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Randy Cassingham's BlogHistorical Details and Author's Notes from This is True®
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This is True Videos: Take 2
Just over a year ago, I launched a new This is True video series. There were some things I really liked about those videos, but there were quite a few things I didn't like about them too. Only five were produced.
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What didn't I like about them? First, they were too long; people weren't sitting through them. The "theme song" that was so catchy the first time got really, really old after awhile. They were quite time-consuming and expensive to produce, so we didn't do many of them, and the time in between episodes kept getting longer.
But worst of all: I wasn't in them. They were produced in Denver, a good five-hour drive from my house in rural Western Colorado, and I wasn't going to drive over every week to shoot five minutes of video. The production house didn't want me sending video over, either. We were at an impasse ...which is why I decided to stop production.
The number-one "complaint" (read: constructive criticism) I got from readers is they wanted me to do the stories, even though the gal we hired was quite pretty, and did a good job reading the stories. What irritated me, though, was when people would say, "Hey! Katie's comment on that story was RIGHT ON!" Grr! That wasn't "Katie's" comment, it was mine. People didn't quite grasp that someone else wrote the stories, even though my name was all over it. Surely if they were my stories, I would be reading them, right? Well, that's why I knew I had to take over doing the videos; I brought them home from Denver. And now that I have a good and stable assistant, we can do them in-house.
So I'm thrilled to finally get back into production on True videos. You can also Subscribe via iTunes. (Note: That's the same iTunes link as the previous videos; you don't have to subscribe again if you did last year.) For non-iTunes subscriptions by RSS, use this link. Other viewing options include Blip.TV and Magnify.
Here are all the episodes, via YouTube. It will automatically update with more episodes as they're released -- see below if you'd like to add this to your site or blog. Enjoy!
If you're a YouTube registered user, I'd appreciate your clicking through on the video and rating it. You can comment on it there or here, as you prefer.
Those who really pay attention might note that I have finally secured the "ThisIsTrue" channel on YouTube. Someone had squatted my trademark there, and it took quite some time to get YouTube to do anything about it. So now the RandyCassingham channel will be "personal" videos, such as last month's bus plunge exercise; the ThisIsTrue channel will be True videos.
To Put the Above Player on Your Site
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Most Recent Comments
Posted by Carl, Acworth, Georgia on June 21, 2008:
VERY funny stuff, Randy. I loved it !!!
And, yeah, OK, the newspapers make a better backdrop. The main thing though is that it is quite clear you are enjoying doing it, and that definitely adds to our enjoyment watching it. You have found the right formula for your show, so trust it. Information transmitted in an entertaining fashion - I have no doubt it will get better and better as you settle into it, just like a new pair of boots.
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That's my plan. I'm not sure what backdrop I'll do in the long run, but I'll be trying different things. And yes, I'm sure I'll get more comfortable in front of the camera as time goes on. -rc
Posted by Bill, NY on June 23, 2008:
Good to have the videos back. I enjoyed them before and I'll enjoy them now. That being said...it's weird to hear you react to the stupid people who don't know it's your story when Katie read it. I thought your quest was to fight stupdity, not to cater to it! Even with you in the video, you will have people who think that someone else wrote it for you (especially with the obvious reading you are doing). Consider that before you rule out bringing back Katie (or someone else more natural). Thanks.
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There's simply no way Katie will be back. That would mean moving the production back to Denver, to a house that's moved on to other things, at a cost that's more than I can afford (especially considering one doesn't make a dime by putting stuff on YouTube). -rc
Posted by Jonathan, New York on June 24, 2008:
I have no argument against the economics of your returning to Denver to the production house as opposed to your doing the videos yourself. That's your call. But I do have to tell you that I really enjoyed the mirth with which Katie presented the stories. She conveyed a genuine feeling of humor in the situations she described. And I never ever thought that she had participated in the work of finding the subject matter and writing the presentation for the videos. She was a narrator - a good presenter of your work. I sense that you might have felt slighted over someone seemingly attributing your work to Katie. It's possible that that person missed the video in which you introduced Katie as the future narrator of your work. I, for one, knew that it represented your work and your wry humor, for which I take this opportunity to thank you. I also want to thank you for your volunteer work. There can never be too much recognition given to EMTs and other first responders. You do your fellow man a great service.
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Thanks for your kind words. I for sure didn't have any problem with Katie's work -- she did a good job. At one point we auditioned a couple of gals locally to do the stories here, and that's when I decided I had to do the stories myself: they just didn't "get" what the stories were really about. That made me realize how good of a job Katie was doing in interpreting the stories.
That some people thought they were "Katie's comments" wasn't the primary driver of bringing the production in-house; economics was. We need to churn this out quickly and efficiently, since (as we know) "time is money" and without an income stream to offset the costs, we have to keep costs to a minimum. -rc