At what point is constructive criticism no longer useful?

[Knowname]

yeah but sometimes you just really halfass a project and REALLY should go back over it lol. I really have no room to talk cuz I've done that many times well! g'night

[godix]

Since I got bitched at for approaching this from a reviewers point of view...

When I'm editing a video I'm actually putting effort into, then I will ask people for their constructive criticism via betas. If I'm not comfortable with the style I'm attempting, I may do this a lot with a wide variety of people (as evidenced by at least half a dozen people betaed my last video). However once I'm done and it's released, constructive criticism doesn't matter much. I'm either aware of the problem already, think the problem is minor (the 'you missed the beat by a frame' type comments), or it's something I intentionally decided to do that way. Especially technical criticism. I don't care about tech that much to begin with, but tech comments on a video already released that I won't re-encode is just pointless. A general comment on how well my theme/idea came through is more useful than a nitpicky listing of all minor problems in the video.

[CrackTheSky]

I don't care about tech that much to begin with, but tech comments on a video already released that I won't re-encode is just pointless.

This brings up an interesting question: Should such comments just be done away with altogether? I'm not just talking about your videos, I mean in general. Except for people who are literally JUST STARTING OUT and may not know the very basics, are these comments ever useful?

[Bauzi]

I like this topic. It brings up a lot of interesting points of view.

[BasharOfTheAges]

I don't care about tech that much to begin with, but tech comments on a video already released that I won't re-encode is just pointless.

This brings up an interesting question: Should such comments just be done away with altogether? I'm not just talking about your videos, I mean in general. Except for people who are literally JUST STARTING OUT and may not know the very basics, are these comments ever useful?

It's just as important for people starting out to see the flaws of vets pointed out as it is for seeing their own flaws pointed out. You don't want to actually make the butthurt noobs right when they say we're overly critical of them here. By being less critical of some people, you implicitly create that inequality of treatment that shouldn't exist.

[Megamom]

I think it's a new stage, as more experience you win, you tend to climb more steps... no longer need to be told what to do... through experience, dapter you to a style, you have a way of working, organizing the work and most importantly, have a vision of what you do.... through experience!

[Douggie]

The reason I (almost) never ask AMV-editors to beta a video of mine is because they tend to give technical comments which I don't care about. I'd like to know how a video made you feel, how you felt the atmosphere, if you understood the story, if you could grasp the concept, if certain parts are funny and all that.

The one thing about knowing how things are made is that is hard to let those thoughts and knowledge go. Once you know how a magician did a trick all the magic is gone and it's really hard to see past that when you see the magician perform that trick. The same thing is with editors, they have a hard time of letting go that "making of"-process when watching a video.

So I like to ask people who don't know shit about the editing/production process (and people who don't know the sources), that's the best opinion you can get. I want to get a certain feeling across, I don't want my video just to look cool or just match with the music. And even if they don't really know what to say about the video, looking at them while they watch the video can tell a lot of how (parts of) the video can make them feel. Their facial expressions, the way they sit or re-adjust and all other types of body language.

Once you know how people feel about your video you know where the problem is. Now, what to do about it - change that what you want to get across - finding that out, that's the fun thing about editing and what editing is about. Besides puzzling with the footage I also like to research to find out what works better. Then try them out.

At least, that's how I feel about it.

Also I don't like to ask anime fans because they tend to get aroused by every form of (their favorite) anime so that's not really useful

[CrackTheSky]

You don't want to actually make the butthurt noobs right when they say we're overly critical of them here. By being less critical of some people, you implicitly create that inequality of treatment that shouldn't exist.

I don't want to start an entirely different discussion here, but I think most of that "overly critical" sentiment comes from the fact that the .org has a somewhat more elitist perspective than most new editors expect. In this case, I'm not saying "elitist" in a derogatory way, I mean it in the sense that we have certain standards that everyone is expected to meet (i.e. technical ones, thanks to the guides). When these standards aren't met, some individuals choose to react a bit too strongly and the noobs take it personally.

Is that good or bad? Well, that's an entirely different discussion.

I just don't think that being critical of a new editor who is still learning and not being so critical of someone who has been editing for years is a bad thing, because there's an expectation that the senior editor knows what he's doing, and technical mistakes tend to be extremely rare; also, the senior editor has probably spent enough time on the video that any flaws are either subjective or known to the editor in question. This is not necessarily the case for noobs.

Unless you're arguing that we should simply APPEAR to be more critical of senior editors so that the newer editors don't feel singled out; however, like I said, I don't think their feeling singled out has anything to do with a disproportionate amount of criticism.

[downwithpants]

Personally, I find true constructive criticism explores what I was trying to achieve.

I'd like to know how a video made you feel, how you felt the atmosphere, if you understood the story, if you could grasp the concept, if certain parts are funny and all that.

x2 to both

i pay attention to subjective feedback. when i'm editing, one thing that's always going through my mind is, "how will the audience perceive this sequence?" will it be exciting? dull? will they see the same things i see? it's the one thing that the editor can't see for herself and will vary for each viewer.

[Knowname]

So should those of us who consider ourselves noobs put 'noobsauce' in the title or something?? in the video itself?