Re: audio on videos

The audio on railroad programs has been an issue since I started making programs in 1986. Each viewer has his or her own expectations as to what they want or don't want. When Greg and I were making the America by Rail series we were making them for a mass market distributor and we had to make programs that would appeal to a more pedestrian audience. At the same time we did not want to estrange our regular rail customers.

For the most part, viewers seemed happy. One guy wrote us to say that what we now call "America by Rail-the Heartland" (the first in the series and the best seller) was the best railroad program he had ever seen and that it enriched his life. And even though we followed Amtrak's California Zephyr from Chicago to Oakland, another guy groused that we did not show a runby at a certain milepost! Since we are talking about audio, on the sequences where we were looking out the Superliner window at the scenery going by, we had music composed for the on-board sequences. Once guy e-mailed that he wanted natural sound. When it was explained that the only natural sound was me breathing, he responded that if that was the sound, then that was what he wanted!

But even for more Railfan-oriented programs there are varying expectations. There are many on this forum who, if presented with random clips with no narration or locator fonts could tell you when and where the D&RGW narrow gauge scene was shot. Shoot, I can often identify a particular engine if I can't see the number, because I know how it looked in 1956!

But other viewers aren't so up on everything, and they want line history, locomotive facts etc. It's a balancing act to be sure. And for me, the narration on/off has helped as a producer, but even then, on the segments where there is a lot of facts and figures or maps, it's merely video, music and no voice.

And now we have UP Big Boy 4014...

4014 has brought a ton of new people into the hobby. When 4014 moves, we can't keep up with the orders for Big Boy merchandise. We are seeing a LOT of new people. And from the perspective of many on this board, one would say that they are clueless. We have answered the most basic questions over and over. One guy bought our 4014 DVD, and when he saw the previews for our other programs at the end, for the first time he became aware that there were any other steam locomotives running besides 844 and 4014. Really! He was like a sponge on the phone, I could not explain things fast enough.

So on one hand we have customers who know more about a particular subject than I do, and others that know nothing at all. And I try to walk the tightrope somewhere in the middle!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/01/2019 08:15PM by Les Jarrett.