Many people who publish videos on the internet (such as PCMech) does put an "intro" on the front to inform people who made it in the first place.
Over the course of my video-making I discovered that by and large, people hate intros if they:
- Are too long.
- Are too "spammy".
- Have the word "productions" in it.
- All of the above.
Too long
On some older PCMech videos, yes the intros are way too long. So I shortened it, then shortened it again. At present, it’s just barely 6 seconds long and that’s just about right. (I could go even shorter and might for future vids.)
If your intro is longer than 6 seconds, shorten it. Anything longer will annoy people.
Think of it this way: When you’re driving on the highway and see a speed limit sign, you have seen and processed the information in just a few seconds. Intros work the same way – all you need is a few seconds and nothing more.
Too "spammy"
This is where your intro is "pushing" something too much and looks like an ad. Intros are supposed to be informatory first and always and not spam.
Has the word "productions" in it
Instead of coming up with something original, people will use "First name, Last name Productions". Nobody cares. Get rid of it and use something else (preferably something a lot shorter).
Skip the intro altogether?
There’s a school of thought that states you should have no intro whatsoever, and instead put informatory stuff at the tail after the main video is over.
Does this work? For some it does. It depends on your content. If you have relative assurance that people are watching all the way thru, then yes you can ditch the intro altogether. If not, stick with the intro.
Do intros bother you?
Let us know in the comments.
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I think intros make a video look more professional. I would tend to agree with points 1, 2, 3, and 4.
The way I see it; the longer the intro then the longer the video will be…to a point.
I’m thinking of toying with a fragmented intro that lasts the whole length of the video: it’ll be different and a talking point if nothing else.
(First I have to start making videos for real: I have only 1 video on the internet currently; and to label it crap would be too kind.)
I like the intro Dave uses on the PC Mech as well as the one he uses on davidrisley.com videos. ‘Just 1 second shorter and they would be perfect.
It looks like you guys have found the right balance of time and usefulness.
The intro’s are chrisp, clear and then gone. I think since the video’s are posted in more then one place it is better to have the intro’s than not.
I like Sharron have posted one video to YouTube, and it’s not ready for prime time, it sure is not as easy as it looks I’ll keep plugging away.
The whole point of a video is to communicate some sort of information or entertainment to the people. If your video is boring, it won’t matter if you have intro or not. Of course you need intro that will say where this video was produced so that when your video is fun / educational, people can visit your site and browse for more info. In my opinion, the website address (especially if its sweet and short)works best.
Haven’t done any videos of my own yet so I have to thank you for your insights into this issue of intros. Personally as obvious as the don’t use the word productions in your name is I wouldn’t have thought of it on my own. Thanks. As far as video productions go why wouldn’t we take a hint for the masters of video production, television. Not the movies are not masterfully produced it’s just that well TV has the same constraints that your web video has. If some one has gone to a theater or rented a movie they are somewhat of a “captive” audience. On the web and on TV the second you bore your audience they will just simply say “next” and change the channel. That is until you’ve won your audience over and your show has become established at that point people become more forgiving of boring details simply because you’ve delivered in the past. So what do TV production teams do? The start with a teaser. They give you a tasty tidbit of what is to come then they run the credits. Why not offer an interesting bit of information or a summary of what your video is to cover and then splice in your 6 second intro to let your audience know who you are.
The more interesting you are the longer your intro can be. Sponge Bob gets a long intro, we get way less time to work with.
What I like is the business card intro: the time it takes to pass a business card. Usually this means there is a hello followed by name or org. with a lot of information listed somewhere to the lower parts of the screen. Much like a business card, this information will be displayed again at a later more convenient time.