I’m hesitant to post this because I’m a long-term fan of the channel and I’m sure not everybody is bothered by this the same way I am. But I do know that I’m not the only one and I figure if it never gets mentioned you guys will never know so…
Back in the day your videos were fairly static. But at some point over a year ago, they suddenly started using lots of cuts and zooms and angle changes. And it’s hard to judge but if anything I think it’s increasing. Just started watching the Arm and Qualcomm one here and good example is at the 1min 22 mark. Wendell from the side, jump to Wendell from the front for 2 seconds, back to Wendell from the side. 1 second later Wendell from the front. 10 seconds, Wendell from the side. 5 seconds, Wendell from a new side!
I feel like I’m in that Old Spice ad “Back to me. Now back to you. Now you’re on a boat.”
Sorry for going on at length, I’ve kept this bottled up for a while because you’re my favouite YT channel. I know it’s some kind of video editor rulebook - got to zoom in, got to zoom out, got to keep the zoomer attention span. It’s just you were one of the few channels that didn’t do this and it was so much more relaxing. This is a technical channel and frankly the fewer distracting jumps the better, imo. Again, sorry - I really enjoy the content. I just needed to at least voice it.
Also, different but as you’re a sort of commercial channel / brand, I feel obliged to mention something else that you just might want to know. I know Americans use it for some reason but in the UK the use of “spastic” as a pejorative / negative is often considered pretty offensive. For some reason it’s considered fine in America but internationally it might not go down so well for reasons I think are fairly intuitive.
Again, love the content - my favourite channel. Hate having to say anything negative and know it might be a minority opinion. This seemed to be the appropriate board to ping you guys on. Hope it’s okay.
Hey! Editor Autumn here. I’m the one who edited the Qualcomm video. I hear what you’re saying and I appreciate you voicing your concern. The frequency of cuts have risen from a few years ago, and here are some of the reasons why.
1. Wendell shoots with two cameras
If he looks at the other camera, I cut to it. That’s not something I can control as an editor.
2. Mistakes
If Wendell says something wrong, or flubs a word, I cut it. If I can’t hide the cut with some sort of footage, I zoom in. I guess this comes down to preference, but zooming in or out, in my opinion, helps hide where the mistake was. Especially if that mistake was in the middle of a sentence and Wendell doesn’t start the sentence over lol.
3. Awkward pauses
Sometimes Wendell just stares at the camera after he makes a point before saying something like “Neat!” or “Okay…” . He’ll then take a bit of time to get his thoughts ready for the next section. To cut down on the amount of cuts, I’ll use those moments to zoom in on his face to help drive his point home. Again, this is probably a preference thing.
4. Audience retention.
It sucks, but if you’re trying to grow an audience, you need a hook. Something to keep their attention just long enough for them to actually listen to the content. The more cuts, the faster I can get to the main point. Once that is stated and the intro logo is played, I usually slow the video down by having fewer cuts. I get it though. We’re not as relaxing as we used to be.
I try to edit with purpose, so I hope this post helps explain why I’ve been editing the way I do.
Also! Thank you for pointing out the word “spastic”. If I hear it again in any future videos, I’ll cut it. Thanks!
Hey. Thanks for the reply - it’s much appreciated and I figured some of the cuts were for reasons like you gave but I didn’t quite catch on to how much. But mostly I appreciate you taking my reply in the spirit it was intended which is just voicing some feedback so you’re aware of it and not meant as a massive critique. This is my favourite YouTube channel and so I’ll take this opportunity to thank you for your part in producing it.
I’ll still dispute reason #4 though. I like to think if there’s any viewership that doesn’t need the gotta-keep-their-attention jumps it’s us!
Yes, about the language - I’m hardly the most Politically Correct person and I know nothing was meant by it. But I figured you should be aware. If I saw one of my team about to send out a press release describing something as “spastic” or “retarded” I’d be leaping across the desk for their keyboard! One of those odd International differences I guess.
Thanks again for the reply. I’ve given my feedback which is all I wanted to do. It does pull me out of what he’s saying. I’ve sat on it for a while and then saw someone else talk about how they found all the Reason Number 4 cuts annoying so I figured I’d speak up. All the best!
Until today I genuinely didn’t know it was an insult. That’s how much the meaning is completely different in the US. If I heard someone use the word, which I seldom do, people would assume they’re meaning someone who’s energetic or clumsy. Like if someone drunk an energy drink and was making fast movements and hyped up, I could see someone calling them spastic. It is tooootally not the same thing here. Autumn was telling me about Lizzo for instance, she changed a lyric because she used the word spaz. Just like in that lyric (because she’s American), she was trying to say “I’m excited” lol
WILD. Anyway, I won’t be using it outside discussing it. Thank you for the info.
It’s a bit of a generational thing. You don’t hear it as an insult in Britain much anymore. But we only have the medical meaning here. The root for the American version is medical as well but somehow it never got flagged as a “bad” insult in the same way, I don’t know how. First time I heard an American colleague say someone was “spazzing” or “a spaz” I did a real double-take.
Might be cool to get the longer interviews, a blooper reel, or cut content as a patreon, floatplane, or YouTube members as exclusive content or on a side channel
We usually do try to release the full interviews to patreon and floatplane when we can. I’ve also made a couple videos and posted them here on the forum of stuff I cut out of videos because it didn’t fit into the video, but that I found really funny.
Agreed with tjw. It’s certainly possible to go overboard with cuts and such. Obviously there’s some personal taste here, there are a lot of cuts here but to me they make the video look more “dynamic” than if there was a single fixed camera; they seem appropriate and don’t bother me at all.
Also, how’d did I miss there’s a youtube channel! Subscribed!
I like to think if there’s any viewership that doesn’t need the gotta-keep-their-attention jumps it’s us!