In Search of Potential Betas

[frayadjacent]

I've been vidding a bit over a year now.  I've joined Vidpub, participated in Festivids, posted on various vidding-related coms, signed up for another vid exchange, and even spent hours and hours in #vidding chat.  But something is missing: a handful of solid betas to give me feedback on my Works in Progress. 

Soooo..is anyone out there OK with being asked to beta future vid projects?  Saying yes doesn't mean you're promising to beta anytime I ask, but rather that 1) you're OK with being asked, and 2) you imagine you'd say yes at some point, depending on availability, fandom, etc. 

jetpack_monkey has already offered beta services for future projects.  This is awesome!  But I'd love to know if there are other people out there as well who are willing to share their thoughts on my WIPs.  More brains = better vids, I suspect?

Since I don't have much experience yet with the beta process, I'd also love to hear how it works for you, how much depth you like to go into in feedback, how many versions of a WIP you'll look at, etc.

ETA: Um, I forgot to write this?  But I am more than happy to exchange beta services, not just receive them!  Be forewarned that I have not yet ever beta'd a vid before (or any other fanwork), but I'm getting more confident that it's something I could do.  A gal's gotta start somewhere, right?

Comments

[sanguinity]

I'm willing to be asked.

I tend to go into great depth in feedback -- apparently I've made more than one person anxious with the sheer quantity of text in one of my replies. My format tends to be a stream-of-consciousness, "this is what I was thinking as I went through it." (Thus, one tends to receive a catalog of "oo, nice" moments, "this isn't working for me" moments, and what I think it means / where it's going.) I'm more than happy to help problem-solve or make suggestions when asked, but I'm a little shy about volunteering those if I haven't worked with someone before.

I tend not to mind giving multiple rounds of feedback. (It's kind of fun to watch how a vid evolves! I think I saw five iterations of seekingferret's "A New Day in New York Town.") I haven't yet tried to help anyone who didn't have an entire draft timeline laid down, but I'd be willing to look at a partial timeline.

Also, I'm pretty new to providing beta for vids. There might be some things that I don't have the know-how to be terribly useful about.


...and I'm looking for potential vidding betas, myself.

[frayadjacent]

D'oh! I knew I left something out -- I am *definitely* happy to be a beta in return. I've never done it before, but actually after watching ~175 Festivids I'm feeling more confident in my ability to "read" vids and give concrete feedback. (Not that my comments on Festivids were necessarily all that concrete, but I noticed I was able to critically assess vids on first view better than I used to.) All of which is to say, by all means, feel free to ask me as well!

Depth is awesome. And good to know how problem-solving/offering suggestions works for you. I imagine I'd be the same way -- open to doing it, but it's easier if you know the person.

Thank you!!!