My first foray into making an educational video about menswear

[Mr. Sartorial]

Hey guys,

I've been trying my hand at style videos lately and this is my first attempt to create a longer educational video. It's a series I'm calling "The Blueprint". I just finished the rough cut of the first episode all about suits and I'm hoping that you can lend me your critical eye. I know there's some stuff I'm missing, and some stuff I'm going too in depth on. I want to make it for a guy who's just really starting to buy clothes for himself for out of University for his first "real job".

If you can have a look and let me know what you think, that'd be awesome. The video is in four parts on youtube. I've put them all on one page here.

I'm looking forward to a lively discussion. Bring on the good and the bad!

 

[LukeM]

This may get pinned in the future...

 

[miyazaki]

I think the video was very good as an educational video, and I'd be interested in seeing more from you. Just some feedback from what I noticed.

The most important thing is your intonation. Many people, myself included, have a tendency to raise their intonation at the end of sentences, which makes everything sound like a question, when making videos. Before you record it again, I'd recommend practicing consciously dropping your intonation so you can sound more natural.

Secondly, I think it's a good idea to say something like "in the next video, I'm going to talk about ..." before cutting, and starting the next video with "In the last section, we looked at...", just in case someone started watching from the wrong place, and to make the viewer interested in watching the next part.

Lastly, if possible, it would be great to see you standing with various mannequins or models, rather than just pictures. That way, you could demonstrate pinching and point to different parts of the suit more clearly, and have your video seem more personable.

I don't have any comments on the content of the video. It seemed pretty thorough to me. I'm looking forward to seeing the final cut!

 

[Mr. Sartorial]

Originally Posted by miyazaki

I think the video was very good as an educational video, and I'd be interested in seeing more from you. Just some feedback from what I noticed.

The most important thing is your intonation. Many people, myself included, have a tendency to raise their intonation at the end of sentences, which makes everything sound like a question, when making videos. Before you record it again, I'd recommend practicing consciously dropping your intonation so you can sound more natural.

Secondly, I think it's a good idea to say something like "in the next video, I'm going to talk about ..." before cutting, and starting the next video with "In the last section, we looked at...", just in case someone started watching from the wrong place, and to make the viewer interested in watching the next part.

Lastly, if possible, it would be great to see you standing with various mannequins or models, rather than just pictures. That way, you could demonstrate pinching and point to different parts of the suit more clearly, and have your video seem more personable.

I don't have any comments on the content of the video. It seemed pretty thorough to me. I'm looking forward to seeing the final cut!


Thanks for all of the great feedback. I like what you're saying about concluding it with what the next part will be about. I'd love to do some video with mannequins and such but I don't have the resources available right now. Maybe in the near future.

There are a couple of things I want to add still, like how to care for a suit and I'm on the edge about including a little bit of suit etiquette

I'll have to work on my speaking for sure. For my final cut I think I'm going to go with a full script.

Thanks again for the feedback!

 

[YoungAmerican]

Your audio is over-modulated, which is why it sounds harsh when your voice gets louder. Lower your recording level.

 

[Mr. Sartorial]

Originally Posted by YoungAmerican

Your audio is over-modulated, which is why it sounds harsh when your voice gets louder. Lower your recording level.

Cool, thanks for the tip. That's something I would have never noticed. I simply don't have that background. I'm currently using the same program for video and audio. I think I'm going to use two separate programs to allow me to better control things and then I'll merge them after.

 

[whereismyshoe]

don't use ******* comic sans

 

[Rick's Tailoring]

Originally Posted by whereismyshoe

don't use ******* comic sans

+1

 

[Mr. Sartorial]

Originally Posted by whereismyshoe

don't use ******* comic sans

Hahaha, yeah when I first picked the theme it started with Comic Sans and after a quick WTF I said, "Hey, why the hell not?". So now it's Comic Sans. I might change it, we'll see. Frankly I'm starting to grow kind of attached to it...

 

[Kurt N]

I don't know when I'll have time to sit down and watch the whole thing, but from what I did watch it looks really, really detailed and informative, and I look forward to learning a lot.

In the early going, it does seem as though maybe you've fallen into the PowerPoint Trap. The core of what you want to say is on the screen, and your voice narration consists of reading through that and amplifying as you go. Result: the screens get text-heavy, the narration contains too many "um's" and "okay, moving on to the next screen," and there's a fair amount of redundancy between text content and the voice content.

I suggest you fully script out what you want to say, rehearse it, and then let your narration drive the show. Screen text should be limited to short bullet points, as visual reinforcement only.

 

[Mr. Sartorial]

Originally Posted by Kurt N

I suggest you fully script out what you want to say, rehearse it, and then let your narration drive the show. Screen text should be limited to short bullet points, as visual reinforcement only.

Thanks for the comment. We're thinking along the same lines as I'm currently writing a full script for my next go at it. The only text dominant page is the one with the history of suits, so you'll see that taper off if you have a chance to see the whole thing.

After writing a script I think I'll be able to chop off at least 10 minutes of redundancies, pauses, and stutters. I'd like to try and get it down to a solid 30 minutes.

For those that have the time to watch, what I'm really hoping for are comments on what should be taken out because it's not necessary for the average guy, and maybe some stuff that should be added. Those thoughts will help me to slim it down and make every second worth watching.

 

[miyazaki]

Originally Posted by Mr. Sartorial

For those that have the time to watch, what I'm really hoping for are comments on what should be taken out because it's not necessary for the average guy, and maybe some stuff that should be added. Those thoughts will help me to slim it down and make every second worth watching.

I wouldn't like to see you take stuff out because it might not be relevant for the average guy. You could save that stuff for the end of the video in a "special" section, and preface it with something like "Next I want to talk about some things that most guys don't consider, but I think are worth bearing in mind" or something. After all, it's an educational video, so it should contain information that will be new for most.

 

[Mr. Sartorial]

Originally Posted by miyazaki

I wouldn't like to see you take stuff out because it might not be relevant for the average guy. You could save that stuff for the end of the video in a "special" section, and preface it with something like "Next I want to talk about some things that most guys don't consider, but I think are worth bearing in mind" or something. After all, it's an educational video, so it should contain information that will be new for most.

I suppose I could create an appendix for each episode that just had more advanced information in them, but my goal is really to create a step-by-step program for a guy either entering college or leaving it to discover the things he needs to know about clothing and style. In curating this info I have to leave some stuff out that's just not necessary for a lot of guys to know. A couple of things I'm looking at adding include how to care for a suit, suit etiquette, and I'm thinking maybe adding a section on buttons quality.

I think I'm going to revamp the section on special fits because I'm not happy with it, and I'm still thinking on stuff I can remove. I'm not sure I need to go on about all the special details one can find on suits.

Thanks for all the feedback so far. Keep it coming!

 

[kasakka]

Watching the first video now and I'm just going to go and say it: Turn this into an article (or series of articles), not a video. You're essentially reading a Powerpoint presentation on video - which is basically doing a bad presentation on video because you should not read what it says on your slides but they should just be pointers. There is nothing here that would benefit from the video format. The audio also seems to be recorded a bit loud because it sounds its on the verge of clipping all the time.

An article format would have the info in a format that lets the viewer jump into the parts that interest him/her.

 

[Mr. Sartorial]

Originally Posted by kasakka

Watching the first video now and I'm just going to go and say it: Turn this into an article (or series of articles), not a video. You're essentially reading a Powerpoint presentation on video - which is basically doing a bad presentation on video because you should not read what it says on your slides but they should just be pointers. There is nothing here that would benefit from the video format. The audio also seems to be recorded a bit loud because it sounds its on the verge of clipping all the time. An article format would have the info in a format that lets the viewer jump into the parts that interest him/her.
Thank you for the comments. I see what you're saying, but I must admit that I'm rather reluctant to do an article on this. I was inspired to do this project after being dissatisfied with all of the articles and style manuals on the subjects. I'm rather keen on going with a video format because I think that it's nice to have someone walking you through everything (it is for guys unfamiliar with clothing/style after all, so they should be learning most of it for the first time) but perhaps I should go to greater lengths to take advantage of the video format and cut things down so it's easier to navigate. I could slice the video up into finer segments giving you the option of watching it all, or just small parts. There are also some aspects where actually being hands on with product would be ideal, especially with the next video I'm putting together on odd jackets and trousers. In summary, I rather enhance my video presentation than step backwards (in my mind) to an article. Thanks again for the comments.