Scrapyard Wars Season 3 - With Scrappy Guest Austin Evans!

[joppetie]

Normal productions have a producer to create the story, people to log shots and junk so that the producer can piece things together more quickly. We have Edzel who has to fix audio issues, work with no script or planning, go through hours of footage that might be junk or might not (I don't know until I go through it, fix/colour correct footage) because exposure's everywhere, sometimes phone cameras are used, then I have to figure out how to put things together while editing it (with all the audio and visual corrections done) for release within a week or two. 

 

Pacing has always been an issue and we were going to address that by having the episodes fully edited before release begins. Unfortunately, that was changed after filming, during editing. So, yeah. Pulling a Walking Dead with pacing. We all want to see what happened to Glenn.

 

Also, I think the stats may be conflicting with the 'vocal minority' again. Previously, people ask for longer episodes and stats show that attention dips. So, what do?

I think part of the 'problem' is that on a TV show, they have an entire story (so a season of SYW) in one 20-50 minute episode. 

This, of course, is not something we can realistically ever achieve, keeping in mind that this is still YouTube and they have to make money somehow.

 

But yeah, where a TV show put something like a season (7x15 minutes aprox.) of SYW in 50 minutes of TV. So yeah, pacing needs to be higher.

 

I think this not only has to do with editing, but also with the contestants. TV shows have producers for a reason.

Sometimes in SYW, I feel that the contestants are more busy with trying to win, than with putting on an entertaining, decently paced show for the audience.

 

Pacing could be better, but we also have to live with the fact that it's still mostly ad-driven and therefore low-budget. 

[MEC-777]

 

Sometimes in SYW, I feel that the contestants are more busy with trying to win, than with putting on an entertaining, decently paced show for the audience.

 

 

I have to disagree with this. I want all 3 of them to be legitimately trying to win, rather than be worried about "entertaining" the viewers. That, to me, is it's own entertainment. Seeing the looks on their faces every time their PC's don't post or they get a BSOD for the 5th time in a row. Realizing their components won't fit their case, so they take an angle grinder to it with no regard for aesthetics. Watching them try to make their PC's run as fast as they can on the ragged edge of stability. That is entertaining, IMO. I want to see them get pissed off when something doesn't work, or jump for joy when something does work. Real reactions, real emotions, real drama.

[LAwLz]

Normal productions have a producer to create the story, people to log shots and junk so that the producer can piece things together more quickly. We have Edzel who has to fix audio issues, work with no script or planning, go through hours of footage that might be junk or might not (I don't know until I go through it, fix/colour correct footage) because exposure's everywhere, sometimes phone cameras are used, then I have to figure out how to put things together while editing it (with all the audio and visual corrections done) for release within a week or two. 

 

Pacing has always been an issue and we were going to address that by having the episodes fully edited before release begins. Unfortunately, that was changed after filming, during editing. So, yeah. Pulling a Walking Dead with pacing. We all want to see what happened to Glenn.

 

Also, I think the stats may be conflicting with the 'vocal minority' again. Previously, people ask for longer episodes and stats show that attention dips. So, what do?

I think the last few episodes (on vessel) have been really good. I don't know what your schedule or work flow looks like but if I had to guess I would say having three contestants made it far more difficult to manage all the footage and therefore the rhythm. That's the impression I get from watching the first few episodes at least.

I think you are doing very well with the limited time you got. But I think maybe the scale of the project has to be scaled down slightly to match the limited resources you got (in terms of time and people).

Or who knows. If viewers are as engaged as the previous series then maybe you shouldn't change it at all.

[Dossium]

I have to disagree with this. I want all 3 of them to be legitimately trying to win, rather than be worried about "entertaining" the viewers. That, to me, is it's own entertainment. Seeing the looks on their faces every time their PC's don't post or they get a BSOD for the 5th time in a row. Realizing their components won't fit their case, so they take an angle grinder to it with no regard for aesthetics. Watching them try to make their PC's run as fast as they can on the ragged edge of stability. That is entertaining, IMO. I want to see them get pissed off when something doesn't work, or jump for joy when something does work. Real reactions, real emotions, real drama.

 I couldn't say it better myself. ^^ @dezeltheintern @LinusTech @Slick

[Universal_Cereal_Bus]

A few thoughts (maybe i'm the minority here idk)

 

I think that SYW 3 - in an effort to be "polished" - became a sort of highlight reel. I understand Linus's thought process and effort to elevate LMG content, but it lost a little bit of soul in the process- there is dialog that is chopped off (probably due to it being "superfluous") and Linus and Luke have become very careful of what they say- which is why we ended up with so much natural footage of Austin and little of the dyn. duo. The natural footage is what really makes the show imo. I think that if more natural footage was included- to increase episode length, it would be more satisfying. 2 Months to release 3 days of filming is the ultimate blue ball experience. I see myself and others on the forum forgetting what happened in the last episode!!

 

What would fix it for me?

 

I would pay the $3 from vessel even $5 to you directly if you could release a rough version of the footage 1 month after filming. I don't want the finished product! If you just take out the blurry and inappropriate/unlawful video from the video dump and just put it on a server- I would be happy!!! Then you can take your sweet time doing youtube releases- (may I suggest BI- weekly releases after- say- half the editing is done??) - everyone would be happy!! The "enthusiast" community - that is people who don't mind video a little rough around the edges- would also be able to contribute and be a part of the process. I think that would be something that a lot of people want! It would also reduce pressure on the editors- they would have creative feedback from viewers who want to invest in the content.

 

I know Linus suggested a dvd or digital download along those lines- but thats kind of late for me. I'm not saying that I wouldn't want that! I would! It's just I know whats going to happen, and the sour taste of weathering through an extended release as it is would be a little hard to get over- not to mention that this "digital download" would be a year down the line- judging from the current backlog.

 

TL;DR

Less "polishing" please!

Paid early *rough cut* release? (as a video dump?)

Bi-weekly release? (start releasing after most editing done?)

(more) Viewer contribution to content creation!

We (I) like watching tech geniuses struggle with simple tasks, because they over think stuff! (and drop stuff -___-) Don't remove that "useless" footage!!!

 

Sorry for obnoxiously long post 

[LabRat]

seems to me the video is being cut up way too much and there's really not enough information being presented ....the videos are way too short as alluded to in my first post.

[djorkaef]

It is really frustrating to wait a week, then see it is a 18min video.... and AGAIN find out it is still not the final.

 

What is the point of having 1 week between each episode?

 

Why can you not have 1 episode each day?

From a commercial point of view, it would be the same amount of videos and the same amount of views right?

 

Don't tell me it takes 7 weeks just to edit everything.

In that case you have serious efficiency problems.

It is not up to the editor to go through hours of footage, 3 days, 3-6 cameras.

The camera man should take notes of all noticeable content during the filming already.

Some of these road trips took hours. Can't they already delete all junk videos during these trips?

All the editor needs to do is take these filtered clips, put them on a (automatic) timeline, and combine in one video.

How long can it take?

 

So what is the strategy about this?

Is it a way of forcing people to subscribe?

I was just wondering.

[Edzel Yago]

Don't tell me it takes 7 weeks just to edit everything.

In that case you have serious efficiency problems.

It is not up to the editor to go through hours of footage, 3 days, 3-6 cameras.

 

 

Unfortunately, that's exactly the case. Ideally, there would be producers and assistants to do the note taking and story making. We just have Edzel.

[LabRat]

Edzel, Edzel, Edzel............tsk, tsk, tsk.

[alphaproject]

Well, the longer the video goes in total, the longer the episodes should be. I know how long it takes to edit video. However, when it's reality based, not movie based, you can splice something together fairly fast. The render out to 1440p+ however is another story. I know they have some monster rigs though. They can crank out each episode in about 2 hours if they wanted to. For sure all of the footage they shoot needs to be looked thru and stuff though.

 

19 minutes of video each week though for 7-8 weeks sucks. They should have 4, 40 min long videos instead. Always make it a month long no matter what.

[Sam Z Man]

After watching episode 5 I have come to the conclusion that Austin should stick to phone reviews.

[Kalle Hänninen]

After watching episode 5 I have come to the conclusion that Austin should stick to phone reviews.

All this crap towards Austin... I think he's doing just fine. Took a risk and may have to pay for it. That's life. At least he's doing something else. Being able to plug stuff isn't really a talent.

[djorkaef]

I assume DBrand prefers paying for 7 weeks of releases on peak-moments (weekend) instead of 7 days during 1 week.

Also they will prefer 19 minute videos with multiple commercials instead of 5 minute videos.

That is understandable...

 

7 weeks of editing is not... I am not a professional video creator but like said before, in reality tv infomercials  like this, you don't need stories you just need to filter the interesting parts. For 7 weeks I would expect overlayed timelines of when everybody is doing stuff, interactive maps of where everyone is driving, 'shopping baskets' that show an overview of what everyone purchased for what amout of dollars + passmark scores, 'summary slides' that show the status of each competitor. Because now it is nearly impossible to keep track of what everybody has purchased, where they are, what they have spent, how this stuff is rated...

 

Maybe improve the efficiency in the creating of the content more (only film the usefull stuff and delete rightaway, 'stage' some comments a bit and don't talk all day long into the camera...) and get more of the above. Just a hint. 

[MEC-777]

After watching episode 5 I have come to the conclusion that Austin should stick to phone reviews.

 

It's pretty clear he isn't as PC hardware-savvy as the other two are, but that's ok. He's doing fine and I like the strategy he's taken - which actually just might win him this competition.  

[Oafah]

Austin's choice of a 6990 was questionable, even before he decided to employ his hair-brain (albeit entertaining) strategy of using two junk PSUs to power a single system. He'll be lucky if he can make it through a single benchmark, even if he manages to get it up and running.

 

That said, you can't fault the poor guy. He just wanted to try something different and have a bit of fun. He's clearly not as well-versed in the field as his competition, but he sure is putting on a good show.

[Edzel Yago]

I assume DBrand prefers paying for 7 weeks of releases on peak-moments (weekend) instead of 7 days during 1 week.

Also they will prefer 19 minute videos with multiple commercials instead of 5 minute videos.

That is understandable...

 

7 weeks of editing is not... I am not a professional video creator but like said before, in reality tv infomercials  like this, you don't need stories you just need to filter the interesting parts. For 7 weeks I would expect overlayed timelines of when everybody is doing stuff, interactive maps of where everyone is driving, 'shopping baskets' that show an overview of what everyone purchased for what amout of dollars + passmark scores, 'summary slides' that show the status of each competitor. Because now it is nearly impossible to keep track of what everybody has purchased, where they are, what they have spent, how this stuff is rated...

 

Maybe improve the efficiency in the creating of the content more (only film the usefull stuff and delete rightaway, 'stage' some comments a bit and don't talk all day long into the camera...) and get more of the above. Just a hint. 

 

I'm just going to shake my head and ignore this.

[Sam Z Man]

It's pretty clear he isn't as PC hardware-savvy as the other two are, but that's ok. He's doing fine and I like the strategy he's taken - which actually just might win him this competition.

I'm talking about his inability to plug in 2 4pin connectors properly, how he thought that he could possibly use a 8pin PCI cable as a 8 pin CPU cable, he didn't know about shorting the power terminals to turn it on, and he was considering building it inside the case at first.

The whole last 5 minutes of episode 5 are nothing but cringe.

[d3sl91]

I'm talking about his inability to plug in 2 4pin connectors properly, how he thought that he could possibly use a 8pin PCI cable as a 8 pin CPU cable, he didn't know about shorting the power terminals to turn it on, and he was considering building it inside the case at first.

I think he was flustered/not good under stress. But he's also not a hardware/building guy either from what I've seen. I need to watch more of his videos! I dont know enough about him apparently

 

I love having him in the competition though. Adds dynamic. Having a bunch of pro system builders doing a build off would be boring to me. 

[Edzel Yago]

I think he was flustered/not good under stress. But he's also not a hardware/building guy either from what I've seen. I need to watch more of his videos! I dont know enough about him apparently

 

I love having him in the competition though. Adds dynamic. Having a bunch of pro system builders doing a build off would be boring to me. 

 

I think it adds a great amount of character and emotion to the whole thing. Working under the pressure of being in a competition on camera, you don't have something that works so you get desperate etc. Great fun.

[Guest]

I assume DBrand prefers paying for 7 weeks of releases on peak-moments (weekend) instead of 7 days during 1 week.

Also they will prefer 19 minute videos with multiple commercials instead of 5 minute videos.

That is understandable...

 

7 weeks of editing is not... I am not a professional video creator but like said before, in reality tv infomercials  like this, you don't need stories you just need to filter the interesting parts. For 7 weeks I would expect overlayed timelines of when everybody is doing stuff, interactive maps of where everyone is driving, 'shopping baskets' that show an overview of what everyone purchased for what amout of dollars + passmark scores, 'summary slides' that show the status of each competitor. Because now it is nearly impossible to keep track of what everybody has purchased, where they are, what they have spent, how this stuff is rated...

 

Maybe improve the efficiency in the creating of the content more (only film the usefull stuff and delete rightaway, 'stage' some comments a bit and don't talk all day long into the camera...) and get more of the above. Just a hint. 

 

One hundred percent this!

 

I wanted to tell someone what motherboard and CPU Linus had and how much did he pay for it. I had to re-watch 2 episodes on fast forward just to find that one sentence. After several weeks I don't even remember half of their builds, except for some highlights. 

 

Moreover, timestamps! I'd like to know when's everything taking place. We see Linus building his PC and he still has several hours to go, then we cut to Austin, and he suddenly has few minutes left. Perhaps a countdown from the start to deadline visible all the time on the screen or appearing for a moment every time we see an update from any member? 

 

That's one of the things I miss from shows like Scrapheap Challenge or Junkyard Wars. A quick and dirty summary of projects, parts list, build concepts and so on, outlined and presented in some useful way, such as purchased parts lists, or in the case of previous editions of SYW remaining funds after each and every purchase?

Just an idea.

And, of course, paging @dezeltheintern  

[AeroTheBrick]

I am a huge fan of zotac and their incredible form factors!

[LAwLz]

I am not sure if I missed something but this is how I think it looks right now.

Not sure if there are spoilers for those of you who do not watch on Vessel, so open at your own risk:

 

 

I think Austin spent way too much on the CPU and motherboard. It will be pretty even between Linus and Luke. Luke has higher GPU performance but a higher price and Linus' SSD might help a lot in PCMark.

[LabRat]

if i read correctly that there's only one video editor, perhaps his load is too great and/or the hours too long. instead of a gofer perhaps an assistant?

[Edzel Yago]

I am not sure if I missed something but this is how I think it looks right now.

Not sure if there are spoilers for those of you who do not watch on Vessel, so open at your own risk:

 

Stuff.png

 

I think Austin spent way too much on the CPU and motherboard. It will be pretty even between Linus and Luke. Luke has higher GPU performance but a higher price and Linus' SSD might help a lot in PCMark.

 

Both Luke's and Linus' are lower than that and Austin's is higher.

[Guest]

I am not sure if I missed something but this is how I think it looks right now.

Not sure if there are spoilers for those of you who do not watch on Vessel, so open at your own risk:

 

Stuff.png

 

I think Austin spent way too much on the CPU and motherboard. It will be pretty even between Linus and Luke. Luke has higher GPU performance but a higher price and Linus' SSD might help a lot in PCMark.

 

I love the "priceless" remark... Just beautiful