Crossfire with Chris and Frank : Deploying your Gear

Man, these are landing with a bit of a whimper ...

what's it missing ?

Nothing. Topic of discussion is just a little specialized and may not speak to the majority. LoL, had it been a wind call video, positional shooting video, or the like, it would have had 20 comments by now. Keep em coming, Frank. This video spoke to someone so its a success.
 
Man, these are landing with a bit of a whimper ...

what's it missing ?
I like them but here are a few thoughts that might help:
  1. The title needs to hook the audience as they are scrolling through their Youtube suggestions. If the title can't catch their attention they aren't going to look any further. Calling it episode three doesn't make me want to watch it. You going to be more likely to catch a passer by if it says "episode three - more tripod discussion"
  2. Flow of conversation between you and Chris feels stiff. Not a lot of back and forth discussing ideas, just he talks then you talk. Not sure if it matters.
  3. Links to the gear. Your talking about cool shit so let me see exactly what it is and where to buy it. You also get to make some money off referral links.
 
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Man, these are landing with a bit of a whimper ...

what's it missing ?

Possibly too specialized/niche.

Belts with bags = pretty much NRL Hunter and not much else. You won’t move through a hunt or a rucking match with bags on belts.

Deploying tripods fast is also likely not going to be high up on many’s list of interests.

There’s only 130 total people that have scores listed on the hunter website (obviously there’s more shooting). So, while the series is picking up steam, it’s still very small and niche.

Just my observations. I can quite possibly be wrong.

I think live fire + triggercam is also becoming the standard with videos now. People want to see what you see and how it contrasts with what they see.
 
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Frank
I think an actually demo with a wider shot would have shown what Chris was talking about
Maybe film it and then break down the footage with you to discussing the finer points
As some one who has seen Chris do this live; its magical, all economy of movement
I disagree with Fenix it applies every where
I was at the Chris Roberts Hunter course and watched 6 experience hunters try to do this on the clock
It wasn't pretty
I can only imagine if you had PRS mid pack shooters try to do this on the clock
They were so many subtle things in that deployment of the tripod
as me how I know; cause I got schooled
Keep up the videos it will build its audience
 
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I haven't had a chance to watch yet but am interested in it.

I shoot pretty much solely for hunting (and I enjoy it). Being able to get a shot off on the clock is important IMO.
 
At the start give a little more of a synopsis of what’s going to be covered.

I would get the products you are trying to show on a bench in front of you. Most of what you are talking about is behind you and unseen through most of the video, put it front and center.

Your description of the universal ball mount was a little wiz bang, slap this here put that there. While I follow the concept and you did do the seperate blow up of modifying, its almost like reading chinese installation instructions. A little more detail of the parts and process would be nice. Maybe like a full screen narrated zoom in for a little bit of more familiarization with it.

Go over how the bags are pack in a little more detail. You both talk about liking how the bags are done I don’t really show how they’re done. And are constantly turning around, put them up front.

Get the buzz( nnnnn sound) out of the audio.

Remember too we live in Idiocracy/clown world, Generally the real serious information gets lost in the noise of Gallagher style antics.

To answer the question at the end- I have tried multiple different way of holding the gripe. I personally find I have the most control through a wide range of positions by having my hand fully wrapped around the gripe and using the very tip of my finger to actually contact the trigger. I feel by fully wrapping the stock I have better recoil control for staying in the optic, watching for impacts and quicker follow up shots.

I enjoyed the content but you asked for a critique so there it is.
 
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We are not trying to sell you gear, we are giving your examples and things we look for, not products, or specific brands.

The ball head thing was because many have bought a knock-off ball head already or they came with them, so inverting it makes it more stable, but we are not selling it as something new, only saying it's an improvement

We don't take about the brands, who cares about the brand, we are looking at things in a different way vs selling an RRS Tripod over a Two Vets

The title, okay I get that but we warn you ahead of time, the question at the end is the next episode ... my bad for thinking that made sense

Not giving you a wide shot in the studio that is what the field is for, these are just examples of what you should be doing

The criticism is fine, I just underestimated the audience in this case. I suppose if that gets the conversation going, the responses also determine how far I go. If the answer is to change everything, then it will just go away, we take on these things in between other stuff, so it's not like we have nothing to do. I can just do the podcast and call it good.

We just wanted to get a conversation started, but really the conversation is not hitting home so ... and while much of this is constructive, clearly it's not landing as I would have thought and the fix is probably more than either of us will invest in
 
We are not trying to sell you gear, we are giving your examples and things we look for, not products, or specific brands.

The ball head thing was because many have bought a knock-off ball head already or they came with them, so inverting it makes it more stable, but we are not selling it as something new, only saying it's an improvement

We don't take about the brands, who cares about the brand, we are looking at things in a different way vs selling an RRS Tripod over a Two Vets

The title, okay I get that but we warn you ahead of time, the question at the end is the next episode ... my bad for thinking that made sense

Not giving you a wide shot in the studio that is what the field is for, these are just examples of what you should be doing

The criticism is fine, I just underestimated the audience in this case. I suppose if that gets the conversation going, the responses also determine how far I go. If the answer is to change everything, then it will just go away, we take on these things in between other stuff, so it's not like we have nothing to do. I can just do the podcast and call it good.

We just wanted to get a conversation started, but really the conversation is not hitting home so ... and while much of this is constructive, clearly it's not landing as I would have thought and the fix is probably more than either of us will invest in
I just haven't had the time to view these vids (but yeah, I waste a ton of time on the forum...sigh) but as I mentioned once before; 1) I like vids way more than podcasts...just hard to keep my interest in just voice for an hour and; 2) I like focused and reasonably short topical vids and at 10 minutes this hits the mark for me.

Dunno about you dumping this format.....I rather like it....I did watch the first one and have the next two queued up and will try to view them later.

Thanks for doing these.
 
I just realized you and Chris were doing these little shorts, and am watching them now.

At first blush, I'm enjoying the concept, and the content presented so far (Picking a Tripod, Gun MPH, and Deploying gear efficiently), and I like the bite sized episodes that are around 10 min in length.

My only suggestion at this point would be that the audio quality is a bit distracting.

I didn't get the impression you guys were selling gear, more that you were trying to educate the viewer so they understand the how and why behind choosing and employing something like a shooting tripod.

I'm also a huge fan of what Chris is doing with RifleKraft, and it's nice to see you guys cooperating on something.
 
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It's 50 - 50 and has nothing to do with Jimmy, it's the totality of the situation,

think return on investment

I just spent the entire morning working out more details with the audio, working the sound, trying to find that perfect balance

I found some bad interfere with the camera, had to swap cables, I changed the physical set up of the system to work the audio over .... like hard,

Screen Shot 2022-04-08 at 1.14.04 PM.png

All these were nothing more than audio tests to try and control the room better ...

The issue is, we film them in blocks and already have some ready, which will be the same issues. We cleaned it up some, but maybe not enough so the start is completely marred by the bitching... making it close to not worth it

I am not sure I am up for the hassles that this point, too many are too quick to whine so let them go watch iPhone videos in selfie mode if that is what people like and want ... why would put the amount of effort needed to "Produce" a video when people are perfectly happy with a selfie shot filmed off a phone
 
You don't. No need for Michael Bay level production for a damn rifle video. Anybody that whines about less than perfect audio quality obviously doesn't know what goes in to it. Heaven help my early episode podcast listeners. Audio was hot fucking garbage but obviously the content was good enough for people to bare with me up to now. Still isn't studio quality but better than what it was. If more work is required to get it where people stop complaining and knit picking but isn't a good enough ROI to be worth it, then go with what is easy and put out the content and let the crabs do crab shit. No matter what you do, u can't please everyone. Period. So don't sweat it and do what you want.
 
You don't. No need for Michael Bay level production for a damn rifle video. Anybody that whines about less than perfect audio quality obviously doesn't know what goes in to it. Heaven help my early episode podcast listeners. Audio was hot fucking garbage but obviously the content was good enough for people to bare with me up to now. Still isn't studio quality but better than what it was. If more work is required to get it where people stop complaining and knit picking but isn't a good enough ROI to be worth it, then go with what is easy and put out the content and let the crabs do crab shit. No matter what you do, u can't please everyone. Period. So don't sweat it and do what you want.


I think you are missing the point., if someone puts effort in, and sure stuff is not always perfect, this set up, from the house to the equipment as it stands, was pretty much brand new. The dynamic of creating a studio where an actual studio doesn't exist is challenge and requires a lot of practice to set everything up right.

I clearly took some thing for granted with the first episodes, relying on the levels very the sound quality. The "fix it in post" side of the equation as not as easy as advertised. We adjusted the situation for 3, 4, 5... but it was still not perfect. That perfect fit just took me about 4 hours.

My point is, if someone makes an off the cuff iPhone video you hear nothing, here we trying a minor amount of production value and when it's compromised the relies are less than... However if you make the same errors on a field video, wind etc, they say nothing but thanks for the effort

Sure now we have a bunch of "thanks for the effort" but after a post asking why it landed with a thud. But it still landed with a thud which makes one want to re-evaluate the work. Part of the do what you want mindset is to say, let someone else do it

I am tired of it, especially as you see the comment turn, shit ebbs and flows all the time, go look at single video of mine on YT, it's all hate all day and I am over it ... if 10 love it and 3 hate it, the haters will overpower the likes. It becomes a dogpile and for me I am reaching a point of saying fuck it, time to sit back and say bye as I am getting tired with it.

I can trickle one video out a month, one article on here a month, podcast and a few pictures each morning and just stop interacting beyond that schedule. I would be fine with that, sleep until 10, wander around the country doing Non-Shooting Shit and enjoy it. I can work one day a week and say fuck it.

At some point you get over the headaches
 
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Just for clarity, my comments were just observations to why it might not be going viral yet. I’ll watch anything as all info is good info.

I’d keep doing them if I were you and work on content or easy to change stuff and see how it goes.

Totally get the ROI part. If you mess with all the easy change shit and it’s not working, then ya, pull plug if people still ain’t clicking.
 
Personally, I've watched them all - and then usually replayed them to catch particular details.

I think both of you together works - you each point of different issues, tips, analysis, and so on, and have different, but complementary, ways of covering the topics.

And don't discount the conversations that don't happen online - people here discuss your a Chris's content on the range and at field shoots a lot - it's what stretching all of our thinking at the moment.
 
I think one way to improve ROI is to put it behind a pay wall. Make it a subscription service. You can post a 2 min tease and if people like it they can vote with their wallet. I subscribe to several shooters and pay gladly to support them. I would do the same here. Your and Chris’s time is valuable and I would be happy to pay for it
 
We are not trying to sell you gear, we are giving your examples and things we look for, not products, or specific brands.

The ball head thing was because many have bought a knock-off ball head already or they came with them, so inverting it makes it more stable, but we are not selling it as something new, only saying it's an improvement

We don't take about the brands, who cares about the brand, we are looking at things in a different way vs selling an RRS Tripod over a Two Vets

The title, okay I get that but we warn you ahead of time, the question at the end is the next episode ... my bad for thinking that made sense

Not giving you a wide shot in the studio that is what the field is for, these are just examples of what you should be doing

The criticism is fine, I just underestimated the audience in this case. I suppose if that gets the conversation going, the responses also determine how far I go. If the answer is to change everything, then it will just go away, we take on these things in between other stuff, so it's not like we have nothing to do. I can just do the podcast and call it good.

We just wanted to get a conversation started, but really the conversation is not hitting home so ... and while much of this is constructive, clearly it's not landing as I would have thought and the fix is probably more than either of us will invest in
I typically grab the grip and then use the thumb rest (which I have positioned for this purpose) to sort of measure where I'm at. I then have to remind myself to get my hand in the right orientation and my finger at 90. I honestly wish I had a better process for this very thing. I went through this a little yesterday at the range but the wind and it being cold and me being in short sleeves made me hurry up and finish my test rounds and boogie
 
@lowlight

Hi Frank - I can't comment on whether the return on the effort to make these vids is worth it. That is, obviously, your call.

And, wrt to audio...I did just watch all three released episodes and I thought the sound was fine, particularly in episode 3 after you made some changes. And, you know I'm almost deaf as a door nail so if I could hear it (sans hearing aids) it ought to be good enough for anyone with any degree of hearing.

And, once again I will agree with some others here that I personally like vid over just audio podcast and I very much like focused, single topic, and reasonably short vids and these hit the mark. 10 minutes is a great length for me.

Finally, I sort of hear what you are saying about getting tired of the negative comments but it seems to me that comes with the territory. If you are going to post videos there will always be critics and nit pickers. IMO...and it may well not be your opinion...these should just be ignored. Its like the weather....they naysayers will always be there.

I read what you said on this topic and tbh, brother, you just sound like your feelings are hurt that some people criticized your work after you put a lot of effort into it and so you are going to take your bat and ball and go home.

I urge you to not do this. Again, there are always the negative naysayers...but you have 200K members here and I would wager that the vast majority of viewing members have made no comment at all. I would think that the silent and happy viewers outnumber the naysayers by a HUGE amount.

I looked at the comments on YouTube for these crossfire. I see two things. One, there are not a lot of "thumbs up" shown on youtube but I wonder if that is because most people just watch the vids from SH embedded content. Two, I didn't see any negative comments shown on YT for these vids....I didn't see a one.

You know your audience far better than I and so if you think this format has landed with a thud, I have to defer to you. But I don't see the evidence for that and only see a few people making somewhat mild comments about the content and quality.

Again, I urge you to reconsider dumping these series of vids and hope to see more of them posted. I like them.

Oh, as an added....I think Mr. Way has a VERY good on screen presence. He is clear, articulate, concise, and not one "um", "ah like", or any of those kind of fillers people use when speaking. I think the two of you make a great, highly knowledgable, and very presentable duo for generating this type of content.

Cheers