Help - Please Give Feedback On My Video!!

[leon]

Hi to all,

I am currently a finalist in a e-learning type Video Demo Contest and
urgently require feedback.

My entry can be viewed at:

http://demo.sitesell.com/leon/sbivfinal/index.htm

The contest is to translate a product instruction guide into video.
It will supplement or may even replace an online text Guide and key Help & Strategies
pages.

The guidance, or rules for the competition I was given where as follows:

"Communicate! The video should clearly and cleanly explain the WHAT
and the HOW-TO of the text on DAY 2 (Chapter 2) of the guide."

I urgently require feedback on my entry as a finalist.

I will be able to submit changes by the 29 Sept 05 - before the final judgment.
If I win...I get the job to translate a whole range of instructional texts to
video.

Please also take the time to view the other three finalist videos...
I really need comment on which one out of the four you would vote for as being the best,
from a user's point of view and why...I need this view from people who do not already know
the product.

All the finalist videos can be found at:

Leon (Thats me):  http://demo.sitesell.com/leon/sbivfinal/index.htm

Kelly:            http://demo.sitesell.com/kelly/01_Day2_Intro.html

Marcus:          http://demo.sitesell.com/marcus/day-2.html

Pete & Dee:      http://demo.sitesell.com/deeandpete/action-guide-daytwo.htm

Obviously I would like you to vote for mine...but please state objectively
which one you think is the best at communicating to its audience and why.

I will be directing the judges to this forum to view the comments.

Your feedback will be much appreciated...

Cheers Leon.

[mouser]

hi leon -

just watched the first two chapters so far - and haven't seen any of the others yet, but i think it's great so far.

couple of minor comments:
1) i think there are a couple of times where there is info or animation on the screen which does not have accompanying narration, which is somewhat distracting.  for example the pyramid showing 35% made the top percentile. i found it confusing to see images that weren't being talked about.  so my #1 advice would be, always make narration and video saying the same thing at the same time.

2) couple of times there was term not explained (ROI) - maybe your audience does not need this explained, maybe they do?

3) it automatically advanced chapters - maybe it would be better to always stop and wait for user to push to continue?

[mouser]

ok i took a look at the others, and i have to say i liked yours the best

i just want to re-emphasize my #1 comment again, even for the small things.  like for example you had quite a few scenes where you showed lots of user little faces visiting the person's site.  i know it sounds silly but i really enjoyed those little scenes, i would just advise you to try to perfect the timing so that the audio matches with the video as good as possible.

comparing your entry to the others its very clear you spent a lot of time on the animations - in my opinion it was well worth it - yours is much more enjoyable to wach than the others!

[mouser]

ps. let us know if you win!

[Carol Haynes]

I like it, but one quick comment ...

When you give the option to click for further information at the end of a chapter it opens in another window, but the next mavie continues in the previous window ... is there any way to link in the same window to the extra info and then link back to the next video section otherwise you are left wondering what to look at ?

[leon]

Hi Mouser,

You have some good points there.

I will look at tightening up some of the narration with the animations as you have indicated.

Your point about not explaining terms such as ROI is also taken. I think I will avoid
abbreviating any narration (as per the text script given) even if it has been introduced
in a previous chapter. A number of people have brought this point up.

As for the automatically advanced chapters - I will leave this as is for now until further feedback indicates any
negatives in this area.

Thanks for your feedback mouser...the more the merrier...

Cheers,

Leon.

[leon]

Hi Carol,

Thank you too for your feedback.

I am assuming that the link you are referring to is the button for information on 'what is a keyword' at the end if the introduction section.

This is a link to an external URL so in this case it is best to open up in a new window. I could open it up in the same window however - because I have no way of editing the content in this external URL - I would have no way to include a link back to continue the movie.

When you do open this new window the movie should still be paused and not move on to the next section whilst you are viewing the external window. I will have to check if there is an issue there.

Cheers, Leon.

[Carol Haynes]

I am using Firefox 1.0.7. The new window opened and the video continued in the underlying window.

What you could do is when the link is clicked on your site open a new page on your site with a continue to next button link, and open the other site window too. That way the video wouldn't be presented at all until the user is ready, and if the link isn't clicked they can carry on without interruption.

Actually I really like the idea of links out to extra info.

These days almost all manuals are either produced for Newbies or old hands. There doesn't seem to be a middle way. This may reflect the idea that no one reads manuals any more which is a shame because most programs of any depth need a manual to help users get the best from them. They just can't make the assumption that you know the answer before you ask - or even that you know what question to ask in the first place!

A good example is learning to programme in windows. I wanted to get into Visual Basic and Visual C++. The MS Manuals are comprehensive but daunting to newcomers to Windows programming. There are lots of books for beginners but you get left high and dry after a while. If you use MS Visual Studio you are left totally in the dark by their manuals which assume you know everything before you even start.

I have never understood the need for manufacturers to always start with the "What's New ..." page in a manual (or even advertising a product). Returning users and upgraders will find that page easily enough (even if it is at the end, or in the form of a readme file) but as a newcomer I almost always find those pages full of jargon and very offputting.

[mouser]

actually your animations and narrations were almost all perfect, and like i said it was clear you are extremely good at adding animated concepts to explain what you were talking about.  and i think this adds so much to the presentation! so i was mostly emphasizing how great it worked and suggesting that in those few places where you went to the trouble to make an animation but didn't add narration to draw attention to the animation, that it might be more effective if the narration focused attention on the animation.  just because the animation works so well to capture the attention of the viewer.

i think it's clear you have a future in this field - if you don't win this contest then shop around your work, you'll surely get a job doing this stuff if you want.

[Carol Haynes]

Sorry - my brain got sidetracked  ...... my comments weren't really aimed at the Video which is very clear.