I'm curious how important vidcaps and descriptions of videos are to entice you to buy them. Do you like to see a good selection of quality vidcaps showing most of the scene or do you like a few teasers to give you some surprises to look forward to. Likewise, how important is the video description ? Do you read all of it then make the decision to buy that video or is it the case that you like that producers work and that model and buy the video regardless ?

As I say Im genuienly curious as we have a video on our download store at the moment that we did as a custom for somebody and was edited differently to our usual format. Im going to be editing it into our usual format for release but have had loads of people buy it now with no description and no vidcaps hence the question.

Fairly essential for me to see vidcaps or a trailer as I want to know whether my particular buttons are likely to be pushed, and its not always possible to get that from a description alone. Having said that I do often enjoy reading descriptions of a scene more than actually watching it. The imagination is powerful!

Vid caps are majorly important.

From first frame to the VERY last frame.

I want to see the before and after of the model.

For me, either a very detailed description (including proper details of the clothes being worn, and how the gunge is applied), or sufficient stills / vidcaps to clearly show what is included, are vital. The preview images also have to be enlargable, as often the kind of detail I want to check before buying (in particular clothing style detail) isn't obvious in a thumbnail. And a good trailer that shows what the scene contains and how it has been filmed, is worth many thousand words.

I've also found that my own scenes seem to sell better when comprehensively supplied with promo pics and trailers, though of course it's important not to give away all the money shots in the previews.

both are sicne im more into slime and want to know if girl is slimed much

Vid caps are essential to whether I buy a clip or not. I've learned over the years when producers only post clean teaser pics and a brief overhyping description, chances are the messy portion isn't that good. I feel like they know it wasn't a very good scene or it wasn't messy enough to compete with other producers' work. So as a sales tactic they hide it, because once they have your money it doesn't matter if you like it or not. At that point it's too late.

Dunktankbabes, in answer to your question, I think in general it is a good idea to include a good description & screen-caps with a new video. There are a number of reasons for this, and while I appreciate some people might always buy a video from a certain producer, or starring a certain model, I doubt that applies to all of the UMD or wider messy community all of the time...

I myself will admit I have bought a number of videos from producers (including I suspect the one you are referring to) on the grounds that they like a particular producer / model's work... however I suspect in many cases (and certainly would say in my case) they would only do so when they have already got a large number of such works and can therefore "play the odds" that they are unlikely to be disappointed.

However, I doubt there are many people who would buy a video starring an unknown model or from a brand new producer without some idea as to what they are expecting... therefore you may find that a lack of description / screen-caps has less effect on sales if you are using a well known model, or are a well known producer with high production values or using a relatively predictable format...

The other main reason I like screen-caps & descriptions is because if I am short of cash & cannot buy all the videos I want it lets me ensure I get the ones I am likely to enjoy most now, and either ignore those unlikely to appeal, or put on a waiting list until I have the disposable income. Likewise if descriptions / screen-caps are issued early, I'm more likely to "plan ahead" to ensure I don't "fritter" on other things and instead enjoy a few days, weeks or months anticipating what the new clip will be like when it is released.

Please keep up the good work as I love the fact that you actually dunk girls PROPERLY so 100% coverage is guaranteed... and it reminds me a bit of watching GYOB in my youth, although with the guarantee that it's a sexy girl going in the slime not some balding middle age bloke!

Vidcaps are the most essential element. It lets users know what they are buying. It also lets users see if it looks like the producers are "adding filler time" with a bunch of non-messy footage or clean-up footage. Say a video is 50 minutes long but only has 10 minutes of messy footage. From a description alone, it would be hard to tell, but a full set of screencapper pics with time codes would let the end user see how much mess there truly is. I dislike deceptive business practices and I despise any producer that defends those practices as being acceptable b/c they need them to sell videos instead of just producing high quality videos (no, I'm not talking about anyone in this thread so far).

I usually buy a video only if I can see a full description of it and lot of screencaps...

It's not so important for me to have caps of the whole video, it is sufficient to have those relating to the salient parts of the video,in order to not ruin the surprise...

Interesting concept, but does anyone do vidcaps with timecode like that? I'd be worried that auto-generated vidcaps would miss important detail that customers might need to know about - a shoe filling section might only be a few minutes long and hence get missed by the capturer, or it could completely fail to catch any of the moments where someone is having her trousers filled - I prefer to chose vidcaps that illustrate each section of the video (I put trailers together the same way), so that a potential purchaser can see an outline of what happens to each model in a scene, as well as clean shots to show their outfit, and final ones to show exactly how wet or messy they got.

I agree completely about the need for honesty - in my case I usually release the clean-up hose-down as a separate file, and in the scene description I'll say how long the messy and clean-up videos are. I don't think we've ever shot a scene where the messing up of the girls didn't start within the first couple of minutes, but if we ever did, the description would state how long the clean and messy sections were.

I would like full disclosure in the description of important things, like if the entire video is shot without showing the model's head/face. I bought a wetlook video recently and couldn't believe it was from the neck down -- and they didn't even mention this in the description.
That reminds me... I have a review to write.

Both are extremely important and the caps should show selections from pretty much all of the scene. The description can pretty much tell me the whole story, and then the vidcaps can confirm that it really is what I expect from the description. Nothing is worse than being led to think a scene will build up to something and then being disappointed that it doesn't.

An entire scene shot without the model's head/face being visible? Some of you are buying from REALLY bad producers....

At this point I vidcap based on instinct... i.e. sometimes I will tell myself, "Only 20 vidcaps this time so I don't give everything away"... Then I wind up with 50 pics cuz I can't narrow anything down!

I *will* say that the hardest job for me is getting a lot of good CLEAN pics of the model beforehand... especially if we didn't do any specific "posing" during the scene. Because I would argue that how the model looks BEFORE she gets messy is just as important as how she looks after. And a model with tons of good clean shots (i.e. Kylie in purple slingshot) really sells herself.

Another fun fact: Maybe it's because people know my work by now, but I've had better sales for some scenes with just a thumbnail and ZERO full-size pics (because I've posted a "secret" upload in advance of any publicity) than different scenes with tons of screencaps. Not often, but it happens. I would argue there's a small segment of the audience that *likes* viewing with no previous knowledge... providing it's a producer they know and trust.

(I used to do this with Neil years ago. I would literally send him $$ in the mail and get a couple VHS tapes, and I would know NOTHING about the contents, other than there were gonna be girls and pies involved.
And by the same token, I will go see the new Chris Nolan film immediately, ideally knowing as little of the plot as possible.)

Is that the new Chris Nolan 14 girl pie fight film..oops have I spoiled the plot????

(to those with a different sense of humour..this is a joke. There is no Chris Nolan film with a 14 girl pie fight that I know of)

Its as I thought. We have always tried to provide a good selection of vidcaps and in probability provide too many. We usually also try and provide a you tube trailer. I was just suprised so many had bought the Harley video without any description or vidcaps and as I said its not in our usual format and was a custom edited in that way. Those have have bought it can have the usual edited version as well when we release it. To me, part of the fun with videos is going through the vidcaps and imagining whats happening on the video before you download it. The trailers are important for me as well to see the quality of video and an idea of whats happening

To me, the vidcaps are more important than video trailers. I need to see the model clean/before mess, and determine how much and what kind of mess I'm going to see. Also, some vendors only use non-clickable thumbnails, where I can't see anything, and that leaves me too uncertain to spend any $.

Really interesting thread. As a new producer, I've been worrying about putting too much in the trailer and videocaps. So it is interesting to get other people's views.

http://messy-photo-shoots.umd.net/

I just had a look at your Axa Spaghetti scene, if you don't mind a little constructive criticism:

The preview stills and vidcaps are spot on, giving a good taste of what's included, what she looks like before she starts and how messy she gets by the end. The trailer seems a bit long though, several of the scenes are long enough for someone to just "enjoy" the trailer without needing to actually buy the download.

This (below) is one of ours, where I wanted to show everything that's in the video, but at the same time not give the important content away, hence the actual clips are very short, with captions over the top and blocks of text on black, silent-movie style, between the scenes to break up the flow. I think it gives an honest overview of what a purchaser will get, without giving the scene away for free.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwqELIfICLs&list=UU2dnhf1rYe3mSjUxRbx7iaw

Thanks for the feedback it was useful - still learning the techniques for trailers - I'm sure I will improve. The Axa one was the first one I produced and perhaps it did give a little more away that it should.... but still lots in the video that's not in the trailer to make it worth buying!

Definitely like a good and long description and lots of vidcaps. I especially like to know on your gunge dunk clips whether the model goes completely under!

Yes that what I most like to know as well during the dunking.

If a scene is not well described and does not have enough decent pictures for me to get an idea of what it's about, the quality and coverage of the mess and the quality of the video then I'm unlikely to buy it to be honest. Video clips I like and they can influence a sale, especially where you almost see something interesting and the trailer cuts away, but I don't really need them to make a purchase, especially if I've bought from you before and know your style of work suits me.

That said, if you put up a decent title and I know you're a good producer, maybe if I have seen the model elsewhere too, I might just be interested enough to make a small purchase.

I always like to see the quality of video on a teaser clip if I can and always try to put up a teaser clip. I've seen some videos that look great with the pictures which have probably been taken on a decent camera but then you download the video and its not great. My own view is some decent vidcaps rather than stills and a teaser clip shows exactly whats happening in the video and the quality. Recently, we've only used vidcaps rather than stills now video quality is so good screen grabs are just as good as stills and show exactly whats on the video.