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Blown, you might appreciate this:
https://www.reddit.com/r/smyths/
https://www.reddit.com/r/smyths/comments/1e4tad/all_about_the_streamline_edit_mythbusters/
> These 'Streamline' edits run shorter because they are missing teasers, cartoons, flashbacks, repetition, idents, history lessons, fun facts, "we're experts", and anything else that slows down the show.
> [–]postdarwin Mr Smyth OP[S,M] 65 points 1 year ago*
This is a brief look at how the Streamline EDITs are put together (at least, how I do them). It may be of interest to people who enjoy the edits, or it may help others who are making their own. Then again, it may just be me ranting about how asinine some TV has become.
REPETITION
These edits are all about reduction -- taking things out. The most important thing to remove is repetition. This is not as simple as it sounds. A single event may be shown at several different times, and talked about many, many more times -- both before and after it actually happens.
Naturally, the only instance to leave in is the one that occurs with the natural timeline of the myth testing. Unfortunately, due to the much reviled 'Gift Shop[1] ' nature of the show, the repetition of core concepts is seemingly endless.
We often have a concept that is introduced at the very start of the show, right before the credits -- say for example: "...can the contents of an airplane's toilet really fall from the sky?" (x1). Then, since this is Myth 2, it is teasered again at the first break after Myth 1 has started -- "...Kari takes to the sky on the trail of blue ice."(x2).
Next, it is introduced properly by the team -- "It's the one where the pilot jettisons the contents of an airplane toilet which promptly freezes at altitude and turns into a deadly projectile."(x3)
Then, there is an obligatory cartoon rendering of this event where the narrator helpfully tells us "the pilot supposedly jettisons the contents of the toilets tank, and apparently at high altitudes the sub-zero temperatures freeze the liquid into a damaging and disgusting missile." (x4)
By the end of the show, this simple concept is trotted out as many as ten or twelve times.
For my money, the only important iteration of the myth is in the team introduction -- and then again when discussing if it's Confirmed/Busted/Plausible at the very end.
NARRATION
One of the biggest challenges is the incessant narrator. His script is supposed to be a light-hearted summation of what's going on, but in effect he acts as a real-time translator for the 'layman' (as if the concepts were outlandishly opaque).
To this end, he appears to repeat every little thing the hosts say, prefaced by "Yep, in other words..." and goes on to vacuously reiterate what has been said in equally simple terms.
In practice, this means that almost every remark by Adam, Jamie, Tory, Grant, and Kari is irritatingly punctuated at the end by the narrator who feels duty bound to relentlessly regurgitate it for the put-upon viewers -- very often, in the form of a lame pun.
One observation I've made is that since the narrator is never shown, his voice is heard over various scenes of construction and background. The team on the other hand often make their comments to camera. This allows me to place their audio over his visuals -- and that is why the team get much less face-time in my edits than in the show proper.
But since the narrator talks so often, when I remove him I'll often end up with a great deal of footage with not enough 'sensible talk' to place underneath. So I've also started using some clips of the Mythbusters music score I found on YouTube to cover those moments. I wish I'd thought of this earlier.
MYTH LINES
Cutting the two or three myths per episode into their seperate timelines is one of the most labour-intensive but ultimately satisfying parts of the job. It's only when you see all the footage together you realise just how much dross bookends each clip -- teasers, reiteration, cartoons, idents, stings, action replays, etc., etc. ad nauseum. Turning these into a watchable narrative is enormously fulfilling.
But it's really no wonder that we receive SO MANY messages on this sub about how people had given up watching the show in frustration, until these edits appeared and reignited their passion for the Mythbusters. And to those people, we say thank you! Although I will admit doing the very first one as a purely selfish exercise for myself, you guys are the reason that we all continue to make these.
OTHER
On a side note, I'd love to get access to the extras which appear on the Mythbusters website, so it could be folded into the edited show. We've discussed this before and it seems like you have to download a 2GB file for 5mins of footage. Darn!
Ultimately, although I understand that it's a business like any other, I would love to see the official Mythbusters team pay their editor to do another couple of hours work and produce an intelligent edit of the show each week for non-ADHD viewers.
Perhaps their fanbase would react positively to this? We've managed to attract 3,000 people to our little rabid community -- and we're in the Top 40 fastest growing subreddits on the whole site.
https://www.reddit.com/r/smyths/
https://www.reddit.com/r/smyths/comments/1e4tad/all_about_the_streamline_edit_mythbusters/
> These 'Streamline' edits run shorter because they are missing teasers, cartoons, flashbacks, repetition, idents, history lessons, fun facts, "we're experts", and anything else that slows down the show.
> [–]postdarwin Mr Smyth OP[S,M] 65 points 1 year ago*
This is a brief look at how the Streamline EDITs are put together (at least, how I do them). It may be of interest to people who enjoy the edits, or it may help others who are making their own. Then again, it may just be me ranting about how asinine some TV has become.
REPETITION
These edits are all about reduction -- taking things out. The most important thing to remove is repetition. This is not as simple as it sounds. A single event may be shown at several different times, and talked about many, many more times -- both before and after it actually happens.
Naturally, the only instance to leave in is the one that occurs with the natural timeline of the myth testing. Unfortunately, due to the much reviled 'Gift Shop[1] ' nature of the show, the repetition of core concepts is seemingly endless.
We often have a concept that is introduced at the very start of the show, right before the credits -- say for example: "...can the contents of an airplane's toilet really fall from the sky?" (x1). Then, since this is Myth 2, it is teasered again at the first break after Myth 1 has started -- "...Kari takes to the sky on the trail of blue ice."(x2).
Next, it is introduced properly by the team -- "It's the one where the pilot jettisons the contents of an airplane toilet which promptly freezes at altitude and turns into a deadly projectile."(x3)
Then, there is an obligatory cartoon rendering of this event where the narrator helpfully tells us "the pilot supposedly jettisons the contents of the toilets tank, and apparently at high altitudes the sub-zero temperatures freeze the liquid into a damaging and disgusting missile." (x4)
By the end of the show, this simple concept is trotted out as many as ten or twelve times.
For my money, the only important iteration of the myth is in the team introduction -- and then again when discussing if it's Confirmed/Busted/Plausible at the very end.
NARRATION
One of the biggest challenges is the incessant narrator. His script is supposed to be a light-hearted summation of what's going on, but in effect he acts as a real-time translator for the 'layman' (as if the concepts were outlandishly opaque).
To this end, he appears to repeat every little thing the hosts say, prefaced by "Yep, in other words..." and goes on to vacuously reiterate what has been said in equally simple terms.
In practice, this means that almost every remark by Adam, Jamie, Tory, Grant, and Kari is irritatingly punctuated at the end by the narrator who feels duty bound to relentlessly regurgitate it for the put-upon viewers -- very often, in the form of a lame pun.
One observation I've made is that since the narrator is never shown, his voice is heard over various scenes of construction and background. The team on the other hand often make their comments to camera. This allows me to place their audio over his visuals -- and that is why the team get much less face-time in my edits than in the show proper.
But since the narrator talks so often, when I remove him I'll often end up with a great deal of footage with not enough 'sensible talk' to place underneath. So I've also started using some clips of the Mythbusters music score I found on YouTube to cover those moments. I wish I'd thought of this earlier.
MYTH LINES
Cutting the two or three myths per episode into their seperate timelines is one of the most labour-intensive but ultimately satisfying parts of the job. It's only when you see all the footage together you realise just how much dross bookends each clip -- teasers, reiteration, cartoons, idents, stings, action replays, etc., etc. ad nauseum. Turning these into a watchable narrative is enormously fulfilling.
But it's really no wonder that we receive SO MANY messages on this sub about how people had given up watching the show in frustration, until these edits appeared and reignited their passion for the Mythbusters. And to those people, we say thank you! Although I will admit doing the very first one as a purely selfish exercise for myself, you guys are the reason that we all continue to make these.
OTHER
On a side note, I'd love to get access to the extras which appear on the Mythbusters website, so it could be folded into the edited show. We've discussed this before and it seems like you have to download a 2GB file for 5mins of footage. Darn!
Ultimately, although I understand that it's a business like any other, I would love to see the official Mythbusters team pay their editor to do another couple of hours work and produce an intelligent edit of the show each week for non-ADHD viewers.
Perhaps their fanbase would react positively to this? We've managed to attract 3,000 people to our little rabid community -- and we're in the Top 40 fastest growing subreddits on the whole site.