Interesting you should think this - I think this is a very personal view. Part of my day job is making corporate videos for our internal Youtube type channel. I've being doing this for several years now and have been able to build up a significant amount of data about usage.
When we started, our basic stats looked promising, there was lots of traffic to the video channel. But we were suspicious based on the informal verbal feedback we had received, so we implemented a different kind of stats recording. Instead of merely counting views, we collected stats on how many people watched the first 10%, the second 10%,third 10% etc.
What we saw was a bit of a shock. Basically, people watched the first minute, then skipped to the last minute. If the video was more than about 3 minutes long, they rarely bothered at all.
Now, admittedly this is in a corporate environment and these videos weren't intended to entertain. What we learned was that when people are busy, they are impatient and in a hurry. When they are impatient and in a hurry, they want key information as fast as possible. A well written web page, carefully chunked and with good headings, with the most important info at the start supports the scanning behaviour of people in a hurry. Video doesn't, it is too linear and real time. Video is a tedious and painful medium for conveying info to people in a hurry.
Where video does work well, is for entertainment, when you have time to kill. It is also good for conveying visual sequence based guidance (such as how to assemble something). It is a specialist medium.
Text is still the most effective medium if you only have one channel available to you.
p.s.
Quite amusing that you like Michael's onscreen presence so much. Ever since I first subscribed to the DVD journal, my partner throws up her hands and runs out of the house every time Michael appears. Not meaning to be unkind to Michael but she find him to be a most boring, droning, unlistenable speaker. Personal tastes play a part, as do accents and nationalities to different listeners. I don't mind his presenting style so much, but I do wish he'd get a move on, everything does seem to be stuck in molasses. Playing at 1.5x speed might be better!
Sorry folks, but I entirely disagree. Reading or flicking quickly through text to find those hidden nuggets of information is one thing, a bit like studying, whereas sitting back and watching a talking head video interview, is much more informative, entertaining and inclusive.
I also think that the majority of people nowadays, find watching video a much more convenient and effective way to absorb content, than the old method of studying text, as the nuanced ideas, methods and even body language etc, can be fully communicated to the viewer a lot more easily, accurately and entertainingly through video.
Just my 2p’s worth.
Good interview Kevin BTW, I must admit I didn’t think you had the greatest of interview styles as compared to Michael, which is someone I am afraid you are always going to be compared to, as you normally seem a little on edge and occasionally lost for direction when asking questions, but with these two videos you are superb, you are relaxed, entertaining and have developed a good sense of where best to dig down to reveal the essence of what makes William Neil tick photographically. Excellent work!
I really look forward to viewing the rest of the William Neil interview segments of this series and hopefully to many more “Master” interviews, I think you might have struck gold here Kevin, well done that man!
Dave
