There are so many things in this post by Chris Heuer that resemble my own thoughts lately, I simply couldn’t believe my eyes as I read. I’d like to think I would have written something like this eventually, but now I don’t have to and can simply continue working on pushing the vision into reality.
Give it a read. It’s fantastic from start to finish (hat tip to Brogan for the heads up).
While this represents only a small part of the overall scope of Heuer’s post, I found this snippet particularly relevant to what I’ve been working on lately:
As we have seen with reality television, the hybrid of overly produced “barely based on reality” does not hold sway with people for long. The deep human desire for genuine connections with the hero’s journey via Joseph Campbell will not tolerate gimmicks or fools for long. Genuine human drama, ‘How To’ content, insightful commentary, truly funny comedy, emotionally charged entertainment, engaging conversations, factual news of the world and stories well told will rule the day.
Emphasis mine.
I’ve been talking about Tubetorial a lot lately with people, as you might imagine. And most people instantly get it.
We try hard to make these video tutorials visually interesting while they also teach. We might even try to make you laugh (or at least smile) in the process.
But Tubetorial videos don’t look like overly-polished television productions for a very important reason.
And they never will.
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Reader Comments (11)
You’ve got the right impression. At New Media School, I do something similar. I do raw for raw’s sake.
The raw-est video I’ve put up on the web so far is actually oddly my biggest hit so far. It was #1 on Google all last week (just Google “Happy Birthday Jeff”), but it’s slipped to #3.
Interesting, eh? Tubetorial rules. It’s what I want to be when I grow up.
Tubetorial has your personality stamped on it and thus it is rendered uniquely yours. It’s like that great professor everyone flocked to in college—intelligent, witty, caring & all the intangibles that make a person worth listening to.
Why? Coz you guys are all about substance, not style?
Thanks for the tip off I loved the article, especially the piece about the freelancers banding together, my vision exactly.
Also tubetorial I’m collating the how to videos as well into a format and will defiantely use some from there. I watched a couple and think it could turn out to be used too much top promote rather than to educate.
Rico, no that’s not it.
Gavin, teaching *is* promoting, unless you’re a charity or public school system. And even then.
Rico,
Although I purport to being mostly about style, our Tubetorials are not “overly-polished” for a very different reason.
Think of it this way — do great college professors or truly memorable teachers always enter the classroom armed with a PT Barnum-style production?
Likely no, but fortunately for them, their efficacy and impact are not functions of the “cowbell” that accompanies their delivery. On the contrary, they achieve an unmatched level of intimacy and trust with their audience by being genuine and to-the-point.
To achieve an effective emotional connection with your audience, you must come across as unabashedly human.
In the case of Tubetorial, over-processing would likely lead to skepticism and allegations of “smoke and mirrors.” This, of course, would run contrary to our stated mission of providing tools and information that people can use to achieve “online success.”
So, although I love style (mmm…style), substance (and thus trust, emotional connection with my audience, respect, etc) is what actually makes Tubetorial tick.
But geez, I sure would like to think that it’s my Flash video sequences! Kidding 🙂
Yes, that…
But also that “submit” button on the top level navigation. 🙂
I agree that reality is hot when it is real. This is why I like what my 4-year old daughter calls “Break the house!,” the Extreme Makeover Home Edition. It is about real people and the responses are real.
However, there is a place for an excellent drama, like Lost. These tend to entertain and take us away from reality for a short time.
I think there can be a mix.
Mike
Michael, I agree. The key is to come up with our mix of reality and drama, rather than copy old media.
Chris: Haha, I’m sure you would. Thanks for the post-worthy explanation. 🙂
Brian, as Christ Brogan said, ” it’s what I want to be when I grow up.”
That says it all…
Thanks
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