ATTENTION: Reviewers, Vendors, Members, Pretenders

[MrKraken]

Must not rant about self entitled git vendors!!!

All I will say to you Todd m'boy is "Well bugger me sideways"

 

[todd]

Don't get me wrong, think the opening post on this thread is to be commended and very well written.

I get a lot of folk asking me about becoming a reviewer and how do they get freebies, I never reply to those emails, if you are in it for the freebies then you will soon be found out

Think it was about 8 months of non stop reviewing and a few thousand quid in before I got my first freebie, unless you are prepared to invest a HUGE amount of money and personal time then you are in for a long slog.

My advice, be honest, be yourself and be honest, yeah I said that twice LOL

Not everyone will like you, some people will go out their way to try and bring you down, that's the worst bit but try and ignore them, not easy but best way.

Try doing things like tutorials and sharing information that you have come across on the forums but always say where you got the info from and give credit to the person that came up with the idea.

Right, boring myself now.........as usual

 

[ScottChensoda]

Who's this new kid on the block? What's he doing here? I'd have thought he'd be better off insulating his shed rather than spend time on here!'s got 2ft of snow due in a couple of months!

 

[MrKraken]

Don't get me wrong, think the opening post on this thread is to be commended and very well written.

I get a lot of folk asking me about becoming a reviewer and how do they get freebies, I never reply to those emails, if you are in it for the freebies then you will soon be found out

Think it was about 8 months of non stop reviewing and a few thousand quid in before I got my first freebie, unless you are prepared to invest a HUGE amount of money and personal time then you are in for a long slog.

My advice, be honest, be yourself and be honest, yeah I said that twice LOL

Not everyone will like you, some people will go out their way to try and bring you down, that's the worst bit but try and ignore them, not easy but best way.

Try doing things like tutorials and sharing information that you have come across on the forums but always say where you got the info from and give credit to the person that came up with the idea.

Right, boring myself now.........as usual

Top banana advice.

 

[Mawsley]

Don't get me wrong, think the opening post on this thread is to be commended and very well written.

I get a lot of folk asking me about becoming a reviewer and how do they get freebies, I never reply to those emails, if you are in it for the freebies then you will soon be found out

Think it was about 8 months of non stop reviewing and a few thousand quid in before I got my first freebie, unless you are prepared to invest a HUGE amount of money and personal time then you are in for a long slog.

My advice, be honest, be yourself and be honest, yeah I said that twice LOL

Not everyone will like you, some people will go out their way to try and bring you down, that's the worst bit but try and ignore them, not easy but best way.

Try doing things like tutorials and sharing information that you have come across on the forums but always say where you got the info from and give credit to the person that came up with the idea.

Right, boring myself now.........as usual

At the risk of looking like I'm climbing into your arse with camping equipment while wearing a T-shirt and a pillow (both with your face on), I can't imagine why anybody aside from the mentally ill would take issue with you, Todd. I love your work.

 

[todd]

Given that I'm mentally ill anyway, they don't bother me LOL

actually the image of someone with a pillow and t-shirt with my face on has sent the coldest shiver racing up my spine

 

[Merino-Teflon]

At least it ain't cushions

 

[Roadhoguk]

Not a lot to add here really, except that if you are accepted as a Reviewer by not only the public but also the Vendors and given a free "something" to review never try to sell it, give it away to a new user either via a raffle or just to a new user wishing to try something new (never done a Raffle myself, only the giveaways..lol) ,to give any aspiring Reviewer a heads up as to what is needed though lets start with the basics, to start you will need to know WHAT you intend to bring to the mix, this will include.. A) What is your target audience, B) what you intend to cover C) How you will present it..Next up you will need to consider the equipment needed to actually bring that to fruition, Webcam/Camcorder some even use a mobile phone (not recommended) Costs for these are anything from £30 for a basic webcam up to £300+ for a HD Camcorder, then you will need to think about how you are going to use that film footage and what editing software you will use, you can use the standard types but in all honestly they are very limited as to what they are able to do, I use both PowerDirector11 and Magix personally so expect an initial outlay of approx 200 notes for that, thats the easy bit, Ok on to the Pre-film set-up have you got all the relevant information you require in order to put across the advantages and pitfalls of the product you are Reviewing, expect a lot of criss cross communications with the Vendor / supplier, Have you tested it or do you intend to, or are you going to do an out the box Review, The first option is best imho as it shows that the Device has been problem free for awhile at least.

Right on to the Curtain call AKA Film set..lol, Ok so you have your nice shiny Camera all set up and ready to go, the lighting has been adjusted for good exposure /white balance etc etc and you are ready to hit the record button, again have you got all the current correct information, research is your friend here, be honest and explain to you audience all that you know about the item and all that you have found with it. Now its very important to be honest here, if there is a problem it is simply NOT acceptable to go off on a rant trip or worse still throw a tantrum without a full and open explanation as to WHY the item stinks so bad it simply must be destroyed (View our CE2 review..AKA the 10 bollox review for the balance needed in filming).

Now comes the fun part, the Reviewers dream known as Editing, I am not really going to get into explaining this one as each program you can use is different as to its strengths and weaknesses, suffice to say though that however long it took you to get to this stage can be at least doubled..probably tripled and above if a lot of cuts are needed, then the Music needs doing banners, intro`s and outros..you get the picture, expect a lot of PC / Mac time here but once thats done all that you need to do is render/encode and finally after a lot of time and expense you are ready to upload & go.


So really my advice is simple, if you can bring something new into the mix, if you are prepared to shell out your own money for the equipment needed, if you are prepared to spend long hours over products and editing suites, then welcome to review heaven, but if you expect free stuff without having earned it first then this is not going to be for you imho.

Did I say "not a lot to add here"..hmmm..I haz finger ache

 

[Mark]

Not a lot to add here really, except that if you are accepted as a Reviewer by not only the public but also the Vendors and given a free "something" to review never try to sell it, give it away to a new user either via a raffle or just to a new user wishing to try something new (never done a Raffle myself, only the giveaways..lol) ,to give any aspiring Reviewer a heads up as to what is needed though lets start with the basics, to start you will need to know WHAT you intend to bring to the mix, this will include.. A) What is your target audience, B) what you intend to cover C) How you will present it..Next up you will need to consider the equipment needed to actually bring that to fruition, Webcam/Camcorder some even use a mobile phone (not recommended) Costs for these are anything from £30 for a basic webcam up to £300+ for a HD Camcorder, then you will need to think about how you are going to use that film footage and what editing software you will use, you can use the standard types but in all honestly they are very limited as to what they are able to do, I use both PowerDirector11 and Magix personally so expect an initial outlay of approx 200 notes for that, thats the easy bit, Ok on to the Pre-film set-up have you got all the relevant information you require in order to put across the advantages and pitfalls of the product you are Reviewing, expect a lot of criss cross communications with the Vendor / supplier, Have you tested it or do you intend to, or are you going to do an out the box Review, The first option is best imho as it shows that the Device has been problem free for awhile at least.

Right on to the Curtain call AKA Film set..lol, Ok so you have your nice shiny Camera all set up and ready to go, the lighting has been adjusted for good exposure /white balance etc etc and you are ready to hit the record button, again have you got all the current correct information, research is your friend here, be honest and explain to you audience all that you know about the item and all that you have found with it. Now its very important to be honest here, if there is a problem it is simply NOT acceptable to go off on a rant trip or worse still throw a tantrum without a full and open explanation as to WHY the item stinks so bad it simply must be destroyed (View our CE2 review..AKA the 10 bollox review for the balance needed in filming).

Now comes the fun part, the Reviewers dream known as Editing, I am not really going to get into explaining this one as each program you can use is different as to its strengths and weaknesses, suffice to say though that however long it took you to get to this stage can be at least doubled..probably tripled and above if a lot of cuts are needed, then the Music needs doing banners, intro`s and outros..you get the picture, expect a lot of PC / Mac time here but once thats done all that you need to do is render/encode and finally after a lot of time and expense you are ready to upload & go.


So really my advice is simple, if you can bring something new into the mix, if you are prepared to shell out your own money for the equipment needed, if you are prepared to spend long hours over products and editing suites, then welcome to review heaven, but if you expect free stuff without having earned it first then this is not going to be for you imho.

Did I say "not a lot to add here"..hmmm..I haz finger ache

You know when you said ' not a lot to add here'?
Great post and sensible suggestions. I know I couldn't do it that's for sure, or at least do it well..

 

[Markfletcher007]

I think all the reviews are fantastic and appreciate all the time and effort taken, I would not have understand anything if it was not for the likes of todd igetcha Roadhoguk and even the likes of Carlos and BfcDanny who all take the effort and in their unique and individual ways to show what devices are out there from the absolute beginner to the expert vapour.