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Our annual SHOT Show coverage this year is quite a bit different than years past. With video all the rage on the Web, we thought we'd give it a whirl. With help from our good friends and ETS supporters Wil Milan as camera-man and director and Tom Gresham's GunTalk TV, we're testing the video waters.
Our coverage of new flashlights, headlamps and miscellaneous gear by Alan Romania will be as we have done before, with text and images (COMING SOON!). My coverage of knives is all video. This has proven to have advantages and disadvantages. The biggest drawback from my perspective is that the video coverage is more show and less critical. This is inherent in the process, where there's only time for a quick look at each new product. That doesn't allow time to digest the information, think about it, and then offer up some more serious conclusions. I know, I know, why don't we just do both? Well, that would be nice, but there's a problem, two actually; time and money.
Video takes time and effort far out of proportion to typical journalism. It's relatively easy to review a modest line of new knives in 15-20 minutes, and a large line-up in a half hour or so. Doing this video, we had to schedule a full hour for each manufacturer and while some went quicker, some nearly used up that time. When we scheduled only half an hour, for various reasons, we almost always ran into time constraints. Now, one hopes that both we and the manufacturers will get better at this with practice, but there's simply no way video will be as simple and quick as old-fashioned reporting. Moreover, it requires at least one additional person, with considerable talents, and a host of electronics, all of which eventually hiccup during the process, causing more wasted time and effort. But, enough of my complaining. What's important is what YOU think of it. Is this a good idea or not? We want to hear from you after you see what we've done.
And what is that, you'd probably want to ask? To keep things as simple as possible, we tried to make each video a short five to ten minutes long. Some are a little shorter, a few slightly longer. These are mostly unedited, a purely extemporaneous effort, just me and a company spokesperson or knife designer, looking at their new knives. These are not polished or rehearsed presentations. Some people are more comfortable in front of the camera than others, me included. The point was to focus on the knives. When there were lots of knives, there may be two or three or even four separate videos, broken up in some sort of logical order, perhaps by designer or type of knife.
All things considered, I'm not unhappy with the results of this first time effort. And, everyone who's previewed them seems very pleased, perhaps I'm just too tough on myself. Again, in the end, all that matters is what YOU think of it. If this turns out to be a good idea, next year we'll be better prepared and be able to get the video onto the site much, much faster. It was a very steep learning curve. Now it's up to you to decide if this is worth doing next year.
Again, I'd like to thank Wil Milan for his efforts. I couldn't have done it without him and this was no walk in the park. SHOT Show is huge and lugging video equipment across the floor for four whole days is not easy. Add in occasionally recalcitrant equipment, difficult set-ups and presentations, and it just makes it more of a challenge Also, credit is due to his son Alex, who helped edit all video and get it ready to show online. My thanks to Tom Gresham who is hosting the videos on his GunTalk.TV site, and his son Ryan who assisted with the effort to get them published. This is a critical sponsorship without which we'd be stuck offering much lower YouTube quality video. I hope you'll also take a look at Tom's cool new GunTalk.TV site; there's a growing offering of interesting firearms related video there.
This SHOT Show Report is split into into three sections. The video section is primarily Knives (including multi-purpose tools) and then Lights (including flashlights and headlamps) and Gear (covering everything except knives and lights), which will follow shortly.
Assembling this SHOT Show Report is a major undertaking. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to the Equipped To Survive Foundation if you find this report to be of value to you. The Equipped To Survive Foundation is a tax-exempt non-profit corporation that supports the continued operation and expansion of Equipped To Survive® and which allows me to attend shows such as this and report to you on the latest and greatest gear. Again, donations are fully tax-deductible. Click here to make a tax-deductible donation or to find out more. Thanks very much for your support and consideration.
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Publisher and Editor: Doug Ritter
Email: Doug Ritter
URL:
http://www.equipped.org/shot_show_2008.htm
First Published: March 25, 2008
Email to: info@pulvertech.com
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