Feedback
 

Hey y'all....

Hope everyone is having a great night. I wanted to see if I could get some feedback on a YouTube project that I have going. As most of you know, I have a pretty large negro league card collection and I frequently get questions from people on the board (and eBay & SGC registry) about the cards, so I decided to make some videos.

I would love your feedback on the first two that I did. One is an intro, so not too important, but the 1909 Cabanas one is more important as I plan to do one on each Cuban / Puerto Rican set and another one for each key player (HOFers and other stars that are near HOFers).

Before I replicate something that everyone hates, would love to correct the errors. My wife has been kind enough to note the following:

1. Camera angle could be better / higher
2. Too much glare on when showing the cards
3. Do something besides sit there (I am not sure what I could do... but she says that I seem a bit bored)... change my intonation
4. Do not give enough background on the players or the history... but I was thinking of doing that in the specific player ones

Anyway, would appreciate the help as I will be putting in some time in hopes of helping educate the community on these cool pieces of history.

I am not exactly sure how to search YouTube, but my name on there is EPIC Cardboard and the first video is called Negro League baseball cards intro.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBi...xNtlijS0aGCpEw

Thanks for the help.

Al

Watched the intro video. You've got me hooked! The video quality is crystal clear - as good as I've ever seen. I don't have a Youtube account so couldn't leave a thumb up (which I can't stand anyway) or a comment. Will find time later to go back and see the first of the card videos. Looking forward to it.

You mentioned that you're writing a book on the best of the Negro League cards. I'm sure it will have a large audience. I also look forward to your covering the soccer (football). Since you mentioned that you have spent some years in Central/South America will the football coverage be centered on that area? One of my favorite football books was "Soccer In Sun And Shadow" by
Eduardo Galeano, and he painted remarkable vignettes of the game as it evolved in South America.

Looking forward to all that's to come.

I enjoyed both videos and look forward to seeing more of them.

Thanks....
 

When you get a chance, please watch the Cabanas one... I really want to make sure that I hit everything that could be important about the sets, so anything to add or leave out or any other feedback will be cool...

On the soccer / football side, I will have those on focus of the players and I plan on doing the top 100-200 players (where there are cards).... but will do the negro league cards first... appreciate the book reference!

Informative video Al....thank you for posting

2 videos
 

I,too, enjoyed your offerings. I'm weak in this area of scholarship and have been eager to see presentations such as these for some time now.
Noting that your wife's critique was so well done, I thought I'd add my own.

I was so 'hungry' to see cards and was disappointed that there were none shown in the intro. video of 15 minutes or so. I had the same 'hunger' as I turned to the second video and waited around 8 minutes or so before seeing, admittedly, some absolutely gorgeous cards. After a bit, you presented your 'one of ones' which were exquisite. Please don't wait so long for us to see your fine collection. Then we can see more and more and more!

I would offer a few more suggestions which you may wish to incubate a bit.
I'd like to see more of your collection on those shelves behind you!!! Perhaps a change of set design might be helpful.
You swing your chair 'to and fro' and scratch your nose a bit much. I'm sure you weren't aware of doing so but now you know.
Your presentation of your cards to the camera needs work. Perhaps putting them on a small stand or the like would help you not move the cards around so quickly and give the observer more of a chance to relish them. Perhaps there would be some way to leave them on the table off to your side so that we could continue to see them.

Very positively, your diction is clear and precise. I was pleased to see you stay focused on the history and scholarship with minimal 'ad libs' and limited excursus.
Your use of the original language of the cards at times was most pleasing.
Your recap (summary) was quite helpful. I hope to see these continue. I
appreciated your underscoring the rarity of your collection without any arrogance or ostentatious self-absorption. In fact, I applaud this.

Bottom line, I'm eager to see more of the videos. Congratulations on this very needed offering, Al.
My several cents,
all the best,
Barry

Great stuff, Al! Super cool to have collectors with depth and breadth sharing their knowledge like this.

My only piece of feedback is technical, and that would be to try and jigger it so that you're not looking slightly off camera. I assume you were looking at the monitor and not into the lens itself. It felt like you were speaking to someone standing behind me :)

Thanks for the time and dedication in the responses... I really want everyone to enjoy these cards as much as I do and want to present them as best as possible. I will try to improve as I go and welcome "requests" and feedback. Need to enlist the help of my 12 year old to clean up some stuff here, but REALLY appreciate the great feedback

Really enjoyed the videos and the content. A way to improve the presentation of the cards in future videos would be to acquire some basic Adobe or similar video editing software. When you record your video instead of holding the card in front of the camera just talk about it as if it can be seen. Then take your footage into the video editing software and overlay parts of it with high quality scans of the card. You can also add annotation graphics to point out features like the name variations. This will let us see more cards and let you concentrate on narrrarating and not focusing on your on-camera appearance.

You are doing an excellent job with the typical record and upload format most people use. However, utilizing Adobe Photoshop, Audition, and Premier Pro or similar products you can greatly enhance the quality of what you create.

Great... thanks for the feedback... will look into those!

Al

Fantastic resource, Al. I watched the 1909 Cabanas video. I thought you were well prepared. Enjoyed it very much and looked forward to seeing more.

Thanks Joe... I am trying to learn a new software to see if I can put scans on the screen instead of holding them up to the phone... hopefully everyone can enjoy the videos more that way.

Al,

Yes, great stuff! I agree with previous posts about integrating scans or superior graphics of your cards into the video.

One specific request: for your 1910 Punch cards, please include "Home Run" Johnson! I see that there are two SGC cards, but pictures of either one cannot be found on the internet or in Phil's book.

Thanks and keep it goin',
Scott

Al- Thank you. Amazing contribution. The yutube brought it to new level.

editing software....
 

OK guys, so I spent a few hours trying to figure out adobe premiere pro to no avail.... i did learn some basics on iMovie, so I think that I can sufficiently handle that one. The problem is going to be the card scans... As I have virtually all of the scans on my SGC registry, I may just need to reference people there as I cannot seem to add a small picture of the scan on my video... i guess that I am just inept at this editing thing.

Noted on the HR Johnson card. I have never released a scan, but I will put it in the video... in fact I shot the Punch video, but I have been struggling with the editing.... stay tuned... and again...

Thanks for the feedback everybody!

Al

I've watched a couple of videos so far. Well done, sir. I have a few suggestions, some of which have been mentioned already:

1) I would suggest switching to a non-rotating chair. You sway back and forth and rotate quite a bit and it's a bit distracting.

2) You have a big, loose thread on the bill of your hat ;)

3) Definitely look into Adobe Premier or other software to allow you to drop in scans instead of holding cards up to the camera. The quality would be improved dramatically by doing so.

4) You could use a little light from behind the camera as you are just a hair darker than you maybe should be.

Some other positives:

1) It doesn't look like you're using a microphone but your audio is very, very good. Clear and loud. Nice!

2) Kudos on the beautiful EFF Monarchs jersey. EFF does such nice work. If you haven't been there, visiting their store in Seattle is a real treat. I have their NY Knights (from "The Natural") jersey and it's terrific.


Keep up the good work!

Maybe try Premier Elements. The "Elements" versions of Adobe's software are much easier to use and offer 90% of the functionality. You don't have professional, multi-camera, special effects needs, so no need to go Pro.

Thanks! I will download that one and see if it will suffice.... just not the most "techie" guy! Thanks again!

1910 Punch video now live
 

Hey everybody...

Thanks so much for your feedback. I have not been able incorporate all of the great feedback as I was just trying to learn some basic editing. I think I have the basics under control now... but I still have a ways to go. Please take a look at this video that was mostly shot prior to the round of feedback here, but I think that the picture in picture helps to see some of the cards.

Again, I would appreciate the feedback and if you like the video, please like it and subscribe. I will try and do all of the major Cuban and Puerto Rican sets.

Thanks in advance.

al
 

much improved. I very much appreciated your presentation of the cards and your leaving them stationary on the screen for a bit. The cards of the non-Negro leaguers in this set were, for me, a welcome and stunning surprise.
I would note that from about 8 minutes or so into the video until the close, there was a mismatch between spoken words and the movement of the mouth. Perhaps
this was due to something I'm unaware of at this point.
keep them coming.
all the best,
Barry

Hey Barry

Thanks for looking. I will have a look at that. Maybe I did something wrong on the editing. I hope that you found the information helpful. Still learned no the nuances of the software.

Best,

Al

Al,

I've only watched the intro so far, but it looks great to me, and looking forward to watching the rest!

Luke

Here is the link to the Punch video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khfYeqNzrAk

Sorry that I forgot to post this originally.

Al- Great videos. I wish more people would share their expertise & collections on video like you have. I had the same problem as Barry with the lip-sync, but still enjoyed it & learned more about the cards you collect than I have from watching this site for many years. I think that you & Ryan Christoff (sorry for any misspelling) should collaborate. Thank you again, Jeremy

Jeremy....

The lip-sync issue is on the Punch one, the Cabanas or the NL Intro?

I do a lot with Ryan in terms of trading and not... In fact a decent part of my collection has once passed through his hands!


Al

Al- The Punch one.

I noticed this too. Looks like your audio and video tracks got out of sync somehow when you were editing.

Thanks guys, I will see what I can do on this front. Unfortunate to say the least.

Al

Fantastic video's Al. Love seeing rare cards in that format..........congrats on a great collection!

Al -

Thanks for sharing your knowledge of those two sets. I hope you'll be doing more videos for the sets from the '20's (e.g., 1923-24 Billiken, 1923-24 Tomas Gutierrez, 1923-24 Nacionales, 1924-25 Aguilitas, etc.). Will you also cover some other obscure sets where you might not have many examples (1927-28 Mallorquina, for example)?

I watched the 1910 Punch video before I saw the 1909 Cabanas video. As mentioned, there were some lip sync issues about midway through the video.

By the way, I loved seeing that 1916 25th Infantry Team Panorama in the background! Beautiful!

I think the 10-15 minute length is perfect for both videos. Your delivery is very genuine and it doesn't sound rehearsed, which is refreshing and helps keep my interest. I think it was easy enough to see the cards in the 1909 Cabanas video, so no need to add a little image like you did on the 1910 Punch video (if you planned on doing that).

I look forward to seeing more! Please make sure to share a link here on Net54 so I know when the next "series" is coming out!!

Great stuff Al. Thanks for sharing!!!

Thanks Derek and Brent.... Brent you should do Boxing ones.... even though my boxing collection is good, I am not near the expert and do not have the expertise that you do... and certainly will not try! But either you or Adam should do it!

But I will do soccer down the road... so let's see...

Derek, thank for noticing the photo in the background... fun stuff and a good eye...

+2

Billiken video now up
 

Hey guys,

I completed a video on Billikens yesterday... please let me know if it is helpful..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eKHwcfdl0U

Enjoy!

Since you are a collector/dealer of soccer cards, you should discuss some of them. Also, make sure to do a video on Pele's early issues as well, such as his Quigol, Titulares, Alifabolaget, etc. A PSA 5 Quigol recently went for $15,000 USD, which is mind-boggling. :eek:

Great video Al. I have enjoyed a few of you videos.

Glad that you enjoyed it Ben! That is why I do them! Best, Al

Will do the soccer ones at some point
 

But am trying to finish a book on negro league cards first... I will target soccer next, but that is likely a few years away at my current (slow) pace...

We may have one of those moments on the Quigol card where $15k someday looks super cheap! Can you believe where the Mantles / Ruths are these days? Is there any question that Pele is the Babe Ruth of soccer which, despite its #1 place in sport around the world continue to strengthen and get bigger? That card may have even more legs... Time will tell, but I think that soccer has HUGE potential....

And by the way, I am not a dealer... everything that I have on eBay are dupes from my collection. I am just a collectors who has too much stuff (like many on this board)! :D