New Video review Series, looking for feedback

I think you content is good, and I like the light hearted take on it. My main critism is that your rate of talking is quite high, almost like it is scripted and being read without pause. The thoughts are well composed which is good, but it feels abit like a late night newswrap :D. I don't mean to be offensive, but that would be my constructive critism. Subbed.
 
Whoa! Slow down a bit.

Not bad, but I honestly lost about 75% of the first minute and a half in a blur of words. Your vid is 6.5 mins, and on a nicely done review, I will watch 8-9min vid if I can actually follow what is being said.

In regards to the edge retention graph you show, in the first photo, you can see the scale that the measurement is based upon and the second time, it looks like a simple 1-10 scale. What are these measurements based on, how much more is 2 vs 1 and how much worse is 5 vs 10? I would refrain from using graphs that do not show specifics ei, the edge wear rate vs material being cut or amount of linear foot cut vs no longer slicing paper

If you are going to be reviewing knives, you should try to speak to your fellow knife knut, while trying to educate a newer person. Example, when the d2 was mentioned, a small little note refering to the higher wear resistance due to carbide volume/size being a major factor will both be informative to a newer knife person and will let others know you are knowledgeable in the field and thus should be listened to a little more carefully.

Not too bad, keep going, you will get there.

I am heading off to bed, if I think of (and remember) anything, I will post again for you.
 
thank you very much, very good points, i do try to make the videos accessible to the common man, but sometimes its hard to keep track of what is common knowledge XD after being part of the community for so long D2 just seems so common haha. good point on the chart too, i will look into ratifying it.
 
duely noted, i have been making an effort to put more of a polish on the video's especially when it comes to the voice over, clarity is my goal. so i will keep at it.
 
So I gave you a hard time in April when you started. However, I think as you've been here your video shows improvements in every way. I actually enjoyed the CRKT Ripple review, I found it honest and informative. I would encourage you to continue as such.
 
Some very good content.

Slow down your speech, try to enunciate. There's no time limit on YouTube videos, attempt not to talk like you're trying to jam all that information into as short a time slot as possible. I worked as a newscaster at a local radio station, within a year I was orating like a pro. Listen to how professional radio hosts talk, that's what you should be sounding like.

Improve the lighting in the video, and create another intro. Change the font you use in the video to something extremely legible, like Helvetica. White text with a black outline is, generally speaking, the best way to go. The outro is to wordy. Instead of writing "and don't forget to like and subscribe if you want to see more reviews like this," write "like and subscribe for more!"

Remember, simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. Keep things simple, sharp, clear, clean, legible, and audible.
 
I enjoyed your review of the Benchmade MiniGriptillian. On that video you slowed down your speech and seemed calmer during the presentation. Just my 2 cents.
 
Also I would like to add I find your closing music irritating as hell but it just a personal observation.
 
I disagree with the folks saying you should slow down, studies have shown that people believe and trust people that talk fast. That's why the cliche of the fast talking salesman persists. I write for a living, mostly speeches and some testimony and I think that you're quite good. I would also not suggest someone stray too far from their natural style. I would suggest though that you try writing bullet points so that you aren't reading a script, as someone else mentioned. It's call extemporaneous speaking and as you improve you'll become much more comfortable speaking off the cuff which people generally prefer. Having talking points to guide you and allowing for some improvisation is also where the magic happens in delivering this type of public speaking. Your style though now is a lot like some of the Buzzfeed style videos and seems very professional to me, I just tend to appreciate the intimacy of a more conversational style.

Think about your audience to though. As you've done here I would say your target is teens and twentysomethings that like video games and are a bit on the nerdy side. I don't know if the audience here fits that demographic, I believe that this sight draws a lot of white dudes from 30-60 that don't know many of the references you make in your video, was that a Fallout right? Anyway, I think that your target demo is good but when you ask for critiques from people outside of that segment it might not reflect the opinions of the people you most want to reach. I think too that reaching out to a demo that includes yourself is the wisest thing to do. Overall I think you did a great job and the actual editing and construction of the video is good too.
 
My ADHD likes the fast talking style and you cover a lot of info in a short person of time I find some of the other knife reviews can draw on a bit, "uhmm this is a great knife....uh deployment is so tactical... look at that tactical deployment...it just deploys uh tactically." But I would suggest mixing in, either as part, or seperate videos, some more real time obersations and experience, I watch knife videos to look at the deployment, smoothness, the blade thickness etc.
 
That you so much for this comment. I have read and Re-read it and can say that it genuinely made me feel good. And while you make clear my areas for improvement, you also make it seem possible to accomplish, which Makes me want to work even harder to bring the show that much further.
 
I definitely have wanted to include more real world testing, but I have struggled with finding and objective way to test knives to reflect their durability/edge retention/rust resistance. I have concocted some good tests for durability but most of them would be considered abusive, and may ruin the knife, which unfortunately, cost a fair penny to acquire for review, especially if i wind up breaking them all in testing.
 
All you guys giving this guy serious feedback should take a look at his history here.

He consistently low balls people in the exchange. He also backs out of deals. Then he creates a rant video after Benchmade gave him quite good customer service. This guy is not an asset to this community.

Take a look at these threads:

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1316504-Benchmade-Warranty-Woes

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1315696-Benchmade-Customer-Service-Impressions

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1315697-Video-Benchmade-Warranty-Service
 
Most people I know who test begin by doing stuff to improve their sharpening technique or figure out if one steel they feel isn't performing well really isn't. I don't know too many that began by figuring "I want to be on you tube" "What can I do to get a following and be interesting/an expert"

Do what you want. I generally have no interest in going to you tube. I want to see the tests here all in one place for easy reference. If you come here just to improve your chances at you tube celebrity we are approaching life from different angles.

Good luck, and please include content in threads you start and don't just hit and run with you tube links or ads for your homepage.

joe
 
I've been wondering why people don't just embed the videos rather than link-out...
 
see thats the primary problem i have with tests like that though, "feel" is subjective, i wanted to develop a method that would work consistently, for capturing objective information about the steel's properties. obviously anytime someone reviews a product there is always going to be some subjectivity from their end, but i wanted to keep that to a minimum.

as for the video's, trust me when i say i have no delusions of grandeur, no one gets rich/famous off of review video's, realistically speaking the odds are better for being struck by lightning after winning the lottery. however, i enjoy making them, and they have had two very positive effects on my life, one is where i was wrong/forgot something in the review and thus got to expand my knowledge thanks to comments from the community, and two i have had people tell me that they used one of my video's as a resource when they wanted to buy a knife.
 
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