Could you imagine producing less elaborate content (such as streams with one camera) to booster up the premium offering?
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Giant Bomb #25 | A Fun Time with Friends
- Thread starter Anjin M
- Start date
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Maklershed
Member
Please make your next 3 QLs 3 separate run throughs of that VR Bar Fighter game. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time.
That's my plan. XBO S in fall 2017 for Sunset Overdrive and 360 JRPGs
Sleeping Lesson
Member
bionicpuppy
Giant Bomb Producter/Bufu Caster
I think I've hit this before but I'll give you my quick and dirty:
Mon - Sorting emails, about 3 hours of meetings (this includes our weekly production meeting, meeting with my boss, and my time to go over West coast production stuff with Drew). Extra time is usually used for trying to prep any games I'll be QLing or hosting for the coming week. We've tried to shift to making Monday more of a prepare your recordings day as once the week starts rolling it can be hard to find time.
Tues - Email and fix broken stuff. In general this is our dedicated recording day, but how successful that is varies. This week I had a lot of catching up to do from being out of the office. For example, it took me around 3 hours just to get my expenses done, and then I had a bunch of studio maintenance to do (clearing space up, cleaning up, making sure software was updated, or wasn't going to update 10 minutes before a recording, etc).
Wed - Email and fix broken stuff. This used to be when we'd have a live show, but now use it as a swing day for recording, meetings, live shows, etc. Today I processed this Sat's best of video from Derek, worked on making a vector version of Giant Bomb's logo in different colors for new merch, tried to figure out what our recording schedule will be like for the next 3 weeks as Alex and Jeff B. figure out holiday plans, got the studio up and running for Blue Bombin', started processing that archive, responded to people on NeoGaf, and... we're current.
Thurs - Email and fix broken stuff. Beastcast day. If we can squeeze something in for the morning we try. Usually prep in the morning, emails, news stories, etc. Spend 30 minutes yelling at the printer. Record around 2pm. Finish around 5:00 when all is said and done. Process and export podcast and anything that was shot.
Friday - Emails and fix broken stuff. Get anything done that was missed during the week. Live show from around 1 or 2pm. Usually done around 4pm. Process and export. Try to archive the week and clear space for the next week.
Usually there are things that pop up throughout the week. Every week there's probably another meeting that gets scheduled in, or a technical change that requires some work, or a piece of gear that breaks, or stuff isn't going to YouTube, budgets that need to be made, making the case for a bigger, badder, Giant Bomb, planning, getting used to the new studio, and that damn printer. Also, sometimes people take a day off, which, no joke, throws this whole thing out the window. Not kidding.
Space Wanderer
Banned
Thank you Vinny for all you do. Looking forward to GOTY stuff!
Will you read over my slashfic involving Bomby the Giant Bomb Bomb and Brad? It needs some editing.
Will you read over my slashfic involving Bomby the Giant Bomb Bomb and Brad? It needs some editing.
Vinny, what resolutions/codec do you store your master copies in (if you archive the masters that is)? The amount of storage must be pretty nuts.
Would you guys consider hiring an off-camera producer to handle all the meetings and budget business instead of doing it yourself? That seems to be the a huge issue with the content droughts and would free you guys up.
Death Metalist
Member
funkystudent
Member
Mouth or Tongue?
KillerDark
Member
Just wanted to say thanks for providing a ton of entertainment and laughs, you guys work your butts off. Looking forward to when Dan gets moved over and you guys are back up to 3 people!
Zeouterlimits
Member
How much do metrics on what does well and what doesn't do well affect plans?
What might surprise us metric wise (what did well, what hasn't?) ?
I ask this as Jeff gave an answer on tumblr recently that said that there's a significant portion of your fans who don't like the single game stuff, they almost treat it as ye're not putting out any content at all.
Reference for those interested
The P4 ER is still the greatest thing for me. I will always love it. Always.
Human Trashcan
Banned
Thanks! I'm gonna yell at your boss/corporate america that 3 hours of meetings in one day is a waste of your time. Also stop emailing Vinny, everyone. He's got enough shit to do.
When's Alex doing the next Guns of Navarro?
(Seriously, he should get on that sometime. It was really good)
bionicpuppy
Giant Bomb Producter/Bufu Caster
Yeah, we've been slowly trying to make sure everyone is comfortable streaming on his/her own.
Doing this with the studio setup is tough, as it requires a pretty decent knowledge of how the studio records and works. It's a lot easier for someone to do it with a webcam and something like OBS. The biggest problem we've had with some of that is making sure everyone can archive consistently, without video going out of sync or the whole thing failing. If we wind up spending more time in post than on the recording it's a waste. Sometimes playing and recording on the same machine can also cause a lot of issues if the machine isn't beefy enough. And finally, not everyone has a home situation that allows for that. There are absolutely solutions, but it can be hard to make one thing work for everyone 100 percent of the time.
In SF we setup a room with this setup (webcam, mic, obs). It's where Brad used to do Daily Dota and I did a few things out of there at the time. It's definitely something we'd like to do more of, and something I'd like to find a better turnkey solution to so I can just make a kit and hand it someone.
Twin Tails
Member
Hey Vinny!
Just wanted to pop in and say how much I appreciate all the hours of entertainment you've given us over the years. I can always count on Giant bomb to give me lots of laughs every week.
I guess I have a little question as well.
How is the workflow different between the Whiskey media days and now?
Does everything require a lot more paperwork and preparation vs the old days?
Thanks again and have a good Christmas
Just wanted to pop in and say how much I appreciate all the hours of entertainment you've given us over the years. I can always count on Giant bomb to give me lots of laughs every week.
I guess I have a little question as well.
How is the workflow different between the Whiskey media days and now?
Does everything require a lot more paperwork and preparation vs the old days?
Thanks again and have a good Christmas
What happened with that in SF? Did it just not get recreated with the studio move?
funkystudent
Member
Dramatic reenactment of lease signing
Now that you mention it. I wonder if the SF setup is a bit diffrent now they are on the bottom floor.
Old floor they had a bunch of empty offices they just used as a QL room. Are Quicklooks recorded on the set now?
Thank you for your answer. I hope you guys can get to a situation that will allow for a smoother premium content production again. I know the situation was different in the past and I don't know how hard it is to regularly release stuff, but I can't say I'm satisfied with the current output of Premium content and hope that you guys can eliminate the hurdles that prevent you from just being you in front of a camera. That's why we love you. That's why we're here.
bionicpuppy
Giant Bomb Producter/Bufu Caster
Ha, the biggest one that would surprise you (surprised me) is that recently we got poll results that said most people are extremely happy with the amount of premium content for their money. We've been trying to figure out that free/premium content mix for awhile. Free content reaches new potential subs while obviously premium content is what you pay for. That can be a tough balance.
One of the things that might be surprising is the cost to host and deliver video. Even with a preroll ad, since our stuff is pretty long we basically lose money on every piece of video we serve. We get to push back on stuffing the site with crap ads and midrolls every 5 seconds because we have awesome premium subs. We've said it before, but this site would not exist without premium users.
The other thing that might be surprising is how much it costs to do business. There's a large sunk cost we have to cover as part of being part of a big company. Things like offices, HR, design, engineering, legal, toilet paper, etc. It's a lot. The more money GB actually brings in the less of a percentage that sunk cost is to us and the more we have to spend on growth, but currently it's a very large percentage that we need to clear.
The Right Deal
Banned
Thanks for all that you do , Vinny! What's your favorite brand of bottled water?
bionicpuppy
Giant Bomb Producter/Bufu Caster
Meetings can be tough, but sometimes they are necessary. Not be as easy nimble is probably my biggest concern. We can't just yank the wheel, and a lot of folks that help us throughout the company aren't dedicated to GB. If we want to change something it can take a bit of time. Also, budgets and making sure we know where every dollar is going. This is pretty important to us as people are paying us directly and we want as much of that money to go into doing more and better things and not into some invisible corporate black hole.
stump sock
Member
so I mean, wouldn't a way to offset that be to deliver more frequent, smaller videos (ala endurance runs)? Personally I could see a strong benefit to viewers to two shorter videos a day than one long one. that way if someone doesn't like one, then maybe they other might work. more ad revenue, so on.
MadLaughter
Member
Yo Vinny, I threw this out there on twitter but I think that the Hinterlands bar could be a spot for a GBEast meetup, since it's run by a friend of the McElroys (Stuart Wellington, has been a guest on 2 episodes of the Adventure Zone), and they've done meetups for MaxFun multiple times in the past. He's one of the hosts of the Flop House podcast, sort of the OG when it comes to bad movie podcasts.
stump sock
Member
also this
don't trust the polls. just look at the state of politics if you need any further proof of that.
Twin Tails
Member
Human Trashcan
Banned
bionicpuppy
Giant Bomb Producter/Bufu Caster
Hey Vinny!
Just wanted to pop in and say how much I appreciate all the hours of entertainment you've given us over the years. I can always count on Giant bomb to give me lots of laughs every week.
I guess I have a little question as well.
How is the workflow different between the Whiskey media days and now?
Does everything require a lot more paperwork and preparation vs the old days?
Thanks again and have a good Christmas
The biggest difference for me as I don't work 14 hours a day anymore. Those were fun times but with a family I just have different responsibilities. I mentioned this before, but it's slower to implement changes here. We have very talented engineers at CBSi that do amazing work for us, but they are also doing amazing work across other properties so the time they spend on GB is limited and we have to get in the line like everyone else. That requires forethought and planning which is... well, it's not always where GB shines.
The other hard part can be fatigue. After almost a decade and a lot of ups and downs, mostly without ever shutting down, it can be mentally exhausting. It's something we don't expect the audience to have to worry about, but I definitely feel it sometimes. Can't just turn the site off for two months and recharge. With new audience members I'm sometimes surprised when they are like "I wish they would do X!" and I want to be like "We did X seven years ago... oh, right, you weren't here for that..." It's a weird feeling, sometimes those days feel so close and sometimes they feel so far away. When I started here I think we did one or two videos a week.
stump sock
Member
and pad the studio
bionicpuppy
Giant Bomb Producter/Bufu Caster
Uh... my export is done. HAVE TO GO. (seriously though, I do have to go) Thanks everyone. And honestly, thanks for supporting GB.
stump sock
Member
bye vinny, happy holidays!
KillerDark
Member
Don't listen Vinny, think of your hands!
Glitchesarecool
Member
I did not expect to summon vinny with that shitpost.
I mean, I'm a subscriber but I basically consider my sub a general donation, I give no shits what content is premium and what content is free for everyone.
I would like more content period though.
Death Metalist
Member
Bye, Vinny and take care. <3
I don't think he meant 52% to 48% when he said "most".
Sleeping Lesson
Member
Thanks for stopping by!
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