Aaron's website and promo video

[Aaron Gregg]

I have just finished creating my website and encourage all to visit. It contains a promo video along with other videos and pictures. Feedback would be appreciated and rewarded with a pleasant "thank-you."

It is located at aarongregg.com

You may know me as my earlier incarnation of Franklin Mint but I have since returned to my birth name of Aaron Gregg. Mostly because people would call me Franklin which drove me nuts, and because few people seemed to get the joke.

Happy viewing!

[Dan The One Man Band]

I don't get the Franklin Mint joke either. You should make it a bit easier for people to visit you site by putting in the url like this:

www.aarongregg.com

Remember, people tend to call you by whatever name you call yourself. I hope you like the name Aaron, although I've never understood the reason for the two A's. Same with the name Lloyd. Why two L's?

For what it's worth,

Ddan

[Barry]

franklin mint...hahahahah

[clapchap]

Very well done. The center picture on your "The Big Show" page didn't laod for me.

"Referring to it as one show is a misnomer, because drawing on his attributes and experience Aaron can create many different shows to suit any given performing environment." I felt this from your promo video until the last minute or so, when it showed numerous venues experiencing extremely similiar shows. My thoughts only, but perhaps have that bit played out by the different venues (venue 1: everyone counts. venue 2: release of uni, etc), then have all the shows clapping.

You seem to have 3 different videos, but none with both quicktime and dial up.

The first page i see, "One Man entertainment bonanza" seems to have a bonanza of images. Think which one best represents you, and put the focus on that one. Or, on second thought, i also like how the left, middle and bottom right one share the same costume (and venue?). It's the same idea either way, choose how you want first present yourself, its a first impression.

For what it's worth,
Eric

[Aaron Gregg]

Thanks for all the feedback. My friends seem to have difficulty being critical but there's little shortage of that here. The Franklin Mint joke is that there is this company called "The Franklin Mint" which makes collectables, the funniest of which are the commemorative plates which may or may not go up in value. I realized this would work as a name and decided to go with it (I also perform occasionally as Periwinkle Flavour, but that's another story).

Clapchap: I don't know why the picture on "The Big Show" page didn't load. It's the same format as all of the others and I haven't heard of it being trouble for anyone else.

I like your point about me saying I can create different shows for different audiences but giving the appearance at the close of my promo video that every show is the same (to paraphrase). It seems to be very common in promo videos to repeat important moments. I figure this is done to create a sense of repeatability and consistency in the mind of the viewer (I found that it worked when getting feedback from non-performers).

Unfortunately I can't really follow through on your suggestion to show different material in different venues because I have limited footage. I don't have any tapes of my kids shows - most of what I've got is from the same venue. This problem will be addressed in the coming year, and thanks for giving me a good kick in the ass about it.

Moving on...I have such lame codecs for creating quicktime avi's that anything lower than the broadband setting provides an unwatchable video. Until I get better codecs I think I'll just remove the option (though it's not really an option of course).

And finally, your point about the image bonanza is critical for me. If my first impression is weak I'm going to lose out. My inspiration for that layout on the front page was the Raspyni Brothers site www.raspyni.com where they have several pictures on each page which, imho, give an impression of verstility and showcases there many abilities. Though mine doesn't really do that.

Creating a unified image is one thing I'm having difficulty with. How am I to present one single image if I've got different markets that I hope to impress. Am I a cool, professional, corporate performer or a hyper, zany, stuntman? I believe I can fulfill both of these rolls but how do I project it. The checkerboard guy offers two characters on his main page www.checkerhead.com where you can select festival-man of corporate-man.

Any thoughts?

Thanks again for the help.

[Minnie Maniac]

Hi Aaron,

I definitely agree with the idea of having one or two pictures that define you. I didn't find any one picture drew me in, and instead, my eyes darted from one picture to another. I don't really get a good idea of who you are from those pics on your homepage. I think it's important for people to know what skills you have but mostly in terms of what you do that is different from everyone else. More important, I think people want to know who you are and what kind of personality you have.

I was surprised by the video, for some reason I wasn't expecting much but I really enjoyed it although maybe a bit long for the average punter. The picture that stood out for me the most was the one with the bucket on your head - but don't take that the wrong way, I've just never seen anyone with burning bucket on their head before (It's a GOOD thing). But I had to go to the contact page to see that. Get some photos that define you and show who you are - that's my only advice.
PS I am working on my web page now, so feel free to give ME advice when I actually post it!

Toni aka Minnie Maniac

[mini mansell]

bucket

wierd how things seem completely original when they pop into heads.

i have done juggling with a blazing metal bucket on my head. now i hear it done elsewhere as well.

now there is no way aaron or i could ever have seen each others acts.
we both came up with original thoughts independant to each other.

cool

[Aaron Gregg]

More feedback, oh how I love you all. The unfortuante part is I canīt act upon the feedback for another six weeks as I am traveling in Guatemala. The good news is Iīd rather be here than at home with Dreamweaver and access to FTP.

I take it Minnnie that my video is better than my website. This is likely because I have much more video experience. I also donīt use my website for much promotion yet but am relying on my video for some good work this summer so things are the right way round.

As for Mini, no I canīt imagine you have seen me with the bucket live. My inspiration for it was as follows: I wanted to juggle on a Rola-Bola while blindfolded but felt that conventional cloth blindfolds were dull and also people tend to believe that they arenīt real. After much brainstorming I discovered that a wall of fire in front of my eyes would work well. The diificult part was making it work.