Hey YouTube and Facebook - time to stop burying the good stuff with wall-to-wall bullshit

[OniBaba]

Well, everything is based on a general misconception about society. I would not want to sound elitist, but hey...

Most of the people are stupid (or dumb, you pick it up) and they rather choose Gangnam Style over Macbeth. 

Nothing new over here, seeing people butchered alive required huge coliseums across the roman empire. Theatres were rather small, as they are today confronted to football stadiums. That's why Vimeo will always have less views and viewers than Youtube.

"Eh, sexy lady
Op, op, op, op"

 

[Germy1979]

Youtube is the Wild West.  

[Grumble]

Hi @Andrew Reid you mentioned "in the UK there are only about 4 quality online camera blogs remaining"

I'm curious to know which ones you are referring to in case I'm missing out on any please?

[Andrew Reid]

The casual acceptance that there's so much shit out there is part of the problem, part of the western mentality that I find so submissive. I think people are resigned to live out their lives surrounded by junk videos, junk food, junk advertising and bring their kids up on all the same junk too.

The 4 big quality online camera blogs remaining in the UK are...

Me!

Red Shark News http://www.redsharknews.com

James Miller and Philip Bloom's content

I can't even remember the 4th big one but they're out there

Plus there are of course good guys putting helpful stuff out there like like Harv's stuff on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8YXmNHJ-JS0dd7z4Z9ChXA

And Daniel Peters https://twitter.com/danielpetersdop

But when I was recently invited to Panasonic, they said there was a shortage of people to invite.

Dan Chung has sold up at newsshooter now as well...and gone to work for Atomos.

The internet it just so full of tat, it's unreal.

[maxotics]

The root problem, behind Andrew's article, is not YouTube's pushing of crass video content.  Forty years ago TV and comics were similar scapegoats.  Stepping back even further, none of the issues confronting us were alien to Dostoevsky,  Henrik Ibsen, or even the author of the first modern novel, Miguel de Cervantes.  How do we feel good, right, happy in a society that seems to have abandoned, or cannot adopt, to the right ideals?  Are current affairs fundamentally different from the problems dealt with in the Old Testament, say?    

Societies always expand and contract. We're in an expansion phase.  From the turn of the last century until WWII, the world was als in an expansion phase, technologies and populations increasing faster than they could be absorbed.  I would call WWII "the great contraction".

So Andrew starts EOSHD.  It's in the beginning of a period where people can shoot near film/TV quality on consumer cameras.  It's a heady time!  As I've said here many times, one could barely afford to shoot 3 minutes of super-8 film in the 1970s-early 80s, when I was young.   Okay, so I read about the 50D  shooting RAW using Magic Lantern, buy Andrew's guide, and I finally feel I can realize my youthful dreams of making  a movie!

My only problem is I either never had anything to say in the first place, or it's not a good fit for my mode of thinking (which is very analytical, as if you didn't know  )  Anyway, a burst of joy followed by depression. 

I imagine Andrew also had some dreams, or projects he wanted to do.  Perhaps just as he got all the technology sorted out through EOSHD he looks at where his content might go and his head explodes.   Or maybe he just sees all his advice misused and mangled.  In any case, the ability to make professional video with a DSLR used to be something special.  When I shot my 50D with ML it was a cool feeling.  Now anyone can by a BMPCC and get that result easily.  As for nice sharp video, the GH5 can match any broadcast TV camera, if I'm understanding the experience of many here.

So where does EOSHD go with the world full of good cameras that don't need hacks and a completely glutted market for content?  

I feel there is as much a need for EOSHD as there ever was.  Although, as you know, I am very cynical of HDR and LOG and other misunderstood techniques, the problems they try to solve are real and are a continual struggle.  As nice as the GH5 is, it doesn't compete with the cameras used to shoot modern movies.  So the need to optimization remains for the serious cash-strapped filmmaker.  

Last night I woke up at 5 and figured I'd look at Instagram for a minute.   It auto-played someone's crappy iPhone video (which I feel is extremely rude) waking up my wife.  I thought, "Andrew is right, f them all!  I'm going to delete Instagram!"   I then calmed down.  I'm working on a new video about how RAW sensors work and their relation to LOG video.  Yes, it's a stupid subject.  Yes few people are interested in it.  But I have a better chance of improving the understanding of myself, and a few people, than changing what people want to watch, or in the case of YouTube, shove down their throats.

I have to contract back to the somewhat-feeling-isolated guy with dreams of being respected in my head.  There's a lot to the saying, 'ignorance is bliss'.

 

 

 

[PannySVHS]

We just have to refine our own search algorithms. Searching EOSHD provides tons of knowledge. Maybe refining EOSHDs search engine could open up a whole new EOSHD experience, such as not limiting search to the no of 5 in a row. That could be an interesting discussion and developement of an EOSHD archive. I think I´ll be off for a good EOSHD archive read now  instead of watching a  GH5 video all auto on utubs.

[maxotics]

25 minutes ago, Andrew Reid said:

I think people are resigned to live out their lives surrounded by junk videos, junk food, junk advertising and bring their kids up on all the same junk too

This is a theme that runs through biblical texts from thousands of years ago.  Who can one speak for?  I can only speak for myself.  How can I know if someone else is "resigned"?  How can one judge another person's life?  If we never see God, how can we know what he judges right or wrong?  Can you point out what is junk and what is not junk?  You said "Game of Thrones" was quality.  I say it is complete junk.  It would be the first thing I'd throw out   So who is right?  Are you right because it is your blog?  Am I being a rude guest in disagreeing with you?  Am I guilty of the same cime you are in judging you as you judge others?  The answer to all those is 'Yes" which was Jesus' greatest insight even though they built churches in his name that has buried his truth into junk--like celibacy, hell, etc!  

You cannot win an argument by calling people resigned or calling anything junk.  All you can do is create a difference in opinion, right?  If something is truly good it should take over the bad.  Right? These are all question the Greeks studied deeper than any known group of humans.  They didn't come to any fixes.  "Junk" is as old as the first paintings in cave walls. 

[PannySVHS]

19 minutes ago, Andrew Reid said:

The 4 big quality online camera blogs remaining in the UK are...

Me!

Red Shark News http://www.redsharknews.com

James Miller and Philip Bloom's content

 

you and Philip Bloom I would pick of the  ones you suggested. Daniel Peters has moved on from great test footage to rather quick shots of some sorts. James Miller too focused on just LUTs. RedShark I do not know, Harv having a nice way of presenting but not the content I am looking for at the moment.

Awesome kid on the block, one of the most talented and inspirational is DSLRguide. Entertaining and highly informative. Has been around for a while and still kicking it like Andrew.

[IronFilm]

43 minutes ago, Andrew Reid said:

Dan Chung has sold up at newsshooter now as well...and gone to work for Atomos.

 

Oh I'm terrible! I hadn't even noticed he hadn't posted anything himself on Newsshooter since early 2017, who did he sell it to? Guess that explains a few of the new authors lately in the past year. 

45 minutes ago, Andrew Reid said:

Red Shark News http://www.redsharknews.com

I can recommend it too, I check it out almost every day when I can. 

[Andrew Reid]

Meanwhile YouTube’s biggest star...

Some guys really don’t think this behaviour is problematic? He’s a massive influencer of American teens

[ND64]

51 minutes ago, maxotics said:

These are all question the Greeks studied deeper than any known group of humans.  They didn't come to any fixes.  "Junk" is as old as the first paintings in cave walls. 

I'm pretty sure Greeks would be blown away by the enormous amount of junk in our world if they could see it right now. God is dead and we have nothing to replace it. this wasn't the issue in Ancient Greece. 

[Andrew Reid]

There's always going to be an enormous amount of junk out there and there's no point censoring it.

I think some people think this is what I was getting at in the article... nope.

Leave the junk out there.

But take some responsibility for it. Give kids some other way of venting, letting off stream and entertaining themselves.

Stop promoting it on trending lists and YouTube home page.

Stop cross-linking to it from other videos.

Have some editorial direction as YouTube.

Don't promote it, don't give it a platform for it to thrive on... and above all, hope the next generation are smart enough to not watch it. This one's fucked. Too late for them. This is their culture now, they own it and are doomed to repeat it... the culture of vanity, insensitivity, selfishness and above all MONEY and LOOKS.

[Neumann Films]

I don't think this is new, "Logan Paul" has always been there, just in different forms.  In the 90's it was Jerry Springer, Real World, and Road Rules. Then all reality TV.  Now...those are gone and it's moved to YouTube. 

For every person that watched Jerry Springer or Reality TV there are people that don't.  Same for this generation, they aren't all fucked because they don't all watch.  This generation will be the smartest of any generation to date.

The fact that this is what's on YouTube is endlessly frustrating though.  We were in discussions to do. YouTube Red original series, YouTube read scripts and we went back and forth but ultimately they passed because we didn't have enough subscribers.  How does that make sense?  Either way, it's frustrating that they promote it but, to me, equally frustrating that people watch it.  Hard for me to be too upset at the system because it's not forced...I'm on YouTube a bit and I have never seen one of his videos.  So its still a choice.

[TARS]

59 minutes ago, Neumann Films said:

I don't think this is new, "Logan Paul" has always been there, just in different forms.  In the 90's it was Jerry Springer, Real World, and Road Rules. Then all reality TV.  Now...those are gone and it's moved to YouTube.

When I was in high school, it was Jackass and Bam Margera. My parents thought it was awful. I thought they just didn’t “get it”.

I get Logan Paul’s appeal to kids that age for that reason. To me it seems like nonsense and a waste of time at best, but I’m “old” now. 

 

I do agree with Andrew and others that have pointed out that it’s outrageous for YouTube to be pushing that video in trending with a blurred out dead body in the freaking thumbnail. 

 

Especially after the whole Pewdiepie/WSJ thing. If you’re gonna try to say your platform is more advertiser friendly, maybe you should give a shit when your stars are disrespecting dead people and showing corpses on said platform. 

[EthanAlexander]

1 hour ago, Neumann Films said:

We were in discussions to do. YouTube Red original series, YouTube read scripts and we went back and forth but ultimately they passed because we didn't have enough subscribers.  How does that make sense? 

Is this one of the factors that led you to your decision to go other directions with music?

Also, have you considered selling your YT channel to another filmmaker, or partnering with one so you could do less work but keep it active? We need channels like yours so we do have choices besides Logan Paul.

[OliKMIA]

While I mostly agree with you Andrew, this race to the bottom is not specific to Youtube or FB. It started long before that with trash people magazines, reality TV and 24h news channels.
There is an interesting scene in the movie "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" where the main character, a TV producer in the 70s conducts casting of people who want to sing in his TV shows. Most of the contenders are bad singers and the TV producer gets very bored during the casting. He dreams of trashing them. Then he realize that the show should actually be about trashing people live. He changes the concept of his show and pick the worst possible singers to make fun of them during the show. It works great!
Unfortunately, Youtube, FB, news channels and reality TV rely on the human perversion and basic instincts to success: voyeurism, sexuality, violence, sadism, narcissism, jealousy, etc.

As you know, the Germans have a word for this "Schadenfreude"

[webrunner5]

4 hours ago, maxotics said:

So Andrew starts EOSHD.  It's in the beginning of a period where people can shoot near film/TV quality on consumer cameras.  It's a heady time!  As I've said here many times, one could barely afford to shoot 3 minutes of super-8 film in the 1970s-early 80s, when I was young.   Okay, so I read about the 50D  shooting RAW using Magic Lantern, buy Andrew's guide, and I finally feel I can realize my youthful dreams of making  a movie!

My only problem is I either never had anything to say in the first place, or it's not a good fit for my mode of thinking (which is very analytical, as if you didn't know  )  Anyway, a burst of joy followed by depression. 

I have to contract back to the somewhat-feeling-isolated guy with dreams of being respected in my head.  There's a lot to the saying, 'ignorance is bliss'.

 

 

 

I think you, like me, and others on here have become our own worse enemy. It was simpler times years ago, the camera didn't make much difference because it was sort of crap to what the big boys had, and we just ignored the camera and went on to write, I would say more fun stuff, then we do now. Willing to try anything because it was fun to experiment, to create, and hell that is what a movie Is suppose to be, Creative.

Now that we have damn good cameras we spend 3/4 our money and energy on the camera, oh got to have the best camera thing, and I would argue less time being creative, having fun doing it. Getting the juice's going as they say.

The story is King, and damn if it ain't! This B&W thread on here proves you can take a pretty ho hum camera and make magic with it. I think most people that have the GH5 spends more time on the Forums, YouTube complaining about AF, Colors, HDR on and on then going out and shooting. Hell they probably accomplished more, and better output on their old GH4! How long can you keep doing tests and not use it for its intended use, a short, a Movie,  a Doc, on and on. Not 50 lens tests ,100 different LuTs.

I think we all need to spend less time on the camera and more writing a story, a story board, dreaming what the outcome will look like, not how great the camera will make it look. There are lots of shorts, movies I never took my eyes off the actors, that I paid Zero attention how the Camera performed. That was the least of my thought used in the case of a great story.

I am not saying go buy a 50 dollar camera and lens, I am saying put what you got to good use, the use it was intended for, to project your thoughts out to the world, good or bad. Shoot, shoot shoot.

[Stanly]

Thanks for posting two latest articles! I am so glad I’m not the only one pissed of with influencers-driven society that doesn’t care what those “influencers” stand for!

[Neumann Films]

3 hours ago, EthanAlexander said:

Is this one of the factors that led you to your decision to go other directions with music?

Also, have you considered selling your YT channel to another filmmaker, or partnering with one so you could do less work but keep it active? We need channels like yours so we do have choices besides Logan Paul.

I mean, not directly but maybe subconcooisly.  This was 2 years ago now.  The decision to do music stems more from not having devoted any time to music lately so I have a lot of energy to work on it.

Never really considered selling or anything like that.  Will likely continue to utilize it just in a new direction. 

[maxotics]

In my world of quality, Jonathan Pie would have 7 million subscribers and Casey Neistat would have a few hundred thousand.  Most viewers have probably stumbled on both of those channels at some point.  Most people want to watch a fantasy life, like Neistat.  The world seems to be have been that way forever.  As @OniBaba said, in Rome the colosseums were built large to accommodate tens of thousands of people who wanted to watch fighting, with the small theaters were barely filled by people who appreciate the well-made play.

For those of you who don't know Andrew's countryman, here is one of his more popular recent videos.  Pie does them every week I believe.  They're all amazing.  He has no equal in America, for me.  Maybe Jimmy Dore, though Dore is older and goes at a slower pace.