Comment or Review?

[thebiz]

I think theres a definite shift in the way many of us interact with the movies we watch on TMU vs TMO.

In TMO we called it a review, were forced to put some kind of rating on the flick, and often pointed out the good and bad qualities of a movie as some sort of critique. On TMU its called a comment, is often used for some sort of dialogue (often comedic), and is often much less a critique than a notification that we watched the movie in the first place.

Personally I like a bit more feedback with the comments of my own projects and I often try to include a bit in my comments of other people's flicks (trying to be human about it and avoiding a negative review in general). However, I will say that I tend to feel like a jerk for pointing out any negative aspects to someone elses film on TMU and lately tend to leave less critique than the little sticky "Heya cool movie" comment.

Thoughts?

[sisch]

Hm, I hope reviewing on TMU will not generally "deteriorate" to people saying - great movie.....

I always love feedback, so I try to integrate some in my reviews on other movies, too. For me, it was never so much about the stars, but more about how people felt when they watched my films, and I can take criticism, too.

Banter is good, and I like that we're able to comment on the reviews we've got - so I hope it will work out, and that people will start to write more than "hello, nice film" in the future...

[EmeraldEdge]

Yeah, it does seem to be that way, but the bonus is that you can leave multiple comments, and interact with others about the film, including the filmmaker, right? I wonder if there would be a way to add a seperate section for reviews, and one for comments? I definitely like the fact that I can leave comments without having to rate or review, as it often leads to people getting pissed. I agree with you, though, that having the feedback on what was good or bad with your film was great. I know I'd want to get as much as possible if I release another film.

[BiggsTrek]

I'm also glad we don't have to leave Ratings on movies on TMU. The whole 5-Star rubber stamp mentality (of which I'm guilty as much as anyone) was getting out of hand. (From day one of joining TMU, I started a policy to never leave a Rating, just a comment.)

As to the comments being less like reviews, I hadn't thought of it, but you seem to be right. But then again, I often varied from real 'critiques' to just "I love your work" type 'reviews' anyway. One other small technical thing is the 'r' (with IE) that's left on a carriage return stopped me from wanting to write a second paragraph (that's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it!) It's just ugly...

[Norrie]

Great thread – 5 stars. You ROCK :18:

[Chris62]

I agree biz i like some feed back on my movies so i can better myself when i'm making a movie.
It helps to now if you could have done somthing better.

[Killian]

I'm a newb here so don't really feel that qualified to comment on prior activity (especially on TMO), so can only express my own opinion on comment/reviews.

IMO, the facility to leave comments is just that; comments. People who pop in and see a movie and feel inspired to write a page, a few lines, a word or two or even nowt about it should feel able to, without the unseen pressure I sense prevailed at other movie sites.

Want to give a full critique? Feel free if you enjoyed or hated the film that much; as Chris said above (and I agree with the sentiment, being a newbie film maker), every comment (provided it's constructive and not just "you sux/that was great, rate my movie, etc"...) is valuable to me in "learning the trade".

However, equally as valid is the ability to surf on in, watch a few movies to chill out and enjoy them, without having to feel that you HAVE to leave some kind of mark of your presence in a comment.

[riott007]

There should also be a section where you can only leave perverted comments since I fall into that catagory.

[Norrie]

I suspect this will change as time goes by. You must remember this: a kiss is still... wait...
As I was saying; the place has only been up and running for a few weeks, and a lot of films are things people have seen before on TMO.

I think as we all settle down, and new gems appear, comments will become more "critical", in the true sense. Hopefully anyway.

[Elbow]

Normally, if I want to say more than a 'hi ya' saw it and a short comment, I'll send them a pm.

[Dulci]

I suspect this will change as time goes by. You must remember this: a kiss is still... wait...
As I was saying; the place has only been up and running for a few weeks, and a lot of films are things people have seen before on TMO.

I think as we all settle down, and new gems appear, comments will become more "critical", in the true sense. Hopefully anyway.


Agree 100%.

[6hm]

reviews are a funny thing..
I recall back on tmo anyways, writing a short review for a well known movie and maker..and saying in the promo thread among a short convo that i didnt state all my thoughts. to which the movie maker said "i'd always want to hear comments on how to improve and such" (you know the generic speech everyone says round these parts). With that, i stated that certain camera angles were "cinematically incorrect" as in one scene showed the person of weakness with a low cam angle which portyays the opposite and so on... turns out once i mentioned where i thought there was room to improve.. Suddenly I lost my audience. Improving didnt seem so important anymore.

so really, if you want to hear peoples real comment be sure you really want to hear them..if not not just be happy with the "i love the way you had the guy do the thing with the other guy" style

me personally?
review or comment how you want. i am not trying to improve anything with my "movies"...i know what i want to do and i do it that way...i dont mind hearing peoples take on what they would have done..hell, criticize every frame if you'd like. or just say liked/hated it..or just say nothing and move along...

I make "movies" movies just for fun, always have. this is not going to be the start of my exciting new career. i'm usually just going for a laugh or two. lately not so much... i have to like the audience i'm trying to entertain first

anyways, reviews are always welcome..i enjoy the read. Even the negative ones...i'll admit i'll miss the "why is this on the top of the chart" and "i thought good movies were supposed to be #1" style reviews as they were always good inspiration to make another movie.

As for me i'll review without any critiques as i tend to believe that people who say they want them are usually playing lip service. Expect a "good job" from me...unless i am absolutely moved or i know you personally well enough to realize you want to actually hear my thoughts



this has been a channel 6 special report

[Sparky]

To me, anything uploaded to TMO was fair game for critical review - as the option stated 'review' not 'comment'. If people didn't want their work 'reviewed' on tmo, then they could have uploaded it elsewhere and given the link to their friends. - This is not to say that i chose to critique every movie i saw as i knew that some dirsctors weren't intersted in those kind of comments - fairs fair.

I'm thinking of a couple of options as to what i'll do when i release my next movie on TMU.

1. Start a review thread in these forums to give people the option of commenting, reviewing, discussing the movie in more detail.
2. PM certain people who's opinions i most value and trust and ask privately for their critical comments
3. Resign myself to the fact that 'reviewing' as we knew it is more a TMO thing and that getting comments here on TMU is a great way for someone to acknowledge that they have watched and enjoyed (or not enjoyed in some cases) the movies. I do find it mildly frustrating that a movie receives 200 + views and gets 5 comments, but then again i'm sure the same was true on TMO, we just didn't get to see the viewing figures.

My tuppance. :44:

[riott007]

I rarely review a movie mainly because I hate reviewing. I feel if my movies aren't that great...then I shouldn't point out the mistakes in others. I'm not very good at giving advice for improvement so therefore I don't.
If I did enjoy it..I give it 5 stars. If I didn't enjoy it..I probably won't rate it.

[thebiz]

If I did enjoy it..I give it 5 stars. If I didn't enjoy it..I probably won't rate it.

Perhaps the "Diggs" system, in which you have the option to either say you liked it or you didnt and the number of yeses and nos is displayed, would work here in place of the star ratings which seems to serve little purpose. Then again, perhaps its too early and Im too sober to be talking...

[kuroken]

I try to leave a comment of some kind on everything I watch (or at least make it through....) Occasionally I don't, because even though I made it through, I can think of nothing positive to say.

I haven't gotten into any in-depth reviews (but then, I almost never do on TMO either unless I know the person is looking for that kind of thing) - I would say my review of Nexus's Paix was probably my longest review in some time, only because of my anger at the content of the film - didn't have time to "review" ShyShy's gay-bashing flick before it was removed, though that would have been similarly long.

Otherwise, a few words to indicate that I watched and liked what I saw, with some examples of what I did like or was impressed by, is usually my limit.

And honestly, I haven't had the time to really delve into the garden of earthly delights that await me on TMU - between getting it up and running, getting these forums up and running, and dealing with Tropical Storm Fay, my free time has been somewhat limited the past few weeks.

Ken

[Dulci]

I run out of clever things to say in reviews.

Also, I feel pompous offering suggestions to people who obviously know what they are doing.

On TMO it's easy to offer suggestions because there's plenty of people who don't know how to turn the mumbling sound off, etc.

[thebiz]

. I do find it mildly frustraiting that a movie recieves 200 + views and gets 5 comments, but then again i'm sure the same was true onTMO, we just didn't get to see the viewing figures.


Ive been meaning to point this out for a bit but I would say for every movie I watch and leave a comment on I probably account for somewhere between 3-7 views even though Ive only hit the play button once as the movie still gets a view when the page is visited.

I usually dont watch a movie the first time I visit the page as Im there to read the description and the reviews if they exist. I often dont have time, inclination or ability to watch the movie the first time. Then once i do watch the movie (the second view) and leave a review, I often want to look at the review to see if there are errors and whatnot so I hit refresh accounting for the 3rd review. Then depending on the movie I tend to check up on the reviews to see what everyone else had to say accounting for the 4-7 other views. And then there is the movie maker who wants to see the reviews his/her movie garnered and accounts for views as well.

Now Im betting that other people do roughly the same type of thing and the real number of views is probably more realistically a half or third of the number that shows up.

Feel free to let me know if this is not your experience.

This doesnt really bother me as it mellows my overall experience in the same way that the lack of charts does. Its a relative number and not something that I cling fast and hard to. Im just saying.

[Dulci]

I'll add to that my obsessive compulsive behavior to read/re-read reviews left for my movies.

[kuroken]

Ive been meaning to point this out for a bit but I would say for every movie I watch and leave a comment on I probably account for somewhere between 3-7 views even though Ive only hit the play button once as the movie still gets a view when the page is visited.
Yes, the views are not completely accurate at this point (though that may change with the new version of the script - maybe not).

Still they are a good indicator - they don't increase unless the movie page is loaded, and even an obsessive compulsive like Dulci can only add a relatively small number of views by checking her comments/reviews. So if you've got a couple of hundred views, a goodly number of people have at least gone to the movie page and considered whether they want to waste time watching your movie or...not.

In my happy little world, I believe they all watched, and most were struck dumb by the brilliance of my work. Or...not.

Ken

[Jase180]

I run out of clever things to say in reviews.

Also, I feel pompous offering suggestions to people who obviously know what they are doing.

On TMO it's easy to offer suggestions because there's plenty of people who don't know how to turn the mumbling sound off, etc.

Gah, if you feel pompous, thats gotta make me..well worse than pompous (Norrie, toss a word out) because when I left reviews on TMO, I was mostly critical, on TMU i have been less than and I never really know what to do.

I used to over-think this, now i just go with my gut reaction. if somebody wants my opinion, they tend to pm me and ask, I dunno...

[ChatNoir]

I tend to think we have been accustomed to hyperboles in TMO. (Sorry for saying this but I think it’s true…) I hope we’d be less so in TMU.

On the other hand, I regret overly critical reviews I wrote on TMO, because, with TM movies, what’s done has been done, and criticisms cannot help anything any more (at least for the movie being criticized.)

Having said that, I don’t think I’ll hold my opinion just because people should know what they’re doing or should know better than I do. I think, in the end, everything is about how people on the other side watching it perceive it.

But then again, I do my best to be polite. But alas, I slip once in a while...

[Norrie]

Gah, if you feel pompous, thats gotta make me..well worse than pompous (Norrie, toss a word out) ...
Perfect word Jase, just the bracket in the wrong place. Thus:

"Gah, if you feel pompous, thats gotta make me..well worse than pompous Norrie, (toss a word out)" :18:

[Jase180]

Perfect word Jase, just the bracket in the wrong place. Thus:

"Gah, if you feel pompous, thats gotta make me..well worse than pompous Norrie, (toss a word out)" :18:

HAHAHHAHAHA.
Zing. Pow.

Honestly tho, I used to be much more of a dick about this kinda thing til i took some advice and lightened up.

STOP :hammer: Hammertime.

[Dulci]

Well, a few of us have released new movies since this thread was started. What do we think? Has the comment/review:watch ratio increased? Are we getting the kind of feedback we hoped for?

[Uber]

Honestly, i prefer to hear how entertained people were, not a technical breakdown with a few exceptions. Like a better way to correct VOs or where i can find what i need to do better overlays or after editing.

Basiclly the entertainment factor.

[sisch]

I like both comments and reviews... if you've watched it, and don't feel like writing paragraphs, just say that you watched it... (and if it entertained you).

I suspect a lot of people have watched The Intermediate (jugdging by the views - 2576!! :001_huh:), although much of that might be due to it being featured on the frontpage - I can't imagine that every member of TMU has watched the movie... 8,2300319 times! :biggrin:

[Norrie]

I think the numbers of views is best ignored around these parts. Not a true indication.

I find I'm leaving a comment in pretty much the same way I did back in the day. However, I do find that I invariably forget to hit the starry thingy.

I'll admit though, that I am more inclined to hit a low starry thing when it's so bad that I don't want to comment.

And often I'll watch and do neither, depends on the filmmaker I suppose.

[BiggsTrek]

I still haven't released a NEW movie here yet, but I have watched a few. Seems like I am reviewing the same as I did before, writing longer reviews for ones that I particularly like, just a few words for ones that I didn't much care for, and variations inbetween (or not at all).

Still won't 'star' any of them, though. I refuse. :)

[Uber]

I wonder how hard it is to write a review if you allow for artictic opinion. You like this way, that person prefers it another way and so on. How well can you judge how someone else wanted it to look?

[Killian]

True enough; you can't please everyone. Out of 100 people who watch something, 80 could love it, 10 hate it, 5 not be swayed either way and 5 who wanted it done to their specifications... or any other combination of the same thing.

The best thing you can really hope for, I suppose, is that the ones that watched it liked your interpretation of the subject matter and the way it was done overall.

[sisch]

I wonder how hard it is to write a review if you allow for artictic opinion. You like this way, that person prefers it another way and so on. How well can you judge how someone else wanted it to look?

Not at all, really? Comments are always subjective - all you can do is say is if you liked the look of the film or not. I'm very reserved with critique nowadays or comments of what I think could've been done better - if someone wants it, he/she can ask me in a pm.