Thirty Second Stories (.com) is ALIVE

ok, the bad news is that each one of these videos is taking me about an hour to make, so i have quite a ways to goes. the bad news pt. 2 is that there's always a tradeoff between file size and quality, and since i'm trying to keep the video sizes small so that they'll load quickly, the videos are a little blurry and certainly the opposite of crisp. i could address this by playing them as normal size on the screen, but fuck it, i want them to play full screen.

the good news is that i have a semi-functional prototype going with 5 videos and i think this whole thing is going to work. i apologize in advance to the people who get one of my shittier visual/audio accompaniments, but i'm doing the best that i can with each one, and in some cases it just really *clicks* and it reaffirms that the effort is totally worth it

🎼♩♪♬♫♩♬♫♬♫♩♬♩_\o/_♫♩♪♩♬♬♩♬♫♫▁ ▂ ▃ ▄ ▅ ▆ █

𝄞

in other words,
▁▂▂▁▁▂▂▃▃▂▁▂▂▂▃▂▁▁▁http://i.imgur.com/yUCHVI9.gif▁ ▂ ▃ ▄ ▅ ▆ █

WANNA SEE PROTOTYPE

so i have quite a ways to goes.

when someone commits a speaking error in the heat of the moment, document it here

ZS are you going live at a certain time? Would be nice if we could gather in this thread and experience it!

eh zs if mine doesnt make first cut fu I'm out

ZS are you going live at a certain time? Would be nice if we could gather in this thread and experience it!

read this with "to" inserted before "live" and had a private intense moment! i was initially aiming for Monday the 19th to launch but there's no way in hell i can do that. i want to make sure i at least give my best shot to each story, and they're taking me quite a while to make. i rushed a little on two of them yesterday, and now in the cold sober light of sunday morning i know i have to go back and fix them. plus there's a bunch of stuff with the code and css that i need to address. anyway, i'm going to have to push back to the 26th for launch. i'm not sure what time yet but it'll probably just be around noon or so on whatever day it goes live.

Haha :)

No prob, git 'er done properly before launching imho. God speed my man.

i have 10 done.

i am really enjoying making these. i realize they're going to be amateurish compared to what most video artists can do but every once in a while they come out pretty well and it's so fucking satisfying.

i keep on changing the plan as i go, but now i'm thinking of releasing these as 10-story "episodes". the plan would be to launch with episode 1, and then follow up a week later with a 10-story episode 2. i have enough submitted stories already to take care of that. and then, if there's any sort of appeal to the site and people want to submit stories, do subsequent episodes.

i think that's a good idea. you could easily have a three month block as of right now.

oh no i didn't see this thread til now :( i wanna tell a story

stevie d you can still submit a story, i'm starting with 10 but i'm already working on episode 2 with 10 more, and then hopefully more after that. if you're interested can you send me a quick email at [MODERATOR REDACTION] at gmail so I can reply back with more details?

more boring developments (sorry for making this the most self-indulgent thread of all time but i've spent virtually all of my non-worklife time on this for the past few weeks so it's kind of subsuming everything else):

in addition to the website, i'm thinking about uploading each video individually onto youtube, for three reasons:

1) i'll be able to post high resolution versions of the videos. the versions on thirtysecondstories.com are low quality so that they can be loaded more quickly.
2) for the "credits" section on thirtysecondstories.com i can just point to a youtube playlist with all of the videos, each one with the name of the story and storyteller.
3) if one of the videos is particularly good or something, having a separate youtube version of it will make it possible for people to share it more easily.

i was gonna suggest that, good idea.

Thinking of referring to this as XXX Sec Stories to maximize confusion

Imagine someone sending you a link to www.xxxsecstories.com. Total missed opportunity.

hot college football action

XXX sec stories, free, high quality, topical

lol

http://i.imgur.com/CUmHSbc.jpg

slightly more informative placeholder up

definitely going live this monday, most likely at 11 am or so. i keep changing the organization of it every day but currently the plan is to launch with two episodes of 5 stories each. then i'll follow up with a third five-minute episode the following week (it's almost done already, i'm just trying to give myself a buffer just in case).

lookin good!

Yes looking great!

http://38.media.tumblr.com/d6043387c1c692a87efc103f5b04195d/tumblr_nir56wX1ey1qdmmiqo1_500.gif

11am U.S. eastern time to be specific.

Pumped!

ugh, why does TSS have to be toxic shock syndrome

i don't want people to get the wrong idea about these xxx sec. stories

they'll be fine if they follow the instructions on the tampon box

...better make it noon eastern rather than 11am.

so, mobile isn't going to work, at least not today. I think we have a work around, but for now it's only going to work on desktop/laptops.

YAAAAYYYYYYYYYY

THIS LOOKS AMAZINGGGG <333333

OK, it's up.

ThirtySecondStories.com

omg nearly crying... this is the best Zach!

And how immaculate you gave mine video... it fits so magnificently!

wow

These are brilliant Zach. Congratulations.

amazing work, there is so much potential for this idea, laughing my head off.

who is the table man? i laughed hard at that.

do you want us to use a hashtag?

table man is horseebooks

re: hashtag: you can if you want: #thirtysecondstories

Teacup! OMG

yeah, that's my niece. :)

I also really like the one about the guys throwing dollars - good deadpan ending.

Teacup one is hilarious. Zach this is great man. All that hard work def paid off.

:) thank you. These videos are some of my first, so I'm learning as I go.

ILXors have some great sounding voices.

The sound effects are a great touch!

"She won't pick them up... She won't pick them up..." <3

And Tom Petty hating kitty. And omg Xelerator asshole. And staring insect. 524 Tuba. <3

oh, one more thing: there are high-quality versions of each video on this playlist. in some caes, much, MUCH higher-quality versions! if you like a particular video, you can also use the youtube playlist to share individual stories with others.

oh man this is excellent, excellent stuff

thank you! :)

oh, minor thing, but you can pause the videos with space bar or skip to the next one with the right arrow.

Is L from DC one of us? That $20 story is terrifying, good god

whoa did not expect ronan to sound like that, or abbott!!!

The $20 one is Laura Warman. Not an ilxor but an amazing artist.