Creating a skiing video series. Would love some community feedback! :)

[KeithAndLindsey]

Hey PugSki crew! My wife and I have been working to create a skiing series of our adventures skiing Utah's finest resorts (as well as some backcountry skiing). We would love to get some feedback on the series so that we can fine tune it over time. So far, we have visited Snowbird, Alta, and Solitude. We try to highlight various aspects of skiing these resorts in each video. Sometimes the focus is the weather, sometimes it is the powder, etc. Any feedback on this series would be greatly appreciated!

One of our Latest Videos

 

[SSSdave]

Only watched the first 3 minutes. One issue you will run into is numbers of people including this person find GoPro wide angle only headcam mounted videos of limited interest versus traditional camcorder with zooming stationary held videos. That noted, there are plenty of people that won't mind, especially other GoPro users. Thus as long as your cameras allow zooming, you might try and do a mix of both.

 

[KeithAndLindsey]

Only watched the first 3 minutes. One issue you will run into is numbers of people including this person find GoPro wide angle only headcam mounted videos of limited interest versus traditional camcorder with zooming stationary held videos. That noted, there are plenty of people that won't mind, especially other GoPro users. Thus as long as your cameras allow zooming, you might try and do a mix of both.

Thanks for the quick feedback! I have heard a similar suggestion from others. My concern with going down this route is that it could easily turn a good ski day into a video production day. I want to keep skiing as the primary objective and vlogging as the secondary. I am actually modeling this series off of BKXC and The Singletrack Sampler. These are two YouTube mountain bikers that typically focus on FPV shots of their rides with some selfie-style shots mixed in. I think once my wife gets a little more comfortable on the more difficult runs it will be easier for her to ski next to me to capture side / follow-cam style shots like I sometimes do with her. Currently, she can't quite keep up with me which makes it difficult to get good 3rd-person shots of myself.

 

[fatbob]

Hit play . Saw it was over 15 minutes. Stopped. You need to keep them under 3 mins with tight editing.

 

[KeithAndLindsey]

Hit play . Saw it was over 15 minutes. Stopped. You need to keep them under 3 mins with tight editing.

Yeah. I get that train of thought. However, I am not trying to make a "best of" video or anything like that. There are plenty of other skiing videos out there that highlight a particular run, terrain park jump session, etc. I am going for a more immersive action vlogging experience for the viewer. I want them to feel like they are skiing with me. Does that make sense at all? I don't think that this sort of series would work if the episodes were only a few minutes long each.

 

[Philpug]

You asked for critique, there were two replies with suggestions, both were very fair from a viewers standpoint. You replied to both with reasons validating your postition why you are doing it the way you are doing it. Do you actually want input or are you looking to come here to promote your videos?

 

[KeithAndLindsey]

You asked for critique, there were two replies with suggestions, both were very fair from a viewers standpoint. You replied to both with reasons validating your postition why you are doing it the way you are doing it. Do you actually want input or are you looking to come here to promote your videos?

I definitely want feedback! The first response by SSSDave had some valid points. I even mentioned that we were working on improving my wife's skiing abilities so that we would be able to get some shots as he was suggesting. The second response, from fatbob, seemed to miss the point of our series altogether. I don't feel that he read the description of our series that I included in the original post.

I do want feedback but I also do want to stick with my plan for creating an immersive skiing series. I don't want to create another generic "watch me throw myself off a cliff" 30-second clip channel. There are plenty of skiers better than me out there that are already making videos like that. The feedback that I am looking for is on how to improve the type of series that I am trying to create. I am not looking for feedback on creating an entirely different series (like 2-3 minute best-of shots).

I hope this makes sense and helps to clarify my request for feedback and my prior responses.

Examples of feedback that I am looking for would be:
- What are your thoughts on the conversation we have?
- What are your thoughts on how we describe the runs?
- Should we be adding music to these videos?
- Are the videos too long for this type of series?
- Would it be helpful to include more resort facts?
- Should we focus on telling a specific "story" in each video?
- Should we work in more non-skiing shots (e.g. lunch, après-ski, etc.)?

 

[Philpug]

To @fatbob's point, 3 minutes tend to be the max people have the attention for. Take a look at your analytics and how long people watch your videos for..I would say the vast majority 85%+ will stop watching after 3 minutes, YouTube viewers just do not have the attention span for more. If you create a series, teasers for the next episode can entice interest.

 

[Tricia]

My concern with going down this route is that it could easily turn a good ski day into a video production day. I want to keep skiing as the primary objective and vlogging as the secondary.

I do want feedback but I also do want to stick with my plan for creating an immersive skiing series.

These two statements contradict themselves.
If you want to create an immersive skiing series, then you need to turn your ski days(at least some of them) into video production time.

 

[Sibhusky]

Another Go Pro hater here. I could rant, and have on occasion, but will leave it at that.

 

[KevinF]

I “watched” the video in the sense that I skipped through it... I watched a 10, 15 second segment and then fast forwarded a bit. I'll echo the "too long" part; I don't have the time to watch an entire 15 minute video.

However, what I thought was lacking was a visual "hook". After spending a day at the office, I want to see something that inspires me. Inspiration takes on many forms; it could be the scenery, it could be the skiing, it could be many things. The skiing doesn't need to be "epic"; I'd rather watch truly good skiing of somebody on a groomer than watch somebody hack their way down a powder-choked run. But what I saw in your video through my random sampling was POV lift rides and cat tracks and traverses, and... frankly, *yawn*. There wasn't anything to draw me in to care about your conversation. Sorry.

Take this for example. I've watched this video countless times. Mikaela never leaves a groomer, she skis at a speed that most would consider "casual", she tells a story, and the skiing is sublime. It's beautiful to watch, it's fun to listen to, It's 100 seconds of inspiring. There's a hook in the first spoken sentence ("First time back on snow in 8 weeks"). None of us ski that well (hell, I'm not worthy of carrying her poles), but this is the sort of thing I enjoy watching:

 

[Tricia]

I “watched” the video in the sense that I skipped through it... I watched a 10, 15 second segment and then fast forwarded a bit. I'll echo the "too long" part; I don't have the time to watch an entire 15 minute video.

However, what I thought was lacking was a visual "hook". After spending a day at the office, I want to see something that inspires me. Inspiration takes on many forms; it could be the scenery, it could be the skiing, it could be many things. The skiing doesn't need to be "epic"; I'd rather watch truly good skiing of somebody on a groomer than watch somebody hack their way down a powder-choked run. But what I saw in your video through my random sampling was POV lift rides and cat tracks and traverses, and... frankly, *yawn*. There wasn't anything to draw me in to care about your conversation. Sorry.

Take this for example. I've watched this video countless times. Mikaela never leaves a groomer, she skis at a speed that most would consider "casual", she tells a story, and the skiing is sublime. It's beautiful to watch, it's fun to listen to, It's 100 seconds of inspiring. There's a hook in the first spoken sentence ("First time back on snow in 8 weeks"). None of us ski that well (hell, I'm not worthy of carrying her poles), but this is the sort of thing I enjoy watching:

I was actually talking to @Stephen and @Andy Mink about why I bought the Three Dog Night album to listen to while I'm skiing on deep days. This video which is just over 3 minutes and totally stoke worthy is why. Filmed long before GoPro existed.

 

[Drahtguy Kevin]

I have watched the videos @KevinF and @Tricia posted more times than I want to think about. Both are like a midget dipped in chocolate — short, sweet and entertaining.

 

[KeithAndLindsey]

To @fatbob's point, 3 minutes tend to be the max people have the attention for. Take a look at your analytics and how long people watch your videos for..I would say the vast majority 85%+ will stop watching after 3 minutes, YouTube viewers just do not have the attention span for more. If you create a series, teasers for the next episode can entice interest.

I totally get the short attention span. I have that myself sometimes. Maybe we can try to mix in some shorter teaser-style videos like that into the mix. Part of why we are making these videos is for our own personal record and to share with our family. We are also hoping to build a community that wants to follow along and hear our story. The 3-minute videos can definitely be attention grabbers that could drive more viewers to our channel. Once they are there, hopefully, they will stay for the longer story-style videos. I appreciate the feedback that you have given!

After reviewing the feedback, we also talked about modifying our GoPro setup slightly to make it easier to switch between chest mount, helmet mount, handheld, and pole mount shots. This could definitely add some visual interest to our videos. Thanks again!

 

[KeithAndLindsey]

These two statements contradict themselves.
If you want to create an immersive skiing series, then you need to turn your ski days(at least some of them) into video production time.

Could you elaborate on this a little more? My thought on the difference is that if I shoot mainly with a chest or helmet mount then I don't have to stop and worry about framing shots and coordinating timing between the skier and the shooter. With the first-person style, I can just ski and all I have to worry about from the vlog perspective is what I am going to talk about while I am skiing.

Currently, we have been spending a little time on the way to the resorts thinking about what we want to shoot/talk about for the day. Sometimes that gets thrown totally out the window when we hit the snow due to weather, skiing conditions, and mountain closures. Other than that, we have pretty much just been "winging" the conversation and areas that we ski which probably isn't the best thing to do.

 

[KeithAndLindsey]

Another Go Pro hater here. I could rant, and have on occasion, but will leave it at that.

Haters gonna hate! Trust me, I would love to have a film crew that would follow me around and take proper 3rd-person shots. Till then, the GoPro is going to have to suffice as my film crew.

 

[KeithAndLindsey]

I “watched” the video in the sense that I skipped through it... I watched a 10, 15 second segment and then fast forwarded a bit. I'll echo the "too long" part; I don't have the time to watch an entire 15 minute video.

However, what I thought was lacking was a visual "hook". After spending a day at the office, I want to see something that inspires me. Inspiration takes on many forms; it could be the scenery, it could be the skiing, it could be many things. The skiing doesn't need to be "epic"; I'd rather watch truly good skiing of somebody on a groomer than watch somebody hack their way down a powder-choked run. But what I saw in your video through my random sampling was POV lift rides and cat tracks and traverses, and... frankly, *yawn*. There wasn't anything to draw me in to care about your conversation. Sorry.

Take this for example. I've watched this video countless times. Mikaela never leaves a groomer, she skis at a speed that most would consider "casual", she tells a story, and the skiing is sublime. It's beautiful to watch, it's fun to listen to, It's 100 seconds of inspiring. There's a hook in the first spoken sentence ("First time back on snow in 8 weeks"). None of us ski that well (hell, I'm not worthy of carrying her poles), but this is the sort of thing I enjoy watching:

Unfortunately, I think that you skipped past all the content that you were hoping for. During that video, we hit a gate-accessed area call the Bassackwards Bookends. That gate led us to beautiful scenery and steep/deep runs. We also highlighted the Peruvian Tunnel which is a totally unique feature to Snowbird (hence the thumbnail).

I personally don't see what intrigues you so much about the video you posted. I do see that an Olympic skier, pop music, a film crew, and a drone was used. That definitely makes it easier to make a high-quality video.

 

[KeithAndLindsey]

I was actually talking to @Stephen and @Andy Mink about why I bought the Three Dog Night album to listen to while I'm skiing on deep days. This video which is just over 3 minutes and totally stoke worthy is why. Filmed long before GoPro existed.

You win for best video of the day! That video is so sweet. It was awesome to see the original Collins lift in action and those throwback ski bums truly enjoying Utah's powder. That video definitely brought a smile to our faces. Thanks for posting!

 

[KeithAndLindsey]

like a midget dipped in chocolate — short, sweet and entertaining.

QUOTE OF THE DAY!!!

 

[Drahtguy Kevin]

I personally don't see what intrigues you so much about the video you posted. I do see that an Olympic skier, pop music, a film crew, and a drone was used. That definitely makes it easier to make a high-quality video.

For me, the Shiffrin video is about the simplicity and precision of her movements. A world-class skier doing drills we can all do but not nearly as proficiently. The ease and fluidity gives us mortals something to strive for in our skiing. I’ll never huck cliffs intentionally but I will try to ski a groomer as effortlessly as possible.