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[Fotzepolitic]

Advice for prospective Slendervloggers?

[OhWhatProvidence]

Make sure everythingh has a reason and purpose for happening

[Fotzepolitic]

Practical shits, based on my limited experience.:

(Long explanations have been shrunk for space - copy-paste to Notepad and enlarge to read)

If, like most of us, you're filming on a budget of couch money and whatever you can make selling your butthole on the street, you will have certain limitations on what you can do, both in terms of production values, and the story itself. Embrace these limitations.

So for me, one of the first things would be sets and/or locations. You don't want to write a story where an abandoned hospital is central to the plot and then find that you don't have access to an abandoned hospital. Those things are pretty expensive to build from scratch, so you'd probably do better just finding somewhere else.

The great thing about limitations is that they can push you in directions that you wouldn't normally go. Obviously that sucks for your grand Werzoggian vision, but it can help you avoid the cliches that you might subconsciously regurgitate if you had all the freedom in the world. So for example, that abandoned hospital sounded cool, right? It also happens to have been in way more horror movies than I can think of. Whereas with a little scouting, you might find an abandoned brewery nearby, and I can't think of any film that that's been used in.

I don't want to overstate this, because it can be frustrating not to have access to the one thing that would complete an otherwise cool story. But hey, that's why Hollywood movies use enormous budgets to do stuff that isn't that different from what you do for nothing. That said, decent quality movies have been made on very low budgets (Primer and Halloween spring to mind), and I'm not just being a goggle-eyed technophile when I say that it's never been cheaper to do semi-decent special effects.

Speaking of effects: decide what distortion you're going to use and stick to it.

This means probably learning to use your movie making software before you start. I know it can seem daunting, but it's worth it, trust me. Make some test footage and take a couple of days to just get to know what you can do. Experiment, in other words, but avoid doing it in the spotlight.

With Slendervlogs, Slendy's distortion is pretty common and potentially important. It will allow you to signal or imply Slendy's presence even when he's not on screen. So it's probably a good idea for it to be consistent. ARG kids are weird, they'll read a lot into this stuff, but even if they don't, someone might ask why Slenderman used to just cause static and now causes solarisation. You don't want to have to answer that question.

EDIT: I'd recommend also paying attention to sound.

Sound is really important to film (and everyone should read Michel Chion's book about this right now, btw), especially when you want to suggest events without showing them. One thing I would strongly recommend is to post-produce the audio on all of your videos, not just the ones you intend to screw up and mess with. When I started my vlog, I thought the ropey sound that my shitty flip-camera recorded would give the whole thing a more realistic feel. After about five videos, I realised that no, no it doesn't, it's just annoying for people who want to hear what you're saying. You can separate audio from video easily using MPEG Streamclip.
There are a few tricks for this, all of which can be doing with free software like Audacity. Firstly, if you have hiss on your video, you can cut it with a Graphic Equaliser. The best way to do this is to boost frequencies until you find the one that's most annoying, then cut that one; this is a lot more obvious if you can see the thing in front of you. The most important range to preserve is 300-3000Hz, as that's the range of the human voice. If you have hiss in that range, that's tough, but you probably won't.
Once you've done that, normalise your audio - this will amplify the sound file so that the loudest sound on it is at 0db (which is good, and don't ask me to explain that because it would take actual years). If you notice any big spikes in the waveform, go in and see what they are. Chances are the loudest sound on your video will be you turning the camera off, so you'll want to reduce the volume on that. Other clicks and pops you can isolate and get rid of - best way seems to be to highlight the spike and select Fade In and Fade Out, but your mileage may vary. DO NOT DELETE SPIKES, or your audio will desync with your video!
Keep normalising and looking for peaks until you have a decent audio level. You can do this stuff with compression, but that really is an art and after studying sound tech for nigh on 8 years I still trial-and-error it, so I'd recommend you do the same.

Next, actors. And yeah, seriously, this might be the most radical thing I'm going to suggest here, but here goes: you don't have to be in your Slendervlog. Of course, you probably want to be, and there's nothing wrong with that. But just like the abandoned hospital, it's worth considering whether you're any good at acting. Same goes for your friends. Chances are they'll want to be in this thing whether they can act or not. To some extent, you'll have to let the people you have access to dictate who's going to be in your vlog. It's not as hard to come by a 90-year old one-eyed Indonesian crone as an abandoned hospital, but it's still something you should consider.

EDIT: also, and I cannot stress this enough, if you're casting from your friend-pool, don't pick all your tallest friends to be the main characters. Cast your Slender Man first, then pick your other cast based on that. I know it sucks, but trust me, it'll be a lot easier to make your Slender Man look tall relative to your other cast if he already is!

EDIT EDIT: also also, don't have a guy with a beergut playing Slender Man, even if he is the tallest person you know. A fat guy in a dress suit is just about the least threatening thing in the world. Just trust me on this one.

Ideally these are things you'll do before you start writing, but if not, don't worry too much. Your story can probably be adapted to fit what you have available to you. Again, embrace this process. Adversity is what made Star Wars great and Phantom Menace shit.

[OhWhatProvidence]

On the movie editing thing, I can very happily promote Magix Movie Edit. It's amazing, I've used it for many many things, and it can do (with some creativity and patience) pretty much anything Vegas can, but more user-friendly, IMO. And better rendering times. <3 It's only like $45, I think, but I also got version 14 pro when it came out. I can't stress how awesome MMEPro 14 is. I know by now they've got like all the way to 17, but tbh, when I tried 17 I couldn't get the pause/play to work right, so if you can get your hands on 14 then do ittttttttttttt.

Also on the acting: If you can be professional, or at least put up that front- Volunteer actors are the best! Castingcalltexas even has a section just for webseries, I'm sure others do too! <3 Most actors will work for free, if you can give them like $10 for gas/make sammiches for lunch. This also means you'll need a proper script and a story to pitch though. (which, if you're serious about making a SV, is a must anyway) (this is the method I'll be using for my next ARG-- non SMM though.)

[Fotzepolitic]

More Slendy-specific advice:

Decide early on:

1) whether it's an ARG or a vlog;
2) whether you're going to allow comments;
3) what level of audience participation you're happy with.

It's worth deciding these early on, because it gets harder to change your mind as you go along.

ARGs take stamina; you'll need to be willing to keep coming up with ways for people to participate, potentially for quite a long time. This will also require a degree of self-discipline if, for example, your audience is particularly good at puzzles and solves things really quickly; or patience, if they take forever to solve them (or to materialise at all). If you have a well-paced story that you really want to tell, this can really suck, as it can wreck your pacing up good and proper. Clues for the protagonist may never be found.

The best ways around this seem to be a) cheat, or b) write your story with the ARG audience in mind. a) is evil but probably forgivable - all you need is a stooge to get the answer to your riddle right if no one figures it out within a certain period. b) is better but harder, as it involves relegating the direction of your story to an audience that doesn't exist yet. This is why it's better to decide sooner rather than later what you're aiming for.

If you're NOT doing an ARG (and even if you are), you really should make it as easy as possible for people to find your core content. Playlists are good for this, or Tumblr accounts. Think of yourself as the narrator and ask yourself why you wouldn't collate all the relevant material together.

A lot of Slvlogs don't allow comments, and I can kind of see why. Aside from the usual issues with your average YouTube comment being about as good for your immersion as a slap in the face from a rubber chicken, it can really mess you up three videos before your protagonist is supposed to check his house for bugs, people are screaming at him to check his house for bugs. This could be good - it certainly keeps you on your toes, and makes sense in the context of a terrified kid throwing his life open to YouTube looking for help - but again, you have to decide early on whether you're going to take advice from comments or not, because if you suddenly stop, it'll look weird.

This is my roundabout way of saying block comments unless you have a really good reason not to, as it seems to me that cases where they'll help are the exception rather than the rule. People will probably discuss your vlog in forums anyway, so you don't owe them another place to yell at you.

EDIT: As a general tip for story writing, I recommend the following:

Write a draft. Show it to friends. Listen to what they say; ideally get them to write a list of things they like and don't like, with special attention to things that they don't understand or questions that they have. Don't get defensive about it, just read through it and put a tick or a cross by what you decide to take on board or ignore. Check the list and see if you've put all crosses. If you have, do it again. Write another draft. Repeat ad nauseam.

Ideally, you will end up with a story that you could explain to your mum in less than 50 words. This is, to my mind, the ideal place to start, because you can then ADD complications to a story much more easily than you can take them out. Don't think that because this is a Slendervlog that the rules go out the window. I spent some time on this and eventually reduced pages and pages of notes down to something I could show to my nan when she was drunk and expect her to "get" it:

MASSIVE SPOILER ALERT, SERIOUSLY GUYS I'M NOT KIDDING.

[Fotzepolitic]

[KrisTrauma]

Make backups of everything.

If you are an ARG and decide to upload secret files (etc.) on a file hosting site, make sure the site is up and running and in good waters with the feds.

[Lumine]

If you intend on using the Slenderman on screen in an in-depth way, be sure to accommodation your effects/distortion/screen time with your mannequin/costume/prop. You do not need a morphsuit or a mannequin to create a convincing or terrifying slenderman.

[Baronness]

[cochinosanchez]

shameless (but relevant) self plug.

[Baronness]

Here's my advice: Place bath mats in the shower if you plan to film a scene there in which you'll be turning around very quickly and screaming.

[Rats808]

[Nimbus]

Just have fun with it. If you're having fun, you're likely doing it right.

[Baronness]

[itookthesquare]

Honestly, there's no possible way to tell people how to run their SMM. It can have NO distortion or Proxys and still be interesting to watch. Sure, it might bug a few people since they're so used to the whole "OMG THURZ DISTORTION + MAN IN A BUSINESS SUIT + HYSTERIA AND CAMERA SHAKES = PROFIT".

In my opinion, the whole aspect of Slenderman is that he's infecting all of us and everyone. He has no purpose and is omni-present(maybe ;p). It's genius. All of these PMs like myself have a connection to the big ole' Slender-verse, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't extend certain boundaries to 'twist the knife a little deeper'. Add whatever you want, is what I'm saying. If you have a good story. PERFECT! We're all family here. Even if it sucks, don't flip out and say "Oh, my actors are bad I'm going to delete every video on youtube and try to find another Creepypasta to start anew. No, man. It's totally a big phenomenon that so many people are putting this scary entity who, as far as we know, as NO intentions on what he is doing (other than tormenting the human race in this dimension), in their videos to entertain people. It's honestly a beautiful thing.

To sum this all up, there cannot be a perfect Slender-vlog. It doesn't have to be an ARG or just Chaotic-fiction. It's entertaining the way it is and we should praise everyone who has had time to make this to continue the saga of the giant well-dressed albino who has been scaring us for the past few years.

CHEERS!