Composition Length for Web

J

james thorpe

Active member
I have a composition Q. Is there a 'rule' or assumption for web videos that they have to be of a certain length?
I'm wondering in relation to songwriting. Most pop songs are in the 3 minutes and X seconds range. Is there a similar 'rule' for
making video compositions for web? I'm not talking 2 hour movies. I usually make 2-3 minute clips. Does the attention span go elsewhere if
its longer than that? I have 50 minutes of clips i need to tweak down. :crybaby:
 
Longer length = Expectation of higher production values.

If it's 25 minutes long, it need to approach the quality of a cable television produced series. If it's 90 seconds long, you get more leeway.
 
30s seconds if there is no dialogue IMO

I guess 3-4 mins is quite long for a corporate or some thing

Instructionals proably go longer

I dont know if youve seen 'making of aliens' - mental - three hours long on YouTube but I watched it all - that was kind of a cross over experience for me on how long a web vid can be!

Now "The Bridge" was on uk Iplayer - to me thats a web show therefore - 12+ hours and that was too short :)

S
 
I mainly make nature/wildlife shorts. Usually around 3 minutes. I was thinking if 10 minutes was too long? It will only have music background.
Or should they be broken up into 3 mini-clips?
 
The type of people who like watching nature/wildlife shorts aren't going to be too bothered how long the shorts are. I think 10 minutes would be fine, presuming they actually contain 10 minutes of interesting footage - just because you have 50 minutes of raw footage doesn't mean your audience will want to see every second of it. Presumably your footage can be subdivided by subject or theme or something, so that each short will be 'complete' in itself.

People who hate nature/wildlife shorts won't watch them even if they're only 30 seconds long :)
 
hehe :) Thanks Clang. I think i will have 2 shorts out of the footage. First one came out to 7.44. So, 10 minute rule is good.
 
There are no rules of course - with the web and cheap cameras its the age of democratic film making

But. having more than 30s air time without a voice, being (off screen) narration, a presenter or dialogue is, I would guess, extremely rare

Surf some TV, watch some DVDs - find 30s of 'no voice' that is not part of a feature - it just doesnt happen

Well it happens - but only on vimeo - in a little world called camera forum camera at 1.4 slider dolly test video - but these have no audience

I guess the piece needs a voice over and sound design

I think we have been told stories since we were toddlers for tens of generations and expect that

I was at school with Nick Baker - he would tell stories of animals since he was 10, now he has a camera help him tell his stories..
He could tell you the story of the sex life of a slug and make it engaging
Cheesy example but it will have an audience http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iyv-pd8nrME

IMO
 
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