One thing I’ve noticed is that less and less edits are being posted even by big companies, and in general. Don’t get me wrong, there’s been a few great ones this year that I’ve seen! I’ve only been playing kendama for 2 years, but it seems like to me there used to be way more being pushed out than now. Is it just me? And if not, does anyone have any idea why?
I blame Instagram. If you have a banger clip, it's tempting to blast it out there rather than conserve for an edit. DS awards were an attempt to bring some focus back to longer form edits that require discipline and effort than a one trick format.
Even the insta bangers have been changing as of late. People just don't have time anymore, (at least among the gnarliest shredders). A year ago I remember watching D-westy, Nick G, and Bryson Lee, on insta stories everyday, lately it seems like they only post when they push themselves for a ridiculous clip (see nicks latest post if you need more explanation there). But they are all on their higher education/employment grind right now so that is totally understandable. It isn't like we are going to forget who they are now. I am glad to see that new insta bangers like Kaito, Miguel, and Takuya blowing up the scene. If the industry tracks these guys might be seeing a mod in their future within a year or two. Working on a little video right now. I'll try and get it done by tonight. -Be the change you wanna see in the world. Make the next great long form edit bro.
I noticed as well, but not just edits. Just like what @Sam Strohmyer said, the instabangers are getting less and less frequent too. I think another factor is that we can only do so much with kendama, at least with the newgen tap juggle insta style. The goal is always how many rotations one can get, how many juggles one can do consecutively, etc. Frankly, one can only grind for so long before getting sick of it (at least, that's how I feel). At this point, it's time to look for other instagram accounts to follow! Personally, @shonuff_chris on Instagram always blows my mind with his creativity. Give him a follow! P.S. Also, we should take into account that pros are people too, and they have other things to do outside of kendama. Keith Matsumura's busy with his music career, Zack Yourd's busy skiing in Colorado, Dave Mateo's busy dancing, etc. If they don't post as often as they used too, it's understandable.
Also, if I may add another insight, quality edits take time to make. Sure, one can crank out an edit within a day or two, but more often than not there is a correlation between time spent making an edit and the quality of said edit. The big companies probably are working on some bangers to be released at a proper time to ensure the best quality content.
Yea, I agree that insta killed the edit. Not totally, but it definitely raised the bar for what goes on Youtube, in some ways. As a player... its nice to have the interactivity and reach of instagram, but the non-permanence of it isn't great. Edits become timeless, insta posts do not.
I'm not huge into other scenes, but I know that similar issues plague the skating and surfing communities too. I think it's a mixture of things. People like to see tricks on their insta feed so if pros are stacking clips for an edit instead of posting on insta, people will start feeling like they fell off even though they're actually grinding. On the other hand, Instagram is an insanely punishing venue where you have to be pumping out ridiculous amounts of content to stay relevant. Also, Instagram feels like the hub for pretty much everything kendama related. Big companies do everything from hosting live streams and releasing new damas to promoting meetups and even selling insta-exclusive one offs and such. My observation in the Snowboarding world is that one of the things driving edits and higher production value films is the big companies taking their sponsored pros on trips and big filming missions. I would assume that a kendama companies budget isn't quite as robust as someone like North Face, so it could be a hard to want to put the time and money into a similar pursuit when the competition on IG mixed with the push to host events and release new product constantly is so resource sucking. One solution I see is for big companies to sponsor more online edit-centered comps like Haley Bishoffs competition. That could push people to stack clips and release something awesome. Otherwise, it's a ton of effort to put together an edit as an individual, especially when youtube edits don't get THAT many views and instagram is kind of the main online way to get noticed.
Yea I think thats all pretty spot-on. Quite timely, I think I'm going to cut all my #28trickslater tricks from last year into a raw edit to post to youtube. Nice to have them more permanently catalogued, and maybe some hype for this year!
It does seem like all edits that are posted are banger edits though. Ex. Lyndon pro mod edit, zmags pov edit 2.
If something similar to the grip contest were to be released (like any basic edit contest), the community would definitely meet the challenge; mass numbers of edits would be pumped out for sure; I wish a big company like sol, kusa, it sweets would create one...
I definitely have noticed a lack of edits as well, I mean kusa hasn’t done an edit since September, WHATS UP WITH THAT??!! Although they keep Instagram up to date, they should make a new edit. Scags bag of tricks was good, but it was short. As soon as Bryan started slaying lunars, I wished that the video was longer than a minute and a half. Come on Dama players.....