Oct 23 2008
7 web video myths - 4. Avoid Talking Heads
This is the flipside of Connect Emotionally. Talking Heads don’t make for riveting movies or TV - but they work just fine on the web. Gary Vaynerchuck, Andy Plesser (beet.tv) and Michael Tomasky (guardian.co.uk) prove the point across a wide spectrum.
washingtonpost.com has extended the Talking Heads gestalt with its Voices series. The subjects featured in Voices don’t answer questions, they don’t respond to comments, they justsit in front of a white background and talk directly to camera.
Basically it’s a series of infomercials promoting various corporations/causes by allowing the principals to pontificate without interruption or comment. “What are these types of video doing on a newspaper website?” You may ask. That’s simple: they are generating a lot of hits. Wapo claims a huge increase in web videos watched since the series appeared in June: 1.4 million video views in September.
The videos (several dozen in all) are advertised heavily on the WaPo front page - four large link boxes on today’s wapo.com lead to the series. The only other video linked on the front page is a clip featuring Sarah Palin’s wardrobe.
Associated with avoid talking heads is the notion that videographers should avoid information-intensive presentations. Information is more efficiently conveyed in text and pictures - it doesn’t need video.
But many thousands of viewers would rather watch David Pogue than crack a manual….
As the information density goes up, and the age of the target audience goes down - the preference for video over text increases exponentially. Absorbing even mildly technical detail from a book is a chore. That same information repackaged as visual media is digested effortlessly.
I agree. There is nothing more engaging than someone telling you a story.
The great thing is you can use a talking head alongside the text/content on a page and reinforce stuff. That’s where I think this stuff really comes in to its own. Gary Vaynerchuck on a screen is great - fantastic personality - but him on a screen with a list of all the wines he mentions and text reviews which you can also add your own review on. Digital content nirvana
I really have to disagree. I was intrigued at first by the “myths” angle you’re taking to Web video. But after reading this post I think you’re just trying to force arguments against practices Web videographers have developed after much trial and error.
Maybe it works for WaPo, but I’d argue that’s because WaPo can get Wyclef Jean. I’d also argue that David Pogue is not a talking head. His videos are very heavily produced — much more than a head in front of a white screen.
Even the Webcast approach hasn’t worked for local news sites (TimesCast). Local news sites’ talking heads, in our case, are like this one of a SC justice running for re-election: http://tinyurl.com/66vb8f
Videos like that do not get big hits for us. I can’t bear to watch a talking head on my computer screen for three minutes, even if (content is king…) I really care about what it has to say. Why can’t it be streaming audio? Less work and an easier, more passive experience for the user.
In fact now I’m really dubious of the success of WaPo’s Voices project. I don’t understand why someone would gather information in a needlessly linear and active way, when they could scan text for the same information. It’s not like scripted linear heads offer a big payoff of emotion. So I don’t get it.
Aaron - I did not claim David Pogue as a talking head - I noted that his videos are oriented around conveying information.
In general web video works when it targets niches. Local communities are not niches. A niche is a group you choose to belong to - it is not a creation of circumstance, like family, community, society etc. The WaPo Voices are divided into 4 groups - each group addresses a self-qualifying niche.
As to WaPo’s video : “The Washington Post, the newspaper publisher which has lead the industry in integrating online video, has registered a record 1.4 million video views in September, up some 162 percent over last year, according to internal numbers released this morning”
http://www.beet.tv/2008/10/washington-post.html
Andy - here is a clip of Gary at web2.0 last month: PATIENCE, PASSION AND HUSTLE - great stuff!
What justification do you have for defining a niche as a group you choose to belong to? I kind of see what you you want to say but niche is not the right word.
[…] the producers.Connect emotionally Is our vanity getting in the way of providing information?Avoid talking heads Ralph: “Associated with avoid talking heads is the notion that videographers […]