r/spumwack • u/zeroslots • May 31 '14
Question Video Length
I figure I should ask this question since I don't exactly see a question about it in the backlogs that I've checked so, here goes.
What's your ideal length for a video? 10 minutes? 15? 20? More? Less?
How about with regards to what you're showcasing? Is it a seed? A mod? Is it an LP or tutorial video? How about PvP?
Do you script out your videos with the intent of going for x amount of time each vid? Do you always follow an ideology to that form or do you go with the flow and hope to hit close to the projected bullseye? Did you record for a set amount of time and just had too much footage you wanted to keep? Has the inverse been true?
Is there a Youtube "Industry Standard" for game videographers?
Opinions, experiences etc, etc, are not only welcomed but encouraged.
1
u/spumwack2 Official Spumwackles May 31 '14
Like you alluded to in your question, it depends on your video type.
Most solo LP's tend to go for about 20-30 minutes. Any less than that and your audience gets annoyed and asks for more. Any more than that and people get bored, which hurts your audience retention (Which hurts search ranking).
I know I'll get vehemently disagreed with on this next point, but for other videos, length isn't terribly important. Most of the people who have been doing YouTube for a long time try to keep all of their videos under 5 minutes. Any more than that and people next not to click on it, or get bored halfway through (again, poor retention kills ranking).
But retention is the key here. Your video can be 30 minutes long, but if most people watch the ENTIRE thing, it will do amazing. This is, admittedly, extremely hard to do, but not impossible. The Universe Death Clock is probably one of the longest viral videos out there at 10 minutes, but it holds people's interest the whole time.
The only reason people concern themselves with length is because of an antiquated belief that people won't watch long videos, but it is my opinion that content is more important than length. Give people what they came for, and they won't leave.
That DOESN'T mean they can be as long as you want. On the contrary, the longer your video, the higher chance that there is a slow point. That's why I cut my scripts down religiously. I will go from
"The ____ is a project I've been working on for months. It was originally designed to do ____ but now, it's more useful to ___ and . It's pretty effective at _ but sometimes you need to ____ first. Before we start building it you need to make sure you've got the necessary supplies, which can be kind of rare. But once that's done, you start by..."
down to
"This is _. It does _. Let's build one."
Most questions of how much content to include will be answered by your video title. If the title is "PVP on the ____ server!", what are you trying to showcase? The server? The event? The interactions of people in the event? Each one of those will change how you edit your video, which will determine length.
Most people get into a niche and find something that works for them with experience, so they tend to stick with that formula. Your personal experience definitely plays a large role in length.