Madisun's Arc - Reviews By Darth Marsden
Hey guys. This is a list of all the videos I've made for my review series, Madisun's Arc. They do get better as I go along, honest! I primarily upload these to Blip, since that lets you preload the videos and, if you use AdBlocker, there's no adverts, but most of the videos also have YouTube mirrors for those who can't use Blip.
Anyway, enough rambling.
There was a great big list of all my videos here, but then - surprise surprise - the new site came along and turned all the YouTube links into actual videos. Around 30 of them.
I spent around 20 minutes trying to change them all over to the new link format, only for it to straight up not work. So now you just get the one link, to my Blip channel - http://blip.tv/chrismadisun
Screw this site. Screw it with a rusty freakin' chainsaw.
Anyway, enough rambling.
There was a great big list of all my videos here, but then - surprise surprise - the new site came along and turned all the YouTube links into actual videos. Around 30 of them.
I spent around 20 minutes trying to change them all over to the new link format, only for it to straight up not work. So now you just get the one link, to my Blip channel - http://blip.tv/chrismadisun
Screw this site. Screw it with a rusty freakin' chainsaw.
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Comments
And the Death-Sequence seems to be the best part of the game. No wonder they want to show it to you so often.
It was crackling a bit. I personally thought that might have been the game though.
The Good,
° You had a script
° The picture quality was very good, no HD but I prefer SD anyways. (loads faster, doesn't cause problems on (my) old(er) PC(s).
° Sound Quality was good for no visible microphone. May be improved a bit but I have heard a lot of worse sound in a first video. Also remember: Sound fuck ups are always worse than others. Most people will listen to you, not all of them will watch you during the video though.
° Once the video game part starts everything has a great flow.
° A "good" game to start on. Never heard of it, never saw another review for it
° Good choice of host for the video. Youtube has more viewers but Blip doesn't block videos for copyright normally. And they don't block music content in Germany like YT does.
The Bad
° minor bad point: The start was a bit too long. At least I felt that it might have been a little tighter.
° another minor thing: Maybe you should get some of those bottles out of the picture...
(also I am quite curious what the other stuff there is now)
and The Ugly
There was nothing that would fit here. That is a good thing!
The audio errors during the games cutscenes would fit here (as I said audio fuck ups are major fuck ups) but you got away with those. No one knows this game and judging by the rest of it they might have been in there anyways.
-I'd disagree about the script. I had a notes list. It's why there are so many pauses during the live-action segments - I know roughly what to talk about, but I'm basically making the actual lines up on the spot, hence the pauses. It's amateurish and I'm not doing it in future. Full scripts all the way!
- There's a few written reviews for the game, but they're rather obscure. I'm surprised no-one's really talked about it, it's easily one of the worst games I've ever played. The only consolation is that it's short - 5 or so hours, if you don't die.
- I went with Blip.tv because my YouTube account doesn't let me upload videos over 15 minutes long. Not saying it's bad, just thought I'd mention why I'd done it.
- The start does need tightening up, I agree. I pause a lot during the live-action sections, and I can't really edit those out without going overboard with cross-fades. I have too many of them as-is, I didn't want to make it worse. I pause because... well, you know.
- The can and bottle in front of the monitor are both Root Beer. Love that drink, but it's hard as hell to track down cheaply in the UK. Thought I'd show off my love for the stuff early on.
So yeah, future reviews will have shorter intros, proper scripts and probably less live-action segments. Hopefully the next one won't take two weeks to put together!
Anyone else enjoy it? Anyone else actually bother to watch it? Anyone make it through to the end?
Was fine the way it was. I have seen people that call themselves "reviewers" that just start talking and stop 10 minutes later. Those "reviews" are a mess.
no real script.
Keep the ratio. Makes the whole thing more personal. Also: I know that the first video will take forever to complete. I spent about 10 hours on my first YT video. If I were to do something like that again it would barely take 30 minutes for the same quality.
Something to think about: How about a short Intro for your reviews? Not too long (30 seconds max, I always wonder about people that do Intros that are over a minute long...) but makes the start of the video a lot softer.
Also: Need to check one more thing because I am not sure about it. Rewatching.
There werre credits but you only mentioned the film clips you used. The game must belong to someone. They will not be proud of it but someone must own it. Oh and the review is yours. You should mention yourself in the credits somehow.
Please also consider at least playing a bit of music (or an audio clip from the game, something funny you already used in the review or anything else) over the credits. Something that fits. Just don't give us the silent treatment. And if you use music there it has to go to the credits too.
I think I am done here. Keep me (us) informed about your next reviews. At least I cannot wait to see another one.
I'll try to keep the live-action ratio roughly the same, but I may still cut back a little. Not by much though.
Did I not mention myself? Thought I introduced myself, but... I could have sworn my name was in the credits. Might have cut that though - not a lot of flexibility in Windows Movie Maker. Will definitely have an text screen intro next time though. I was going to have one here, but it completely screwed up all the audio clips, so I cut it.
I did show the developer logos, so I did give some credit. But yeah, I should have mentioned them in the actual credits. Rookie mistake. And I need to add audio over credits. Got it. I can actually think of a perfect example of something I could have used. Gah! Accursed hindsight!
My next review should (if I can get enough free time to watch it) has Noah Wyle in it. All the hints you get!
- The intro was a bit too long def, there was a lot of time spent talking about the films as well whereas the game's the main focal point. Your first minute is crucial as well as that's when people are gonna decide to watch on or turn off.
- Crossfades are a bit of a no-no, when doing broadcast journalism we used what we called 'noddies' which are just reaction shots of the interviewer nodding to hide edits, in this case some screenshots or concept art on the subject would do the trick.
- There's a slight hissing noise over the audio, probably not noticeable through speakers but through headphones it's well prominent. Clipping it out shouldn't be too hard, there's software like Audacity that can get a profile of the ambient noise in a track and clip it out with ease, but it's no biggie.
That's really it, apart from that everything else was great and will only get better as you go on. Oh and maybe a spring clean of the desk. On a somewhat related note my local Tescos is selling A&W root beer at 81p a tin, check yours today!
Looking forward to more of these, there will be more right?
Let's hope.
It would be good to have more of a script but in the end it comes down to what you want to do. Try the script if you don't like it at least you know that you don't. If you do like it more then your videos will become a lot better.
If I have a script, there'll be less pauses and no cross-fades. So... script!
Thanks for the note about Audacity, I'll give it a go. And the next review will have a much shorter intro. So patience, young ones...
...well, it will be when it's finished. This is just a three minute preview I made so you can see my new style. See, having a script can be useful. Thoughts? Comments? Flames? Hit me.
- The red bottle behind you will be a running gag, woun't it?
- Another piece of obscure media I never heard of. Great.
Naughty Naughty!
Looks like someone's review style is influenced by a certain other reviewer who shall not be named.
I enjoyed what I saw though. Could be the start of something good.
Oh, and I've seen that Librarian film. I didn't think it was so bad; very cliche, a bit hammy in the acting, and a huge ripoff at points to a certain Lucas movie, (infact that might be 2 movies...), but the premise was interesting, and for a TV movie it was definately above par.
I have tried running it through a couple of filters, but nothing seemed to make much difference. Not an awful lot else I can do with it except lower the volume a bit more.
Thanks for the comments, guys. Much appreciated. Editing this thing is taking forever. I've been at this for 5 hours and I've got 10 minutes of gold, but there's still another 15 or so to go. Ugh. Who knew making decent video reviews would take so very long?
Now which one of you subscribed to me on YouTube? I'm flattered you think I'm subscriber-worthy, but I am gonna upload the full thing to Blip.TV, since it lets me have longer videos. Just so you know.
the name of the channel is ketzerlino. I wonder what this could mean.:D
Still uploading the full thing to Blip.TV though, FYI.
You would have thought the first half wouldn't have been so rushed considering its a series.
Its kind of important for the character and situation to be well built up first before the action begins, as it allows the audience to invest in the characters and build up a suspension of disbelief.
Not having that just makes things like plotholes, inconsistencies, and bad logic stick out like a sore thumb.
Plus he's the worst sort of protagonist.
One that pulls stuff out of his ass to solve a situation.
Which was fine with the A-team because it was followed by some cheesy over-the-top action scene so your mind was distracted.
And it was fine with MacGyver because those solutions were insane and interesting.
But it falls flat with this guy, since it rarely ever really leads anywhere, and just disrupts the pace.
Its just like "oh.. okay..."
I think mostly the problem is the frequency.
The A-team did that sort of thing once or twice per episode.
This guy does it loads of times. In a row.
EDIT: TL;DR version: The whole "I read it in a book" thing is just lazy filler.
EDIT 2: And I've only seen the 1st film, but I imagine it just gets worse, and worse, and worse with each movie.
If it does make a re-appearance in Return to King Solomon's Mines, then that's an even bigger plot hole, because the temple collapsed as they left. Best. Librarian. Ever.
EDIT: I've seen the second film. I don't remember a lot of ass-pulling, but I do remember the lead female character. I have an awful lot to say about her, and not a single word of it is complimentary.
Oh! And fun little fact: the 2nd and 3rd Librarian films are directed by Jonathon Frakes. Yeah, THAT one.
The second two I didn't like nearly as much (I think I slept through the third) simply because they made the Librarian powerful to the point where it hardly seemed like there was any suspense. The first one was fine because there was a balance, he was the brains but he needed someone else to take care of him and keep hm out of trouble. But then they gave him a sword and it just started becoming less interesting to watch.
I do think the movies get progressively better, and the first movie wasn't even that bad. I've got them all on Blu-Ray after I've seen them all on DVD at a friend of mine, and I still truly believe Telltale should make a game from it.
Don't you mean, Wyle away an evening?
Yeah.
Also, I don't think Flynn was THAT overpowered in the third movie, considering, you know, he was fending off
I've always wanted to see Indy take on Dracula, but not THAT kind of Dracula. Because holy shit that was a terrible Dracula.
Also when did this become The Librarian thread.
It also does give Flynn more character, seeing as
Also, the first movie was very cheesy, but then again, so was the first Blackwell game. Well, not cheesy per se, but it wasn't really the greatest adventure game Dave Gilbert made. However, with each subsequent game in the Blackwell series, he managed to make it all better.
The same goes for the Librarian. Each movie just improves on the previous, and I hope they can and will try again for a fourth Librarian movie.
It was a pun. You see, the main character, Flynn Carsen, is played by Noah Wyle.
Finally finished editing together the video - it's a shade under my estimated length of 25 minutes, and even then 2½ of those are a kick-ass credits song.
It's currently converting into an actual video, and then I'll upload it to Blip.tv for all to watch. Should be up in a couple of hours, depending on whether my internet connection hates me or not.
Shows how much I know. But then again, I was fairly insecure about my spelling on that word anyways. Kept on switching between two versions that looked right until I just picked one.
Lot's of positives, I was really impressed.
Even the audio was better than in the YT preview.
some minor negatives:
You experimented with the curtains and it wasn't too good, as you surely have noticed. You were quite in the dark at the end.
I liked the credits, they were a little too long though. (at least there was a gag-bit at the end so it was worth sitting through that). Try cutting the music you use shorter the next time.
A personal opinion: I don't think you are good at screaming. It somehow doesn't fit you at all. You may now scream at your screen how wrong I am about that.
Experimenting with the curtains would have worked better if I'd remembered to turn my light on! You might have seen me better then. Also, recording in the middle of the day, when it's still sunny, might have helped. It's weird, I didn't notice the light going at the time. Hey-ho.
I thought the credits were long too, but it was so hard to cut any of that song out. It's just pure awesome. Will definitely make 'em shorter in future though.
Ideally I would have used the theme tune to The Librarian, but oddly enough they didn't put a clean version of it over the credits, so I couldn't take it from there. I'll have to see if they do it in the second movie, or if I can grab it from somewhere else.
And you're right, I'm not good at shouting. I'll try something else in the next one - a heavy dose of sarcasm, maybe. Or incredibly bewildering similes. Or alliteration - I enjoy extracting expressions from the English language to entertain and enthral everyone.
But yeah, I tried shouting, it didn't work, oh well. I'll keep trying until I find something that suits me.
What didn't work:
Yeah, I was gonna mention the shouting. Also, please...please.....PLEASE do not use more than one That Guy With The Glasses joke in one video. If you must use one, fine, but doing it more than once will make you seem, no offense, like a tool. Thankfully, you used probably one of the best ones you could have picked.
The Spear of Destiny reference would have worked better had you just had the game appear on screen and not really even said anything. The loud "NO NOT THAT ONE!!!!" kind of made it feel like a joke you were relying on to work and not so much just a reference, and it's a tad bit obscure for that to work.
The times you made a joke, such as "the mystical blue screen effect" or "old man who gets easily bonked on his bonce", and just did it nonchalantly worked to amazing effect for you, and I genuinely laughed out loud at these. Some of the shouting would have worked except that you did it all the time. And finally, you need to work on sincerity a bit. Complaints work better when they feel like they're coming from the heart so to speak, but the fact you that it as a monologue kind of makes it hard to work in the sincerity you need. This is also my biggest complaint with the TGWTG crew. They monologue their reviews and leave little room for the sincerity their comedy needs.
The Great:
For all the moments you lacked sincerity, there were just as many where you had plenty of sincerity. These were the moments that worked the best for you, again. I can not stress how much sincerity is needed not only for a believable review but for great comedy.
You have a really great screen presence. You look good on camera, and you sound good on camera, not counting the shouting. Also, you have a great camera, and your background is also great. Your writing is spot on, with some great points, and some great jokes. I lost it at the Hardy Boys and Inspector Gadget comparisons.
So far, you're doing pretty good, in that I want to keep watching your reviews. Unlike Linkara or Film Brain, who I watched one review by apiece and never wanted to watch another. So, you know, I'm saying you're better than Linkara and Film Brain and Nostalgia Chick, and more enjoyable than Spoony is currently, so that's already like a fifth of TGWTG or something I think you're better than on your second review.