briandavidgilbert
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June's Patreon Exclusive Video (and a postmortem about why I'm not uploading it to YouTube)
🕑 Added 2023-06-21 17:00:07 +0000 UTCSurprise everyone, here's my monthly video for June! It's a Patreon exclusive!
TOP 5 Tips and Tricks for Disneyland!! By Garth Darfenin!
password: egghole
Normally, these posts are just bloopers/deleted scenes, but this one is the whole video! I wasn't sure if I was going to post it on my main channel when I started editing it, and sure enough, I felt the same way when I finished editing it.
So why am I letting you all watch it?
COMMENCE POSTMORTEM!
(Go ahead and watch the video before reading the rest of this post.)
Sometimes, you learn more from the failures than the successes. Actually, I'd say that's the case 95% of the time.
I often try to recognize those failures early or keep those failures hidden (like Mr. Smock and my 360 camera video from way back when), but I liked this video enough to see it through to the end, and I liked it enough to feel comfortable sharing it with you all.
Hopefully, you can come away from this postmortem with a bit more knowledge about my process. Maybe you'll even come away with something you'd like to implement/avoid in your own creative endeavors! I think that would be nice.
First, let's talk about what I was going for with this video:
There is an entire industry revolving around theme park tips on YouTube. Don't believe me? Try searching "*any theme park* Tips" in YouTube and see the thousands upon thousands of channels devoted to parks.
I know this because I have watched many of them before going to theme parks. Uh oh. I'm the intended audience!
As is the case with many things I love, I wanted to parody it! There's a very particular video format (selfie) and cadence (excited) and editing style (passable) that I love and wanted to try to emulate, but in my own strange way.
I also thought it would be funny if some of the tips were legitimate, but I kept getting obsessed with something that doesn't exist. Then I could make the video title "Top 5 Tips for Disneyland!" and some poor, unassuming searcher might accidentally watch my weird video (kind of like "How to Make Jorts").
THE POSITIVES OF THIS VIDEO
Here are some things that I really like about this video:
- The name Garth Darfenin.
- The spur-of-the-moment filming. I rarely get to do that these days.
- The improvised stuff in Disneyland (which was all of it).
- The actively bad editing choices I got to make. It's really fun to go out of your way to make bad audio recordings/zooms/unnecessary text.
- There are parts that make me guffaw. And that's rare after I spend hours editing one of my own videos.
THE STUFF THAT MADE ME NOT UPLOAD IT TO YOUTUBE
I was gonna say "negatives" but I don't think that's exactly right. They can be split into a two categories.
Technical:
- I didn't get enough footage in Disney/Universal to make the egghole transition at the end really work. I wanted to have something closer to the scary tunnel section in the original Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, and I couldn't quite get there.
- I couldn't quite get the audio choices to sound how I heard them in my head.
- I love making bad editing choices, but for some reason I couldn't make the bad editing choices look pretty. It's hard to thread that needle, and I don't think I did.
Personal:
- The drinking section is very funny to me, but even as a joke, I don't think it really lands with me.
- I was going for a loving pastiche of "theme park tip" videos in general, but I don't want people to think I'm making fun of any one creator specifically.
- Disney is litigious. Please let me back into Disneyland.
Really, these all boil down to one major reason:
- I just didn't like it as much as I had hoped!
Sometimes, that's the most important thing! Whenever I make a video, there's always a point that makes me go "What am I doing...", but by the end, I usually like it enough to see the positives. That didn't happen with this video! And that's okay!
END OF POSTMORTEM!
I'm really grateful that I saw this video through to the end, because it has crystalized a couple thoughts I've been having.
Namely, I want to focus harder on things I'm 100% passionate about! I'm finding myself with less and less time to work on these videos, so I'd like to use the time I do have to work on stuff that makes me feel excited! Not just about the concept, but about the process, and about the end result. It's been a minute since I've made something and said "I can't WAIT for people to watch this!" And I want to get back to that. So that's what I'll be working toward next!
Thanks for watching and reading!
Comments
Cody Jones
The face match-cut at the very beginning is such a masterpiece of a joke to me and it's so easy. I had to pause and just appreciate how stupid and funny that idea is, thank you so much.
Well-Spoken Rambler
the password is directly under the link - it's "egghole"
Pierce Norman
New Patron but long time viewer here! How am I supposed to watch this video? It says it requires a Vimeo password? I'm sure I'm doing something wrong :)
Nat Adcock
I enjoyed this video and can agree that maybe you didn’t have enough footage to make it really polished. Glad I’m a Patreon and got to view it anyway <3
Joan Flyvholm
I really enjoyed this video and I'm glad I still got to see it! I thought you hit the nail on the head with the awkward presenting style and slightly too long pauses
Sam Hickson
I think this is so cool and I admire your dedication to building a body of work, holding yourself accountable to a certain quality, and recognizing when something doesn’t fit the self-made expectations of that, but still wanting to make it, spend hours on it, and share it because it’s fun either way
Whyintheheck
The “Half of shaky camera obscured by vlogger face” absolutely nails the aesthetic for 99% of Disney Vlogs, I love it. Godspeed on your eternal egghole quest; they can’t keep the truth hidden forever
Shadowwolf
I'm really glad we still got to see this. I entirely understand your feelings about it, especially as we tend to be our own greatest critics, but I for one absolutely enjoyed it and found it pretty damn funny regardless!
Alex Derbe
As someone who ends up watching a *lot* of theme park tips videos - and especially Disney ones - with my gf, I really got a lot of laughs from this one! Thank you for sharing it with us.
Brian David Gilbert
please don’t blow my cover
Avery
I don't know those theme park tip videos you're talking about, but what this reminded me of the most was Griffin's Amiibo Corner. What I feel like was missing was the longer time to establish the surface joke (you making a "bad" video in a park) as the norm, so that the egghole twist made it funny again
rionsanura
ooWALT. (I did a literal spittake laughing at this even though I had already seen it.)
Well-Spoken Rambler
Understand and respect most of the technical and personal decisions which led to this one staying on Patreon… except for fear of Disney. If you’re not making Wally D jingle around in his cryogenic chamber like ice cubes in a cocktail shaker, then what is even the point! (joking, light-hearted) But in all seriousness, it’s good to honestly evaluate ones own work and still find an appreciation for it even if you don’t consider it your best work. Thank you for letting us experience the egg hole regardless.
Ashley
You didn't include the part of the postmortem where you name which member of the group did absolutely zero work
Candy Emberley
This is so good. I understand and respect not wanting to publicly release something that didn't meet your hopes and expectations, and also I am really thankful you decided to share it with patrons! I thought it was hilarious
Oddity
Thanks for letting us watch this; I really enjoyed it, and will enjoy searching for the egg hole if I should ever visit Disneyland. You sharing your thoughts and feelings about how this project went, and how you intend to proceed is helpful. I think we can all learn a thing or two from the things in our lives that didn't work out like we thought they would.
rionsanura
I'm so glad you liked it at least enough to share it and the postmortem with us! It's such a gift to be able to look at your process like this.
Aimelle
The real reason this isn't on YouTube is because Disney doesn't want people to make videos about the egghole.
Nick Raynor
Thanks BDG, this is the ride I didn't know I was hoping for when connecting my engine to your train. I don't know if you've watched Defunctland but it's adjacent, infinitely fascinating, and invokes this community (disney tips) in many of the videos; can't discuss the kingdom without the fandom! Did you know that Disney invented switch-back queues (lines)?!
Joseph Goldthorp
I thought it was pretty funny, but I respect your feelings on the matter and appreciate the Postmortem/autopsy! Very cool insights.
IProvide ThePaint
For what it's worth, I thought this was really good.
Lollerskate
I thought this was hilarious but I understand why you didn't upload to YouTube. Thanks for sharing it with us!
