theredrobedwizard said:
GRZ has always seemed a little too forced for my tastes. They really need to relax. I know they're scripted (to one extent or another), but they really need to make it look like they're actually having a conversation instead of just being talking heads.
I apologize for that episode being awkward, I was totally out of it. It was actually the second time we did that interview, which is why it might have sounded scripted and less like a conversation.
After the initial success of GRZ, WotC's Online Media group decided to expand all of it's video offerings to include lots of things, like new higher production shows, video game trailers, sizzle videos, etc. Unfortunately, this plan came at the expense of GRZ which was put on hold while the big picture was sorted out.
As all things in a corporate environment, things take much longer than anyone thought, and it looked like it would be months (or longer) before I could get GRZ staffed again, with a camera person, a video editor, someone to set up sets, lights, equipment, do on screen graphics, etc.
Personally, it seemed crazy to me for us to not do the show for the weeks leading up to, and following, possibly the single biggest product launch in WotC history with regards to our gaming community. And when no amount of arguing and hand waving (and let me tell you, I can wave hands with the best of them) got me any resources to continue doing GRZ, I asked them if they'd just let me try and do it myself and thankfully, they did.
The last 4 or 5 episodes of GRZ have been set up an filmed, edited, set up, etc all by me. I set up the camera, hit record, then sit down in front of it, and hope that the sound is good, my head isn't cut out of the frame, and the tape didn't stop recording for some reason. I wrangle the artwork, import it, and then edit it (I'd never used any editing software prior to D&D XP, and I really suck at it!). The shows have no text overlays, or even show numbers on it because I haven't figured out how to do it. Yet!
I also haven't been able to get the GRZ shows posted on the GRZ webpage, for a wide variety of issues, none of which are anyone's fault. So I've been posting them on youtube directly, which limits them to 10 minutes in length, which itself presents additional editing challenges.
Chris Perkins (who was triple booked for meetings during our shoot) and I sat down and did the interview once, only to later discover a problem with the tape that made it unusable. What's on camera was our second try a week later, and even then, we had a lot of problems trying to get things to work, but we were able to make it happen.
I think this stuff is worth doing for the community, despite the challenges and fairly low quality results. The D&D team is awesome and enthusastic about coming onto the show to help and are always helping me come up with ideas on things to talk about for the community. Starting with GRZ 35, Sara Girard is going to help me out by guest hosting and doing some additional interviews so folks don't always have to see me. (Blue decided to move on to focus on other things)
In the end, I really feel bad that the quality isn't there, or the banter seems off and I hope people understand that it's only a temporary thing. I'm sure it'll improve over the weeks and months. =)
