Posts by EnchantedStudios

Thanks for the input everyone.

I’ll perhaps concentrate on After Effects projects for a while!

felt_tips said
Funny… this hasn’t happened to me once. I wonder if it’s to do with the fact that I put a little icon in the thumbnails and images… http://1.s3.envato.com/files/5912335/vortex_590.jpg

Your Countdown Clock has exactly the type of comment we’re discussing on this thread.

I’ve seen another thread, recently, about selling motion graphics which brought up an interesting point in that why would a motion graphics file receive less than 5 stars, when the buyer is able see exactly what he is purchasing in the preview?

dorde also had the suggestion of Quicktime and AE icons, but I’m not convinced this is foolproof.

Another motion graphics file purchased by mistake today “I thought this would come with an AE file… I wanted to edit this file…”

Confused buyer? Confused marketplace?

Definitely a bemused Author!

Maybe it’s as simple as a reminder (disclaimer) screen, just before the buyer hits the DOWNLOAD button, re-iterating the neccesary programs/plugins required and confirming what type of file they are downloading – all simply repeated from the existing file information but made more prominent. “I understand that, by downloading this file…I know what I’m doing with it!”

I wouldn’t want to lay the blame solely at the buyer’s door, if they are up against a tight deadline to find certain file types and inadvertently use a search method which shows them ‘everything’ – I can imagine the frustration.

The Quicktime icon suggestion would certainly go towards solving the potential issue, but we’ll all end up peppering our thumbs and preview files with icons to make sure the file usage is obvious. This would be a shame though, and open to all manner of variation unless there were a template for position and scale of the icon.

It’s a tricky one to empathize with on here (the forum), as a community who know the difference between file types, but surely there is a way of making sure the buyer knows what type of file he is buying – before he even views the item description page, without relying on manual filtering.

Presently, if you search for ‘strawberry shortcake’ you are given both ‘cakes’ AND ‘recipes’ all mixed up and on the same page!

For you motion graphics producers out there, who don’t include AE files, are you getting disgruntled purchasers complaining that they thought they were buying editable AE files when in fact they were buying ‘motion graphics elements’ (ie. Quicktime animations)?

I’ve had several buyers, in recent months, misconstrue what they are purchasing even though the descriptions are clear (I hope!). So a bad rating for a file purely because the customer didn’t fully comprehend the description – doesn’t sound fair.

The last item I uploaded has one purchase and one disgruntled buyer complaining of a lack of AE file, when the item description included ‘These are motion graphics footage elements, not editable After Effects files.’ Is there more I need to do in the description or is this a fundamental issue with the site’s clarity?

When using the VH search box, I wonder if the resulting list of files requires better indication between file ‘types’. The current ‘categories’ filtering process (on the right hand side) seems to be ignored by people in a rush and who maybe come to expect the files to be AE projects.

Is there an additional ‘something’ we need to differentiate an editable AE file from a flat motion graphic, when viewing a selection of files.

Maybe an icon? Colour tint change?

You may suggest “Why not just add the After Effects file to the download” but this opens a can of worms relating to AE versions, plugins etc – and it shouldn’t be an issue when you are trying to provide a, relatively, universal animated element or set of elements. Plus, it isn’t always After Effects which has been used to create them (I’ve had similar requests for an AE file when the animation is clearly a 3D render).

Any thoughts, or ways of constructing the item description text to avoid confusion, gladly appreciated. Perhaps large, bold red text at the top ‘NOT AN AFTER EFFECTS FILE’!

A bigger discussion point may be the site’s search system itself. Do most people use the primary navigation bar to search for files? I always use the main search box FIRST, so should the search be filtered at ‘this point’ (ie. AE, Apple, Motion Graphics, C4D Footage check boxes), before you see the results? As opposed to having to manually filter out the redundant categories afterwards.

I’ve sent you an email Daniel.

I’m sure everyone expects the reviewing staff to have a break … once a year !

Will there be an official time period announced, for “we are closed for reviews between such and such dates…”, over the Christmas period? I suspect this might take the anxiety off contributors waiting for approvals.

The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler, and then Joseph Campbell’s Hero with a Thousand Faces (which Vogler’s book is based on).

Fascinating themes based on the ‘monomyth’, the idea that all storytelling, throughout the ages and across the globe, has common character types and structural elements. George Lucas was a big fan of Joseph Campbell and the original Star Wars trilogy played out his ideas with great effect!

This then lead myself onto Carl Jung who believed that we inherit all story telling elements from our ancestors and that we all hold an unconsciousness collective of character ‘types’ and religious symbology in our minds.

Enough to get you going…