Local talent

[Petah]

Come check out some of New Zealands local DJ talent at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXCe2SjrNAg and tell me what you think.

[Argh]

I liked the film style- good use of the filters and timing. The establishing shot was well done, except for minor timing stuff.

That said, here's some critique:

1. It's far too long to be an advertisement, and it's not informative enough to be a documentary ad. I think that if you want a long format, a series of conversations with the kids showing up at the gigs about how awesome the shows are would be helpful.

2. I'm not entirely happy with the music. I'm an old guy, and I haven't been in a club in about 4 years, but I didn't hear much that makes me think, "yeah, I'd like to be bumpin hard to this with a bunch of babes at 90 BPM". IDK whether that's just because I'm not tuned into the latest crop of dance music (I really enjoyed techno and used to do the real underground rave stuff when I was still a kid, along with grind-rock and various flavors of Punk in various ratty locations). I think a lot of this was that most of the music was "girl tracks"- high treble, non-threatening, not remotely edgy, and that annoying vocal crap that is starting to become passe over here- not stuff that says that I should go to your shows for either serious music or a chance to strut my stuff and get laid, which are the primary reasons to go to a show. I'd prefer to have heard at least one chunk of serious deep acid techno, house, or dub-step with bite- most of the selections were too safe for my tastes.

3. You need to focus on your brand more. If you're wanting to be a production guy, you either need to focus explicitly on the awesome artists you can get, or on the fact that you run killer shows, no matter who's up. I saw those shots of various artists, and maybe that's meaningful if you're inside your local scene, but it's meaningless to anybody else- names, names, names, and don't forget yours, because you're the guy who's bringing it together.


In short, keep it shorter, simpler, edgier and make sure the last thing on people's brain cells at the end is YOUR NAME and WHERE YOU ARE.

[KaiserJ]

its good, nice tunes and looks like a good crowd.

i'd head there if i was ever in new zealand

[Forboding Angel]

I like

The only song I didn't care for was between 240 and 340. I imagine that if I heard the song in it's entirety in context I would quite like it (1 minute preview of a techno song is like taking a single lick of a snickers bar and announcing that you don't like snickers).

All in all, very nice. Were I in New Zealand and felt like hanging one on I'd definitely come and check it out.

[PicassoCT]

This video contains content from Sony Music Entertainment. It is not available in your country.

[Machete234]

This is a fucking pest on youtube, we need a new video portal.
From now on we should upload our normal stuff on youporn too.

The guys who invented youtube are way too rich now and snort coke all day time to make somebody else rich.

[Forboding Angel]

Google owns YouTube... Also, that was Picasso making a joke.

[zwzsg]

not available in your country.

Also, that was Picasso making a joke.

Hey, forb, did you just move to Germany?



Otherwise yeah the clip is cool. I like how you kept the crowd shots very short so that we don't see there's not that much a crazy atmosphere. Argh advices are sooo american, please don't follow them.

[PicassoCT]

Im not joking, sadly, youtube is blocking nearly anything these days. Alternative host, anyone?

[Argh]

Argh advices are sooo american, please don't follow them.

Other than the music stuff, which is entirely subjective, not really.

Everybody everywhere has been programmed since early childhood to respond to advertisements, and they all follow the same rules wherever you go because it's what has been proven to work. French ads aren't any longer or formatted significantly differently than American ones, nor are Japanese ads a lot longer or shorter or less on-point; the reason why it's the same everywhere has to do with human psychology, not some nationalist plot.

A 7-minute advertisement had better be a lot more informative than a music video with a collection of clips and tracks; there's no central narrative, there isn't anything about the artists, there's nothing being said about where the shows are and how we get there. It's too long to be a good ad, and not nearly informative enough to be a good documentary, and since it doesn't fit into either category, I got bored really fast. I've seen pretty girls at clubs, I know what dance music sounds like; communication beyond that point needs to be much more specific and meaty.

Any movie director or advertising executive would say the same stuff, frankly, only they'd be less gentle about it

[Gota]

I would really like to post a funny long story about what im about to say but i know i wouldn't want to read a wall of text written by one of you so ill make it short and simple...

After watching a specific episode of a specific series which i will not name here and reading the post above me i have come to understand english just a little bit better.
I now know what the word douche is used to describe in the english language.

[hoijui]

look argh...
there actually are still differences in cultures, enough for psychology actually dictating NOT to use the same methods everywhere (including, and especially, for commercials). this, in addition to different laws (for example: in germany it is not allowed to say "our coca cola is better then pepsi's cola", while it is in the US), make your post just plain wrong, totally.
yet an other thing you did not account for: there are also still humans not raised by TV, and yes, they do not live in the jungle.

[knorke]

for example: in germany it is not allowed to say "our coca cola is better then pepsi's cola", while it is in the US

actually is allowed. There are some rules and sometimes there are a few lawsuits but generally it is allowed.

[PicassoCT]

You are not allowed to fight addvertising wars, like saying my cola is better, because his coke tastes like bilgewater

Which takes all the fun out of it.

[Argh]

there actually are still differences in cultures, enough for psychology actually dictating NOT to use the same methods everywhere (including, and especially, for commercials).

Cultures dictate what you can say. This is absolutely true, but has zero to do with what I have said here.

You've confused methodology with message, basically. Methodology is largely trans-cultural, message is not.

Cultures don't dictate the length of ads (a concept that cultures predate by thousands of years, in most cases), the way that their visuals are structured, or the way that they're formatted.

Israeli ads, French ads, and I suspect German ads (haven't bothered looking at any) are all between 30 seconds and 1 minute, use very similar visual techniques to increase attention, and are all packed with information, whether that's a story designed to keep the audience watching until the brand-name punchline (typical technique for huge corporations) or a specific message- a sale, a new product or service.

The idea that in Germany, say, a 7-minute advertisement that doesn't do the things I've already said in my critique... is not supportable based on what I saw in the other culture's ads.

In short, cultures require different messages, but the length of the average human's attention span and the techniques used to get people to listen to your pitch are pretty much universal.

[zwzsg]

What I was referring to is mostly:
- American people are (typically) more boastful, more ready to tell everyone how great they are and how impressive their achivements are.
- European people are (typically) more reserved, finding it rude to tout own horn and more tactful to let others speak or find about themselves.

- American TV is renowed for its low instinct milking, European countries like to think they still have superior TV.
(doesn't hold for Italy, France is losing it except for that one 7th channel no one actually watch, well there's still England!)

Petah did not state what context was his vid made for, but I doubt it's for a TV commercial. He may not need to optimise his name / minute as much if that add is directed to people already midly interested, or people already knowing about that place, etc...

Since he's not trying to blanket-cover braindead people with uneeded wants, being a little more subtle in promoting himself might work, by giving him a more edgy, less vulgar, touch. After all, the clich├® goes that the best parties are those that hide themselves from non-select people. I mean, look that the very name of that french party:



The particular suggestion of yours that I dislike is "a series of conversations with the kids showing up at the gigs about how awesome the shows are", as such cheap way would in fact make me want to immediatly switch off the video. I know it's used alot, to great effect, by low quality TV programs, but personnaly I wou-couldn't help but think that if the gig is that good, I'd rather be shown the gig itself, than be shown people talking about the gig. As no kid would like to admit in front of the world the show he just spent hours and money at was a failure, I wouldn't trust their opinion as much my own judgement, even if formed from a fabricated video of chosen moments. This is also brings out another cultural difference I link to rant about: Although it's been recently changing amongst our younger folks due to the influence of the neverending stream of american TV serials, europe traditionnaly doesn't consider being popular as a success in itself. No prom queen for instance. So maybe we're be less prone to go "where's everybody is at" and more "where nobody was". Unless it's just me?

But it's generally your incentive to overquote Petah's name that I find american, in the sense of rude, ill-mannered, crass, like explained above.

Yes, I know, broad generalisations, not all americans are honest direct people, not all europeans are sophisticated people, but that's the general hackneyed idea when referring to our cultural differences.

[Neddie]

I enjoyed both the video and the showcased content, thanks for linking it to us here.

[KaiserJ]

nah argh just looks at the video and goes "hey can i get some tang there"

its a valid approach