#ESPECIALLY when it comes to the visuals they were 10x better than expected

[bubbl3solution]

every time i think about elemental again this stupid grin just takes over my face i swear it’s one of the most heartfelt and joyous pixar films in a good while

[tea-at-221]

So, let's delve a bit into the Spanish dub of Supernatural.

I'm going to go through a lot of terms here, and a lot of basics, in order to increase people's level of understanding as to how the dub may possibly have come about the way it did.

This post will provide information and, I hope, allow some members of the fandom to move forward with their own theories with more reassurance. Information is power. I will define and clarify industry terms to the best of my novice ability to make it easier for others who wish to do their own research.

This post was inspired by the fact that I've been part of multiple fandoms in which queerbaiting has played an enormous part: I am tired of seeing fandom friends left devastated and without answers, no emotional resolution in sight. So this post is, in spirit if not content, largely dedicated to my fellow Johnlockers and Queliot shippers. And most of all, for Quentin Coldwater, who deserved not just better but the very best.

Disclaimer: This is my own research and there is a bit of speculation involved; I can't guarantee 100% that I will get everything right (I hit some very frustrating walls looking up what should be easy-to-find facts), but I did a *lot* of work for this. Other people will doubtless be able to clarify points/give better specifics/correct what I've gotten wrong. I am not promising a concrete answer to “SPN gate” here, as without more information than we currently have that is impossible to declare with certainty.

More under the cut.

All that having been said, onwards (see end for sources):

First, who airs the Spanish dub of Supernatural?

Answer: the Warner Channel.

Why? It goes back to who owns The CW.

From Wikipedia (2): "The CW Network, LLC, a limited liability joint venture between the CBS Entertainment Group unit of ViacomCBS; and the Studios and Networks division of AT&T's WarnerMedia, the parent company of Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB. The network's name is an abbreviation derived from the first letters of the names of its two parent corporations (CBS and Warner Media)."

Warner Bros apparently is the side that handles the delegation of dubbing to outside studios. So, who does Warner use for their dubbing? Perhaps multiple studios, but the two I found in the course of my research were SPGStudios(5) (who specifically handle localization for Latin American Spanish productions) and Iyuno Media Group (formerly BTI Studios)(3).

What is localization?

Simply put, it refers to the translation of the home language of the show in question to the language of the new market it's entering. So, Supernatural 15x18 is translated from its native English to Spanish for Latin American viewers.

And what exactly *is* dubbing (actually called revoicing within the industry; dubbing is a widely-recognized term, however, and it's pretty well understood what is meant by it)?

Here is the Merriam-Webster definition:

"1 : to add (sound effects or new dialogue) to a film or to a radio or television production —usually used with "in"

They dubbed in the music.

2 : to provide (a motion-picture film) with a new soundtrack and especially dialogue in a different language

The film was dubbed in French and Spanish.

3 : to make a new recording of (sound or videotape already recorded) also : to mix (recorded sound or videotape from different sources) into a single recording"

There is a slang term, "dubby," which refers to any overdub that is comically jarring and obviously a dub. The history of dubbing has been such that this has become a way to think of and recognize it: by how awful and ineffective it used to be when it came to foreign films sloppily overlaid with English dubbing.

However, we are in the midst of an age of networks and companies scrambling to play catch-up, eager to use modern technology to create more effective, convincing dubs. In short, they see the moneymaking potential of presenting finished works that viewers may not even realize *are* dubbed without careful inspection. It's true that a good dub is about 10x more costly than subtitling, but it's hard to satisfy the viewer's desire for escapism if they can't suspend disbelief because they're busy reading.

The truth of that is reflected in internal statistics Netflix (for instance, but not just them) parses to gauge viewer interaction and retention with their various shows: when comparing subtitled vs. dubbed shows, it's easy to see which is the winner.(1)

So to be sure there is no nefarious intent here, we would need to be able to identify the following:

A.) What exactly was the process for this dub?

B.) Who decides what changes to make during a dubbing process?

C.) Who approves those changes?

*Can* there be such a thing as a "rogue translator," as Misha Collins put it? (I am going to clarify here that I think Misha is an upstanding person who believed the best of the show he was involved in and all the people who made it, so his assumption of a rogue translator makes sense in the context of that emotion-based reasoning).

I'm not sure which studio did the dub for the Latin American Spanish version of Supernatural; if I had access to that episode perhaps it's mentioned in the credits. You'd think that would be simple enough to figure out anyway, but I was unable. So maybe someone can take a look and let me know. But, as an example, here is how SPGStudios outlines their localization (dubbing) process:

1.) They make a digital or analog transcription of a show/movie.

2.) The translation, or localization, is done by their staff (in any of 40 available languages their staff can speak). When translating, they translate for meaning and then adapt for time, tempo, and style. They say that "extensive experience is required to capture the essence of the language dialog while accounting for variances in speaking time between the source and destination languages." i.e.,  wording/word choice will be kept as true as possible to the original intention of the native language, but at the same time the translation will need to use its chosen wording in a way that fits what is being shown on-screen. To produce a convincing/pleasing dub, they won't replace a word like "looked" with a longer phrase like "scanned the horizon" because it's not going to match what's onscreen. That would be venturing into "dubby" territory.

3.) They perform the ADR process: the voice actors (in this case it would normally be Guillermo Rojas performing for Dean Winchester, though it appears things may have been different in 15x18, possibly due to covid) record the new dialogue to replace the original actor's performance.

4.) The newly recorded dialogue goes to the sound editorial department "to ensure that lip-synch is optimized and technical aspects of the vocal performance match the original."

5.) All of the new audio--including dialogue, music, and sound effects--is mixed together to emulate the quality of the original production as closely as possible despite the changes in rhythm that resulted from the dialog having been translated.

6.) Designers, animators, and VFX editors assist with the localization or enhancement of graphics, if needed.

7.) Localized Master: SPG has a 'traffic team' who 'ensures that all client delivery and storage specifications are met, including file formatting, labeling, and uploading." So in other words, the files are heavily encrypted (or that's how I read this).

Presumably, after all steps are performed, SPGStudios transfers the show back to Warner, who then distributes it. The other studio, Iyuno, makes it very clear that *they* can coordinate and handle all distribution themselves to a vast number of networks. That means that if the client desires, Iyuno can send the finished product directly out into the world.

There seem to be two types of scripts that can be given to the dubbing company:

1.) "In-Production Dubbing indicates that dubbing production is active in tandem with post production. In-Production Dubbing fulfillment partners should expect potential changes to source materials."(4)

2.) "Final Asset Dubbing indicates that dubbing production takes place after final delivery of the show. All source assets will be in a final state. The dubbing fulfillment partner should not expect any changes to the source materials."(4)

Without knowing which of these was agreed upon for SPN 15x18, it is very hard to say exactly where or if additional edits may have been performed on the original material that weren't performed on the translated material (in other words, earlier draft).

If the studio was given the episode as an In-Production Dubbing project, this could explain why the title of the Spanish translation reflected the original script title, "The Truth," rather than the final title in English, "Despair".

Assuming this difference was unintentional, rather than a calculated marketing ploy re: audience enticement (which seems admittedly unlikely), then yes, it could indicate a screw-up on someone's part. The question is, was the dub company given the task of generating the title card, or did some other graphics department handle that before the project made it to them? If the latter is the case, the choice to add "Me too" instead of "Don't do this, Cas" could be either a conscious choice on the dub studio's part as sort of a nod to what they thought "the truth" was, or could just be them going with what they were given and making their translation choices based on something else, such as rhythm/timing.

SO, could there have been an original script that had Dean say "me too" in response to Cas, which then went through translation and made it out into the world? Teeechnically yes, but one would assume that the original script and original *footage* would have to have arrived at the dub studio together if the script is being transcribed in-house as SPGSTudios outlines in their process. I'm going to reason that the odds of them using a later edit of the visual--one that contained what in this instance we would be assuming was Warner's preferred dialogue ("Don't do this, Cas") yet choosing to stick with their own audio revoicing of the (supposed) original script/visual's "Me too, Cas" with its now subsequently poor timing, seems unlikely.

So either they would likely have to redo the exact same "Me too" audio again (having made the choice to keep the original dialogue, while also having to work under pandemic restrictions re: travel and talent availability) to make everything match the visual footage time-wise, OR, it was simply a matter that the English scene always was just as we saw it, but that the studio chose to interpret the script the way they did and were able to do their timing the first time around to match accordingly.

This still leaves a question in the air regarding the origin and fate of certain clips of Dean's more visually emotive reaction to Castiel's confession that have been floating around the internet. I've only seen very very brief glimpses of them, myself, and I'm not certain that they're really evidence of anything other than more than one take having been done of that scene, which wouldn't be uncommon and doesn't necessarily point to a conspiracy.

I also want to state that in the wake of 15x18, I opted to protect my mental health rather than follow every development/rumor/speculation that cropped up in the aftermath, so there’s probably a lot that I’m leaving out of this post that may be pertinent. Do me a favor and do assume that I know nothing of it. lol

I will also add this about the other studio, Iyuno: they are very careful to state on their site, repeatedly and with great pride, that they are committed to presenting the world with the smoothest, most true-to-the-original localized version of a film or show possible. Quote: "...our entire team of staff wants nothing more than to make every single one of our partner's content feel as if it were never translated." They are not fucking around. They want to please the client. Would they have done something like the translation in question without any direct go-ahead from Warner? It seems unlikely, though they don't outline their process on their site the way SPG does.

Notice that in the SPGStudios process outlined above, there is no mention made of a review step in which the studio presents the translated dialogue to the client for approval re: the new wording. That doesn't mean there isn't a review step; however, without seeing the contractual agreement that was made between Warner and whatever dub studio they used, or knowing Warner's preferred process by some other means, it's difficult to be certain whether or not there was a review process for the translated script. I did find evidence that Netflix reserves the right to review such translated scripts before air.

Speaking of Netflix, I will include here what their translation requirements are, as I did find those. They, like Warner, also use Iyuno Media Group much of the time for dubbing (voiceover style dubbing in which they apparently like to leave the original language audible underneath, so that's slightly different from revoicing, but I'm working on an assumption that the general expectations are the same for both):(4)

"1. Translation Requirements

1.1 Main Dialogue

   All main dialogue in the source (original) language should be translated unless specifically noted.

   Due to timing limitations, some of the dialogue may be condensed/truncated as long as it retains all essential elements of the plot.

   Please refrain from dubbing redundant words such as character names and repetitions.

       Additionally, do not recreate laughs, hesitations, reaction noises, etc."

I'm looking at that bit: "Due to timing limitations, some of the dialogue may be condensed/truncated as long as it retains all essential elements of the plot."

So let's say just for argument's sake that this is pretty standard language provided to the dubbing studios. Netflix is a giant, so I'll proceed with that assumption given the lack of more concrete information:

Does it really change essential elements of the remaining plot to have Dean return Castiel's declaration of love? Forgetting about the outside, emotional ripple effect such a declaration was bound to set off in the viewing audience, no. The two characters have no further scenes together, nor does Dean go on in the next episode to immediately embark on a new relationship, or tell anyone that Cas said he was in love with him but he couldn't return it because he didn't feel the same. So technically, no rule was broken. And that is what it comes down to, if you're thinking like a lawyer reading a contract: specifics, not theoretical implications or consequences.

So, possibly what we have is something that was simple to add and easy to get away with/argue for: translated dialog that fit a dub better due to its length, and didn't actually change anything plot-wise (or at least, the argument for that could easily be made). This points to the painful crux of the matter: why would the Spanish version of Supernatural which aired in Latin America allow Dean Winchester to return Castiel's declaration of love with a "Me too, Cas"? Could it *really* be as insulting as the fact that "Yo a ti, Cas" would be a quicker, smoother dub than "No hagas esto, Cas"? ("Don't do this, Cas" in English.) Or did they see something they could get away with, and a reasonable argument to provide for it, so they went ahead and claimed a small LGBT+ victory?

Is someone, somewhere, getting in trouble for all this? Maybe. But could action be taken against them? That would look pretty bad, public-relations-wise, for the party expressing condemnation if that got out. Could Iyuno, or whatever other studio (again, I don't actually know which one handled the dub) theoretically feel a ripple effect from the fallout of this? Could they quietly suffer a drop in acquisitions/revenue for "reasons unclear"? Sure. That sort of thing happens all the time, so theoretically yeah.

Whatever the reasoning behind the decision to have Dean return Cas' declaration of love, surely they didn't have to do it. Surely they could have chosen some other phrase that fit. But they chose to do exactly what they did. I don't know what went down, in the end, or whether censorship was indeed involved, but I will certainly say that I think it was a brave and admirable choice that was made with the Spanish dub. It doesn't undo the "bury your gays" trope of course, but for some LGBT+ audience members it surely provides a sense of validation and maybe even lends a little hope for better representation--which is long, long overdue.

Thanks if you read this far. I hope that even though it’s not perfect it will be helpful in some way.

Sources

(1) https://www.indiewire.com/2020/02/subtitles-vs-dubbing-what-you-need-to-know-1202212800/amp

(2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_CW

(3) https://www.iyunomg.com/

(4) https://partnerhelp.netflixstudios.com/hc/en-us/articles/115016062708-Dubbed-Audio-Style-Guide-VO-Style-Dubbing

(5) https://www.spgstudios.com/localization

[chaeryybomb]

july comebacks review

CHUNGHA ft. CHANGMO: PLAY

holy shit this is definitely my favorite song of the month!!!

the entire song just screams F E S T I V E

the music video, choreography and outfits were all so amazing

and it’s only a pre-release

honestly I can’t wait for her album to come out

I love how she interpreted Spanish elements in this comeback

I love the tango part in the dance and when the hip hop dancers come out!!!

and at the end where everyone just comes out like it’s a huge fiesta!!

this song also has quite a lot of high notes but chungha’s voice gets a rest during the rap part

speaking of the rap part, her expressions during that is amazing!!

overall, definitely my favorite song of this month (maybe this year), its so colourful and festive and its perfect for summer!

IRENE & SEULGI: MONSTER

this song exceeds my expectations

when I first saw the teasers, I thought the song would have quite heavy edm and maybe some bad boy/peek-a-boo elements

while the song does have some of those elements, the entire thing is literally not what I expected

the music video is very aesthically pleasing and it reminds me a lot of a dreamcatcher mv

the mv was also delayed because I heard that they needed to edit some parts out. for example, someone said that if according to the teasers, there should be a scene where Irene stabs a doll with scissors but that part has been cut out I think

ngl I wanted seulrene to perform in the white corset outfits because holy shit those outfits s e r v e d

it also definitely proves that Irene is not just a visual, she’s a very talented rapper and singer so people need to stop seeing her as “red velvet’s visual”!!!

irene has sort of a husky voice like Jisoo’s, just not as deep

I also love Seulgi’s part after the first chorus?? she’s literally g r o w l i n g

as much as I love blonde Irene, why did they give her the wig dhshdhd I bet she was uncomfortable dancing in that

especially she has to bend her back at one point. and speaking of that part, there was one stage where she “winks” while doing it it but Irene said she was actually wincing in pain. (also the mv scene of it where her part morphs into a monster scared me dhshd)

which is why I think irene likes performing “naughty” more instead. maybe it’s because it’s more a mature concept but Irene seems more natural doing so

do not get me started on “naughty”’s choreography,,, it’s SO PLEASING to watch, all those tutting w o w, it looks so hard but Irene and Seulgi make it seem effortless

and when they released the “easy” version on tiktok 😭😭 it still looks so hard please

overall, I hope they make another Irene and Seulgi comeback in the future like EXO-SC! I also hope they try this subunit thing with the rest of RV as well, I’m looking forward to a Seulgi Wendy Joy subunit and Irene Yeri subunit!

ATEEZ: INCEPTION

*inhales* what does seonghwa ACHIEVE by SHOWING his ABS every performance

like hongjoong come collect your MANS

waiting for an episode where yeosang calls him out for over doing it

speaking of yeosang, he’s improved so much! he’s gotten more than one part of the song this time and I’m so proud!

and I’m in love with their “I’m in love” during the beginning and chorus

also woosan is out for my bias list-

ngl I find it kinda weird there’s a mini breakdance in between the the song cause usually breakdances are at the end

I also hope Jongho isn’t overworking himself as it seems he’s just recovered from his injury, I hope none of the boys will injure themself like during wonderland era

also yunho and hongjoong exchanged hairstyles from wave era dhshdh

per usual, hongjoong and mingi’s rap parts are my absolutely favorite

the music video honestly has a lot of theories going on and I’m still waiting for the smart atinys to decipher them dhshd

honestly, ateez reminds me a lot of bts, they’re both from small companies and I hope like bts, ateez will be able to rise to fame

overall, I like this comeback a lot but I wouldn’t say it would be my favorite era of them. Again I hope none of the boys overwork themselves this time

SOMI: WHAT YOU WAITING FOR

ahhhh I’m so glad she’s back!!!

I love this song a lot and somi seems more comfortable with it too!

at first, she looks nervous performing it but I can see her getting more confident through out promoting the song

and it’s definitely more different than “birthday”

personally I like this song more than “birthday” (but “outta my head” will always be my absolute favorite)

somi’s “ring the alarm” has the same energy as “oops you’re not invited” dhshhd

I also love how she interpreted her name in the music video as “ennik” means sword in Dutch

I’m also glad that this time she isnt matching outfits with her backup dancers

personally, I feel that this song fits somi’s vocals better than birthday and she switches from high to low in the chorus

the chorus is 2nd verse is my favorite part of the song

overall, this is a really nice comeback from somi and I hope next time she’s back with more songs

GFRIEND: APPLE

HUGE GODDESSES VIBES!!!!

the entire mv just SCREAMED Greek Goddesses to me

the dresses were so beautiful this era

I especially love the black dresses

and all the accessories made it 10x better

personally I feel very wrecked by yuju and yuju alone

(and maybe sowon's red eyes but shhh)

I was kinda hoping they'd make a comeback like "labyrinth" but boy this comeback was amazing

ever since they joined with big hit, everything has become so much better

plus umji getting her lines and centers!!!

I'm addicted to the "wee o wow wow wow" and the "kiss dance" parts

I'm honestly quite impressed that gfriend was able to perform in long dresses but I feel its better than performing in fitting short dresses

overall, I really like this comeback and the entire album is a bop. my favourite song is "eyes of the storm" because it sounds so much like an anime opening

APRIL: NOW OR NEVER

omg I'm so glad I started stanning them after lalalilala era

also yena said she wanted to do a beach concept next in an interview during lalalilala as well soooooo

the song is soooo catchy and I can't help notice how smiley chaekyung and yena are this era!

I'm so glad that yena and rachel has actual lines this time (also I noticed rachel kinda has a lisp?)

chaekyung was rlly smiley during lalalilala so I thought a cute/fun concept would suit her and it does!

she's shinning during now or never era!!

I feel like the line distribution is pretty fair for 4 vocalists and 2 rappers

plus yena's "eottae" is really adorable!!

my favourite part of the song is the "nunbushin nunbushin" parts and I find the choreography for it rlly cute

and paradise is really catchy b-side!

overall, the comeback is very refreshing and it's nice to see them back on stage again. personally I'm not a huge fan of some of the outfits because I like matching sets instead but other than that, I really like this comeback!

LEE HI: HOLO

did this song make me weep?

yes, yes it did.

queen lee hi making me cry with another song again

I just find lee hi's voice very emotional okay

it reminds me of the time when I first listened to "breathe"

honestly the song is such a breather for anyone's who's having a hard time

listening to the words "one day it will stop, and I'm gonna stop crying, stop feeling, stop thinking about you my baby" is quite comforting to hear

it really makes you think that is being alone really a bad idea?

I've listened to song on repeat ever since it came out

[anais-mitchell]

hadestown 7/3/19

Here are my extremely extra, barely coherent, thoughts on seeing Hadestown live on a song by song basis! Nobody asked for this and it took forever but I’m nothing if not embarrassingly extra. 

Road to Hell: The way they walk onstage with zero fanfare is just amazing. Andre took like 30 seconds to start the song, he looked out at the audience and unbuttoned his coat and it was sooo funny. He owned this song as always, the energy was so high and the audience was having the best time! One detail I loved was when Hermes introduced Orpheus, Persephone looked so proud like “that’s m’boy.” Then he waved his hand super excitedly and it was the cutestt. 

Any Way the Wind Blows: First of all, Orpheus is watching Eurydice in awe during this whole song. When she says “anybody got a match?” he starts frantically rifling through his pockets for one before she gets one from Hermes. Eva portrays Eurydice’s scrappy, emotionally guarded nature so well during this song, you can really feel how rough her life has been and why she’d be hesitant to trust someone like Orpheus with her heart. When she first lights her candle, Clotho blows it out immediately and gets such a vicious joy from it. The next time Eurydice lights it, she cups her hands around it and glares at Clotho which was SO GOOD. 

Come Home With Me: This works way better live than in audios and is 10x better than the previews version. The audience cracks up after “cOmE hOmE wItH mE.” Also, before he goes over to her he’s trying to craft a paper flower for her (which she looks at like “wtf is this.”) It’s clear Eurydice isn’t really taking him seriously but is still intrigued, and she’s having a good time with him so why not humor him? Also Reeve’s movements as Orpheus are super fast and jerky which just makes the awkward humor even better.

Wedding Song: AHH SO FLIRTY AND FUN. You can tell they really challenge each other with their polar opposite worldviews. When Eurydice says “you wanna take me home?” she flashes her shoulder under her coat and poses dramatically which is the most Eva thing I’ve ever seen. The turning point comes hard when Orpheus sings his song and procures the rose, and Eurydice’s admiration and wonder are so real it hurts my heart. Also the way Orpheus perks up at “when we’re wed” kills me. Eva went up on “and the trees gonna lay the wedding table” which I like better than taking it down. 

Epic I: Amber looks absolutely radiant when she stands up and stares out in the middle of the song, that is all. But Reeve sounded lovely and the staging wasn’t what I expected, I always thought he was sitting during this number. 

Livin’ It Up On Top: The Biggest Bop To Ever Bop. Everyone is so excited to see Persephone and she is So Drunk. I’ve heard the kiss goodbye to Hades is often different show-to-show; at my show, she kissed him on the cheek and he didn’t really look up at all. Then when she was towards the stairs she looked back to see if he would be looking at her and he wasn’t so she looked pissed before descending. Amber’s energy and dancing are on fire during this number, it really just has to be seen. Before Eurydice was pushed into dancing by Persephone, she was chatting with John’s character and it was really cute. Also ORPHEUS’S TOAST!!! It’s such a sobering moment in the middle of the party and everyone can find some truth in it in their life. But right after, the music springs back to life SO LOUDLY and made me ridiculously happy. What a fun number.

All I’ve Ever Known: SOFT SOFT SOFT SOFT. Eurydice’s vulnerability throughout this song and Orpheus’s constant reassurement of how much he loves her,,, chef’s kiss especially considering how the plot develops after. When Orpheus begins his part, Eurydice is turned away from him and when he sings “who am I that I should get to hold you?” she does a tiny head shake like she’s not deserving of it :(( but then when he sings his next line she turns around and starts singing with him. The interlude is so beautifully choreographed and intimate (but #EurydiceTops) and the ending + the kiss just melt my heart. They continue kissing into the train whistle for WDH. OH ALSO!! Persephone is off to the side watching them for the whole song with a very bittersweetly romantic expression… she’s definitely thinking about when she and Hades were young and in love like that… 

Way Down Hadestown: Everyone’s reaction to this song starting is so fucking funny, Hermes and the Fates look so excited for the Drama™️, Persephone is pissed and needs a goddamn drink, and Orphydice just want everyone to go tf away so they can cuddle. (Seriously though Orpheus and Eurydice are so ridiculously cute in the background of this number) I’m obsessed with Amber’s bent over exorcism dance and her energy throughout the song, it’s such a last hurrah for Persephone above ground and she’s going to make the most of it damnit. Eurydice’s curiosity grows throughout the song and she starts drifting away from Orpheus until Hades’ entrance, and his entrance is SO COOL. As annoyed as Seph is to go back under, you can see a glimmer of excitement at seeing Hades again especially since she doesn’t realize how much he’s changed Hadestown. The ending of the song is so good and Eva’s belting kills me.

A Gathering Storm: Orpheus and Eurydice are staring up into the audience at the “storm” which adds a really cool ominous effect. What was even more ominous was all the ensemble finding different exits from the stage (I was mostly watching John who exited through Hades’ balcony door, but they all used a different one) and backing off the stage completely dead eyed. Definitely a nice visual symbol of them becoming the workers. Eva conveyed Eurydice’s fear and anxiety so well, especially with the Fates bringing back the “wind comes up” motif; the return of this motif, especially after Eurydice’s vulnerability during All I’ve Ever Known, is a great manifestation of Eurydice’s doubt in her decision and her security with Orpheus.

Epic II: Reeve’s voice Big Pretty. I love the staging of this Epic with Orpheus all alone on stage, it’s hard not to believe in the power of his song once the music picks up with “king of mortar.” I also really love how the workers come up as a visual representation of the evolution of Hadestown. + the transition to Chant makes me NUT.

Chant: Seph’s look of absolute disgust as she enters Hadestown is soo good and I LOVE the workers choreo. One thing that really surprised me was that while Amber brought a lot of anger to Persephone, there was also so much sadness? Especially when she was listening to Hades justifying his actions, it was like a devastated horror and despair rather than unflinching anger. (Also her mic went out a tiny bit during her lines but it’s barely noticeable listening back to it) Orpheus is so in his own world during his bits and we are ALL Hermes yelling at him to “look up!” The most iconique part of the song though is 100% “the gods have forgotten the song of their love” where everything stops and Persephone rips her hand away from Hades and then Orpheus goes right back in with the la la las. As for Eurydice’s verses, Eva’s vocals may not have been as strong as they could be but her acting killed me. You really got the sense that she wanted to believe in Orpheus, she wanted to believe that she could be optimistic like him but the world was dragging her down into her jaded ways. The Fates were so vindictive grabbing her bag/jacket and she was crying when she fell on the floor :((

Hey Little Songbird: My mom as soon as this song started: “Did he win a Tony?” I really didn’t get predatory vibes from this which I liked as a directorial choice, it was a lot more like Hades was just laying the offer out and not like he had underlying sexual motives. (That being said... the way he skulks around stage... Big Hot) My favorite dumb detail in this number though was definitely how after “they’ll take you down, they’ll pick you clean” the Fates lined up and gave Eurydice a little wave with the most sinister smiles on their faces.

When the Chips Are Down: This song starts with Hades walking offstage and leaving Eurydice alone (except for the Fates and Hermes as the narrator) to consider his offer, and she’s standing at the front of the stage in the same pose from the Tonys performance with the two coins in her hand. Eurydice seems extremely overwhelmed and emotionally tortured by the Fates; they taunt her by twirling her around and pretending to include her in their dances which distresses her a lot. But you can tell that they’re just confirming what she’s already thinking. And man are the Fates GLORIOUS. They’re so much fun and their harmonies are incredible. I still can’t believe Jewelle Blackman just exists with a voice like That... HOW.

Gone, I’m Gone: Eva sang this a lot differently than I’ve heard in usual audios? It was still excellent but I guess she was just trying some new things with it. (Not to harp about how much I love Eva but her acting is just so fluid and adaptable depending on what she’s feeling that performance, no two performances are the same with her for sure) She was so heartbroken but also very resolute :((

Wait for Me: STUNNING SHOWSTOPPING BEAUTIFUL PERFECT NEVER SEEN BEFORE NEVER THE SAME- Yeah this was good. Orpheus’ pure panic at seeing Eurydice gone and how he immediately throws himself into rescuing her THAT’S LOVE BITCH. When the workers start rotating on stage during “how to get to Hadestown” their lights are shining straight out into the audience and it makes you feel like you really are a part of the number. Not going to harp on the staging too much considering we’ve all seen the Tonys performance but the swinging lights took my breath away and when the stage opens up with his la la las and the lights of Hadestown shine so brightly and the workers are staring up in awe? (Hadestown absolutely deserved best set design don’t @ me) The best moment in the whole show. All the fuss about this number is so justified. It’s utterly incredible.

Why We Build the Wall: The staging of this is so simple yet so effective. The workers stand up ramrod straight and resume their dead eyed look as soon as Hades (and Persephone) enter the stage. This song hits so hard in 2019 and I’m so grateful it exists. Tbh though I COULD NOT take my eyes off of Amber the whole song, well at least until Eva ascended lol. Her barely masked horror and despair are so well conveyed yet she has to sing this song she couldn’t believe in less. After seeing it live, I much prefer the lack of a Eurydice solo- in this version, Eurydice doesn’t sing at all until the final line, rather just taking in the entirety of Hadestown wide-eyed and almost scared until she assimilates. It doesn’t really fit this characterization of Eurydice for her to have already internalized the mantra of the workers and I much prefer seeing Eva’s face journey up until she reluctantly sings the final line. By far my favorite part of this song (which I could honestly write an essay on) is the moment right after Hades calls Eurydice to his office; Eurydice and Persephone share the longest look that I couldn’t put my finger on for a while, but I think the best way to describe it is just utter powerlessness. Eurydice is powerless to refuse Hades and is scared of what might happen, but her looking at Persephone for help does nothing because she’s equally as powerless to stop her husband from fulfilling his power trip. It’s such a subtle moment between the two women at the mercy of a man and gahhh I could talk about it forever.

Our Lady of the Underground: I WOULD DIE FOR AMBER GRAY, I STILL CANNOT BELIEVE I SAW THIS SHIT LIVE. She’s one of the greatest performers of our lifetime and deserves every award ever. She enters the stage arm in arm with Hermes which is so cute but homegirl is SCHWASTED. She keeps on taking swigs from her flask and her dancing is just so ridiculous but works so well?? Her life is falling apart but she’s having the time of her life which is honestly relatable. One cool thing about this number when I saw it is that half the band was different so I got to hear some different names than usual when she introduced them. My soul fucking ascended on “you want stars?” and didn’t come down until the song ended. God bless Amber Gray.

Way Down Hadestown (Reprise): Ahh I was surprised by how much I dug the staging for this number, the way the Fates dance through and around the workers is so cool. Eurydice’s face changes throughout the song to reflect the sense of dread that keeps building up, and at the end she tries to run away and is blocked by the workers :((

Flowers: Eva actually cried through this whole song it’s fine I’m fine. She’s sitting down on her knees the whole time and just looks so small and sad my heart. I feel like Eva’s changed the way she sings this song from London a lot and she’s sacrificed a lot of vocal tricks and notes for a more helpless, lonely, devastated performance and it’s sooo good.

Come Home With Me (Reprise): THEY’RE SO HAPPY TO SEE EACH OTHER KILL ME. They literally do not let go of each other the whole time and you can see how much they each blame themselves for how things happened and how much they don’t want each other to blame themselves and it all just hurts a lot. But Eurydice’s face just falls and becomes fearful when she remembers Hades and realizes they can’t leave :(

Papers: Hades is LIVING for the drama in this song. The whole time, Eurydice is just trying to get Orpheus to go because she doesn’t want to break his heart anymore than she already has. Hades is still on his power trip for sure and relishes telling Persephone to stay out of it and telling Orpheus about his deal with Eurydice. Eurydice has to be physically ripped away from Orpheus for the fight scene and you can see how much her heart is breaking thinking about what Orpheus might think of her now. OKAY AND THE FIGHT SCENE, I’ve heard criticisms of it for being cheesy but I honestly think it’s really well choreographed and engaging. It’s not just the workers mindlessly beating up Orpheus as I previously thought, most of it is in retaliation to Orpheus trying to get back to Eurydice or make his way up to Hades (I guess to fight him which would be HILARIOUS) Persephone and Eurydice are both watching and the powerlessness of the female characters definitely comes back as a theme.

Nothing Changes: Harmonies!!! Acapella!! This is such a short song with such little staging that I don’t have much else to say than these women’s voices are incredible.

If It’s True: At the beginning of the song Eurydice reluctantly joins the workers and looks away from Orpheus as he sings the song, which clearly hurts Orpheus. He starts at such a low place but his process of inspiring the workers and exposing the truths of Hades’ façade is sooo well done and I love the response from the workers. This song is such a good turning point for Orpheus of realizing the world is shitty but also realizing there are more concrete ways to change the world and change people than just writing songs. Also this is a recurring theme in each song but AMBER’S FACE JOURNEY DURING THIS SONG. In this version of the show, Persephone actually knowing who Orpheus is adds a new urgency and purpose to her pity for him which I love (more on that in the next song.)

How Long?: Hi as everyone’s favorite How Long? Stan™️ I was SO THRILLED WITH EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS PERFORMANCE. Amber and Patrick are just so fucking good at understanding what drives their characters it’s insane. The staging is basically just them on either side of the lift (which is under the stage at this point) with a literal chasm between them as fog pours on the stage. Patrick barked out some of his lines in the intro as if he was insecure and threatened by Orpheus and Persephone’s investment in Orpheus which was a new layer I hadn’t considered. I think older versions of this song have been more conceptual and less urgent; Persephone used to be arguing for the concept Orpheus represented (love, freedom, idealism) but now her argument is deeply personal after a whole show of watching Orpheus fall in love with Eurydice, toast her bringing summer back, and suffer in Hadestown. She really plays it as Persephone’s last stand and that if Hades doesn’t relent, he stands no chance of getting her back emotionally. And Hades is SO STUBBORN AND SMUG up until Persephone pulls the “just as long as I am your wife,” at which point he realizes just how endangered his marriage is. The final chorus is just so heartbreaking as they realize how irreconcilable they are but how desperately they love each other anyways.

Chant (Reprise): The shortest summary of this is Hades Has Feelings And Hides Them Under A Power Trip x20 ft. UNIONIZING. Hades really feels like he’s lost control over Persephone, the workers, and himself and has to flex on Orpheus by belittling him and Persephone as well as building his ego up. So yeah, not a great look but damn is it fun to watch. The workers rising up is so good, they’re doing their work when they suddenly start breaking off and questioning the status quo. Persephone is also seething the whole song and just extremely pissed off that Hades is reacting like this after she tried to talk some sense into him. But as for her verse (RIP in peace), as much as I love it, I didn’t miss it all that much seeing it live. I actually didn’t even th ink about it until a few hours after the show. I think the song is stronger with it, but now I guess I can see why they cut it? BUT BOY OH BOY WAS I NOT READY FOR THE MOMENT™️. The lights of Hadestown get so bright you can’t even look at them and “I conduct the electric city!” is so LOUD you feel it in your bones and then everything is dark. It’s such an indescribable moment live and is also Hades’ most arrogant moment in the show which is Fun considering he’s about to get emotionally rekt.

Epic III: NO SONG HIT ME HARDER THAN THIS SONG. Some details from the beginning I loved was Eurydice grabbing Orpheus’ hand and giving him A Look showing how much she believes in him and his song, and how nervous Orpheus was at first with the high stakes. But as soon as the la la las started I was TOAST. It was clearly the last thing Hades was expecting to hear and shook him to his core. Amber started crying as soon as they started, and her “let him finish Hades” was so soft and sad. Also Orpheus is looking at Eurydice during the whole “it was like you were holding the world when you held her” bit which is just as painful as it sounds. You can just see Hades’ whole world he’s built coming down around him as the music swells and he and Orpheus go up on the lift and THE NOTEEE. It’s as perfect live as it is in audios. Also the workers individually standing up and taking off their skullcaps is such a good touch. But seriously I could not take my eyes off Amber this whole song, she was crying almost as hard as I was tbh. When the song slows down and we get to “where is the treasure inside your chest?” Orpheus is clearly just reading Hades so hard, and Hades is just slowly walking over to Persephone without breaking eye contact. Hades’ la la la is so so so soft and barely a whisper, but Persephone just breaks down as he takes her hands. The moment is so tender and well acted I nearly died seeing it I swear. PLUS HE PULLS OUT THE FLOWER!!! CINEMATIC PARALLELS!!!

Lover’s Desire: I loveee the new instrumental for this and the use of the la la las. I always expected the dance to be extremely tender and reverential which it somewhat was but I was SO pleasantly surprised by how FUN it was. They had their emotional moment at the end of Epic III but this really just shows you what they were like when they were young, you just watch them and think about how much fun they must have had years ago. They’re smiling and teasing each other the whole time until they end with Persephone’s head in Hades’ shoulder and stay that way all through Promises.

Promises: This song is way more happy than it has any right to be considering it made me cry again. Eurydice is so in awe of how Orpheus brought the gods back together and they strip away every promise of finery and security and just relish in how much they love each other plainly. Also the workers are on the side the whole time, Afra and John are clinging to each other and so are Ahmad and Kimberly, but with Timothy hugging the both of them. Eurydice actually directs her line “I don’t know where this road will end, but I’ll walk it with you hand in hand” tot he workers and goes down the line grabbing their hands and singing to them individually. And the vows at the end!!!! That’s always been one of my favorite parts of the show and they delivered so well. Orpheus lays everything out on the table and gives Eurydice the choice of whether or not she wants to stay with him, and I love the fact that he does this after he literally came down to the underworld for her. He recognizes that he fucked up and she doesn’t owe him coming back with him, but she reassures him of how much she loves him right away. They can’t tear themselves away from each other when they ask Hades if they can go, and when he says “I don’t know” Persephone pulls away with the most betrayed look on her face :(

Word to the Wise: I have nothing to say except the Fates are perfect and have never let me down.

His Kiss, The Riot: Patrick’s portrayal of Hades’ inner conflict in this song…. *chefs kiss* The way he stares at the flower as a symbol of Orpheus and love and redemption but can’t make himself surrender to it completely… The “all my children” verse really makes you feel like he thinks he’s helping the workers. Also I love the way he shouts “who makes WORK for idle hands.” It’s just such a good villain song, especially when the cacophony of instruments swell around him so eerily. He sings the final part of this song straight to Hermes, almost like he’s hoping he’ll give some input but Hermes is tragically confined to his position as the messenger. Also the way he looks straight at Persephone during “nothing makes a man so bold”….

Wait for Me (Reprise): The way Hermes delivers their instructions at the beginning is so resignedly sad like you can tell he knows what’s going to happen but is trying to give them hope :( They just want to make it out together so badly, but you can already tell Orpheus’ anxiety and doubt is kicking in. Not sure if this was intentional, but the staging of Orpheus and Eurydice at the front of the stage singing the wait for me melody and looking up at the audience reminded me of A Gathering Storm; instead of facing off against the literal storm, they’re preparing to face off the mental storm to come. The workers are so desperate for them to make it out, the “show the way” bit is so impassioned and breaks my heart. AND THEN HADES AND PERSEPHONEEE. They start on opposite ends of the stage and make their way to each other as they sing, and then come closer until they’re holding hands but then the turntable turns them apart. This scene just perfectly shows how much they’ve both grown throughout the show and how they know that their love isn’t perfect, but all they can do is try. The entire cast harmonizing on the wait for me melody at the end is SO transcendentally beautiful, and then Eva jumps in and belts for the GODS!! I love this number so much, especially how the workers and Persephone are so emotionally invested in their success but in the end Orpheus and Eurydice are just left alone.

Doubt Comes In: This song is BRILLIANTLY staged and I’m so glad Rachel Chavkin has her damn Tony. The whole stage is dark and filled with fog and you really feel how lonely and scary it must seem, especially with the sinister music and malicious singing from the Fates. Eurydice is in our view at the beginning and when she is singing, but other than that, Orpheus is literally walking this road alone. Reeve does such a great job conveying not only how anxious Orpheus is but exactly why he is anxious, and it’s SO hard to watch especially compared to how optimistic he was at the start of the show. As they reach the end, the walls begin to close back up and cover the lights of Hadestown, and then It Happens and my heart just DROPS. The light flash back on and illuminate everything so horribly- it takes so long for either of them to even form words as they realize what happened. When Eurydice drops she drops FAST and it’s so viscerally upsetting watching her go down as Orpheus runs to her. His face absolutely shatters :(( also my mom and her friend had no idea how it ended and they were so shocked and upset lmao.

Road to Hell (Reprise): Andre takes a really long time to just take everything in and let the audience react before he even starts with “aight.” He walks all the way over to the pit and looks down at where Eurydice was for a long time, and Orpheus is just sitting there shell shocked and gutted. The whole first half of this song is just so slow and purposeful, recycling the motifs from Road to Hell and then you finally get what they mean by “it’s a sad song, but we sing it anyways.” The catharsis I felt seeing Eurydice come out for “anybody got a match?” and Persephone rising up on the lift to symbolize spring coming back with a look on her face that I can only describe as tired but grateful was so strong. Andre carries this finale so beautifully and the swelling music and harmonies just make me CRY. The song ends with Orpheus coming out again in his apron with a smile on his face which is so lovely.

We Raise Our Cups: This song just grounds the whole show and gives Persephone (and Eurydice) the chance to reflect on the show’s themes of love and perseverance which I adoree. Amber’s voice is so lovely and this is such a perfect reciprocation of Livin it up on Top and just made me so happy :’)

[josephpelletierblog]

The Ultimate Guide to Video Content Marketing for Your Business – Pdatas Blog

Video marketing is not what it used to be a few years ago. Today, it has gone to become lot more serious, and much more effective, especially for businesses that have already managed to build an audience. A large number of small businesses are taking advantage of video content marketing to stand out from the competition in order to achieve their goals.

Why video? Because it works. And it will keep working.

Look around and you’ll find that video content is being consumed like never before. YouTube has turned into the second biggest search engine in the world. That’s right, not Bing or Yahoo, but YouTube is where people are searching on right after Google for everything. Recipes, product demos, how-to videos – you name it, they’re searching for it.

Here are some more video stats to convince you about the power video holds on the web:

82% of Twitter users consume video content on the microblogging site.

92% of mobile video viewers like to share them with other people.

87% of Internet marketers leverage video content to meet their business goals.

This simply means that as a business you cannot and should not take video content marketing for granted. With time most of your competition will be leveraging video, which means it should be a part of your core marketing strategy now. The value of video should not be underestimated if you want to taste real success with your content marketing efforts.

Storytelling Via Video

Before we delve into how you can use video content marketing, it’s important to first understand what actually makes video click. While there are a number of reasons that come to mind, the biggest one is that videos allow you to tell stories. Stories that you can use to connect to your target audience. Stories that you as a marketer can leverage to create powerful impressions and long lasting relationships. Stories that simply deliver.

Yes, video has the potential to help your prospects and customers understand your business and create a ground for future promotions. But it’s also an amazing way to spread your ideas with meaningful stories. And that’s what makes it so exciting.

You, as a consumer, which will you most likely to engage to? A video that sounds like a sales pitch or a narrative that tells you the value of the product? Consumers now are more connected to a brand if they feel like their lives will change once they use it. Connect with them emotionally, that’s the key.

Also, you can use video to experiment with new and brave content to touch the emotional side of your target audience. Because videos are a mixture of visuals, motion and sounds, they allow you to create deep and more meaningful connections with people — while positioning your brand in the best possible way.

However, in order to make the most out of video and find success with it, you as a business should know and understand how to use it the right way. Until and unless you realize the true power of video and take the right steps to leverage it, you won’t see the kind of results you want to see.

What Exactly is Video Content Marketing?

Content marketing in its purest form is nothing but the production and online distribution of content that is educational slash informative in nature. The goal of this content is to convert online content consumers into prospects/customers. And also to provide enough information to current customers and convince them to become repeat buyers.

Content marketing is used across various channels, with the help of different types of content. Which means it is not limited to text, and video is a big part of it.

Since video is a strong and effective way to spread your marketing message, it can take your content marketing efforts to the next level. But once again, this depends on how well you execute your video content marketing campaign. And what you want to achieve from it.

5 Valid Reasons Why Your Business Needs Video Content Marketing

By now you should know what video content marketing exactly is and how it’s growing rapidly. It’s a tactic that your business needs to incorporate in order to get a higher return from your online marketing efforts.

Let’s now look into a few strong reasons as to why you should invest in video content marketing and make it a part of your core business strategy.

More Conversions

When it comes to running an online marketing campaign, the ultimate metric that matters is the conversion rate. Because if you’re not converting your prospects into leads or customers, your business isn’t growing, it’s as simple as that.

By leveraging video content marketing, you’ll be able to get more people to sign up for your newsletter or buy your latest product. When compared to other types of content, video content can give your prospects the needed clarity to make the final decision. It gives you a certain edge over the competition and since quality video isn’t as easy to produce, it can take a while before others catch up with you.

A recent research conducted shows that 71% of marketers have found video content more conversion-friendly. When done right, it can easily help you get better results with minimal efforts.

Better Emotional Connection

If you look around the social media landscape, you’ll find that videos are being shared the most in comparison to other content types. While there are many reasons as to why people like sharing videos, one of the strongest “why” is that people connect to the right video content on an emotional level. By creating videos that appeal to the emotions of your target audience, you not only give them a reason to consume your content but also spread it across their own network.

For example, if you look at a traditional blog post, you won’t find the emotional cues that come with video content. Right from the tone of voice to the sound effects/music being used, everything can have a positive impact on the viewer. Which ultimately makes your content stand out from the rest and also memorable.

When interested people watch your video that evokes their strongest emotions (happiness, awe, anger, etc), it may not push them towards taking action immediately. However, it will help them make a buying decision later on when they see more such content from you.

So whether you are in the B2B or the B2C market, impressing the emotions of your audience with video marketing, can and will help you bring in more business.

Higher Accessibility

Let’s face it, video production is no longer the difficult task it used to be a few years ago. You no longer need to spend a ton of time on creating a video or have a huge budget to achieve studio level quality. Yes, we’re talking about video content that only the big guys were able to produce before.

Thanks to the advancement in technology and with new/innovative tools available, creating and launching your own video has become much more affordable. In fact, it will keep getting easier in the coming years as more and more businesses jump into producing their own videos and starting their own channels.

Stronger Engagement Levels

Many studies have proven that visual content works great when it comes to engaging your target audience. People today like to consume to content that is visually appealing and engrossing. Now, this isn’t limited to pictures or photographs. Video content is proven to be a big part of the “visual content” movement.

With more and more people watching video content on social media sites such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, you can see firsthand how video is helping generate strong engagement from target users.

When you create and share video content with your social followers, you have a 10X chance of them engaging with your video, which often translates to more shares and comments. However, do keep in mind that the quality of video content marketing matters to a huge extent and has a direct impact on the kind of results you are able to generate.Easier SEO Results

Does video content marketing have an impact on SEO? Can videos actually help you rank higher in the search engines for keywords that are hard to rank for? The answer is yes, given that you’re doing it right. There is little doubt that Google and other major search engines like Bing love video content and won’t hesitate to rank it higher than traditional articles.

According to a study done by Comscore, by adding video content to your site, you have a 53% higher chance to end up on the first page of the SERPs. This just goes on to show that quality video content can make a big difference to not only your conversion rate, but also the organic search traffic you generate.

Understanding the Video Content Marketing Funnel

Using video for marketing becomes much more effective when you take a prospect though a well-defined content marketing funnel. By implementing video, you will be able to generate more sales with your content strategy.

It doesn’t matter what type of video content you use, with the help of a proper video content marketing funnel, you can:

Create more awareness among your target audience about your product or service while creating a positive impression on them. This is the first and the most important stage of content marketing because without awareness, it’s impossible to gain trust.

Focus on the problem and the solution you offer, clearly explaining the benefits of using your product and educating your audience. This is the second stage where you help your prospective buyers understand how exactly your product/service can help them.

Stand out from the competition and make it easy for prospects to reach a buying decision and do business with you. This is the final stage of the funnel where you can expect to actually close the sale.

In order to make the most of your content marketing funnel, it’s important that you use the right type of content to take potential buyers through it.

When you use video content, your funnel not only becomes stronger but you also end up getting a higher return on investment. Right from building brand loyalty to increasing your conversion rate, you’ll find that video is the perfect medium to get more of everything.

7 Simple Tips for Efficient Video Content Marketing

If you want your video content marketing to deliver results, then you need to take a calculated approach to it. You can’t just blindly play the video marketing game and expect to see returns.

Here are seven proven tips to help you make the most out of your video content marketing efforts.

#1: Grab their Attention Quick

Internet users are not as patient as they used to be. Today, it’s all about finding the best piece of content. So don’t be surprised if people jump your video to look for another one if they don’t find it enticing enough.

The solution is to hook your viewers without wasting their time and delivering on your promise. You only have a few seconds to impress them (less than 10 to be precise).

So have an interesting, relevant start to the video and don’t wait too long to reach the meat. Whether your video is long or short, give your viewers a reason to watch it without skipping it.

#2: Deliver Real Value

Powerful video content marketing is all about giving immense value to the viewer in whatever form you choose. Your content strategy should focus on adding value to the lives of your target audience. How you provide this value is subjective. Because what’s valuable for your audience may not be that valuable for a different type of audience.

So for instance, if you find that you can give value by creating and publishing entertaining yet informative video content, do that. Or if you want to choose an even simpler route by creating videos offering specific (niche or industry related) knowledge, even that’s fine. Keep in mind that any video that you produce must be watchable and enjoyable. Because if it’s a drag, then it’s not valuable.

So be interesting. Stay relevant. Seek engagement.

#3: Go Beyond YouTube

While there is no doubt that your video content marketing plan cannot be complete without YouTube, it’s not enough. In other words, there are many other valuable video sharing channels/platforms that you can tap into besides YouTube. Your aim is to reach out to your target audience in the best possible way, and that can’t happen if you only focus on YouTube.

The most obvious reason as to why you need to consider other platforms is because of the potential to connect with a varied audience. For instance, the kind of people you can reach with your videos on Facebook is not the same as YouTube. Because Facebook users discover video content in a different way. Also, different platforms have people from various age groups using them.

This is why it makes sense to leverage as many video platforms as you can. However, allocate the majority of your time to a platform where your target audience is most likely to be found.

#4: Stay Consistent in Your Approach

Consistency plays a big role in making your video stand out from the competition. Why? Because videos are visual, which means you’re not limited in how you present the content. With every video you create, you can help your viewers resonate with your message by being consistent. Your brand’s personality, look and design matters to a great extent in keeping consistency high.

For example, if you are creating videos with people in them, then keep using the same cast so that your viewers see faces they’re already familiar with. Similarly, if your videos only have a voice-over, see to it that the colors and the design in the video you use stay consistent.

You may also want to plan your video content well in advance (create a video content calendar) to make sure your consistent with timing as well.

However, when it comes to video platforms, your videos need to be customized for each. The one size/look fits all approach doesn’t work here. If you’re posting a video on Instagram, then it helps to create videos that look more natural, unedited or spontaneous. But on YouTube and Facebook, people expect a professional feel, so that’s what you give them.

#5: Don’t Ignore the Quality Aspect

Just because you’re creating and uploading videos on YouTube or Facebook doesn’t mean that you should forget about quality. In fact, keeping up with quality is extremely important on these social media sites because they’re moderated by real communities. Users won’t think twice before giving your videos a thumbs down if they don’t see quality.

So say no to low-definition video and hello to HD video content that people like to view and share with others.  As video platforms improve in quality and service, they expect to give their users a better experience. Which will only happen if you stop testing the patience of your viewers with bad videos. Remember, quality over quantity is the number one rule of creating amazing video content.

#6: Optimize for Silence

Besides YouTube, other social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram tend to auto-play videos without sound. The user may or may not choose to watch the video with sound. But stats show that up to 85% of videos viewed on Facebook are watched with volume down to zero.

The simple reason for the “silence revolution” in the online video world (especially on social media) is that people are increasingly watching videos on their mobile devices. Since the social experience is largely silent, especially with people around, it’s no wonder that many users prefer to viewing videos with sound turned off.

So how do you impress users when they are only watching and not listening? By creating attractive yet relevant visuals that make the video feel engrossing. If there’s dialogue in your video, then add English subtitles. In short, have sound in your video but also optimize for silence.

#7: Add a Call to Action

What’s the use of video content marketing if there’s no proper call to action in place? Businesswise, if you’re investing in video content marketing, then you need measurable results. Having a clear CTA makes real business sense and it should not be ignored.

Call to actions in videos need to be complicated. Simply prompting viewers to visiting your website or subscribing to your newsletter at the end of the video is usually enough. But if you want to go a step further, you may have a call to action come up right in the middle of the video when the viewer is deeply engrossed in the video.

However, stuffing your videos with multiple call to actions is a strict no-no. The last thing you want is to come off is salesy or pushy to your viewers. Because annoyed viewers will move away from the video and avoid sharing it with others.

4 Quick Video Content Marketing Ideas You Can Apply to Your Business Today

Coming up with creative video content ideas can seem daunting but it’s not impossible. What you do with video largely depends on your goals, so if you’re clear about them it shouldn’t be difficult.

Here are a few ideas that you can use in your business, depending on your marketing goals.

Share your company’s or business’s value using videos which could be anything from repurposed blog posts to staff testimonials. The idea is to create video content that makes your brand stand out from the crowd. Remember, the more your audience sees your brand as unique and trustworthy, the better it is.

Deliver company news and make important announcements with the help of videos that can be shared through your social media channels. Added a new feature to your product? Use a video explaining the benefits. Have a special event coming up? Create a video detailing the ins and outs of it, and how viewers can become a part of it. Running a special promotion? Run a video Facebook ad and share it with your target audience.

Provide a product demo so that people who don’t want to read can see your product in working. When your prospective customers see your product in a running condition, it positions you as a trusted brand. Show your audience what your product is about so that it sells itself. Make the video demo powerful enough to remove any doubts from your prospective customer’s minds.

Show that your brand or business is a thought leader by creating videos about your industry and about evergreen topics related to your subject matter expertise. Help your audience understand the difficult areas of your market. Make their lives easier with your videos and in return they will give you more business.

Regardless of the type of business you run, video content marketing can and will help you grow. However, if you find creating and marketing with videos intimidating, you can contact us and we will be glad to help you execute your campaign. Alternatively, do check out our content marketing services page to get a better idea of how we can help you.

//<![CDATA[ !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n; n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0; t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script','//connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js');<\/p><p> fbq('init', '369557673216950');<\/p><p> console.log('WP Facebook Pixel > Sending PageView event to Facebook'); fbq('track', "PageView"); var fbqEvents = new Array(); //]]> Source link

The post The Ultimate Guide to Video Content Marketing for Your Business – Pdatas Blog appeared first on StudyProfit.

source https://studyprofit.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-video-content-marketing-for-your-business-pdatas-blog/ from Study Profit https://ift.tt/2LxSbAI via Wordpress

[zannaleejoy-blog]

15 Tips For ACTUALLY Writing ✍🏼

Disclaimer: Some of these tips are ones I’ve come across on social media and some are from my own personal experience and research. These tips don’t necessary apply to novel writing just really for any kind of creative writing such as: comics, fan fictions, essays, scripts, etc…

Tip #1 Reward Yourself

 Working is a lot easier when you know there is something to gain from all that work. Whatever that may be. If you are someone who has an income and at least 20-100 dollars they can set aside. Pay yourself to write, for as many amount of pages, words, or scenes you write, pay yourself and use the money to buy yourself whatever it is your heart desires. And for those of you who don’t make much money instead- reward yourself with something you love to do. Maybe it’s playing video games for the rest of the day, or watching a YouTube video, or even taking a nap or just some time to yourself. Personally, I have a piggy bank that I put all spare money into and for every page I write at the end of the month I get that money. So if I write 15 pages in the whole month I’ve got 15 dollars to buy whatever it is I want, maybe more pencils or snacks!

Tip #2 Hold Yourself Accountable: 

If you are someone who gets embarrassed easily or who has a lot of guilt find a family member or friend who can make sure you are writing. For example: If you let them know your word goal everyday is 100 words have them ask you about it and be honest with both them and yourself. Heck, a friend on the Internet or posting on your favorite social media platform your success or failure can go along way to make sure you stick to your goals. I tend to post how many words I write in a day on Twitter. My followers tend to congratulate me on my success and I like to have that positive reaction daily so I stick to meeting my goals.

Tip #3 Writing is Practice:

 If you’re are scared that your writing is bad I can tell you first hand that not writing or being scared to write something bad is the worst thing you can do if you are fearful of sucking because you’re going to at least for a little while but the best part about humans is that if we were to do any one thing for days upon days we will inevitably get better at it. So if you write constantly than you are 100% guaranteed to get good. I have an old fan fiction that's been left on the Internet for years and I constantly go back to it to see my massive improvement and it excites me to think that I will continue to get even better.

Tip #4 Track Your Progress:

If you follow me on Twitter than you already know that I have a planner that has stickers for every 500 words I write in a day. I originally got this idea from Alexa Donne’s sticker method here on YouTube and have altered it slightly to fit my personal writing journey. I really like putting more stickers in my planner and it fulfills the child in me to see visually how much I’m achieving as well as I will purposely write more if I am close to receiving another sticker. Tally marks, or a spreadsheet on excel can also do wonders or anything that allows you to visually see your progress.

Tip #5 Set Low Low Word Counts: 

On days that I feel shitty I usually only expect me to hit 250 words because I know on my worst day I can achieve that- Also if I hit 250 I am only halfway to my regular word count of 500 so I strongly advise setting something stupidly achieve able. 20 words? 50 words? You can write that! So do that and when you've got the hang of it build it up. Just understand that the smaller the word count the longer it'll take to write it.

Tip #6 Writing Sprints: 

Writing Sprints are probably the only thing on this list I don’t practice mainly because time limits stress me out and I tend to work quickly anyway. However if you need that extra push or have very limited time to get some writing done than I encourage a writing sprint. 10 minutes to write 300 words? Or 20 minutes to write as much as you can. It prevents that critical side of you from coming out because like sonic you gotta go fast.

Tip #7 You’re Not Writing A Book:

 Now for my aspiring authors like myself understand that you, especially if you are on your rough draft, are a long way from publication and that's drafting is just putting words on paper, bad words, good words, little notes of incoherent babble. It’s a mess and you are the only person who will ever have to see it. It’s a story and it’s like telling one verbally you are just trying to convey the general message it’s sloppy and you’re mumbling and stumbling and repeating and backtracking. But as long there is a complete story no matter how sucky it’s still complete.

Tip #8 Quantity is 10x’s Better Than Quality: 

To add on to last point I suggest in prewriting and drafting to just put whatever the fuck comes to mind down. Especially in the prewriting phase when you are brainstorming and outlining just fit as many wild ideas as possible because in those times where nothing seems to be coming that will be your saving grace every single time. Because having too many ideas is better than none. When I was brainstorming I sat with my boyfriend when he was playing games and generated all kinds of ludicrous ideas but also came across a lot of awesome and happy accidents. You have to be brave and just dump whatever out and save it for later and dig through the trash.

Tip #9 Give Your Book Some Essence: 

Your book has a certain feel that only you know this comes from playlists for scenes, characters, and plot- you've got aesthetic boards for your characters, maybe you have vines that remind you of your characters. Find those things and jot them down, put them in a folder or document and hold them close. I have Pinterest boards for my characters and settings. I’ve got playlists, and these things fuel my writing and creativity. I understand my book and I am reminded that no one can write it like me.

Tip #10 Nothing is Set In Stone: 

Unless you are carving your book in a stone tablet or writing your book across the walls in sharpie than you can always go back, you can always fix and delete. We often rewrite from paper or go back into our word documents and mix things around. Write shit until you have the courage to fix it.

Tip #11 Write With A Person/Person(s) In Mind:

Writing for an audience is hard to envision for me, so instead I write for a person or a couple people in mind. Which falls in line with my writing, I’ve always written for people whether it be classmates, friends, or people on the Internet and soon when I write a book for everyone to read. Writing for me has always been about writing for others and getting through drafting and writing in general is trying to get reactions, laughs, and smiles out of my readers. If you write for someone who loves you then you will always feel comfort in pleasing them and that no matter what you write it doesn’t matter what others think because they will love it regardless. I often write for my boyfriend, mother, brother, and my best friend. The four people who are close to me and are guaranteed to enjoy my writing and I can guarantee that you too, have someone that will love what you write and you’ll want to please them.

Tip #12 Write For Children/ Write Silly:

If you feel like you have to write a story that needs to have complex prose and have subtleties and be nuanced which is nice and all but if you are struggling it’s okay to just write like you are writing for a young one, someone old enough to read but young enough to understand basic storytelling. And if writing once upon a time puts you in the mood to write more than all power to it. You can always delete that once upon a crap later. Just tell us the story. Hell I use to do this kind of stuff with outlining which was fucking hard for me at first when I was a hardcore pantser sometimes I would write really silly. For example, Henry eats food, and he falls dead, the village knows the food is bad, food is suspicious, main character Zora will find it out, it’s the storm the storm has ruined the food. Oh no! This is just a simple way for me to get many thoughts down and to easily expand and not feel like I need to write something perfect.

Tip #13 Write Dialogue First and Finish The Rest Later: 

It’s pretty self explanatory but you need to just get dialogue done first. When I wrote Dragon Age fan fiction this is when I first used this. It was a sure fire way for me to get words on paper because Dragon Age’s dialogue is a big part of the dragon age experience if you aren’t already aware. I usually get distracted by dialogue tags and description and slows me down significantly so write all the dialogue and figure the other stuff later.

Tip #14 Surround Yourself With Positivity: 

If you’ve got friends and family who support you like I am lucky enough to have people who support me, even if you don’t have people in your everyday life who support you then it’s a good idea to join a writing community whether it be on discord, Instagram, Twitter, whatever find your writer friends and hold them close because having some friends to cheer you on, support you, and fall back on does all the good.

Tip #15 Character and Setting Visual Stimuli: 

Because I am horrible with description of people and setting I found that have pictures of my characters and settings is the easiest way to describe when I can see it somewhere other than in my head. I strongly suggest utilizing this because you also add on your own little things if the picture doesn’t fit entirely.

[violetren]

CAN WE HAVE  A POST INFINITY WAR SHURI MOVIE?!

I got bored at work somehow my mind got stuck on this one moment in Black Panther and an idea spawned.

The moment was when M’baku challenges T’challa for the throne, and talks about Shuri being a child who shouldn’t be in charge of Wakanda’s technological development or whatever and the Dora Milaje get in a ready stance, but look like they’re holding Shuri back rather than M’baku, while she’s standing there staring him dead on.

The idea is QUEEN SHURI.

So Wakanda is ravaged yeah? A lot of people died, a lot of things go destroyed, and then The Snap happened. Those left over need something, SOMEONE to rally around and bring them togther.

Okoye the Lawful Good Paladin Traditionalist that she is turns to Shuri like “You’re it. You got this. The Dora Milaje are at your service.”

And because tradition is important, even during, or especially during times of hardship to help connect people the call goes out to pull everyone together for the chance to challenge Shuri in single combat, to prove she’s worthy of being the new Black Panther, and their queen.

M’baku is not fucking happy. He learned to acknowledge that she was worthy of being the leader of technology and research, but she’s still kid and and just ‘cause she’s good with tech doesn’t mean she’d be a good leader for the nation. He’s issued his challenge before they’ve even sent out the invites because he was there when Okoye told Shuri she needed to step up.

Shuri is... Kind of fucking devastated. Something 70% of her people are dead. Her brother is dead. There is a huge amount of destruction. M’baku isn’t exactly wrong that she’s just a kid. She feels like she failed ‘cause she couldn’t get the stone out fast enough to get destroyed (not that she should but guilt rarely cares about that).

But Shuri is also fucking strong. Fuck iron, she’s got a vibranium will. And she’s smart. She knows somewhere deep down she’s capable of what Okoye says she is. She got a lot, if not all, of the same training as her brother about being a leader, and she’s got a good heart.

So she steps up. She’s smart enough that she can pull her country together and set about trying to find a way to reverse what has been done. Especially if she delegates properly, and listens to Okoye, and Nakia, and even M’baku once she gets him in line.

Fastforward to coronation day. The tension in the air is at least as thick as it was when Killmonger challenged T’challa, and the mood 10x as somber.

M’baku called out his challenge first and the remainders of the other tribes let him. A lot of their warriors were killed and they can’t guarantee who they have left can take Shuri. They all know she’s had training but none are 100% sure as to what extent and how good she is. Only rumours. In the current climate a lot of them agree that such a young woman taking control could be back, M’baku is well known as a warrior, and he‘s has years of experience leading the Jabari.

Now M’baku might think she’s too young but he’s not stupid enough to completely underestimate her. Not again.

He’s learned a bit about her work since he challenged T’challa, he’s seen the fire in her eyes when she came to his mountain with her mother to request his aide, he’s heard of how she went 1v1 with Killmonger briefly during the battle for Wakanda, even if rumours of how it turned out were inconclusive. His biggest concern is that she’ll be brash, easily led, and childishly self absorbed rather than focused on helping Wakanda recover.

So the fight starts, and instead of just charging her, he taunts her, tries to bait her. They circle one another, and he mostly talks. Sometimes makes a few false swings trying to make her flinch. Normally he’s more actions than words in a situation like this but that’s not what he’s testing here.

All the while Shuri is giving him that same dead eye stare she gave him the day he challenged her brother. 

In the crowd or maybe in the circle of spear holders we see a couple of Dora Milaje women share a “He’s done fucked up” kind of look. Let’s say they’re Ayo and Aneka.

The Dora Milaje close in with the spears. Once, maybe twice. EVERYONE is getting ansty over the lack of blows. Realising he’s running out of room to move M’baku takes a second to evaluate if he can afford to keep taunting her. A literal second where his eyes leave her to evaluate their surroundings.

When it was a wide space he had the advantage of being about to make wide heavy swings, but that time has passed. When it gets smaller he’ll have the size advantage to grapple with her, but that’s a dangerous move when she’s so small and they’re near a cliff, one stroke or luck for Shuri or misfortune for him and that could end badly.

Before he’s coming to the conclusion that the current amount of space is probably when Shuri will have the best chance. Not enough for him to do massive swings, but just enough that her smaller frame can dodge and weave out of a grapple attempt Shuri has already closed in with a precision attack.

M’baku might get a hit or two in, but by the time he has the damage has been done, Shuri’s got the advantage and she’s fucking using it. She decimates him, and because they both know Wakanda will need all the inside help it can get to get put back together, he is forced to concede.

All except for the people who were really close to Shuri are standing there looking fucking shell shocked, because she did that.

No one else challenges.

So then she’s doing good leader things. Appointing positions to help rebuild, organising shit, settling disputes that come up during disasters, that kind of shit. And all the while she’s putting resources into researching the infinity stones and the gauntlet and shit so she can if not reverse it at least prevent it from ever happening again. 

And because people can be awful and opportunistic she also has to be literally fighting off colonisation attempts. I’m gonna go ahead and cast America as the biggest fucking source of potential invader issues. Ross is walking a thin fucking line if he even still exists. 

There’s your overarching conflict type stuff.

On a more personal level for Shuri though the girl is trying to find a way to make all this shit easier because she’s barely got her head above water. Her most immediate issue is getting the invaders of her back, because she’s got the tribe leaders to back her up on keeping people organised for the rebuilding, but she doesn’t have an army to back her if these invaders get past Wakanda’s weakened border.

So far she’s been getting by, by designing better and better gadgets to back up her new physical abilities (’cause you know someone scavanged some sacred flowers before Killmonger could get them all burned) but she doesn’t like how doing that can take time and resources away from the rebuilding so she just needs something really special to get the message across that Wakanda isn’t to be fucked with, without triggering like a nuclear war or some shit.

Shuri knows and respects her traditions but normally when she has problems she looks forward for how she can solve them. She’ll turn to traditions of the past for inspiration when just looking forward doesn’t work. It would be a lie to say she doesn’t keep traditions in mind, but when under stress—and she is under a lot—she looks forward first, and with everything she has to be getting done following tradition feels a little suffocating.

Shuri’s personal jouney for the film is her working through her emotional stress and finding a way to center herself with her culture again and the way I suggest this journey be visually and symbolically conveyed is by doing a twist on how Shuri gains her shapeshifting abilities in the comics.

Instead of having her die, maybe have her learn about an ancestor or something that found a way to connect with the Djalia (a spiritual plane consisting of the entire memories of Wakanda) and learn from/get imbued with power by a griot spirit, and decide that maybe its the hail mary she needs.

I’m gonna say she stumbled across it early as part of the research into how to deal with the stones. Looking into spiritual practices as part of figuring out how to deal with the spirit stone or something. That said it could just as easily be that she wasn’t getting fast enough results trying to make something new to save Wakanda so she decided to see if there was anything old that she could use or repurpose.

I like the “she found it early on” idea better because I like the idea of her doing the first part of the ritual in the story, not because she really thinks it would work but because she’s had a long day and willing to try anything. When she doesn’t immediately feel anything and theres no dramatic light effects or anything she just sighs and goes to bed to get what tiny amount of sleep she can. 

Then she has the weirdest fucking dream. And she keeps having them every night after that but they’re always so hazy when she wakes up.

The next couple of days weird shit happens too. Like theres an accident in the lab when she gets two minutes to herself to visit it, and she should have got cut by glass but she didn’t even though her suit wasn’t active. And she wakes up with black feathers on her pillow or one gets caught in the shower drain when she’s washing off after a fight near the plains where there weren’t any blackbirds. And then she’s in a fight and runs to shield someone not expecting to make it even with her enhanced agility, but then somehow she does, because of an inexplicable burst of superspeed.

She begins to think that maybe the old ceremony thing worked after all, and starts getting more involved in some more traditional practices trying to figure it out.

By the end of the movie Shuri is officially aware that she’s under the tutelage of a spirit and though she hasn’t mastered anything yet she’s able to turn the penultimate battle against the invaders around by working in tandem with the griot spirit to raise a bunch of the Wakandan warriors who had fallen during the fight, just long enough to gain the advantage. You know in some classic warrior looks aound realising they might genuinely lose and so goes kinda beserk. I’m thinking not so much in a rage way, but in a tears of grief kind of way.

Important note: Neither Ayo or Aneka can be part of the fallen warriors. They just can’t be.

In doing so she wins the battle, and scares the fuck out of everyone trying to invade buying Wakanda the time it needs to rebuild in relative peace.

Later if they bring T’challa back in a future movie I think Shuri might hand the throne back so that she can spend more time exploring her strengthening connection to the Djalia.

So yeah. That’s my idea. Can we please have a Shuri movie?

[cdrforea]

Oppo Find X2 Pro Review: Oppo Finds the Sweet Spot

New Post has been published on https://bestedevices.com/oppo-find-x2-pro-review-oppo-finds-the-sweet-spot.html

Oppo Find X2 Pro Review: Oppo Finds the Sweet Spot

"The Oppo Find X2 Pro is a beautiful phone with the latest hardware."

Stunning OLED screen

Quick charge

Versatile camera that takes great photos

High-performance SoC with 5G

Expensive

Phone software seems unreliable

How do you follow the Oppo Find X? It was ahead of its time in design, gave us an innovative and unusual motorized camera, and even had a completely crazy version of Lamborghini. It seems that Oppo himself wasn't entirely sure what to do since it took 20 months for the company to develop a sequel.

Get to know the Oppo Find X2 Pro, a phone that isn't as visually striking as the Find X, but is even more powerful.

Andy Boxall / DigitalTrends

I've spent a few weeks on the phone since it was unveiled, and it has impressed me more than any other Oppo phone before. This is due to advances in software and design. It's not perfect, but it's the first Oppo phone that I can confidently recommend. Here's why.

design

Oppo's decision to make the Find X2 Pro more conventional is the right one. I miss the madness of the Find X and other Find series phones as much as the next tech fan, but they weren't always practical. The Find X2 looks normal, maybe to the point where it feels derived from the front. However, the orange vegan leather back wall and gold accents prove that Oppo's design department still knows how to party.

Andy Boxall / DigitalTrends

The beautifully curved 6.7-inch OLED screen falls off to the side, but not to the extent that you see on the Huawei Mate 30 Pro. It's a more subtle, shallow drop that still offers an impressive viewing experience. Oppo's light effect notifications use the curved glass to warn you and display colored light when you receive a call or new message. It stands out, keeps you up to date and looks cool.

A golden aluminum case is located between the front window and the vegan leather back. It's smooth and gently curved so it won't get into your palm while the leather back feels warm. The Oppo Find X2 Pro is a pleasure to hold.

Andy Boxall / DigitalTrends

The leather has no heavy grain and only the slightest texture, but it is easy to grip. The phone never feels like it's slipping out of your hand. Whether the gold and orange color scheme is appealing depends on your personal choice. If it is too gaudy, a black ceramic model is available. Personally, I love the orange leather, but I don't like the chintzy gold, and the Oppo badge looks like an afterthought.

Andy Boxall / DigitalTrends

The leather model is slightly thicker and heavier than the black ceramic Find X2 Pro. With a thickness of 9.5 mm and 200 grams, it is a fairly large phone, especially compared to the feather-light Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus with a thickness of 186 grams and a thickness of 7.8 mm. It's still pluggable and never feels unwieldy, but is slightly top-heavy. The design, the high-quality materials and the processing as well as the excellent comfort in the hand make the Find X2 a mature and desirable phone.

screen

Oppo has put a lot of technology into the Find X2 Pro's screen, and it really pays off. The 6.7-inch OLED offers a refresh rate of 120 Hz, a resolution of 3168 x 1440, 240 Hz touch sampling, 10-bit color and HDR10 + support as well as the so-called O1 Ultra Vision Engine to optimize the Video performance. The Oppo Find X2 competes strongly with the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus and the Apple iPhone 11 Pro, two powerful mobile phones with breathtaking screens.

Andy Boxall / DigitalTrends

The Find X2 offers numerous options for changing the screen, including adjusting the color temperature and color mode, as well as the ability to turn off the O1 Ultra Vision Engine if you don't like motion smoothing or HDR upscaling. If the color temperature is set to the standard setting, the O1 Ultra Vision Engine and the color mode to Vivid, it hardly differs from the S20 Plus in direct comparison. Black is deep, shadows look perfect, colors are vivid and strong and details are sharp. It is a stunning screen with numerous adjustments if you wish.

The Find X2 Pro, which is also equipped with Dolby Atmos support, features two full-range stereo speakers. The speakers have a lot of volume, and Atmos also adds an extra dimension, but the phone lacks bass and can sound harsh when you turn up the volume.

The Oppo Find X2 Pro (top), Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus (bottom left). and iPhone 11 Pro (bottom right). Andy Boxall / DigitalTrends

During the first few days of use, I was concerned that the screen was not responding slightly, which was contrary to the 240 Hz touch sampling function. On my early test model, a screen protector was attached that was lifted up at one corner, eliminating the feeling of lag. I should also mention the phone's haptic feedback, which is wonderfully soft and tactile and comes very close to the excellent vibrations of the OnePlus 7T Pro.

Camera quality

The oversized camera on the back of the Find X2 Pro, which is held in gold, has a 48-megapixel Sony IMX689 1 / 1.4-inch main sensor with an aperture of 1: 1.7 and a second 48-megapixel -Sony IMX586 ultra-wide sensor and a 13 megapixel telephoto lens for a 2x optical zoom as well as a 5x and 10x hybrid setting and up to 60x digital recording. There is double optical image stabilization, live HDR for video and a macro mode as well as an auto focus with laser and phase detection.

Andy Boxall / DigitalTrends

The camera app looks familiar if you've recently used a Huawei phone. From the zoom controls to the menu selection, the layout of the app is strikingly similar. I took pictures before and after an important software update and liked a lot of pictures of both. The camera takes colorful and detailed photos that approach a cooler palette than a Samsung camera. The atmosphere of mobile phones like the Huawei P40 Pro can also be missing.

There's a noticeable difference in dynamics between the standard 48-megapixel lens (Sony's new IMX689 sensor) and the wide-angle IMX586, which weakens the colors. However, if you enable Oppo's "Dazzle" color mode, which uses artificial intelligence to enhance your images, the level of saturation will be increased to compensate for this. Edge detection in portrait mode is average and sometimes difficult to recognize even the simplest shapes. However, the large sensor creates a decent natural bokeh when there is an object nearby.

On the front is a 32 megapixel selfie camera in a small hole that offers both a beauty mode and a night mode. This unusual addition to the selfie camera is surprisingly effective and does a good job of reducing noise in low light, but processing time is long. However, I can see that it is useful for many people. Otherwise, the selfie camera has numerous filters and a decent portrait mode.

The Oppo Find X2 Pro's camera is excellent. It's versatile, has great zoom and lots of useful features, and delivers strong photo results whether you're using the front or rear camera. It is reliable and capable.

Software and performance

Software is a traditional weakness of Oppo phones, and previous versions of ColorOS (the company's Android user interface) were filled with frustrating changes to normal Android features.

Andy Boxall / DigitalTrends

Fortunately, Oppo changed course. The Oppo Find X2 Pro ships with ColorOS v7.1 via Android 10. It is more modern and uses clean storage much better to improve usability. The user interface is similar to Android on a Google Pixel 4 phone in that menus and icons look consistent and are where you expect them to be. Thanks to the screen with a refresh rate of 120 Hz, it is also quick and smooth.

The importance of this cannot be overstated. Daily use of the Find X2 Pro is more of a pleasure than a duty, since almost no matter which phone you come from, no steep learning curve is required after switching. The constantly active screen is helpful and clearly shows notification symbols. I also like the system-wide dark mode.

It's not all good news, and the problems I've had with the Oppo Reno 3 Pro are present, e.g. B. the useless Smart Assistant that you wipe from the home screen. However, since Oppo fixed other issues, these are disappointments in an otherwise solid user interface.

The phone has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 processor and an X55 5G modem as well as 12 GB RAM and 512 GB storage space. Going through two benchmark tests gave these results.

3DMark: 6.523 (volcano)

Geekbench 5: 901 single-core / 3266 multi-core

This is the fastest Qualcomm processor available and has a large amount of RAM, so the Find X2 Pro never lacks the performance. The results have driven it forward in tests with the Exynos-based Galaxy S20 Plus and with phones with the Snapdragon 855 Plus such as the Asus ROG Phone 2.

Andy Boxall / DigitalTrends

Andy Boxall / DigitalTrends

Andy Boxall / DigitalTrends

I had some problems with calls. Although the reception was strong according to the symbol and was not technical, I often had problems hearing the caller and vice versa. It seemed like I was in an area with poor coverage and disruption before I reconnect. The problem only occurred with Find X2 Pro. It was intermittent, so not every call was affected, suggesting that it was a software problem.

Battery life

The Find X2 Pro has a built-in fingerprint sensor and a face release, both of which work very well. Face recognition usually beats faster than the fingerprint sensor. A 4,260 mAh battery, which is actually two 2,130 mAh cells that work together, provides the juice. This setup helps the Oppo SuperVOOC Flash Charge 2.0 fast charging system to work and keep temperatures low.

Andy Boxall / DigitalTrends

The battery is quickly charged with the supplied 65 W charger. In just 30 minutes in my repeated tests, it shot from 0 to 100%, which essentially makes overnight charging unnecessary. Charge the phone when you get ready in the morning, and it's done before you're done. Unfortunately there is no wireless charging.

I watched approximately 3.5 hours of 1080p video, which drained about 35% of the battery, and the phone took a day of moderate use.

Price, availability and guarantee

The Oppo Find X2 Pro costs £ 1,100 and can currently be ordered from Amazon in the US for $ 1,300. It will be released in May. You can register interest on the phone through the Carphone Warehouse retailer website. However, there is no information yet about which network operators will sell the phone. Oppo does not sell its devices in the United States, but it may be possible to import one. Oppo grants a two year warranty on the device and the battery.

Our opinion

The Find X2 Pro is Oppo at its best. It offers the performance we expect from a flagship phone, without the inconvenience of previous Find models and yet enough individuality to respond. The screen is stunning, the camera is excellent and the software has improved a lot compared to old models.

All of this at a high price that puts Oppo in the same space as Samsung, Apple and Huawei. That is rightly so, but it remains to be seen whether Oppo has the brand name to attract at this level.

Is there a better alternative?

There are a lot of phones out now, and some will be coming very soon to take on the Oppo Find X2 Pro. The Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus for $ 1,000 is strong with very good software, a great camera, and one of the best screens available. However, the design is boring compared to the Find X2 Pro. The $ 1,400 Galaxy S20 Ultra and its 108-megapixel camera also come into play at this price.

The Huawei P40 Pro costs £ 900, which is about $ 1,115. Therefore, it will be offered at a competitive price when it is released in April. The design is more mature than that of the Find X2 Pro, and the camera has great potential, but the lack of Google Mobile Services puts it at a disadvantage in the UK. If you're not fixated on buying an Android phone, the Apple iPhone 11 for $ 1,000 Pro is our top choice for the year to date.

I also like the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus for $ 1,100, which is a little older, but is still an excellent smartphone. One to watch out for in the near future is the OnePlus 8 series. OnePlus is part of the same business conglomerate as Oppo and will launch its new phones on April 15th. There is every chance that OnePlus 8 Pro will take over the Find X2 Pro at a cheaper price.

How long it will take?

With IP68 water resistance, the phone stays relatively safe in the wet, and the version with leather back should stay attractive longer because it has no fingerprints or can break like a glass back. Ceramic is tougher and more scratch-resistant than glass if you choose the black version.

Oppo's track record with Android updates isn't great. The original Find X, the RX17 Pro and the Oppo Reno 10x Zoom are expected to receive ColorOS 7 and Android 10 in summer 2020. Android 10 was released in September 2019. If you buy the Find X2 Pro, you can wait a while for an update to Android 11.

Should you buy one?

Yes. The stunning screen, excellent photo functions, fast charging and 5G for future security ensure that the Find X2 Pro will serve you well every day for several years.

Editor's recommendations

[superjohndean]

The Ultimate Guide to Video Content Marketing for Your Business – Pdatas Blog

Video marketing is not what it used to be a few years ago. Today, it has gone to become lot more serious, and much more effective, especially for businesses that have already managed to build an audience. A large number of small businesses are taking advantage of video content marketing to stand out from the competition in order to achieve their goals.

Why video? Because it works. And it will keep working.

Look around and you’ll find that video content is being consumed like never before. YouTube has turned into the second biggest search engine in the world. That’s right, not Bing or Yahoo, but YouTube is where people are searching on right after Google for everything. Recipes, product demos, how-to videos – you name it, they’re searching for it.

Here are some more video stats to convince you about the power video holds on the web:

82% of Twitter users consume video content on the microblogging site.

92% of mobile video viewers like to share them with other people.

87% of Internet marketers leverage video content to meet their business goals.

This simply means that as a business you cannot and should not take video content marketing for granted. With time most of your competition will be leveraging video, which means it should be a part of your core marketing strategy now. The value of video should not be underestimated if you want to taste real success with your content marketing efforts.

Storytelling Via Video

Before we delve into how you can use video content marketing, it’s important to first understand what actually makes video click. While there are a number of reasons that come to mind, the biggest one is that videos allow you to tell stories. Stories that you can use to connect to your target audience. Stories that you as a marketer can leverage to create powerful impressions and long lasting relationships. Stories that simply deliver.

Yes, video has the potential to help your prospects and customers understand your business and create a ground for future promotions. But it’s also an amazing way to spread your ideas with meaningful stories. And that’s what makes it so exciting.

You, as a consumer, which will you most likely to engage to? A video that sounds like a sales pitch or a narrative that tells you the value of the product? Consumers now are more connected to a brand if they feel like their lives will change once they use it. Connect with them emotionally, that’s the key.

Also, you can use video to experiment with new and brave content to touch the emotional side of your target audience. Because videos are a mixture of visuals, motion and sounds, they allow you to create deep and more meaningful connections with people — while positioning your brand in the best possible way.

However, in order to make the most out of video and find success with it, you as a business should know and understand how to use it the right way. Until and unless you realize the true power of video and take the right steps to leverage it, you won’t see the kind of results you want to see.

What Exactly is Video Content Marketing?

Content marketing in its purest form is nothing but the production and online distribution of content that is educational slash informative in nature. The goal of this content is to convert online content consumers into prospects/customers. And also to provide enough information to current customers and convince them to become repeat buyers.

Content marketing is used across various channels, with the help of different types of content. Which means it is not limited to text, and video is a big part of it.

Since video is a strong and effective way to spread your marketing message, it can take your content marketing efforts to the next level. But once again, this depends on how well you execute your video content marketing campaign. And what you want to achieve from it.

5 Valid Reasons Why Your Business Needs Video Content Marketing

By now you should know what video content marketing exactly is and how it’s growing rapidly. It’s a tactic that your business needs to incorporate in order to get a higher return from your online marketing efforts.

Let’s now look into a few strong reasons as to why you should invest in video content marketing and make it a part of your core business strategy.

More Conversions

When it comes to running an online marketing campaign, the ultimate metric that matters is the conversion rate. Because if you’re not converting your prospects into leads or customers, your business isn’t growing, it’s as simple as that.

By leveraging video content marketing, you’ll be able to get more people to sign up for your newsletter or buy your latest product. When compared to other types of content, video content can give your prospects the needed clarity to make the final decision. It gives you a certain edge over the competition and since quality video isn’t as easy to produce, it can take a while before others catch up with you.

A recent research conducted shows that 71% of marketers have found video content more conversion-friendly. When done right, it can easily help you get better results with minimal efforts.

Better Emotional Connection

If you look around the social media landscape, you’ll find that videos are being shared the most in comparison to other content types. While there are many reasons as to why people like sharing videos, one of the strongest “why” is that people connect to the right video content on an emotional level. By creating videos that appeal to the emotions of your target audience, you not only give them a reason to consume your content but also spread it across their own network.

For example, if you look at a traditional blog post, you won’t find the emotional cues that come with video content. Right from the tone of voice to the sound effects/music being used, everything can have a positive impact on the viewer. Which ultimately makes your content stand out from the rest and also memorable.

When interested people watch your video that evokes their strongest emotions (happiness, awe, anger, etc), it may not push them towards taking action immediately. However, it will help them make a buying decision later on when they see more such content from you.

So whether you are in the B2B or the B2C market, impressing the emotions of your audience with video marketing, can and will help you bring in more business.

Higher Accessibility

Let’s face it, video production is no longer the difficult task it used to be a few years ago. You no longer need to spend a ton of time on creating a video or have a huge budget to achieve studio level quality. Yes, we’re talking about video content that only the big guys were able to produce before.

Thanks to the advancement in technology and with new/innovative tools available, creating and launching your own video has become much more affordable. In fact, it will keep getting easier in the coming years as more and more businesses jump into producing their own videos and starting their own channels.

Stronger Engagement Levels

Many studies have proven that visual content works great when it comes to engaging your target audience. People today like to consume to content that is visually appealing and engrossing. Now, this isn’t limited to pictures or photographs. Video content is proven to be a big part of the “visual content” movement.

With more and more people watching video content on social media sites such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, you can see firsthand how video is helping generate strong engagement from target users.

When you create and share video content with your social followers, you have a 10X chance of them engaging with your video, which often translates to more shares and comments. However, do keep in mind that the quality of video content marketing matters to a huge extent and has a direct impact on the kind of results you are able to generate.Easier SEO Results

Does video content marketing have an impact on SEO? Can videos actually help you rank higher in the search engines for keywords that are hard to rank for? The answer is yes, given that you’re doing it right. There is little doubt that Google and other major search engines like Bing love video content and won’t hesitate to rank it higher than traditional articles.

According to a study done by Comscore, by adding video content to your site, you have a 53% higher chance to end up on the first page of the SERPs. This just goes on to show that quality video content can make a big difference to not only your conversion rate, but also the organic search traffic you generate.

Understanding the Video Content Marketing Funnel

Using video for marketing becomes much more effective when you take a prospect though a well-defined content marketing funnel. By implementing video, you will be able to generate more sales with your content strategy.

It doesn’t matter what type of video content you use, with the help of a proper video content marketing funnel, you can:

Create more awareness among your target audience about your product or service while creating a positive impression on them. This is the first and the most important stage of content marketing because without awareness, it’s impossible to gain trust.

Focus on the problem and the solution you offer, clearly explaining the benefits of using your product and educating your audience. This is the second stage where you help your prospective buyers understand how exactly your product/service can help them.

Stand out from the competition and make it easy for prospects to reach a buying decision and do business with you. This is the final stage of the funnel where you can expect to actually close the sale.

In order to make the most of your content marketing funnel, it’s important that you use the right type of content to take potential buyers through it.

When you use video content, your funnel not only becomes stronger but you also end up getting a higher return on investment. Right from building brand loyalty to increasing your conversion rate, you’ll find that video is the perfect medium to get more of everything.

7 Simple Tips for Efficient Video Content Marketing

If you want your video content marketing to deliver results, then you need to take a calculated approach to it. You can’t just blindly play the video marketing game and expect to see returns.

Here are seven proven tips to help you make the most out of your video content marketing efforts.

#1: Grab their Attention Quick

Internet users are not as patient as they used to be. Today, it’s all about finding the best piece of content. So don’t be surprised if people jump your video to look for another one if they don’t find it enticing enough.

The solution is to hook your viewers without wasting their time and delivering on your promise. You only have a few seconds to impress them (less than 10 to be precise).

So have an interesting, relevant start to the video and don’t wait too long to reach the meat. Whether your video is long or short, give your viewers a reason to watch it without skipping it.

#2: Deliver Real Value

Powerful video content marketing is all about giving immense value to the viewer in whatever form you choose. Your content strategy should focus on adding value to the lives of your target audience. How you provide this value is subjective. Because what’s valuable for your audience may not be that valuable for a different type of audience.

So for instance, if you find that you can give value by creating and publishing entertaining yet informative video content, do that. Or if you want to choose an even simpler route by creating videos offering specific (niche or industry related) knowledge, even that’s fine. Keep in mind that any video that you produce must be watchable and enjoyable. Because if it’s a drag, then it’s not valuable.

So be interesting. Stay relevant. Seek engagement.

#3: Go Beyond YouTube

While there is no doubt that your video content marketing plan cannot be complete without YouTube, it’s not enough. In other words, there are many other valuable video sharing channels/platforms that you can tap into besides YouTube. Your aim is to reach out to your target audience in the best possible way, and that can’t happen if you only focus on YouTube.

The most obvious reason as to why you need to consider other platforms is because of the potential to connect with a varied audience. For instance, the kind of people you can reach with your videos on Facebook is not the same as YouTube. Because Facebook users discover video content in a different way. Also, different platforms have people from various age groups using them.

This is why it makes sense to leverage as many video platforms as you can. However, allocate the majority of your time to a platform where your target audience is most likely to be found.

#4: Stay Consistent in Your Approach

Consistency plays a big role in making your video stand out from the competition. Why? Because videos are visual, which means you’re not limited in how you present the content. With every video you create, you can help your viewers resonate with your message by being consistent. Your brand’s personality, look and design matters to a great extent in keeping consistency high.

For example, if you are creating videos with people in them, then keep using the same cast so that your viewers see faces they’re already familiar with. Similarly, if your videos only have a voice-over, see to it that the colors and the design in the video you use stay consistent.

You may also want to plan your video content well in advance (create a video content calendar) to make sure your consistent with timing as well.

However, when it comes to video platforms, your videos need to be customized for each. The one size/look fits all approach doesn’t work here. If you’re posting a video on Instagram, then it helps to create videos that look more natural, unedited or spontaneous. But on YouTube and Facebook, people expect a professional feel, so that’s what you give them.

#5: Don’t Ignore the Quality Aspect

Just because you’re creating and uploading videos on YouTube or Facebook doesn’t mean that you should forget about quality. In fact, keeping up with quality is extremely important on these social media sites because they’re moderated by real communities. Users won’t think twice before giving your videos a thumbs down if they don’t see quality.

So say no to low-definition video and hello to HD video content that people like to view and share with others.  As video platforms improve in quality and service, they expect to give their users a better experience. Which will only happen if you stop testing the patience of your viewers with bad videos. Remember, quality over quantity is the number one rule of creating amazing video content.

#6: Optimize for Silence

Besides YouTube, other social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram tend to auto-play videos without sound. The user may or may not choose to watch the video with sound. But stats show that up to 85% of videos viewed on Facebook are watched with volume down to zero.

The simple reason for the “silence revolution” in the online video world (especially on social media) is that people are increasingly watching videos on their mobile devices. Since the social experience is largely silent, especially with people around, it’s no wonder that many users prefer to viewing videos with sound turned off.

So how do you impress users when they are only watching and not listening? By creating attractive yet relevant visuals that make the video feel engrossing. If there’s dialogue in your video, then add English subtitles. In short, have sound in your video but also optimize for silence.

#7: Add a Call to Action

What’s the use of video content marketing if there’s no proper call to action in place? Businesswise, if you’re investing in video content marketing, then you need measurable results. Having a clear CTA makes real business sense and it should not be ignored.

Call to actions in videos need to be complicated. Simply prompting viewers to visiting your website or subscribing to your newsletter at the end of the video is usually enough. But if you want to go a step further, you may have a call to action come up right in the middle of the video when the viewer is deeply engrossed in the video.

However, stuffing your videos with multiple call to actions is a strict no-no. The last thing you want is to come off is salesy or pushy to your viewers. Because annoyed viewers will move away from the video and avoid sharing it with others.

4 Quick Video Content Marketing Ideas You Can Apply to Your Business Today

Coming up with creative video content ideas can seem daunting but it’s not impossible. What you do with video largely depends on your goals, so if you’re clear about them it shouldn’t be difficult.

Here are a few ideas that you can use in your business, depending on your marketing goals.

Share your company’s or business’s value using videos which could be anything from repurposed blog posts to staff testimonials. The idea is to create video content that makes your brand stand out from the crowd. Remember, the more your audience sees your brand as unique and trustworthy, the better it is.

Deliver company news and make important announcements with the help of videos that can be shared through your social media channels. Added a new feature to your product? Use a video explaining the benefits. Have a special event coming up? Create a video detailing the ins and outs of it, and how viewers can become a part of it. Running a special promotion? Run a video Facebook ad and share it with your target audience.

Provide a product demo so that people who don’t want to read can see your product in working. When your prospective customers see your product in a running condition, it positions you as a trusted brand. Show your audience what your product is about so that it sells itself. Make the video demo powerful enough to remove any doubts from your prospective customer’s minds.

Show that your brand or business is a thought leader by creating videos about your industry and about evergreen topics related to your subject matter expertise. Help your audience understand the difficult areas of your market. Make their lives easier with your videos and in return they will give you more business.

Regardless of the type of business you run, video content marketing can and will help you grow. However, if you find creating and marketing with videos intimidating, you can contact us and we will be glad to help you execute your campaign. Alternatively, do check out our content marketing services page to get a better idea of how we can help you.

Source link

The post The Ultimate Guide to Video Content Marketing for Your Business – Pdatas Blog appeared first on StudyProfit.

source https://studyprofit.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-video-content-marketing-for-your-business-pdatas-blog/

from StudyProfit https://ift.tt/2NrXuE7 via Wordpress

[trendingnewsb]

Why Giving up Is So Tempting and How to Resist It

Sir Thomas Allen, the performer who inspired the Billy Elliot story, is an opera singer who is famous for his outstanding vocal and acting prowess on the operatic stage. He was born in a working-class mining town in north-east England, where most people grew up to become a miner or involve in heavy industry at that time. Growing up in a community where a career in the arts was not looked upon, he had to deal with peer pressure and criticisms from neighbors. He could have just given up and led the same career like others did, but he worked even harder to become a great opera singer.[1]

All successful people have to overcome numerous disappointments and failures in life – yet it’s usually only their successes that are celebrated and remembered by the public. Seeing only the positive sides of successful people is an illusion.  It causes expectations of success in an unrealistically short time, and creates a negative bias towards our own results in life.

How the Seed of Instant Results Was Planted

The desire for instant results began when we were just babies. By simply crying loud enough, babies could get attention, food – or someone to play with. As babies got older, the expectation of having their needs instantly fulfilled never really went away. In truth, even adults seek instant rewards, but the methods have just changed from crying to be fed to heading to the nearest fast food outlet.

It’s the same with information. Years ago, to properly research a subject, you would have spent hours or days perusing the reference section at your local library. Nowadays, due to the power of the internet, you expect online search results to instantly display on your device.

Sure, fast food outlets and the internet have some positive benefits. But if you’re not careful, they can also lead you into a mental trap — always wanting to see results appear as rapidly as possible.

Sadly, not everything can be as instant as eating fast food. Some things in life take time.

For example, instead of persevering with a challenging job, you might decide to quit it, and take something easier to handle. You may tell yourself that the new job will offer some decent opportunities for growth, but in reality, you’ve most likely just taken the easy way out.

As you’ll see next, expecting instant results is likely to cause you to skid off the road that leads to big success.

The Temptation of Giving Up

Now, don’t get me wrong. I realize that it’s tough to spend all your time and effort on something, and not to see any immediate results. It can be disheartening. And when this occurs, it’s easy to just switch to doing other things (especially with so many options being available in today’s world).

But in fact, the idea that things will get easier and better because of switching to other things is a fantasy. Sure, the instant pleasure of giving up for another option might feel good at first, but unless it’s moving you forward to a bigger goal, then it may actually be hindering you. By taking a short-term benefit, most people end up sacrificing their long-term goals and happiness.

Bottlenecks and problems are everywhere. Even if you switch from one goal to another, you’ll still be constantly faced with challenges and difficulties. They never go away. So it’s better to stick to your guns – rather than throwing them away every time you hit a bad patch.

Right after I founded Lifehack, things were not so smooth. I did my very best to ensure a stable web server and a reader-friendly website layout. I also spent a lot of effort on high quality productivity articles. But I didn’t see a lot of rewarding results. There were only a few readers and some even left comments criticising my work. I was frustrated, and there were people telling my to quit, offering me job opportunities as a senior engineer or a manager. There were so many options available to me, and giving up seemed so easy. But if I gave up right there based on the results at that time, Lifehack wouldn’t be what it is today.

How to Resist the Temptation

It’s not easy to resist the desire for instant results making us want to give up, but here’s what I’ve been doing to stay motivated – and it always works.

1. Widen your perspective and draw out the big picture in your head

Realize that we only see a big fluctuation at the moment issues arise – but we’re probably missing the big picture.  Journeys to major successes are likely to be long and time-consuming.  If we reach a disappointment during the journey, it’s most likely to only be a small dip on an upward-trending pathway.

Accept that you’ll constantly be presented with examples of people around you getting awards, receiving applause, looking successful, etc. This is really tough, but try to celebrate their success, rather than letting it remind you of your failures.

You’ll know that you’re making headway once you’ve learned to experience every day as just part of a longer journey.

2. Put the incremental progress before your eyes

You may not have been taught this at school, but lasting progress is typically only made through incremental steps.  American author Robert Collier described this principle well: “Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.”

To keep yourself on track for long-term success, adopt this formula: Small, Smart Choices + Consistency + Time = Radical Difference [2]

Small, Smart Choices. Take big tasks and break them into smaller components. This is a great technique to use when you feel that you’re not making any progress. Take painting a room, for example. Just the thought of doing it might be enough to prevent you from starting. However, if you make an effort to paint one of the walls, you’ll likely find the motivation and desire to finish painting the whole room.

Consistency. Make everyday’s small choices count. For example, are you using your mornings to be productive? Many successful people work on their health and fitness before breakfast. Whether they choose to run around a local park, or exercise at a gym, they have made a habit of putting their physical strength and stamina to the top of their daily to-do list.

Time. Progress takes time. The small and smart choices you make every day will be accumulated into something great in a month, and a year. For example, if you run for 4km every day, it’ll become 120km every month, and 1460km every year — that’s a lot of running in a year.

If you only focus on the outcome you want, you may have difficulty visualizing the progress you’ve made so far. To overcome this, always keep a record of what you’ve done and celebrate small wins.

Take running as an example again.  Say you can only run for 2km in your first week.  By the end of it, you can barely catch your breath, and 4k seems like 40km.  But Time and Consistency accumulates results.  After a week, your steps become lighter and your breath comes easier and there you go, you can run for 3km after the second week.  That extra 1km is a small win that you should celebrate.

By doing this, you give yourself feedback and recognition that can help you to stay driven and on track. As already mentioned, difficulties will appear on your journey towards success. However, by recognizing your small wins, this will keep you from falling into the ‘no results now’ trap.

Resisting Giving up Is a Continuous Battle

The temptation is strong most of the time, but remember that giving up never makes things easier. It may look like it’s easier to switch to something else at that moment, but in fact it only makes the future path even more difficult.  All successful people have gone through a lot of tough times to become what they are today.  If you want to become successful, put my advice into action and you will be resistant to giving up.

Reference

[1]^British Favourite Baritone: Sir Thomas Allen[2]^The Mission: 10X Your Results, One Tiny Action at a Time (The Power of Incremental Progress

function footnote_expand_reference_container() { jQuery(“#footnote_references_container”).show(); jQuery(“#footnote_reference_container_collapse_button”).text(“-“); } function footnote_collapse_reference_container() { jQuery(“#footnote_references_container”).hide(); jQuery(“#footnote_reference_container_collapse_button”).text(“+”); } function footnote_expand_collapse_reference_container() { if (jQuery(“#footnote_references_container”).is(“:hidden”)) { footnote_expand_reference_container(); } else { footnote_collapse_reference_container(); } } function footnote_moveToAnchor(p_str_TargetID) { footnote_expand_reference_container(); var l_obj_Target = jQuery(“#” + p_str_TargetID); if(l_obj_Target.length) { jQuery(‘html, body’).animate({ scrollTop: l_obj_Target.offset().top – window.innerHeight/2 }, 1000); } }

The post Why Giving up Is So Tempting and How to Resist It appeared first on Lifehack.

from Viral News HQ http://ift.tt/2uXTJtt via Viral News HQ

[trendingnewsb]

Why Giving up Is So Tempting and How to Resist It

Sir Thomas Allen, the performer who inspired the Billy Elliot story, is an opera singer who is famous for his outstanding vocal and acting prowess on the operatic stage. He was born in a working-class mining town in north-east England, where most people grew up to become a miner or involve in heavy industry at that time. Growing up in a community where a career in the arts was not looked upon, he had to deal with peer pressure and criticisms from neighbors. He could have just given up and led the same career like others did, but he worked even harder to become a great opera singer.[1]

All successful people have to overcome numerous disappointments and failures in life – yet it’s usually only their successes that are celebrated and remembered by the public. Seeing only the positive sides of successful people is an illusion.  It causes expectations of success in an unrealistically short time, and creates a negative bias towards our own results in life.

How the Seed of Instant Results Was Planted

The desire for instant results began when we were just babies. By simply crying loud enough, babies could get attention, food – or someone to play with. As babies got older, the expectation of having their needs instantly fulfilled never really went away. In truth, even adults seek instant rewards, but the methods have just changed from crying to be fed to heading to the nearest fast food outlet.

It’s the same with information. Years ago, to properly research a subject, you would have spent hours or days perusing the reference section at your local library. Nowadays, due to the power of the internet, you expect online search results to instantly display on your device.

Sure, fast food outlets and the internet have some positive benefits. But if you’re not careful, they can also lead you into a mental trap — always wanting to see results appear as rapidly as possible.

Sadly, not everything can be as instant as eating fast food. Some things in life take time.

For example, instead of persevering with a challenging job, you might decide to quit it, and take something easier to handle. You may tell yourself that the new job will offer some decent opportunities for growth, but in reality, you’ve most likely just taken the easy way out.

As you’ll see next, expecting instant results is likely to cause you to skid off the road that leads to big success.

The Temptation of Giving Up

Now, don’t get me wrong. I realize that it’s tough to spend all your time and effort on something, and not to see any immediate results. It can be disheartening. And when this occurs, it’s easy to just switch to doing other things (especially with so many options being available in today’s world).

But in fact, the idea that things will get easier and better because of switching to other things is a fantasy. Sure, the instant pleasure of giving up for another option might feel good at first, but unless it’s moving you forward to a bigger goal, then it may actually be hindering you. By taking a short-term benefit, most people end up sacrificing their long-term goals and happiness.

Bottlenecks and problems are everywhere. Even if you switch from one goal to another, you’ll still be constantly faced with challenges and difficulties. They never go away. So it’s better to stick to your guns – rather than throwing them away every time you hit a bad patch.

Right after I founded Lifehack, things were not so smooth. I did my very best to ensure a stable web server and a reader-friendly website layout. I also spent a lot of effort on high quality productivity articles. But I didn’t see a lot of rewarding results. There were only a few readers and some even left comments criticising my work. I was frustrated, and there were people telling my to quit, offering me job opportunities as a senior engineer or a manager. There were so many options available to me, and giving up seemed so easy. But if I gave up right there based on the results at that time, Lifehack wouldn’t be what it is today.

How to Resist the Temptation

It’s not easy to resist the desire for instant results making us want to give up, but here’s what I’ve been doing to stay motivated – and it always works.

1. Widen your perspective and draw out the big picture in your head

Realize that we only see a big fluctuation at the moment issues arise – but we’re probably missing the big picture.  Journeys to major successes are likely to be long and time-consuming.  If we reach a disappointment during the journey, it’s most likely to only be a small dip on an upward-trending pathway.

Accept that you’ll constantly be presented with examples of people around you getting awards, receiving applause, looking successful, etc. This is really tough, but try to celebrate their success, rather than letting it remind you of your failures.

You’ll know that you’re making headway once you’ve learned to experience every day as just part of a longer journey.

2. Put the incremental progress before your eyes

You may not have been taught this at school, but lasting progress is typically only made through incremental steps.  American author Robert Collier described this principle well: “Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.”

To keep yourself on track for long-term success, adopt this formula: Small, Smart Choices + Consistency + Time = Radical Difference [2]

Small, Smart Choices. Take big tasks and break them into smaller components. This is a great technique to use when you feel that you’re not making any progress. Take painting a room, for example. Just the thought of doing it might be enough to prevent you from starting. However, if you make an effort to paint one of the walls, you’ll likely find the motivation and desire to finish painting the whole room.

Consistency. Make everyday’s small choices count. For example, are you using your mornings to be productive? Many successful people work on their health and fitness before breakfast. Whether they choose to run around a local park, or exercise at a gym, they have made a habit of putting their physical strength and stamina to the top of their daily to-do list.

Time. Progress takes time. The small and smart choices you make every day will be accumulated into something great in a month, and a year. For example, if you run for 4km every day, it’ll become 120km every month, and 1460km every year — that’s a lot of running in a year.

If you only focus on the outcome you want, you may have difficulty visualizing the progress you’ve made so far. To overcome this, always keep a record of what you’ve done and celebrate small wins.

Take running as an example again.  Say you can only run for 2km in your first week.  By the end of it, you can barely catch your breath, and 4k seems like 40km.  But Time and Consistency accumulates results.  After a week, your steps become lighter and your breath comes easier and there you go, you can run for 3km after the second week.  That extra 1km is a small win that you should celebrate.

By doing this, you give yourself feedback and recognition that can help you to stay driven and on track. As already mentioned, difficulties will appear on your journey towards success. However, by recognizing your small wins, this will keep you from falling into the ‘no results now’ trap.

Resisting Giving up Is a Continuous Battle

The temptation is strong most of the time, but remember that giving up never makes things easier. It may look like it’s easier to switch to something else at that moment, but in fact it only makes the future path even more difficult.  All successful people have gone through a lot of tough times to become what they are today.  If you want to become successful, put my advice into action and you will be resistant to giving up.

Reference

[1]^British Favourite Baritone: Sir Thomas Allen[2]^The Mission: 10X Your Results, One Tiny Action at a Time (The Power of Incremental Progress

function footnote_expand_reference_container() { jQuery(“#footnote_references_container”).show(); jQuery(“#footnote_reference_container_collapse_button”).text(“-“); } function footnote_collapse_reference_container() { jQuery(“#footnote_references_container”).hide(); jQuery(“#footnote_reference_container_collapse_button”).text(“+”); } function footnote_expand_collapse_reference_container() { if (jQuery(“#footnote_references_container”).is(“:hidden”)) { footnote_expand_reference_container(); } else { footnote_collapse_reference_container(); } } function footnote_moveToAnchor(p_str_TargetID) { footnote_expand_reference_container(); var l_obj_Target = jQuery(“#” + p_str_TargetID); if(l_obj_Target.length) { jQuery(‘html, body’).animate({ scrollTop: l_obj_Target.offset().top – window.innerHeight/2 }, 1000); } }

The post Why Giving up Is So Tempting and How to Resist It appeared first on Lifehack.

from Viral News HQ http://ift.tt/2uXTJtt via Viral News HQ