From: sirtwistalot@juno.com To: inflatedimpressions@prodigy.net Date: Thu, 18 May 2000 07:41:34 -0500 Subject: Re: instructional material Hello Lord L~ You bring up a rather good question, one for which you will receive more than enough opinions, as I am sure everyone will have one. I being no different than most will offer up my two cents worth. I am going to site examples, to show you what I mean. The example that I use, in no way should reflect poorly on any of the authors, as everyone learns differently. The question you should first ask is "Who is my target group?" This is important to know because, you will write your book (or due your video), differently for each group. As I am fairly new to twisting I give you a beginners point of view: If you are going to do a book I much prefer the Captain Visual method used in his first two books as opposed to Marvin L Hardys method used in Balloon Magic: the complete guide to balloon figure-tying. Although both books are good, I prefer the linking chain with bubble sizing on the chart (Captain V did not do this for his second book, which caused me some problems, save the new twister some headache, put the sizes on the linking chain.). Marvin book is good, but I had little use for it, until after I learned to twist and understood the placement of hands. If you feel you must use photo's as opposed to the Captain V's method of linking chains, then I would recommend Fantastici Palloncini fantastic balloons services as one of the BEST example on how to use photographs and written instructions. Although, Marvin's book and Menafro and Michelotto (will now be called M&M) book's are totally different in nature, I found that the use of color pictures easier on the eyes and easier to follow. A PERSONAL NOTE: IF YOU MAKE A BALLOON BOOK MAKE IT SPIRAL BOUND, SO THE BOOK LAYS FL ATE ON THE TABLE, SO YOU CAN LOOK AT IT AND TWIST! (just my two cents worth, as you will save the new twister a lot of headache and help them from getting discouraged.) On the subject of video's, I found them to be highly useful, not only for the creations, but it REALLY helps to see how others handle the balloons. I however has a SERIOUS complaint about video's. If you make more than one video, PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DO NOT REFER BACK TO ANOTHER VIDEO!!! A good example of that is, I just bought John Homes's, some of my quick and E.Z favorites. I LOVE his tape. It is straight forward and to the point, as compared to the Sorell's tapes (which were the first tapes, I bought), which is a little funnier to watch. What burns me is he refer's back to another tape, (he is not the only one who does this)for two creations, example, his lion does lunch, he does not show you how to make the lion because, he showed you how on another tape. Well, guess what, I do not have that tape, so I am SOL or I have to buy his other tape (Which in time I will, but come on, at 30.00 bucks, a pop, I just can not afford to buy every ones tapes..(hopefully someday, I will own them all). If you are going to make a tape, give the twister his money worth, don't refer back or if you do, show them how to make it and then show the add on's. After all, if your tape is good, they will buy them all. Just my two cents worth on that subject. I do not have a lot of tapes, so I can't speak from a vast amount of experience, but one thing John did on his tape, I really liked was on a difficult twist he did a close up of it so you could see how it was done and do not edit out the mistakes both John and the Sorell's tapes has mistakes, which help the twister to see how to handle them. Just something to keep in mind if you make a tape because, it will save the twister a headache or two. as to what I perfer best, I perfer books more bang for your buck and you can take them with you. Just my two cents worth, hope that helps. Sir T ________________________________________________________________ YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.