Video Series Don'ts

Even though I'm new, I'd like to throw in my two cents.

I hate it when a series goes for long periods of no updates, and the updates act like there was a two day difference. Marble Hornets has an excuse, Jays running around a lot. Moving from place to place. He can't watch videos when he's running around/tired from running around. MLanderson0 was somewhat bad about this. He had video entries for his doctor, but they followed no regular pattern. You think a doctor would want things to follow a schedule.

Omega wrote:

DaLadyBugMan wrote:

.... and Angel's Game.

I just lost the game.

Same. You people suck sometimes. It's a good thing I love you all (even Jeebles).

As for don'ts, for god sakes people, stop making your videos so loud on YT that I have to turn the volume down to almost nothing! I have to watch this stuff at night with my earbuds in, make them a bit quieter, please! /rant

Don't be so Multimedia that no one understands the little things you throw in (and even some of the bigger things). No one wants to spend their night on your Wikipage just to understand those little bits of trivia.
Don't make something that gets viewers to participate and then drop it a month later, not everyone is there with you from the very beginning.
I'm looking at EMH for those... I put in my application for Seventrialsofhabit a week ago and haven't heard anything...

Don't stare at the camera and just talk, we get bored real fast. And if you are talking, volume and static control are a must. I'm looking at you MLAndersen0!

If you can't be serious all the time, have a sense of humor or at least crake a joke every now and then. Started watching Jonclubs113 for that very reason, I love Jon!

I think that covers some of the pet peeves I face. You guys were awesome in covering everything else.

Avatar Satsuki wrote:

Omega wrote:

DaLadyBugMan wrote:

.... and Angel's Game.

I just lost the game.

Same. You people suck sometimes. It's a good thing I love you all (even Jeebles).

Wut?

Quote :

Don't be so Multimedia that no one understands the little things you throw in (and even some of the bigger things). No one wants to spend their night on your Wikipage just to understand those little bits of trivia.

This is actually quite debatable, it's one of the main reasons I love EMH.

Quote :

Don't make something that gets viewers to participate and then drop it a month later, not everyone is there with you from the very beginning.
I'm looking at EMH for those... I put in my application for Seventrialsofhabit a week ago and haven't heard anything...

That's because the application for the trials ended a long time ago...

Quote :

Don't stare at the camera and just talk, we get bored real fast. And if you are talking, volume and static control are a must. I'm looking at you MLAndersen0!

I can see where you're coming from here, but for me it's not something that bothers me much. As long as it's relevant information to the series and not talking about how Michael loves puppies then I'll watch it.

For me:

DONT:

Under/Over acting: Yea, we all hate it. When Slenderman appears and the cast either gives a weak sigh or they scream like headless chickens and cower like wimps in the nearest corner. SOME overreaction is fine (So if you have a character who is scared by the stupidest thing it can be allowed). But constant overreaction dullens the surreal effect and makes it look shit.
Plus underacting really makes it look like NOONE in the cast cares and is putting effort into it. We want to see that you're scared of slendy, not that you're currently thinking about tonights dinner.

Over abuse of static effects: This is something I hate. Having the effects at good moments (so at times when slendy appears or a Proxy) is vital. But just having it appear randomly (like in MH at the beginning) just confuses it.

Refer to him as 'Slenderman': This just breaks the magic. Although I think noone has yet to refer to him as Slenderman in character (Rather as nicknames and such like) it is essential you keep that name from popping up. Think in horror movie terms, the best ones never refer to the monster by it's name. Rather calling it 'THAT THING' or by a nickname.

Do's:

Static/Audio visual disturbances: Remember, when filming and you want Slendy to jump out make disturbances happen, always a few seconds before he appears and then when he finally appears. This is where Marble Hornets messed up (At the very beginning videos the audio was only removed, there was NO visual disturbance untill later on) in my opinion. Just don't over play them as it just makes it look like the camera is fucked up.

Slendy Teleport: Slenderman tends to appear out of nowhere and seemingly behind you or round a corner (Insert minecraft creeper reference) or even somewhere you were just looking MOMENTS before. Remember this as it is important. Having him appear/disappear suddenly really heightens the surreal nature of Slenderman and gives him a more sinister edge. Plus his ability to be around the characters yet not seen by them (as shown by EMH) also adds another level of 'scariness', as it makes it seem like he can watch you indefinatly without you knowing consciously.

Death/Taken: It's a bit stupid if EVERY character doesn't get hurt or taken by Slenderman. A good percentage of the cast SHOULD face an untimely end, or get turned into Proxies for Slenderman. This again adds to his 'fear factor' and not having anyone taken or dying makes him look weak and a bit stupid.

That's all I got |:

1. Minimalism - do only what you need to do, nothing more.
2. Escalation - things have to progress, from "nothing's wrong" to "everything's wrong".

EDIT:

Aeri Tyaelaria wrote:

Refer to him as 'Slenderman': This just breaks the magic. Although I think noone has yet to refer to him as Slenderman in character (Rather as nicknames and such like) it is essential you keep that name from popping up. Think in horror movie terms, the best ones never refer to the monster by it's name. Rather calling it 'THAT THING' or by a nickname.

See, in my vlog, I refer to him as Slendy straight away, but it wouldn't make sense if I didn't, since the premise is that my character is investigating the events of an existing Slenderblog that uses that name. I think a better, more general rule would be "refer to Slender by the most appropriate name", for example, it wouldn't make sense for my character to not call him Slender Man when that's the name he knows him by. Also, I'm pretty sure EMH call him Slender Man because they're IGly aware of Marble Hornets.

These aren't helpful. There is no limit to what you should do, if you can do it well. If you can't do it well, don't bother unless it's as a practice.

Quote :

This is where Marble Hornets messed up (At the very beginning videos the audio was only removed, there was NO visual disturbance untill later on)

It pioneered the concept. The early images on SomethingAwful had no distortion. It's their original idea; they can be forgiven for not coming up with it earlier.

Oh, but I do have one 'Do'.

Do: be original.

MH had distortion at the beginning. There was the tearing in Entries 1 & 4, and then the Operator doesn't appear in Entries 2 & 3 so of course there wouldn't be any distortion (or not much anyway), and Entry 5 has major distortion. So I'm not sure what you're talking about.

The only thing that really irritates me with the videos is when they're talking and it's really quiet, so that I have to turn the volume up to hear what's being said. Then some distortion comes in and nearly blows my speakers out. Basically, if you could at least try to talk loud enough that I can hear you, that would be great.

Yeah I don't mind the characters calling him slenderman provided they are operating out of a psuedo-real-current world since, were I being stalked by Mr.Tall, the first think I would do would be a Google Search. I think it's really up to the stylization of the series; and how the person interacts with the knowledge that they are given.

However i am getting fed up with cell phones. Not their use persay, but the fact that several vlogs use cell calls, or texts to relay information; but the audio is so garbled from the call-to-video recording; or the screen is so blurry, I can't see/hear what's going on. I don't think it breaks universe if you subtitle calls, or read out a text, or upload an image to the video feed seperately. In fact it make more sense to do so, so that the viewer/audience/what-have-you can help.

I've seen this blog.
The biggest Don't ever.


DON'T BECOME THE SLENDERMAN.
He became slenderman, and he even had a face. He wasn't all either.

MockingJay wrote:

I've seen this blog.
The biggest Don't ever.


DON'T BECOME THE SLENDERMAN.
He became slenderman, and he even had a face. He wasn't all either.

I think I heard that from Aciid. Or she said about someone claiming 'they ate his arms and gained his powers'

I almost thought you guys were talking about Defining? for a second. Then again, A's motivation was wanting to kill Slendy and become a god. (Hint: it wouldn't have worked, if I'd actually finished Defining?)

Allan Assiduity wrote:

I almost thought you guys were talking about Defining? for a second. Then again, A's motivation was wanting to kill Slendy and become a god. (Hint: it wouldn't have worked, if I'd actually finished Defining?)

What do you mean A wouldn't have become a god? But.... But I wanted A to become a god!

need moar storyline :c

It has been said on here before, but: bad acting. I can't stand bad acting in anything.

One more of my personal don't would have to be: Don't use shitty editing software. I mean, I can understand if you have a low budget and Windows Movie Fucker is all that's available to you, but if that's the case, don't just slap down a template and call is distortion.

On the flip side, do have an ARG factor. ARG's are fun and can really add to a series. If you can at least partially convince your audience that maybe you aren't just acting, that maybe an some abomination is actually trying to kill you, then you've done your job well.

Mr. Jeebles wrote:

Avatar Satsuki wrote:

Don't make something that gets viewers to participate and then drop it a month later, not everyone is there with you from the very beginning.
I'm looking at EMH for those... I put in my application for Seventrialsofhabit a week ago and haven't heard anything...

That's because the application for the trials ended a long time ago...

Exactly my point! Don't make something that gets the viewers involved and then close it. You never know when you might get new viewers!

... the purpose of the trials was a competition. A competition by elimination.

You have to have a cut-off point, or the tournament will never end. You sure you know what the trials are?

Why would you even want to join now, the trails are almost done. I would understand if you started watching EMH a day after the cut off for entrance to the trials (KSHGFKHSDAGHABSDKGBASHDFJAKSDGASD /RAGE), but it's been months since the cut off ended. You can't stop the trails to put more people in, that wouldn't be fair to those who came in first. First come, first serve.

Try to add, or change SOMETHING about the Mythos! That's one of the creepyist parts about Slendy! He's diffrent everytime! (but don't get rid off the Mythos entirely, do some research!) also MOAR RAKE!!! The Rake is awesome!

Don't give your character/s superpowers, or make them super special. An everyday character is more relatable and more believable.

Don't have Slender Man show up in every video. Don't rush things either. You can start in the middle of everything if you want, but if you want to start from the begining, don't make one "normal" video and then BAM slendy appears in the very next.

Don't have characters who think they can defeat slenderman, and don't have characters who actually defeat slenderman. The only time I've ever seen it work was with Evan from EMH, and even then he got cut up pretty badly. Remember, its not scary if a 14 year old girl can kill it.

Chris wrote:

Don't give your character/s superpowers, or make them super special. An everyday character is more relatable and more believable.

^ This entirely. As an audience, I think it's easier to immerse yourself in a series when you can identify with the characters involved, and that can help build up paranoia. The series I enjoy the most are those that can terrify me and remind me that it, if this were real, it could happen to anyone.

Don't be afraid to expand on the Mythos. If you've got something different to show us, we'll be happy to give it a shot; after all, isn't that how we ended up with the Slender Man and the earlier series in the first place?

Conversely, just because something is widely used, don't feel obliged to include it if it's not imperative to the story you intend to tell. If you feel like using the Operator symbol or a secondary antagonist, be sure that they are plot-relevant as opposed to fodder under the guise of continuity.

Zander wrote:

Suuuuuureeeeeeeeeee. lol

Actually, this goes to anyone out there planning for a Slender Man series, so PAY ATTENTION. D8<

Hmm. Oh, don't plagiarize other series' shots of static or anything. This was discussed on SlenderSkype because one video series did that.

So this UnNaturalEvents! took a static filled video showing Slender Man from another show and edited it into their own show? I ask for more elaboration because I can not find the show anywhere to see what they did for myself.

Yeah. He ripped a clip from EMH, but he took down the video that had it.

I see, quite lame. Thanks for the info.

As Chris stated above, don't overuse Slender Man. If he just attacks the protagonists with a jump scare every video, it doesn't work. This is just my opinion, but I remember that when I first discovered Slender Man videos, I enjoyed actually trying to find him in the videos (the TT Submissions especially). Helps the suspense. However (and once again, this is just my opinion), don't completely forget about him either. One of my biggest qualms about TJAProjects is that though it owes much of its fame to Slendy, it seemed to forget over time that he started it all (I haven't seen it for a few weeks, so I apologize if this doesn't apply to the newer videos). Sure, add your own spin on the whole affair, be original, be awesome, but don't forget what brought the fans there.

EDIT: Also, be brief. Please, please, please be brief. Nobody wants to watch somebody stumble around the woods with a flashlight or give bland exposition for 7 minutes before something happens, or before nothing happens *cough*jonclubs113*cough*. It disappoints the people that came there to be scared, and it shoos away people who are trying to get into your series.