Installation Anxiety 2010

[operagirl95]

No-no, Operagirl. You are actually too cool for the forums. Just tone it down a bit when people start to get excited & you should do fine

I replied to this in PM.

[Sk8sheep24]

After having read through most of the comments I think it does show that there are very few people who actually didn't like it. Most people are merely saying they preferred the original.
I personally am one of these people, probably partly due to the nostalgia, but also due to the silliness of the original. In my first post I described this as line delivery, but then I think you misinterpreted that as your acting was worse. I believe the acting in 2010 was better, because it was more real, however in such a silly video, the more over the top silliness fits better. Also, the original was fine as it was, which I think is another of the major complaints, since there are other videos that a remake might have suited better.
I would absolutely love it if you remade other old videos, and I would absolutely love it if you didn't do it again. All of us here are fans and will watch anything you create. Maybe some would've preferred something new, or a different older video, but for most of us the appreciation is still there.
Finally, about the cast change, I think it would be interesting, and I'm sure LRR wouldn't be afraid of trying something new, since you know that hate it, or love it, your fans will keep coming back. It also would definitely add something (or take something away) making it a video in it's own right because of the cast's differences, so would hopefully mean that there was less to nit pick about because it would be a different style.
Anyway I've rambled on long enough. I just sincerely hope that the responses here don't discourage you in any way to the choices you make when deciding what future videos will be.

[FullTimeNerd]

I love the remake! I don't see why you won't do it more, since it just showcases what you've already done in a MUCH better light. Also, since I just rammed through the archive in the first place, I forgot a lot of the best jokes. It was great!

[SammiRei]

I came late enough to LRR that I hadn't seen the original when this aired (I've only browsed some of the archives, not all of them), but after seeing this thred I decided to go watch both version back to back and compare.
I think that while some of Paul's lines are a little less enthusiastic than the original, overall I'd have to agree with the cast: the acting has improved for the remake.

[mxd3496]

I think a simple way to put it is:

We love LRR for the comedy. Not for the camera work. Not for the lighting. Not for the acting.

Some people may think it's awesome that you've remade the video. But to me, it just makes it look like you care more about making it look pretty than about making it funny.

You say that you'll put out the videos that you think are funny and hope that other people find them funny.

You already did this video. To me, this video just shows that the production value is more important than entertainment.

I'm gonna get myself banned eventually.

Ok, this I don't get at all. Taking pride in your work and trying to get the best quality is suddenly a bad thing??? Production quality is what makes the humor possible and it needs to be there. Bad camera work, bad lighting, bad acting (especially this) all take away from the ability to enjoy a video. None of these things replace humor, but they sure make it easier for the humor to come through.

I, for one, love seeing the improvements the crew has made over time. And while HD itself is not important, the other improvements like smooth dolly shots, better lighting, better sets, better direction, etc. are. Yeah they make it look "pretty", they also help the sketch and intended humor come through.

Did you ever watch "I Hit it With my Axe" on the Escapist? I checked it out once or twice. There is a video with no production values. Horrible lighting, the camera is bouncing around; it is neither funny nor entertaining. I turned it off after a minute because I couldn't follow anything. I'm not comparing that video to what LRR does, just an example of how not having production values kills any potential value of a video.

[Arius]

I think a simple way to put it is:

We love LRR for the comedy. Not for the camera work. Not for the lighting. Not for the acting.

Some people may think it's awesome that you've remade the video. But to me, it just makes it look like you care more about making it look pretty than about making it funny.

You say that you'll put out the videos that you think are funny and hope that other people find them funny.

You already did this video. To me, this video just shows that the production value is more important than entertainment.

I'm gonna get myself banned eventually.

Ok, this I don't get at all. Taking pride in your work and trying to get the best quality is suddenly a bad thing??? Production quality is what makes the humor possible and it needs to be there. Bad camera work, bad lighting, bad acting (especially this) all take away from the ability to enjoy a video. None of these things replace humor, but they sure make it easier for the humor to come through.

I, for one, love seeing the improvements the crew has made over time. And while HD itself is not important, the other improvements like smooth dolly shots, better lighting, better sets, better direction, etc. are. Yeah they make it look "pretty", they also help the sketch and intended humor come through.

Did you ever watch "I Hit it With my Axe" on the Escapist? I checked it out once or twice. There is a video with no production values. Horrible lighting, the camera is bouncing around; it is neither funny nor entertaining. I turned it off after a minute because I couldn't follow anything. I'm not comparing that video to what LRR does, just an example of how not having production values kills any potential value of a video.

Production values aren't bad on their own. But production values do not make comedy. Humour makes comedy.

[Steamcastle]

yes an of an all girl version, or a Tally, Tim and Matt would be fun to see, but it would have to bonus video.

[James]

Alright. Please keep the following in mind from now on.
It has been said already but lets go over it one more time.

We did NOT re-shoot this video to use as a weekly update to showcase the kind of productions values we can achieve now versus then.

We re-shoot this video to use in w00tstock because we thought it would go over well, but showing a video from that far in our past is a bad representation of the look we can achieve these days.

Then we decided that hey, lots of people over on the Escapist who have basically only seen what we have done since the beginning of the year might really enjoy this video so maybe we should use it.

This video is not us shoving a remake down your guys throats. We get it, some of you like the original better, and for various reasons it would seem.

But regardless lets stop going back and forth about it. I appreciate everyone defending us and the choices we make and I respect those that don't agree that it was a good idea to use this as a weekly update. However, at this point whats done is done. Lets move on.

[Graham]

I, nor anyone, ever said higher quality production made better comedy. I do not believe in that.

I am proud of our video quality, and I prefer it to not, but I do not think it makes us funnier. That was never said or implied.

[Steamcastle]

I'm really looking forward to lrrcast for this video.

and once again "All hail lrr and the videos they make"

[Matt]

I have nothing to add to Graham and James' posts, except that: a single video, shot for a specific purpose, and which for a specific subset of it's audience happens to serve better as a tech demo than a comedy video, neither indicates a pattern of content production nor that we suddenly think tech is more important than humour.

And I think I speak for the entire crew when I say that we take exception to the implication that it does.

-m

[operagirl95]

So, you made this for W00tstock and posted it for the Escapist audience? Ok.

This week's podcast mentions that you're changing ENN for the Escapist audience, because you're obligated. Ok. (nice plug for subscribers club in last weeks podcast, btw)

But you're still about making videos you (the Crew) find funny and hope other people like them? Hm.

Sorry if it seems alarmist, but I'm no longer registered at the Escapist for several reasons. But, I'm still registered on LRR's forums. The only reason I still visit the Escapist at all is for LRR productions. So yes, this bothers me a great deal.

[King Kool]

I don't want to harp on it, but let me say what I thought when I first saw it.

It'd been a while since I saw Installation Anxiety (which isn't my favorite video, either, but it's all right). When I watched it, the only thing I thought was, "Ok... what brought this on?"

My brother gets home and he watches it, having not seen the original. Then I show him the original. He points out the minor differences, having seen them both within 10 minutes.

THEN he reads the newspost, which we had both skipped (and wasn't up when I checked it) and find out it was done for W00tstock.

OHHHH.... Everything fell into place. That makes perfect sense.

The only thing that would have better is CG monsters roaming around.

As far as remakes go, I have some specific feelings thereof, most that don't really apply here. In Twin Snakes, they made the decision to make Solid Snake capable of huge backflips and idiotic Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon shit. Some said this was how it was going to be how they would have done it if they had the tech in 1997. I call crap on that, because MGS2 3 and 4 all COULD have had Backflip Gear Solid all day long, and they DIDN'T because they were directed with the slightest bit of restraint.

The re-recorded voices were also a problem, since they took out almost all the accents and there really is a textural difference in the attitude between MGS and Twin Snakes. This is almost certainly a bad remake, so I don't want to beat it to death.

Then there's Watchmen. I loved Watchmen, but I think that made me realize why Alan Moore hates remakes of his stuff. Because if he was to make Watchmen a movie, it would have been different. He would have made alterations to make things the way they should be in the movie. In a comic book, you can have six frames much taller than they are wide, showing a sliver of action. In the movie, you see two people's whole bodies as they fuck while annoying music plays.

This isn't like this. This was a remake for a very specific reason, and I can totally get behind it.

[Matt]

@operagirl

No, we made this for w00tstock, and posted it because we thought everyone would enjoy it. For those who hadn't seen it before, we thought it would be a great way to introduce one of our favorite sketches. For our core community, we thought you would enjoy seeing a classic video remade, because in the past the core community has indicated to us that they would like to see classic videos remade. We didn't expect pitchforks and torches.

ENN is another kettle of fish entirely, and you shouldn't conflate the two. ENN is a series wholly owned by, and produced on contract for, the escapist. It always has been. It lives or dies based on it's viewership there, and it's our responsibility to try to produce content in the series that drives viewership. We've played with the formula before, and we'll play with it again if we feel the need.

LRR is something we license to the escapist. If that license agreement ends, we will continue producing it regardless. We have experimented, done different things and occasionally struck out in the past, and we will continue to do so for as long as we want to continue producing videos. We didn't post this video because we thought it would curry favour with one audience over another. We posted it because it was a video we made that we wanted to share. You didn't like this one? That's cool, you're allowed not to. But when people start claiming that a single video suddenly signals the end of our credibility, that bothers me a great deal.
-m

[operagirl95]

<wrote a bunch of stuff> You didn't like this one? That's cool, you're allowed not to.

Ok. I'm cool with that. Well, not really, but I'll shut up for the moment.

But when people start claiming that a single video suddenly signals the end of our credibility, that bothers me a great deal.
-m

Um, I think you have me confused with someone else. I'm not on the "jumping the shark" bandwagon, just in the "hey where'd the funny go?" line.

[Matt]

No, I'm addressing anyone who has made comments regarding how their lack of enjoyment of this video in particular is indicative of any kind of general trend with regards to our film-making philosophy or commitment to producing quality content. I happened to do so in response to your post specifically.

-m

[8bitmaster]

I am in no way saying it was bad, I still laughed my ass off like I did for the original, I just think the original had something extra that wasn't duplicated with the remake. I think it had something to do with paul's beard im not sure, but the original was just better for some reason.

[Dubious_wolf]

This is not a remake. It is a fraud, an absolute fake, a sham. Paul needs a beard before this will ever live up to the old video. Gentlemen, I am not amused.


This is getting frustrating
I haven't been able to view and post because I have been busy and I keep wanting to bring up points but i feel like I'm necro-ing.... Fuck it.
(deletes a large portion of his post. )
I'm going to sleep...

[Steamcastle]

Isn't this the time to look out over the non-crew poster here and just say "Aww, Muffin..."
or to the couple 'people' who didn't think this was a real video update,"Aww, Muffin... go huf a dung"

[Dubious_wolf]

One last thing i want to see you guys remake, "Morgan's Problem" that would be awesome.

[ThrashJazzAssassin]

Since when has the opinion of the crew been incontrovertible law?

Since never.

Just to clarify, I was giving my opinion. I didn't feel that it needed stating "My opinion is that the acting is better", but it is just an opinion.

Never said anyone else was wrong (you can't be, it's your opinion), I just really disagree. You are entitled to disagree in return.

It's like a sharing circle. Of disagreement

Fair enough. The way you posted - probably just because you and Matt happened to post so close to one another - gave the impression that the crew were just going to ignore the opinions of anyone who commented negatively on the acting outright. Which, as something of an authority on unconvincing acting, would have made me sadface.

[Master Gunner]

@operagirl

No, we made this for w00tstock, and posted it because we thought everyone would enjoy it. For those who hadn't seen it before, we thought it would be a great way to introduce one of our favorite sketches. For our core community, we thought you would enjoy seeing a classic video remade, because in the past the core community has indicated to us that they would like to see classic videos remade. We didn't expect pitchforks and torches.

To be clear, my posts and the posts of many others are simply trying to explain why we didn't enjoy it like you thought we might, how this doesn't fit what we meant when we said we'd enjoy remakes, and detailing what we'd like to see in any future remakes you might do, which we'd very much enjoy.

[operagirl95]

Isn't this the time to look out over the non-crew poster here and just say "Aww, Muffin...
or to the couple 'people' who didn't think this was a real video update,"Aww, Muffin... go huf a dung"

Actually, no. This is the time to not insult the opinions of others. Since we're not insulting your opinions.


And "secretly" hiding stuff in the spoiler tag ins't cool.

[sdhonda]

No, I'm addressing anyone who has made comments regarding how their lack of enjoyment of this video in particular is indicative of any kind of general trend with regards to our film-making philosophy or commitment to producing quality content. I happened to do so in response to your post specifically.

-m

Aye.

Even if this video was a failure (it wasnt), it would not indicative of LRRs current quality trend, which has more or less been going up since about the summer, IMO.

[Lyinginbedmon]

Certainly we're not saying torches and pitchforks, almost everyone is saying they definitely see how this isn't some kind of cop-out.