Help make this section useful (tips for riffing)

[mikelesq]

Thanks for the suggestions.  I ended up getting the MS Lifechats, because they had them at Best Buy, and because they're USB.  I'm recording this weekend and next, so I'll see how they do.

Those Genius look like an incredible deal.  They're $10 and free shipping eligible at Amazon.  If I start recording with anyone, I'll probably need analog headphones to go through a mixer, so I'll keep them in mind.

[mikelesq]

Just finished recording with the Lifechat headset, and it is a marked improvement.  Very good audio quality, and since the mic is fully adjustable, it was easy to find a good position/distance spot.  I'd recommend them, especially since they can be found at a $25-30 price point, which seems doable if you order online.

[Drekal]

One of the things I'm finding annoying about Unearthly Child is that there are virtually no pauses between lines of dialogue - especially the ones which are easiest to riff. But hey, if things were gonna be too easy it wouldn't be fun would it?

Anyway, I guess my question is... how often can I get away with that in a single scene? I figure doing it once or twice wouldn't be too bad, but how often is too often?

[mr.b.natural]

One of the things I'm finding annoying about Unearthly Child is that there are virtually no pauses between lines of dialogue - especially the ones which are easiest to riff. But hey, if things were gonna be too easy it wouldn't be fun would it?

Anyway, I guess my question is... how often can I get away with that in a single scene? I figure doing it once or twice wouldn't be too bad, but how often is too often?

You haven't watched many iRiffs have you?  Most people just babble on endlessly.  Hell, even many of the official Rifftrax consists of excessive talking over the dialogue to the point it's annoying and hard to follow the movie if you haven't already seen it.  Funny or not the more noise you make the more people seem to like it.  I don't, but most others seem to.  So I wouldn't worry about it too much.  For a good example of what is too much you could try the iRiffs by "Garret Gilchrist" (namely "Tor: Hunter From the Future") and for an example of some talking over the dialogue but probably just the right amount I would suggest (as I so often do) "Atomic Treatment."  Both have plenty of stuff on YouTube.  Some of the most successful iRiffers are groups like Horriffic, Riff-Raff Theater, and Ronin Fox so you could try to model yourself after them.  In the end I'd say it's best to do what makes you laugh, what you would enjoy watching, and then if others do too then great.  The money's not good enough to worry about trying to fit the product to the customer so just do what you would enjoy.   

[Drekal]

No, I've not watched many yet... This will be changing as time allows. I think my inexperience is slipping out. Or I'm doing what I always wind up doing - overthinking things.

Edit: The script for the first episode is pretty much done now. We'll see how well it works out and then do the rest. Should be easier once we're used to the process.

[mikelesq]

You're going to wind up moving/shortening/lengthening a lot of dialogue anyway, so you'll have a better sense once you do a run through.

I think a lot of early TV science fiction tended to have characters both show and tell, because the screens were so small and the signals so spotty.  So they'd have a character exclaim: "That wall of lights, it's a computer!"  Otherwise, it just looked like a game show set.  Of course, you want them to be silent so you can say it looks like a game show set, so...

Just slug it out.  As mr.b.natural said, the money won't fold, so make the one you'd want to watch.

[mikelesq]

Youtube increased its length limit to 15 minutes:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-27076_3-20012090-248.html?tag=TOCmoreStories.0

I know I had to use Vimeo for my free riffs due to the youtube length limit, so this may help.  Also, an extended VOD free riff now can be fewer segments.

[D.B. Barnes]

Youtube increased its length limit to 15 minutes:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-27076_3-20012090-248.html?tag=TOCmoreStories.0

I know I had to use Vimeo for my free riffs due to the youtube length limit, so this may help.  Also, an extended VOD free riff now can be fewer segments.

That is great news!

I have a couple shorts (one or two minutes over ten) in the works that I wanted to release as a "watch it for free on YouTube and decide if you think it's worth actually purchasing" thing.

Perhaps this this will inspire me to actually finishing one of  them.

Anyway, thanks for the heads up.

[mikelesq]

Lifehacker (which always has good stuff) linked to a 1 click file format converter today called Freemake:

http://www.freemake.com/free_video_converter/

I tried it a couple of times, going from mp4 to wmv.  It's a pretty simple GUI.  File formats at archive.org tend to be a little random, so if you need something converted (i.e., going to wmv to use windows move maker), it may be a solution.

[mikelesq]

Another tool from Lifehacker.  Entri:

http://lifehacker.com/5625284/entri-creates-controlled-collaboration-spaces-for-text-work

A lot of people talk about passing scripts back and forth for riffs.  This is a web-based document collaboration tool.  Basically, you type/copy/paste your text onto a page, then it gives a link that can be shared, which lets others add/edit/propose changes.

[fireyf]

I've got a question that maybe fellow riffers can help me with.  On our sales reports when you list sales by product next to each product it has the number of sales twice, one on top in bold, and one underneath not.  Does anyone know why it is listed this way?  Does it have anything to do with the issuing of checks, like one number how many is sold up to the last royalty check you got, and another how many sales you have total since that last check was issued?  I ask because for the first time the bottom number is one higher than the top on one of my riffs and I'm wondering if this means they've FINALLY sent me my first royalty check and I've made one sale since it was printed and mailed.

[mr.b.natural]

I've got a question that maybe fellow riffers can help me with.  On our sales reports when you list sales by product next to each product it has the number of sales twice, one on top in bold, and one underneath not.  Does anyone know why it is listed this way?  Does it have anything to do with the issuing of checks, like one number how many is sold up to the last royalty check you got, and another how many sales you have total since that last check was issued?  I ask because for the first time the bottom number is one higher than the top on one of my riffs and I'm wondering if this means they've FINALLY sent me my first royalty check and I've made one sale since it was printed and mailed.

That's funny, I've never questioned it before.  I don't think it has anything to do with checks though.  Or at least not with displaying your total compared to what has been sent out.  The only thing I notice is that one number involves the title you give it while the second is the index number that Rifftrax uses for accounting.  One is bold just to differentiate one from the other.  I don't know of course, I'm just speculating.  Seems like they may have been out of sink in the past for a brief while but mine are matched up now and I'm very confident it doesn't have to so with the difference between your last check and current sales.  If you do find out the answer let us know because now you've got me wondering.   

[Invader_quirk]

You haven't watched many iRiffs have you?  Most people just babble on endlessly.  Hell, even many of the official Rifftrax consists of excessive talking over the dialogue to the point it's annoying and hard to follow the movie if you haven't already seen it.  Funny or not the more noise you make the more people seem to like it.  I don't, but most others seem to.  So I wouldn't worry about it too much.  For a good example of what is too much you could try the iRiffs by "Garret Gilchrist" (namely "Tor: Hunter From the Future") and for an example of some talking over the dialogue but probably just the right amount I would suggest (as I so often do) "Atomic Treatment."  Both have plenty of stuff on YouTube.  Some of the most successful iRiffers are groups like Horriffic, Riff-Raff Theater, and Ronin Fox so you could try to model yourself after them.  In the end I'd say it's best to do what makes you laugh, what you would enjoy watching, and then if others do too then great.  The money's not good enough to worry about trying to fit the product to the customer so just do what you would enjoy.   

We recently decided that talking over dialog is just bad. If it's an absolutely priceless line, we'll do it, but if it's over a line, then the joke is less funny. It is our belief that the riff should mesh with the movie and attack it from inside so to speak, not overpower it. When a riff has jokes that run over multiple lines of dialog, especially when the jokes are much longer and more convoluted than they need to be to get the point across (I'm looking at you, Rifftrax), it's just annoying. Avoid it if at all possible.

[fireyf]

You haven't watched many iRiffs have you?  Most people just babble on endlessly.  Hell, even many of the official Rifftrax consists of excessive talking over the dialogue to the point it's annoying and hard to follow the movie if you haven't already seen it.  Funny or not the more noise you make the more people seem to like it.  I don't, but most others seem to.  So I wouldn't worry about it too much.  For a good example of what is too much you could try the iRiffs by "Garret Gilchrist" (namely "Tor: Hunter From the Future") and for an example of some talking over the dialogue but probably just the right amount I would suggest (as I so often do) "Atomic Treatment."  Both have plenty of stuff on YouTube.  Some of the most successful iRiffers are groups like Horriffic, Riff-Raff Theater, and Ronin Fox so you could try to model yourself after them.  In the end I'd say it's best to do what makes you laugh, what you would enjoy watching, and then if others do too then great.  The money's not good enough to worry about trying to fit the product to the customer so just do what you would enjoy.   

We recently decided that talking over dialog is just bad. If it's an absolutely priceless line, we'll do it, but if it's over a line, then the joke is less funny. It is our belief that the riff should mesh with the movie and attack it from inside so to speak, not overpower it. When a riff has jokes that run over multiple lines of dialog, especially when the jokes are much longer and more convoluted than they need to be to get the point across (I'm looking at you, Rifftrax), it's just annoying. Avoid it if at all possible.

I usually try to avoid doing that, but some movies don't leave a lot of places with no dialogue and also, sometimes the dialogue isn't very important.  It bothers me when the dialogue is necessary to follow the movie.  In some movies no amount of dialogue makes the movie coherent.

[estavares]

Part of the whole talking-over-the-dialogue issue is often the style of the iRiff. Our style tends to be the "comment as if we are the characters" style, using voices and such, so often that involves when characters are actually doing something when they are not talking. Others tend to simply crack jokes about the ambience and general moment, regardless of what's being said. Others comment directly on what has just been said.

My humble take, since we're so new at this? We tend to avoid talking over dialogue to the point where we don't have ENOUGH jokes. That's something we're trying to improve. I think that's more glaring to me as a listener than there being too many. Even regular Riffs can get very tedious if the jokes are too many and flat -- a well-placed powerhouse joke is far more powerful than ten lame ones.

My $0.02.