I sometimes get suggestions for changes to my courses, – helpful ideas on how to make them better. “You should add a bit to this video, change a bit in that video”
– a recent real example: “You say sprints are 2 weeks, and yes they usually are, but they can sometimes be longer and shorter. Maybe you could add that to your video?”.
Here’s why the answer is a NO……
The time and work that goes into these courses is huge, and the complexity and the perfectionism is unknown and taken for granted by most viewers:
First there is preparing the script: every word is written out in advance, back and forth between me and my producer till we have both agreed everything, e.g. language must be OK for both British and USA and global listeners, no sections are too long or too short so the thing is balanced and makes sense to a new listener, and has a logical flow. Not too much detail in any one place since we only have an hour to do the whole subject, so some things have to be cut.
Then setting up ready to film, with several mics (lapel and rifle), lots of lights (which have to be compatible with the green screen to be added later e.g. brighter on my face if there’s a ‘window’ to one side)If you changed something, maybe adding a new part that was made later, the sound and light have to match the other parts of the video, and the other videos – which you could never achieve.
Then: filming with a producer and director and an autocue operator in a soundproof studio and 4k camera, (and every studio sounds slightly different) – and remember this involves me travelling to California, 10 hours each way on an aeroplane, hire car drive across LA, booking hotels, jet lag, etc.
Every take has to be perfect or we do it again, over and over, because editing the video later will show a jump. Some jumps can be hidden by graphics but some can’t. And if the emphasis of the words isn’t quite right you can’t fix that afterwards, you have to film it again and get it spot on, throughout the take. So we take a whole week to film one course.
I have to wear the same or an identical shirt for every video, and I have the same make-up (yes, quite a lot of that actually) and haircut and hair spray for every filming session, done by a professional and highly-skilled make-up person. If I filmed an extra clip at home I would look like a completely different person! (And not in a good way!)
Videos can’t be longer than X (often 4 mins) and whole course can’t be longer than Y (often 59 minutes) – so you can’t add bits later if it makes everything too long.
Next is Post production and Editing: all the visuals are perfected (colour balance and skin tone, adding the green screen etc), all the cuts and transitions are joined perfectly, the sound EQ/balance is adjusted so it sounds great. This is done by highly skilled and experienced professionals in LA and San Francisco.
Then the transcript for every video has to be written (if you made a change later then the transcript would have to be changed, or people will write in saying they’ve spotted an error), graphics are designed and produced and added (would they be different if you make a change??), etc etc it’s a huge job for each course, there’s a workflow as it goes from one department to the next, in time for the launch date. Managers are busy juggling all the courses going through – minor changes to existing courses would add mayhem to this process.
ALL the courses have small things I’d like to change after they are published! Either I missed something, or things have changed since I made it. But you have to live with the course you have made, like publishing a book or an album of music. It’s done and it’s out there.
Would you write to JK Rowling and ask her to change a small part in a Harry Potter book. I expect people do, and I expect she doesn’t! Would you write to the Rolling Stones and ask them to change a duff note in the bass of one of their tracks? I expect people do, and I expect they don’t!
Having said that, errors are sometimes found, and ARE put through all of the above and fixed, but the cost of doing this is huge and only done if it’s an outright error, not just a nice-to-have improvement.
