New Promo Video

[Marcus Wilson]

I am making a new promo video for my street show. You can watch it here

http://www.funnymanwhodoestricks.com/streetshowpromo.wmv

Let me know what you think.

Are their to many clips?

Do any of the jokes not work on video?

Does the Hire Me text at the end come across as funny or annoying?

Or is there anything else that would help it.

Thanks

[Dan Tastik]

I think a lot of places will be dubious on the child juggling. I know for a fact that Christchurch festival has specificaly stated NO UPSIDE DOWN OR SUSPENDED CHILDREN. Maybe it could be less of a feature of the video.

The tempo of the hat routine doesn't match the tempo of the music. Maybe this is why it appears to go on for too long.

I think the jokes come across well. They are what differentiates you from every other rolla act.

More shots of happy people could help. We only see the crowd at the end.

Allow me to verify your sneaking suspicion that the HIRE ME thing is annoying.

[Dan, a balloon man]

I liked the video.
The jokes were well-timed and an original take on some other things we have seen from other street performers.
I wonder what it took to jhave the Christchurch folks put that as a rider in the performing contract.
I did an event last summer in BC and a Trooper was there and the folks that hired me told me that they had a rider in their contract that said they would get 4 cases of Corona, a bottle of Grand Marnier and I quote "6 SOBER PEOPLE TO HELP UNLOAD THEIR TRUCK AND HELP WITH SET-UP"
Makes you wonder what the show that made them include the "6 sober people" clause was all about......
I think they will probably hire you without the "Hire Me" subliminal message.

Good Luck

P.S. Mr. Tastik...I saw your show in Edmonton last summer....very well done!!

[Daniel Zindler]

Cool! The strength of the video is the jokes.

- Less titles would be good. Isn't most of the info obvious to the non-performer? Delete the hire me. Change the font to something more professional (comic sans looks chessy)

- I agree with Dan... more crowd shots would be helpful.

[Marcus Wilson]

Thanks Dan

I think you guys are right on your suggestions.

Three votes against the (Hire Me)has convinced me to remove it.

What type of text doesn't look cheesy?

If any of you have any footage of a happy audience in the exact location I'm at in this video that would be great.

I will rework the video in the next few days and re post it.

Thanks again,

[Daniel Zindler]

To me a non-chessy font is something that is uncommonly used. Comic Sans is used all the time. There are many many font options that will make you look like a perform (not a lawyers office) but look more professional. Personally I use a vintage type font.

PS - It's to bad you didn't have a second camera filming the crowd. I guess that's for next time

Can't wait to see the new and improved video.

[Daniel Zindler]

It's funny that everyone who give you suggestions is a Dan... I guess we're a special breed

[gav]

Perhaps someone will be kind enough to semd you some close up happy crowd footage, that way you rule out the background problem.
You could even put in some happy crowd stills.

My media player didn't want to play the video, I just got audio. I'm not sure if it was because I was focused on the audio but the first song seemed a little muzak to me. Something more 'real' with energy would be better.

[em]

video

Hi Marcus,
making promo of live shows is one of the hardest things to do, to capture that element of "liveness". what i did in mine was to gather footage from loads of shows in different venues and festivals especially ones where the audience is behind us and we have a full circle (makes the empty background more interesting)....but having footage from loads of places, quite simply, makes you look travelled! (they could be different angles of the same pitch i guess if you need it now)
Also make a montage to a good bit of music, quick clips, close ups of your face or audience, kid laughing, hat routine or other routines, but keep them short, you want the booker to watch it to the end!
i know its a lot more work and alot more filming, but we added and edited as we went along, after about 2 years it finally felt "full" and live!
variety is good, use this as a base and keep slotting bits in as more shows get filmed!
Thats my advice anyway, good luck.

[Marcus Wilson]

New and Improved

OK here it is the new and improved version (well maybe).

https://www.funnymanwhodoestricks.com/streetshowpromo.wmv

I put in my logo and a photo of my crowd instead of all the titles.

I shortened the hat routine.

I took out the kid juggling I have only been asked to remove it from my show once but I figure if I could lose one gig from having it in my video that's to many.

At the end of the video I added a longer clip of the crowd cheering.

I still think the flashing Hire Me text at the end was funny. But it's not the first time I thought something was funny when in fact it wasn't (for example the other 40 minutes of my show not shown in this video). So I took it out.

gav,
I appreciate your advice but I like my music so I'm not going to change it and I was joking about someone else having footage of a crowd laughing and cheering. Even if someone had some great footage that would work I wouldn't use it. But thank you for replying.


Em,
I think you are right on with your advice what I am putting together right now is a base which I will add to. That has been the plan all along.

If anyone can see anything else that could help please let me know.

Also if there are any other Dans out there which haven't replied please do so I have always been of the opinion that the more Dans that post the better off we are.

Thanks Again

[Daniel Zindler]

Much better. In my opinion you should extend the last shot. The saying nice job gets cut off mid word.

[scot]

I like one venue videos. the focus is on you where it belongs. if you have any footage of your face, that would be great. your face is your logo.

fade out the applause and laguhter from cut to cut so that those sounds are still going through the begining of the next cut while you're talking.

if you know anyone in the music industry or anything like that see if they can do something about the audio.

make your final two screens into one
Marcus Wilson

https://www.funnymanwhodoestricks.com

(555)555-5555

crossfades instead of jump cuts can show the passage of time and make edits less violent. the worst part of your cuts right now is the audio.

"shut up tiffany" gets a bigger laugh than the rest. I would edit out the end of that joke, and in future shows, I would consider saying something that ties into the mistake scenario like "we all make mistakes. My mistake was letting my wife tiffany have a garage sale. She's only 12." If you can't make it funny, make it contextual.

love,
scot

[Marcus Wilson]

To Transition or not to Transition

I was wondering if I should use transitions between clips so here is both


With Out Transitions

https://www.funnymanwhodoestricks.com/streetshowpromo.wmv

With Transitions

https://www.funnymanwhodoestricks.com/streetshowtransitions.wmv

Scot,

What needs to be done with the audio?

I don't have any close ups of my face but that's a great idea for future videos.

I decided to stick with the two final scenes. I can see why you would say
that but I like it better with 2 scenes.


Daniel Zindler,

Great idea but I have no more footage.


My plan is to eventually have a promo for a street show and my stage show showing an overview of the show with photos and different venues.

Plus have three or four unedited clips of my routines. That way a client has a choice of what they watch. If anyone has any other ideas about this I would like to here them.

[Doctor Eric]

<start harsh critique>
Windows media player sucks, it's a ridiculous, proprietary technology that does ridiculous @!?# to my computer. Knock it off and convert it to .flv or, at least .mov. Or else I won't watch it, other people might, but not other people that think like me. Wmv sucks, it's been over for a long time, get over it.

Your video is bland and boring. Nothing at all about this makes you stand out as anything other than the most mediocre of variety acts. Your intro music just missed making the cut to be in an elevator, and your comedy revolves around stock, hack jokes. I felt insulted and turned it off after 45 seconds. Show. Me. You. Not how you deliver old jokes, you don't have the charisma for that. Not some crap cracker jazz that has no hope of inciting emotion in anything... show me YOU.

Also. Your crowd looks like it has 6 people in it. Your only funny joke is a subtle come-on to a young boy.

Your skills are somewhat impressive, but you are overshadowing them with rookie comedy that makes me want to curl up and die. That may sound harsh, but how many times have major festival bookers heard those same jokes, and seen those same rookie mistakes? You set up the crappiest punch line ever for a minute and a half. I've pulled out most of my hair by the time you get there.

This video is crap. You should start over, I think you can do better.

[em]

critisicm

good morning everybody,
This post is about the video, not the content of the show or someones personality!
There is a way to deliver critisicm constructively that is helpful to the person in question. Honesty is good of course but when we are talking about each others work on a public forum and that person has asked for advice (and taken much of it on board) then i think we should help rather than lambast. I have seen many many crap videos of shows i know are better live. Its an art to make your work look good on tape. The more footage you add the better as i have already said. Critisicm is important if delivered with constructive points in it designed to nurture rather than nullify. Marcus's video is compiled from one session of filming. He has no choice YET in showing variety, but he's working on it....
My first show video was crap for ages...
Anyway spring is here thank fuck!
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