Review of new Zero Punctuation intro/outro
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I am extremely neutral on this subject.
[taken from fullyramblomatic.com]
The review of Lego Indiana Jones this week also brings with it a new, original theme tune and intro sequence. And so, as reliably as the tides, there has been a lot of hostility towards it. Most of it I'm putting down to the human instinct to be opposed to sudden changes in routine and status quo. I'd like to point out that if the reviews had had original music and an intro like that from the very beginning no-one would have cared. I'd also like to point out that I kind of thought everyone was here for the video game criticism, which is unchanged.
Firstly, no, this wasn't because of pressure from the Escapist. It was my idea to spruce up the videos and make them look a bit more professional, because otherwise it reflects poorly on me. Extreme paranoia concerning copyright infringement may also have played a part and I wanted to err on the side of caution.
The new intro might be a bit PEPSI MAX for you but frankly I like it. It gets me pumped. And for the music I asked for something awesome with squealy guitars because I'm extremely white and therefore into classic rock. Give it a few weeks, I'm sure it'll grow on everyone.
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Just making sure everyone knew about this.
[taken from fullyramblomatic.com]
The review of Lego Indiana Jones this week also brings with it a new, original theme tune and intro sequence. And so, as reliably as the tides, there has been a lot of hostility towards it. Most of it I'm putting down to the human instinct to be opposed to sudden changes in routine and status quo. I'd like to point out that if the reviews had had original music and an intro like that from the very beginning no-one would have cared. I'd also like to point out that I kind of thought everyone was here for the video game criticism, which is unchanged.
Firstly, no, this wasn't because of pressure from the Escapist. It was my idea to spruce up the videos and make them look a bit more professional, because otherwise it reflects poorly on me. Extreme paranoia concerning copyright infringement may also have played a part and I wanted to err on the side of caution.
The new intro might be a bit PEPSI MAX for you but frankly I like it. It gets me pumped. And for the music I asked for something awesome with squealy guitars because I'm extremely white and therefore into classic rock. Give it a few weeks, I'm sure it'll grow on everyone.
----
Just making sure everyone knew about this.
That's the thing, it really isn't. It's not like Yahtzee has fundamentally changed the way he presents his reviews, it's just a few seconds of music at either end.ElephantGuts said:
Besides, there already is a thread to discuss it, the discussion thread for the video.
I got the impression he was arrogant, and egotistical, I mean he did call a mods work crap and use big words for the sake of using big words.sabazius said:
Not sure if this deserves its own thread or not, but I do think it's nice to have a relatively sane thread in which to discuss these things - this one not being tainted by the Destructoid cast-offs who enjoy flinging poo in the ZP threads - so I?m all for it.
To the critique: it's interesting. I don't really agree with it, but that's a given
As a long-time video editor (and producer, and director, and etc. etc.) myself, I tend to agree with you about the need to stay one's hand on the Whizzy Graphic Button, but in this case, with a TRT of just under 12 seconds, half of which is devoted entirely to relatively motionless title cards, I think it's a bit far fetched to suggest the effects are overstaying their welcome. But that?s just me. Granted, I'm well aware everyone has different tastes as far as this sort of thing goes, but seriously, the opening "The Escapist Presents" logo has a longer run time than the whizzy part of the ZP intro. To my eye it's exactly just enough announce the show then get out of its own way. Your mileage may, of course, vary.
But here's the really exciting thing (to me): Having done this sort of thing for quite some time, I can say with all seriousness, a large measure of authority and a great amount of conceit that after a week or two no one will even notice the intro. In fact, I'm quite sure the only reason people are noticing it right now is because it's new and different and therefore offensive to that part of the brain that expects things to be in the same place we left them when we return to the room. I don?t know if, after a few weeks, folks will have become more amenable to the new intro, or if they will have simply ceased to care, but I am quite sure that it will no longer matter one way or another.
As you yourself pointed out, people just don't notice or care about the Ooh Ahh Whizbangs we spend most of our time on in the editing room. They get tuned out. That's just the way it is. And really, that?s kind of the point. Because seriously, as someone in this very thread already said, the intro is just a bookend for the content. The ultimate color or shape of it just isn?t that important in a relative sense, beyond signifying that it?s the beginning of Zero Punctation and not, for example, Regis and Kelly. If I can say this, having spent a month or so producing the music with Ian and about two weeks assembling the graphics myself, then so can anyone.
One thing I will point out isn?t accurately addressed in the above critique (and I?m going to assume this comes from a place of being an editor rather than a producer, but that could just be conceit on my part), is the brand identity of the show and how the intro fits into that. You talk about tone, but with all due respect (because I do sincerely appreciate the measured tone of your critique), I think you?re missing the boat there.
What?s actually not very well known is that Yahtzee and I spent about a week back when The Escapist first acquired the series trying to come up with a name for it before finally agreeing to ?Zero Punctuation.? He was originally calling the reviews ?Fully Ramblomatic,? but that didn?t have quite enough zing. So we threw names at each other, and I forget who, exactly, spouted the words zero and punctuation, but I do remember they were spawned from focusing on the elements of his reviews that set them apart from everything else: his rapid-fire delivery and seemingly endless store of breath. That is to say, his brand identity. The phrase ?Zero Punctuation? captured the essence of his style perfectly and we knew immediately we had it.
With that in mind, the new intro tries to recapture that original feeling in graphical form, and this is going to be a great, big ?duh? but I think it succeeds admirably. The screen fills with text before imagery takes over, blazing past almost too quickly to follow, emulating Yahtzee?s lyrical style and uncanny ability to perfectly animate his thoughts. You may call the intro vacuous, but that?s kind of the idea. It adds nothing to the tone of the series that wasn?t already there, merely reminds the viewer of what he?s about to watch. As if to say, ?Yo, it?s time for that show with the cartoon bits and the fast-talking guy.? There were plenty of ways we could have gone with the intro, but a live-action, Friends-style montage of Yahtzee in his apartment, for example, just didn?t seem to fit the bill. Zero Punctuation isn?t about Yahtzee, per se, it?s about his reviews. Therefore building the intro out of his reviews seemed the only logical choice.
And now here I?ve done it, wasted an hour or so of my time and killed about a thousand words on the altar of defending something I, a few hundred words ago, claimed wasn?t all that important. That?s what the internet does, people; it gets you drunk, convinces you your opinions actually matter and seduces you into the notion you have something interesting to say. Then you wake up the next morning in a pile of your own word vomit with a giant throbbing headache and an inbox full of angry flame mails. Take it from me. I?ve been here since the beginning, and no matter how hard I try, I still can?t force my opinions to mean diddly squat, no matter how often I take them for a walk and allow them to crap all over someone else?s tubes.
In closing, for the record, I'm quite pleased with the way both the music and the graphics turned out, and I think both elevate the brand identity of the series in way it had been sorely needing. In fact, I look forward to the day when, long after anyone has ceased to give a crap about the damn intro, Yahtzee walks into a room somewhere and the music begins playing, or a screen comes to life in some darkened room or internet café, suddenly filling with the animated graphical intro and everyone has the same thought simultaneously: ?Zero Punctuation.? That is, after all, what a theme and intro are for.
To the critique: it's interesting. I don't really agree with it, but that's a given
As a long-time video editor (and producer, and director, and etc. etc.) myself, I tend to agree with you about the need to stay one's hand on the Whizzy Graphic Button, but in this case, with a TRT of just under 12 seconds, half of which is devoted entirely to relatively motionless title cards, I think it's a bit far fetched to suggest the effects are overstaying their welcome. But that?s just me. Granted, I'm well aware everyone has different tastes as far as this sort of thing goes, but seriously, the opening "The Escapist Presents" logo has a longer run time than the whizzy part of the ZP intro. To my eye it's exactly just enough announce the show then get out of its own way. Your mileage may, of course, vary.But here's the really exciting thing (to me): Having done this sort of thing for quite some time, I can say with all seriousness, a large measure of authority and a great amount of conceit that after a week or two no one will even notice the intro. In fact, I'm quite sure the only reason people are noticing it right now is because it's new and different and therefore offensive to that part of the brain that expects things to be in the same place we left them when we return to the room. I don?t know if, after a few weeks, folks will have become more amenable to the new intro, or if they will have simply ceased to care, but I am quite sure that it will no longer matter one way or another.
As you yourself pointed out, people just don't notice or care about the Ooh Ahh Whizbangs we spend most of our time on in the editing room. They get tuned out. That's just the way it is. And really, that?s kind of the point. Because seriously, as someone in this very thread already said, the intro is just a bookend for the content. The ultimate color or shape of it just isn?t that important in a relative sense, beyond signifying that it?s the beginning of Zero Punctation and not, for example, Regis and Kelly. If I can say this, having spent a month or so producing the music with Ian and about two weeks assembling the graphics myself, then so can anyone.
One thing I will point out isn?t accurately addressed in the above critique (and I?m going to assume this comes from a place of being an editor rather than a producer, but that could just be conceit on my part), is the brand identity of the show and how the intro fits into that. You talk about tone, but with all due respect (because I do sincerely appreciate the measured tone of your critique), I think you?re missing the boat there.
What?s actually not very well known is that Yahtzee and I spent about a week back when The Escapist first acquired the series trying to come up with a name for it before finally agreeing to ?Zero Punctuation.? He was originally calling the reviews ?Fully Ramblomatic,? but that didn?t have quite enough zing. So we threw names at each other, and I forget who, exactly, spouted the words zero and punctuation, but I do remember they were spawned from focusing on the elements of his reviews that set them apart from everything else: his rapid-fire delivery and seemingly endless store of breath. That is to say, his brand identity. The phrase ?Zero Punctuation? captured the essence of his style perfectly and we knew immediately we had it.
With that in mind, the new intro tries to recapture that original feeling in graphical form, and this is going to be a great, big ?duh? but I think it succeeds admirably. The screen fills with text before imagery takes over, blazing past almost too quickly to follow, emulating Yahtzee?s lyrical style and uncanny ability to perfectly animate his thoughts. You may call the intro vacuous, but that?s kind of the idea. It adds nothing to the tone of the series that wasn?t already there, merely reminds the viewer of what he?s about to watch. As if to say, ?Yo, it?s time for that show with the cartoon bits and the fast-talking guy.? There were plenty of ways we could have gone with the intro, but a live-action, Friends-style montage of Yahtzee in his apartment, for example, just didn?t seem to fit the bill. Zero Punctuation isn?t about Yahtzee, per se, it?s about his reviews. Therefore building the intro out of his reviews seemed the only logical choice.
And now here I?ve done it, wasted an hour or so of my time and killed about a thousand words on the altar of defending something I, a few hundred words ago, claimed wasn?t all that important. That?s what the internet does, people; it gets you drunk, convinces you your opinions actually matter and seduces you into the notion you have something interesting to say. Then you wake up the next morning in a pile of your own word vomit with a giant throbbing headache and an inbox full of angry flame mails. Take it from me. I?ve been here since the beginning, and no matter how hard I try, I still can?t force my opinions to mean diddly squat, no matter how often I take them for a walk and allow them to crap all over someone else?s tubes.
In closing, for the record, I'm quite pleased with the way both the music and the graphics turned out, and I think both elevate the brand identity of the series in way it had been sorely needing. In fact, I look forward to the day when, long after anyone has ceased to give a crap about the damn intro, Yahtzee walks into a room somewhere and the music begins playing, or a screen comes to life in some darkened room or internet café, suddenly filling with the animated graphical intro and everyone has the same thought simultaneously: ?Zero Punctuation.? That is, after all, what a theme and intro are for.
Part of the enjoyment that came from ZP was seeing what music Yahtzee would pick that best suited the game ("Two little boys" for the Army of Two review still makes me laugh). By having this intro you have removed two jokes from the video, and if you watched ZP for the jokes than you are going to be disappointed.
I however do not watch it for the humour, I watch it for game (and once a movie) recommendations and I used too assume so does everyone else. Because of this I don't feel that there is anything wrong with them. They add class to ZP and make it look much more professional. They are also nicely animated, unlike the plain text on blue field that used to be the intro.
I like them.
PS: Nice title Russ
I however do not watch it for the humour, I watch it for game (and once a movie) recommendations and I used too assume so does everyone else. Because of this I don't feel that there is anything wrong with them. They add class to ZP and make it look much more professional. They are also nicely animated, unlike the plain text on blue field that used to be the intro.
I like them.
PS: Nice title Russ
That's a fair point. But I think this thread is justified for a few reasons.nilcypher said:
For one thing, I wasn't just making a reactionary comment or platitude to express my feelings for the new style, but attempting a critical analysis to explain where those feelings come from. Which also included some observations on Zero Punctuation in general and video-making for the web in general into the bargain. All of which is why I originally posted it in the Reviews section (though I don't begrudge the move).
For another, the ZP comment threads are a zoo, where any attempt at serious conversation would quickly get lost in the din. I did actually post over there, once to make the Wayne's World analogy and again to pat Altorin on the back. But, being the egotistical fellow that I am, I didn't want to just shout my more carefully considered opinions into a jet engine.
Finally, and most importantly, as many people have pointed out - completely accurately - Zero Punctuation is about the actual reviews, not the packaging. That's not to say packaging and presentation aren't important. After all, if they were of no consequence, then the change wouldn't have been made in the first place. And I am, as you may have caught, a professional editor, so I do have a few insightful things to say about the subject. But I DON'T want those things, however insightful, to clutter up the ZP LEGO Indy forum, which should be for people to discuss what they thought of the review, what they thought of the game, what they thought of what Yahtzee thought of the game, what they thought of what other people thought of what Yahtzee thought of the game, what they.... have I mentioned how much I love the word 'meta'?
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EDIT: So, yeah, pretty much what Mr. Pitts just said. Thanks for the "word vomit," btw. I think we'll be agreeing to disagree about the tone of ZP, and I maintain the intro is almost double the length it ought to be... but I don't care because I'm too busy basking in the light of civilized discourse. Your second-to-last paragraph is awesome.
I understand your motives, but to me this is like the people who complained when Kelloggs changed the name of Coco Pops to Choco Crispies.
While I'm not entirely fan of the new intro, I didn't really understand why I didn't like it. It was beautifully done, from a visual standpoint, and it makes sense that this was the direction you went, but these things I already knew, and still didn't like it, and still didn't know why until I read your reply Russ, and more specifically that paragraph. Now this is just my opinion as well, and as you've stated, I too can't force it to mean a bloody thing to someone else, never mind to you, but what the hell, might as well give my insight right?Russ Pitts said:
Yahtzee's reviews have always been one long rambled run on and witty blurb with, as the chosen title denotes, little to no punctuation or pauses. However, the old intros were, at least for me, a nice calm antitheses before the storm of the review and the credits offered a sigh of relief after the rant. It's almost as if the intro was the long inhale taken before a long rambled rant, and the credits were the exasperated gasps taken after, signifying that he's done. The new intro however just throws one into the fray with no warning, and though the pretty colors and sounds are amusing on the most subconscious level, you already admitted they would be mostly ignored anyway, as supposed to the old one where it could even be considered part of the review itself as well as the old credits.
Does this make the new intro and credits bad? Hardly. It is again just my opinion on the matter, and hardly meant to attempt to sway you one way or another. All in all, good work at the very least, and know your work is appreciated now before it's widely ignored.
I enjoyed getting the often incredibly obscure jokes from the intro and outro music, but it doesn't hurt the overall quality of the review now there is a specialised intro.
And by the way, I did not get the joke in the subject line. Explanation needed for a clueless Brit.
And by the way, I did not get the joke in the subject line. Explanation needed for a clueless Brit.
I'm with nilcypher, this thread is so serious it makes me laugh. I mean, if I wasn't convinced the people on this site were obsessed with ZP before...
(Nothing against the OP, or any post after it, I just think this is a little ridiculous)
(Nothing against the OP, or any post after it, I just think this is a little ridiculous)
Trust me on this, it's not that people will have warmed up to the new intro, it's because griping about it got boring fruitless and everyone went to ***** about something else. Mostly likely because it ultimately doesn't matter. It's an internet video, not smoke coming from a concentration camp.Russ Pitts said:
I'm going to disagree with most of this and this has a lot to do with why people dislike the new intro so much in the first place.
While it is true that the new intro, and the intro for many shows and video like this are little more than filler and an identification stamp, this was not true with the old openings. The old openings were actual content as the view heard the music selection and then how that fit with the game being reviewed, usually in some kind of joke. My point is, the old intros weren't tuned-out as just show identification, but were tuned-in and people paid attention. This is what the criticism shouldn't be dismissed as simply people not used to something new. It's people not used to something new and a portion of the content of the show is now removed. Granted, it's a small and arguably insignificant part, but part of the content is gone nevertheless and it will be missed.
I also wonder why months of editing was spent on something that you say ultimately doesn't matter and think most people will just tune out anyway. Wouldn't it have been easier to just up up a silent, static card? Maybe just continuing the film noise from the Escapist logo? I think that would be preferable to the current intro. Mostly because I disagree with the choice to try to make the intro reflect Yahtzee's rapid-pace delivery. It doesn't work. At least I don't think so. It definitely doesn't work the same was the old intro used to, music selection aside, with the static cards. The slower pace as it fades from the Escapist logo to the card was sort of like a roller coaster's slow climb up the hill. Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, then WHOOOSH! LOOP! LOOP! SAFETY HARNESS FAILURE! AAAAAUGH!
Maybe it's just me, but I liked the contrast the old visuals had with the content of the show tan the new intro's attempt to mimic the content of the show. If every scene shouts, the audience goes deaf. The new intro shouts too much.
But, this is just my opinion, and like you said, opinions don't matter much on the internet. But that's no reason to not try to express my opinion. Particularly when the opinion in question is not just "WAH! IT'S DIFFERENT! I HATE IT!" but "The new intro is demonstratively inferior to the old intros due to reasons A, B, and C."
Take care.
I think the change from "Opal Fruits" to "Starburst" was pretty effective, though I'm sure that somewhere, somebody wrote a letter of complaint. It's not possible to win, this is the internet. No game developer could release a game that everybody loved, no journalist could write a piece that everybody agreed with, no reviewer could blah blah blah, you see where I'm going with this.
Most of 'us' are rambling fools without thought. Agreeing with petitions and polls based purely on one side of an argument and then later thinking "shit, actually... maybe shouldn't have signed that". And it's the observations and opinions of people like the OP that drive it all. Not to say you shouldn't have your say, and at-least the OP went about it in a sensible manner but someone without independant thought can use this to form an opinion of their own, and then before you know it there are pages upon pages of clones just repeating the same things over and over and over again.
Do I have a solution to this though? Not really. Did I just question and answer myself? Yes, definitely.
I don't think I'm going to continue with this thought... it's nothing new and it certainly isn't aiding anything. I would like to take this opportunity to tell Russ that I enjoy his articles though, cheers!
That is all.
Most of 'us' are rambling fools without thought. Agreeing with petitions and polls based purely on one side of an argument and then later thinking "shit, actually... maybe shouldn't have signed that". And it's the observations and opinions of people like the OP that drive it all. Not to say you shouldn't have your say, and at-least the OP went about it in a sensible manner but someone without independant thought can use this to form an opinion of their own, and then before you know it there are pages upon pages of clones just repeating the same things over and over and over again.
Do I have a solution to this though? Not really. Did I just question and answer myself? Yes, definitely.
I don't think I'm going to continue with this thought... it's nothing new and it certainly isn't aiding anything. I would like to take this opportunity to tell Russ that I enjoy his articles though, cheers!
That is all.
To nilcypher, et al: I am totally aware of what an inane topic this is. Really. But, for me anyway, I think it's fun to talk about and fun to expose how much thought goes on behind the scenes that most people never consider. Plus, it's cathartic. And I would also like to point out that there is a thread in this very forum discussing the practical ramifications of a potential zombie outbreak in L.A., and while that is possibly the most useless topic I could ever imagine, it also happens to be a great read.
But, if it makes you feel better, my wife constantly gives me a hard time for thinking too much, so you're not alone. All I can say is, "let dorks be dorks."
But, if it makes you feel better, my wife constantly gives me a hard time for thinking too much, so you're not alone. All I can say is, "let dorks be dorks."
I have to say I much much preferred the musical intros, they did vary and were funny as well as giving a nice insight into Yahtzee's music taste. I think Yahtzee also preferred the old intros as well but it was just to much of a risk using copyrighted music considering how popular the videos are now as well as the fact that the end of the videos now feature adverts which is a major violation of copy rights since they are then essentially using it for profit.
having said that The Kinks have probably had a major boost in music sales from younger generations.
having said that The Kinks have probably had a major boost in music sales from younger generations.
