Clip length

[warbonnets]

Just curious, do you prefer to see the entire train or shorter edited videos?

[Kelly Lynch]

It can often depend on the shot itself and how it's composed. If the train is of potential interest, it could pay let it linger. However, waiting for the entire train length to pass can be tedious and uninteresting. Does the camera move? Does it follow the locomotive? All things to consider.

The shorter the clips (if edited together), the more you see in less time with the same effect.

Kelly Lynch

[Jon Wisnieski]

I agree with Kelly on this one.
For me, it's like this:
Wow, a coal car. Oh look! Another coal car. Another. Another. Another. (You catch my drift?)
BUT if the composition is interesting or something is unusual, I would agree to seeing some or the rest of the train.
One thing I also hate is when we see a minute tagged onto the front of the video with no train. I'm not saying I want the video to have the engine down my throat right away, just not all the extra time up front. (I do like hearing the crossing gates and bells). Just my opinion. ;-)

[Rod Williams]

Agreeing with Jon on not having too much dead time up front. Now and then there are sounds that are of interest such as an approaching whistle but all too often we are seeing a long lead time before the action begins.

[Cyclonetrain]

On the other hand, I dislike seeing extremely short clips of something interesting (12 second cab ride, oh boy!)

[Ian MacMillan]

I like seeing the whole train with good cuts and if the scenery is good. Scenery is also one of the things that keep me interested also. I like seeing long trains in amazing scenery...not the locomotive truck level camera shots.

Have to agree with the others on the lead time. Sometimes horn action is good, but you don't need to really see the whole gate sequence and then the wait, and THEN the train comes. Sitting next to gates where the bells do not stop going off is annoying also...especially the new electronic crossing bells. (ugh!)