Something to note: I gave the contestants the theme of “How I began playing Magic.”
Zach Carter – Deep Analysis Episode 2
Evan:
Zach! The only podcast to impress me enough to make the finalists returns. That said… I must admit I didn’t enjoy it as much as the first. I really wanted to, but I feel like the feedback I gave wasn’t really taken into account. I still love that voice, man; Casey Kasem would be proud. But I thought you really had something with the “robot” voice/personality that was going in the first episode. It was another personality you can interact with, even if it’s your own, and the jokes in the previous episode were great. Where was the continuation of Johnny, Timmy, and Spike? Work on your own bits and make them your own.
WUBRG… I kinda hate that guy, so the clever editing of him into the episode didn’t really work for me. Plus, I feel like
your
characters are a lot more fascinating than the sound bite editing of another property.
Next time: Bring back the robot; bring back
your
characters (even if they’re not Timmy/Johnny/Spike; I always like original ideas better). I’m still excited that you’re in the running, as your vote count was pretty low. My tip? Beg at the end, not the beginning. Give them the voice, the personality, and some entertainment before asking for them to jump into action.
Ferrett:
As a weedy little guy who had to spend years in voice therapy to get even a semblance of basso, I wish I had your voice. Do you talk like that all the time? When you talk, do people squint and tilt their heads and wonder who turned up the car radio? Can I slice that delightful throat and swallow your larynx whole?
That said, you’re like a crunchy frog in that you have a delicious chocolate coating of That Voice, but the content is lacking. The Wooberg jokes didn’t really go anywhere, just annoying the audience without a payoff – and listening to your discussions felt like you needed an editor to keep you on track. Remember, even if the theme is about you, the audience is always interested in themselves – so you have to do something that draws them in. I took some heat in the forums for saying that people’s Magic histories tend to be generic and boring, but in this case it really didn’t work. I hit the pause about halfway through and then remembered, oh, right, I was judging.
Then you get to the friends bit, which is universal. You shoulda gotten to that sooner. And then you need to talk about something either shallower or deeper than Magic – either plunge under the surface and tap into that Jungian gestalt of the alone kid finding solace in Magic, or go shallow and find something so trivial about Magic that it’s
only
about you, and it makes you interesting.
And pauses don’t make comedy, man. Speed it up.
Patrick:
The good: You have a million-dollar voice, and your delivery is already radio ready.
The bad: Your second podcast was not funny at all. The pacing was off, and felt too slow. The talk about friends was far more interesting than your particular history, and I would strongly suggest running some of your material by a friend beforehand to get a feel for if they will think it is interesting. Basically, I am left feeling like I would hire you as a voice actor in a heartbeat, but if you want to make it on your content, you gotta be more interesting. Show me something unique about you. Show me experiences that make me relate to you. I liked your characters in the first podcast better, for what it’s worth.
Ted:
You have the perfect voiceover voice, and I think your attempt to play straight-man to a puppet voice was an excellent choice. The storytelling, on the other hand, fell very flat. In a way, this is kind of like Ferrer’s piece in that the structure and concept are good, but the writing failed to keep me interested. I think you face a huge challenge in that you’re a relatively new player and new at Magic content as well, which means you’re trying to find your own style and keep readers interested in what you have to say at the same time, without having a huge reservoir of experience or stories to tap into.
It’s somewhat lucky that there’s no elimination this week, because you might have been the one to go. Keep plugging away though; you have almost two weeks to prepare your next episode. Get together with your non-puppet friends, and find a blockbuster.
Colin Dixon – Very Poor Magic Episode 2
Evan:
Yes! Now we’re getting somewhere. I’ve already discussed with you privately how to get around your synchronization issues, and I think you’re slowly finding your niche (trust me; to make this much improvement in two shows is tough—I know!).
I liked this one a lot more because it was obvious you spent some time trying to find the best quotes/scenes with which to make your point, and your angle of cheap but competitive decks shone through a
lot
more this go-round.
The only thing I got to say negatively is that you must watch your pacing always—enter late, leave early with all comedy—but overall a solid entry. Can’t wait to see next week’s!
Ferrett:
What this feels like at this point is still a very competently done copy of Evan Erwin The Magic Show… Which, you know, isn’t a bad comparison since very early shows of The Magic Show felt like competently done copies of ZeFrank. (It doesn’t help that you have that slight Southern accent, chief, but I can’t quite tell you to switch to Brooklynese.) And The Magic Show is more-or-less bulletproof in the world of Magic, so why not try to build?
Still, you gotta find a unique voice. I
do
like the Wrong Side – I think that’s really quite clever, and I’d like to see more of that – but I kind of want to find the rant that’s at the heart of you. Evan took very quickly to “Community is the heart of Magic,” and that propelled him to the heights – what drives you? What’s your passion? Sticking to Very Poor Magic means that you’ll be stuck talking cards, when Evan often discusses philosophy. I think squeezing an issues piece in the middle of your next video might be a real treat, if it’s something you really frickin’ love.
Patrick:
Your product seems like a very reasonable knock-off, but come on, man! Branch out a little! It’s eerie how much like The Magic Show your product is and not just your accent. The writing is good, your personality is likable, but man please, please take a chance, and find a way to differentiate yourself from Evan. Additionally, I get what you were going for with “the wrongside,” but I totally disagree with the content. It’s not the biggest deal, but all the strong players I know talk about infect as most like double strike, as it’s most like double strike in the most relevant areas (i.e. how much damage you have to deal and the interaction with pump).
Ted:
This is so surreal. I failed to care one bit about your topic material (you didn’t really rope me in), but I find myself loving the images you provide in the video. I guess this means you were 80% successful. I don’t love much of anything, so this is some serious praise from me – I think you’re really skilled at finding images to link together your thoughts and that provoke a reaction from the audience. Tragically, that doesn’t quite jibe with the pleasure I received from the commentary. You might have a solid career in graphic design, but you need to tie everything together a little better and work on your audience hooks if you’re going to go deep into the event.
Also, lose the silly headphone look, and I really enjoyed you as Ogie in ‘The Waitress.’
Jeremy Froggatt – “Alterations: Your Toolbox”
Evan:
Loved. It! Your voice is definitely appreciated in this competition, as you bring something few others can do, let alone explain, well. This gives those who are both new to altering, old to altering, or just curious about it the ultimate resource to getting started. Stellar work!
I wish I had more constructive criticism, but I’m a little short on this one. The artwork was great, you explained the expense and intricacies, and you injected your personality in your writing. Well done.
Ferrett:
You and I, sir, are at two different ends of the spectrum. In one of my decks is a Library of Alexandria that has never seen a sleeve. To me, cards are to be beaten, scratched, and played the heck out of, not blinged up.
That said, you do a really solid job here of showing how to paint cards, with a lot of illos to spice it up. Of the people in this section, you’ve got the most hits. There’s clearly an interest, and there are a lot of interesting ways this column could go; bring in other artists, take suggestions from the crowd, and then try to raw-dog something crazy, show off painting in general. Then again, it could easily degenerate to “Here’s the card I painted this week.”
I wonder how many useful hints you’ll have to give in this series. Not knowing anything about painting, I’m going to hope it’s a lot. You’ve got a long way to go, so I’ll be curious to see if you can make painting interesting over the course of months.
Patrick:
You are good at what you do, you hit well, and there is a lot of crossover from people that have a passing interest that will tune in just to see your card of the day. That said, if this is a weekly column, or even bi-weekly, it seems important to find something that you can continue to talk about week in and week out. Maybe taking a page out of Bob Ross’s playbook would be helpful. You are strong, thus far, but I’m interested to see if you can keep it fresh.
Ted:
I liked the concept for this series before it hit our pages, and I like the execution too. Is it weird to enjoy something I know I’ll never do? I don’t know, but it’s the truth. I’ve been to dinner with tons of the artists that you see on Magic cards, and I really enjoy original art, but alterations are great. Most of the artists seem to dig them as well, as many will do their own alters if you contract them for it or catch them at a convention.
Any who, of the Mixed Media contestants, this is the one that I think has the best chance to make it through ‘til the end. Nice work again, and a good execution of Evan’s theme.
Adrian Ferrer – The Spark (webcomic)
Evan:
Woot! Love me a good comic 🙂 For this challenge, I asked the competitors to talk about “How They Began Playing Magic” – but what to do for a webcomic? Why, how did one of the
characters
start “playing” Magic? And so for this, he took Chandra, mixed in a little bit of brilliant internet culture courtesy of
Trogdor,
and I thought it came out fantastically well.
Do note that Adrian was already well-underway with another direction to take the comic when I told him to switch gears and create something else entirely. This is just a nod to his professionalism and ability to get things done under direction. Kick ass 🙂
Ferrett
: Ah, Adrian – as an
old webcomics hand
himself, it warms my heart to see someone going for Magic webcomics. Your art is professional and anime-cute without being overbearing, and your writing is…
Slight. That’s the only word I can give to it. Your strip’s like candy corn in that I can tear through four of them in about twenty seconds, enjoy them while I’m munching, and then forget about it entirely twenty seconds later. I like what I see here, but it’s just sort of amiable – no belly laughs, no real emotional twists (though you hint at a potential for that in the beginning when Chandra’s alone), just a gentle smile on my face the whole way through. Nothing that sticks.
Is that enough to get you to the end? I dunno. Certainly people love webcomics, and you do them well. But I’d like to see a bit of stretching on your part, where you try for either one huge laugh, or break our damned hearts. Do something that’s going to really evoke a strong reaction, because as it is, I suspect you’ll get voted along until there’s a week when heavyweights clash, and you might get left in the dust.
Patrick:
Love to see a Magic webcomic, and I like your artistic stylings. There is so much potential here; I just wish you had more story in your comics. The entire experience is over so fast. I enjoy the experience, but I would really enjoy more of an arc and plot. I kind of suspect I would enjoy reading your webcomics 1/10 as often but 10 times as much, if that is what it took. I very much enjoy your comics, so I hope there is a way to toggle with the product a little in order to get more into a bite. I liked your approach to tackling the week’s theme, despite the restrictions of your medium.
Ted:
I feel a little like the Grinch who stole Christmas here, but this week was weak. Yes, I can understand how trying to execute the theme with your comic style backed you into a bit of a corner, but the writing here didn’t do anything for me. The art is pretty good, but I find myself nodding at Thea Steele comment wishing you’d start adding color to your work. This makes this week’s submission officially a mixed bag.
I like the idea of having a comic on the site, and you have potential. You’re going to need to buff up your writing, though, if you want to go the distance.
Evan:
While I’m glad we didn’t have to lose anybody, we did lose someone due to missing deadlines, and that is most unfortunate. Anthony Wilson was someone who I thought needed a lot of attention but could really excel. We were making progress when deadlines came, and no video was present. So frustrating. Good luck Anthony!
That said, next week’s theme for the New Media finalists: My Favorite Cards.