Date: 08:26:14 on Thursday, January 26, 2006
Name: aenigmaeffect
Subject: nm - on Screenshot Previews
This is a great forum. It really is. Now, because it's such a good forum, there are a TON of posts, and because of this, it can be hard to find the stuff you really want to download.
So, it's important, if you really want to share your movies, you NEED to provide GOOD, EASY PREVIEWS.
There are many ways to do this. The best way is to make a collage of a bunch of screenshots, and provide a link so people can click on it and see the preview. www.imagevenue.com does a good job. Simple site with no pop-ups.
Now, one of the worst ways is to zip/rar up your files, then put it on another download site such as RS or wherever. THIS IS HORRIBLE. It's a many step process, since RS already takes at least 3 clicks, and the unpacking takes even more. A lot of people, when they see this, just don't even bother.
Yes, you may want to do it for the RS points. But the hassle for everyone else just to see the PREVIEWS may in fact drive people AWAY from downloading your movie. If your movie is good (as evident from the previews), people will download it. I'd rather download 10 small chunks of a good movie, than to d/l a zipped preview. (big chunks are ALWAYS better, however).
In conclusion:
- Make previews (preferably collage, but otherwise is fine. See my next post on how to do this)
- DO NOT ZIP/RAR when uploading
- Try www.imagevenue.com
- hell, even RS, as long as it's NOT ZIPPED/RAR'ED, it's fine.
My next post will be how to make a collage, along with some tools.