can promise you the sound is not on nor will I turn it on to watch a video. (Yes, even for cat videos. I know, I'm a monster.) Now, my wife on the other hand absolutely loves video. She will spend hours on end watching all manner of YouTube videos. She has tirelessly exposed me to what she believes to be the best YouTube has to offer in attempt to change my stance on video, but I alas remain a staid in my belief. I will do my best to keep this bias from unfairly influencing the following narrative, though, I make no promises.
The web videos referred to in Bryan Alexander's text pages 90-95 are prime examples of the type of footage which has brought me to the unenviable stance of loathing web video. Just because everyone in this day and age has access to a video camera does not mean that every boring thing they think of needs to be documented for the world. Sure, save it in your smart phone to reflect on later for personal use, but uploading it to YouTube or Vimeo, etc. is often unnecessary. You can share that on your Instagram or Facebook story. That is the proper place for perhaps otherwise unnotable moments of your life that friends or your tech savvy grandmother might appreciate.
Through my wife I have been exposed to some of the better web shows the internet has to offer. I recognize the entertaining quality of Rhett and Link or Jenna Marbles because you can tell that they follow the five stages of the creative process before even turning their camera on. (One does not simply become a YouTube sensation on their smile alone.) They spend time in the preparation stages. They brainstorm topics for a rant or unboxing or interview etc., but there is a plan at the get go. It is a topic which would be entertaining to a number of audiences, not just something they or their friends thought was funny. They have evaluated how it will be presented or discussed. Often the camera does not move at all, fixed at an eye level staid point from which all action can be viewed. This eliminates the difficulties or otherwise insurmountable competition of a video crew, editing and shooting from different angles to get the right shots. This simplicity is the true success of amateur video. They have a TV personality, they look at the camera intentionally, they are conversational with an even tone, inflect at heights of interest and engage the audience through their individualized elaboration on the topic. They do not just mumble from behind their knee in a monotonous monologue *cough* lonelygirl15 *cough.* To be fair, lonelygirl15 does come out from the shelter of her knee in later videos, eventually sitting up and showing her face. The video quality and scope evolve as well (enter additional characters and a video crew). Still, the footage did not draw me in despite it's "cliff hangers" so it is hard for me to understand why this channel drew the social media reaction that it did.
A limitation Facebook has placed on ads in one of its multiple updates this year is that text should be no more than 20% of the image, which they strongly enforce. Marble Hornets could take a note from Facebook in this respect. Admittedly, what few videos I do click on I watch on silent (unlike 60% of the population) but a black background with stagnant white text overlay switching unceremoniously to rocky camera footage spanning a horizon all without sound does not make for a YouTube success. This poorly edited sequence of text blocks and footage has cinematographic appeal only to a select few-the stubbornly curious.
Another of the many reasons I have found to dislike web video is because I remember Vine, which was perhaps my first introduction to mass disseminated amateur video. There is a reason I'm sure why America's Funniest Home Videos still has viewers, though, it is lost on me. Sure, I follow allot of skateboarding Instagram profiles where sometimes skaters biff it on the pavement. Some of these fails are hilarious, but I would not watch hours long compilations of these face plants. Apparently, I am among the minority and I accept that these videos are popular to a wider audience. However, I do not believe that anyone would spend hours on end watching people obviously ignoring them (the audience behind the camera) while intermittently looking into the camera suspiciously as in the videos from IChannel. They utilize mis en scence to place items like coffee mugs obviously in front of the camera, forcing the subject to address the audience in their offhand way. I am sure enough of us experience being ignored quite enough in our daily lives that we can go without watching it by choice in our free time. I do not find these videos funny or clever or proving some deep point. If you want entertainment that is stagnant or without plot there are many zoos who have live feeds of their baby animals to tune into at any point in the day. There are cat adoption agencies that also have a live-stream of their adoptable kittens doing cute things 24/7. These are entertaining for the same reason cat videos are entertaining. These videos are genuine, the cats are not acting stupid to get views, they are merely going about their lives and their reactions to the unfailingly hilarious misfortunes of these lives are genuine. This is why people will always click and cat videos will always be popular.
So, perhaps it is not that I loathe all forms of numero dos. I actually kind-of-sort-of maybe loathe video? There, I said it. I know, a digital marketer who loathes what will likely in the next two years be 75% of all mobile data is somewhat of an oxymoron, right? Well, call me old fashioned but I prefer graphics or photography paired with copy myself. I know all of the data around why video works and why YouTube is the second largest search engine on the internet. I've been running extremely successful social media campaigns utilizing video and managing video shoots for years. I've even shot, cut and edited some myself but I just absolutely cannot stand when a video pops up in my feed! It moves and makes noise disrupting my scrolling (not in a good way) and rarely is it thumb stopping content. If I do happen to be drawn into a video I almost never watch till the end (like the majority of my human counterparts that only watch video for 15 seconds) and I can promise you the sound is not on nor will I turn it on to watch a video. (Yes, even for cat videos. I know, I'm a monster.) Now, my wife on the other hand absolutelyor loves video. She will spend hours on end watching all manner of YouTube videos. She has tirelessly exposed me to what she believes to be the best YouTube has to offer in attempt to change my stance on video, but I alas remain a staid in my belief. I will do my best to keep this bias from unfairly influencing the following narrative, though, I make no promises.
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