Sheri, I agree with your thinking about Web video needing to capture attention very quickly. I do think it's important for the narrator to introduce him or herself and introduce what the video is going to be about but it should be brief. 30 seconds can be an eternity, especially in a 5 minute video. Is it possible to chunk the material in such as way as to allow folks to "get on with it" by navigating to a next "chapter" via a simple interface? Flash could accommodate such a thing, and there could be other strategies as well. This is great for repeat visitors who just need that super quick refresher on that one feature but don't want to sit through the whole vid, too.
I am a multimedia designer who has worked a lot with online video (from every aspect of production and implementation), and while I don't have concrete evidence or official stats to share, I can tell you from simple focus group sessions that in general, the tolerance for non-essential info is very low... I would say folks likely are looking for how to click after less than twenty seconds of introductory talk. It's probably closer to about ten. Is the intro essential to the way the product works? It may be a nice bit of trivia, but is it ESSENTIAL to making the product work? If not, then let me move past it and get to what I need to know to do my job. I'd be interested to see how others feel about this, too! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=45516 ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [email protected] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
