How To Make A Video Essay
Summary
TLDRIn this insightful commentary, the video essayist addresses the challenges of standing out in a saturated field, emphasizing the importance of discovering one's unique voice. They critique the common advice to 'stand out' as vague, advocating instead for creators to develop a style that only they can execute. Drawing from personal experience, they discuss the necessity of deep knowledge and research to provide fresh insights, sharing their journey of abandoning a successful gaming channel due to a lack of expertise. The video serves as both a guide for aspiring essayists and a call to authenticity and continuous learning in content creation.
Takeaways
- 📚 The video essayist community is growing, but many struggle with standing out due to the saturation of content and similar formats.
- 🎭 The author criticizes the cliché advice of 'standing out' without specifics, as it can mislead creators into unnecessary reinvention.
- 🔍 The most important aspect of being a video essayist is to find and develop a unique 'voice' that can only be achieved through personal creativity.
- 🎮 The author shares a personal story of abandoning a successful gaming channel due to feeling like a 'hack' without deep knowledge in the subject.
- 🤔 The author emphasizes the importance of providing fresh and insightful analysis in video essays, rather than just echoing existing opinions.
- 📈 The author's success with a 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' video essay is attributed to identifying an under-discussed aspect, 'bathos', demonstrating the value of unique insights.
- 📚 The necessity of continuous learning and gaining deep knowledge in a specific niche is highlighted as a prerequisite for creating insightful essays.
- 🚫 The author warns against copying the style or 'voice' of other creators, as it can lead to a lack of authenticity and synergy in one's work.
- 🧩 Finding one's voice is compared to finding the right wand at Ollivanders, an iterative process of trial and error to discover what fits best.
- 💡 The author suggests that creators should experiment with different styles and approaches to find their unique voice and style in video essay creation.
- 🌟 The video concludes with a call to action for viewers to support the author on Patreon, offering various rewards for different levels of support.
Q & A
What is the main issue the speaker identifies with the video essay community?
-The speaker identifies the main issue as the lack of originality and the tendency for video essays to blend together due to the use of the same format, making it difficult for creators to stand out and be memorable.
What does the speaker consider the most important aspect of being an essayist?
-The speaker considers finding one's unique voice and providing insightful analysis as the most important aspect of being an essayist.
Why did the speaker abandon their gaming video essay channel?
-The speaker abandoned their gaming channel because they felt like a 'hack' after watching a series by another creator who had a deep understanding of game design, realizing they were not providing fresh insights.
What is the speaker's opinion on the advice 'stand out' for video essayists?
-The speaker finds the advice 'stand out' to be cliché and vague, potentially harmful as it might lead creators to believe they need to reinvent the wheel to be different.
What does the speaker suggest is the core purpose of video essays?
-The core purpose of video essays, according to the speaker, is to provide insightful analysis of a piece of media, offering fresh points and arguments that haven't been made before.
What personal experience did the speaker share about their second YouTube channel?
-The speaker shared that their second channel, focused on video games, had unexpected success with its first two videos, each garnering over a million views.
What is the speaker's advice for someone wanting to make a video essay on a popular topic?
-The speaker advises to find a fresh angle or insight into the popular topic that hasn't been discussed before, as this will increase the video's watch time and click rate.
What does the speaker believe is the reason for the sameness and boredom in many video essays?
-The speaker believes the reason for the sameness and boredom is that many essayists do not do the necessary research and instead copy ideas from each other, contributing to the echo chamber.
What is the speaker's view on the importance of continuous learning for essayists?
-The speaker views continuous learning as a prerequisite for essayists, emphasizing the need to always be listening to podcasts, reading books, and watching lectures to broaden their knowledge in their niche.
What does the speaker suggest as the best approach to finding one's voice as an essayist?
-The speaker suggests that finding one's voice involves a lot of experimentation and creation. It's about trying different styles until one finds what fits them best and feels most authentic.
What mistake does the speaker warn against when it comes to finding one's voice?
-The speaker warns against copying the voice of another creator wholesale. Instead, they advise experimenting with different elements to find what works best for the individual.
Outlines
🎥 The Challenge of Standing Out in Video Essays
The speaker addresses the common question of how to become a video essayist, noting the lack of guidance on the topic. They express concern over the homogeneity in the video essay community, where many creators use similar formats, leading to a lack of distinctiveness. The speaker emphasizes the importance of finding one's unique voice rather than just trying to 'stand out,' which is often overgeneralized advice. They share their own experience, including a critique of the community and a personal anecdote about their second channel's unexpected success with gaming content.
🤔 The Importance of Insight and Authenticity in Video Essays
Continuing the discussion, the speaker explains why simply standing out isn't enough and why providing insightful analysis is crucial for video essays. They recount their experience with a gaming channel, which they abandoned due to feelings of inadequacy in knowledge compared to other creators. The speaker stresses the need for creators to bring fresh perspectives and avoid reiterating common arguments, using their analysis of 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' as an example of how a unique angle can lead to success.
📚 The Commitment to Continuous Learning for Video Essayists
The speaker delves into the necessity of being well-versed in the subject matter of one's video essays. They argue that creators should not only rely on other people's work for research but should actively pursue knowledge in their area of interest. The speaker shares their own journey of focusing on creative writing and how it has influenced their video essays, advocating for a never-ending quest for learning and expertise in one's niche.
🎙️ Finding and Developing Your Unique Voice in Video Essays
The speaker discusses the concept of 'voice' in video essays, explaining that each creator should have a distinct style and approach. They warn against copying other creators' voices and instead encourage finding one's own by experimenting with different styles. The speaker reflects on their own evolution as a video essayist, highlighting how they have developed a unique voice that sets them apart from others in the community.
🚀 Encouraging Experimentation and Growth in Video Essay Creation
The speaker concludes by emphasizing the importance of continuous creation and experimentation in finding one's voice and style. They suggest that creators should not be afraid to try different approaches and learn from the process. The speaker also touches on their personal Patreon support, explaining how it helps them continue creating content and offers additional benefits to supporters.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Video Essayist
💡Community
💡Echo Chamber
💡Impostor Syndrome
💡Fresh Points
💡Insightful Analysis
💡Voice
💡Synergize
💡Legwork
💡Niche
💡Algorithm
Highlights
The video essayist community is growing, yet there is a lack of guidance on how to become a successful video essayist.
The speaker expresses concern about the homogeneity of video essays and the need to stand out.
A critique of the cliché advice to 'stand out' and the need for more specific guidance.
The importance of finding one's unique voice in video essay creation.
The story of the speaker's second channel and its unexpected success.
The decision to abandon a successful channel due to a lack of genuine expertise.
The realization of the need for in-depth knowledge to provide insightful analysis in video essays.
The impact of fresh and insightful arguments in making a video essay stand out.
The process of discovering one's unique voice through experimentation and creation.
The importance of continuous learning and research in the field of interest for video essayists.
The speaker's personal journey in narrowing down to a focus area and becoming an expert.
The risk of copying the style of other creators and the need to develop a distinct voice.
The idea that a video essayist's voice should be a natural extension of their personality and interests.
The encouragement for aspiring video essayists to create and experiment to find their unique style.
The call to action for viewers to support the speaker's Patreon for more in-depth video essay advice.
Transcripts
so I get all questions from you guys on
how to become a video essayist and it's
great to see that tons of people want to
join this community which I absolutely
adore however a lot of you are having
some serious trouble with this and the
fact that there are almost zero videos
on this topic
well that doesn't exactly help so today
I want to make this old-fashioned
commentary to talk about what it takes
to be a video essayist and this video I
hope will be invaluable to anyone
looking to enter this space and equally
as interesting to anyone who simply
wants to know my controversial thoughts
on the video essay community this is an
experiment so if this video gets lots of
views and lots of likes I will seriously
consider making a sequel to this video
or even making this advice on being an
essayist a short three-part series but
anyway cutting to it I want to start
with the most important thing when it
comes to being an essayist because I
have a major gripe with a lot of people
in the video essay community that's
right cool up killer keemstar get your
pitchforks motion sharp because we about
to star some drummer up in here okay
I'm not actually some drama but I do
have a pretty major gripe with the video
essay community but why should I say it
when Patrick H Williams has already said
that for me and over the course of the
year I made more and more of these and
as I looked around YouTube I realized
how boring I find most video essays
including my own YouTube is saturated
with them now and it seems like every
twenty-something dude with a blu-ray
copy of The Dark Knight wants to get in
on the fun and there are plenty of
people doing great work but since so
many of us are using the same format
it's easy for them all to blur together
this is the number one problem si is
face and it is a critical point of the
most pivotal importance that if you do
not address it you will blur into the
murky background with so many other SES
out there and you will never be anyone's
favorite creator now at this point I'm
sure a lot of you think that what I'm
gonna say is the most important thing to
being an essayist is that you need to
stand out
but I'm not gonna say that because I've
seen hundreds of youtubers give out that
advice it's a cliche and frankly it
triggers me every time I hear it because
it isn't even a correct cliche saying
you should stand out is like someone
giving me the manuscript for their novel
me reading it and then me giving the
feedback hmm all right basically write
what you need to do is you need to make
your novel stand out more
yeah can you elaborate on that right
right
well basically you've got to make it so
your novel is different from others on
the market which will make it better
because it's different that is [ __ ]
advice I know one note Henry is a very
naughty boy he's just said a swear but
it genuinely is piss-poor advice because
while it is mostly correct
and I'm not saying Patrick was wrong in
that clip in fact I'm actually totally
agreeing with him in there but while it
is hinting at what the creator should be
doing saying you should stand out is so
vague so unnecessarily painfully vague
that it could do more harm than good as
it might convince the creator that he
has to reinvent the wheel in order to
stand out which of course he shouldn't
because here is the real number one tip
I can give you when it comes to not just
being an essayist but being a creator in
general find a way of creating videos
that only you can pull off or in
layman's terms find your voice now what
makes for a voice how do I go about
finding one are there specific things I
can do to find it all of those are good
questions to ask and all of which we'll
get to later but before I talk about
creative voice I want to tell you a
story one from my youtube career which
has really been a mystery for a lot of
you until this point because I've never
really talked about it and I feel it
perfectly summarizes an incredibly
important thing you need to know as an
essayist and well what is it I have a
second channel it's called [ __ ] and
it's essentially the closed
look but for video games where I look at
the craft of game making and with this
channel I had an absolutely insane
success I launched this channel with two
videos the first why fallout 4 failed is
currently sitting at 1 million views and
the second of the day dayz died is
currently at 1.3 million views bear in
mind that when I started this channel
the closer look was at around maybe
90,000 subscribers and of those 90,000 I
think about 1000 actually and subscribe
to this channel so these videos the Mads
success if you discount those thousand
or so people who subbed at the beginning
this success was almost completely
independent of the closer look which I'm
very chuffed with but for pretty much
most people out there who dream about
being a youtuber this is the good life
this is the goal they strive so hard to
achieve
but as you can see I haven't uploaded on
to this channel in over 10 months I have
effectively abandoned it and this is
something I get a lot of questions about
as to why why I basically threw away
this insane success because for many
people this is like getting a winning
lottery ticket then throwing it into a
fire and never cashing it in to be
honest there are a lot of reasons as to
why I mean I'm working on my novels and
this channel and running another YouTube
channel as well that's a lot of work for
just one guy but honestly the big one
the heaviest straw on the camel's back I
have no idea how video games work I made
my video the day Daisy died and it was a
runaway success at the time pretty much
if you were a person who watched gaming
content on YouTube this video was
probably in your suggested section and
it got a really good amount of positive
feedback but then I saw how sovietwomble
that's right that guy who makes all
those funny moments videos on like armor
and all that sovietwomble had me making
a very secret series of video essays on
why the same game dayz standalone really
failed
in one ball series which is private so I
won't share a link or show any footage
because he doesn't want the general
public to see it but in the videos he
goes in depth he talks about development
cycles work tickets and so many elements
of game design that I had never even
heard of before sovietwomble knows an
insane amount about game design because
I think he's studied it in college
and me watching his series it felt like
I'd stumbled into Narnia I was
discovering a thousand new things for
the first time about game design and I
felt profoundly embarrassed I felt the
most intense impostor syndrome that I
had ever felt in my life and the real
kicker it was warranted that is the
reason I abandoned my gaming si channel
because when I saw these videos I knew
for a fact I had to change the focus of
my youtube career because I knew I was a
hack and all the views all the ad
revenue and clouts none of that was
worth a [ __ ] thing when I knew for a
fact that I wasn't providing insight
I wasn't adding anything that the
conversation I was just a member of the
echo chamber that contributed towards
the blurry mass that Patric H Williams
just talked about but what's the point
I'm trying to make here ok so let's say
you want to make a video on Star Wars
the last Jedi you want to point out why
the film failed so what are you gonna do
say that Rey's character is a Mary Sue
say how Admiral Hall no ramming that
ship was bad because it broke the
established canon of things do you want
to bring up how they mistreated Luke's
character by making him a shadow of a
former self and turning him from an
optimist into a pessimist if that's what
you're going to say in your video then
in the words of wil Turner the reason
why that's not good enough is because
everyone has already pointed out these
things this is why a whole lot of essays
out there feel so say me and boring
because it's an echo chamber of the same
arguments the same points made over and
over again if you want to make the kinds
of essays
people adore the claim that people find
genuinely fascinating you need to make
fresh points and insightful arguments
and that is way easier said than done
but it's also 100 percent true I mean if
you want an example of that take care I
cover the last Jedi when I was watching
the film in the cinema I noticed an
exhausting amount of the device bathos
and for me that ruined the movie I
looked around and noticed how nobody had
even said the word bathos in any essays
or reviews on the film and I knew I had
a winning ticket because I had a
mainstream popular film and a fresh
angle to take on it that nobody had even
spoken on before and when I look back
now and see how that video got 1.2
million views I'm not surprised
in fact if that video got any less than
about 900,000 views that was what would
have surprised me because I knew that I
had a fresh angle on a popular topic
which meant that the video would have a
really high watch time and click rate
and all I had to do then was giving a
badass thumbnail in a title and I did
and the video exploded and I know this
sounds egotistical but I was not
surprised in the least when it did
because I knew that I was providing a
fresh insight into a very hot topic that
many people were interested in but
here's the big question to ask about all
of that how did I notice the fact that
this film had over used the device
bathos while seemingly nobody else did
truthfully because I had done an
exhaustive amount of research into
creative writing and what makes for good
storytelling
before I even saw the movie and this is
leading us to the core of it the most
harsh the most so crushing and frankly
the most important truth to essay making
the entire purpose of video essays is to
provide insightful analysis of a piece
of media how can you provide insightful
analysis when you have no insight those
were the very thoughts that made me quit
my second channel and frankly as far as
I'm concerned if you know nothing more
about a topic than the average Joe you
should not be making video essays on
that topic that is the core of it that
is the reason why most essays feel so
samey and boring because a lot of
essayists they don't do the legwork they
don't study the material their entire
research cycle is to watch other
essayist absorb their points and then
just use them in their own videos and
before you know it everyone's copying
ideas off of each other and before you
know it almost every last video is the
same however that doesn't mean you
should give up that doesn't mean you
should resign to making Minecraft Let's
Plays and comedy vlogs because if you
yourself want to make film essays your
first step is to realize the area that
you are the most knowledgeable in or at
least have the greatest interest in and
then make that area the focus of your
channel for an example let's say that
you want to analyze the craft of
cinematography but you have no
background in cinematography and you
don't understand how it works well
here's what you do you take an
educational course in filmmaking you
read books on the topic you make it your
mission to become a total and complete
expert in the field of cinematography
until you know a whole wealth of
knowledge that even people in the know
do not know and then you carry on
learning and then you bring that
knowledge front and center and use it in
your videos this is a quest that you
will never complete because it is
impossible to become a total expert in
anything but just because something is
impossible that doesn't mean it's not
worth trying to obtain I made the active
choice to narrow my sights I chose not
to focus on the field of game design
because I already had a ton of MyPlate
and frankly that topic didn't interest
me all that much so I picked the focus
of being a writer which was very good
for me because I was trying to be a
writer and by the way my debut novel is
coming out at some point next year so
keep your eyes peeled for them but my
site hustle of trying to write novels
and my main hustle of doing the closer
look and studying writing both of those
complemented each other as when I work
to my novel I learned things
used it in the close look and when I
worked in the closer look I gained new
insights and use that to work on my
novel and it was this kind of synergy
and it was great because I narrowed my
sights and I've been getting better
ever since creative writing I am trying
very hard to make that my speciality and
so you'll notice that in most of my
videos they're written from a writer's
perspective because that's the area I
have a ton of experience in I like to
think that in each of my video essays I
bring to light a little bit of knowledge
or insight that my viewers didn't know
before so they can then learn from it
and if you don't do that as an essayist
if you don't help people understand a
topic in a way they never knew before
you are not a good essayist that is
unfortunately the plain and simple truth
and when it comes to writing essays
there aren't that many essayists in the
community that take the focus of
creative writing on movies so I think
that does work for my benefit and for my
general appeal and this goes for you not
just the general viewer you if you are
currently an essayist or you one day
plan to be you need to be always
learning this is not advice this is not
a guideline this is a prerequisite
always be listening to podcasts always
be reading books and watching lectures
and broadening your knowledge around
your specific niche because I guarantee
you a huge chunk of that knowledge that
you soak up will work its way into your
videos and your essays will be all the
more insightful interesting and
educational for it but I promised at the
start this video that I was gonna talk
about finding your voice as an essayist
and I don't like to break my promises
so the truth is each and every good
essayist has their own voice this may
sound odd but it's completely true
different essays have different
perspectives they use to attack a
subject give ten different essayist the
exact same topic the same base idea for
a video and all ten of them if they have
a strong unique voice would tackle it in
an entirely different way nerd writer
for example has a way of delivering ask
where he will pause and say things
slowly to add emphasis on a word or set
of words he is an example but you can't
just mine the source material for parts
adaptations and remakes don't require
strict adherence or obedience or even
necessarily respect just an
understanding of what made the original
so powerful in the first place and do
you want to know what happens when you
copy the voice of another creator well
it looks like this if I had to pin down
the singular reason why the film Logan
surprised me so much it would have to be
it's impressively small-scale yeah I'm
pretty embarrassed when I look back am i
e all the stuff but when I was starting
out I saw the way nerd writer delivered
his voice over and I consciously decided
to imitate it when making my video Logan
the death of a genre and I look back on
it with shame and my advice to you for
the love of God don't do this do not
steal the voices of creators wholesale
although it is fine to just copy little
bits here and there and see if they work
out well for you I mean how else you
gonna improve your craft if you never
experiment but right now for me I think
I spent like seven years on youtuber I
think maybe like two two and a half of
those years being a video essayist and
in that time I like to think that I've
nailed down exactly what my voice is I
mean you look at my recent video essays
and you see that I'll pronounce
everything in my way and there aren't
really any other essayist that cover
topics in the same way I do
and that's basically that is your end
goal you want to be making essays in a
way that only you can make if you're
making essays and you copy my style or
anyone else's style I won't hold it
against you and neither will any of the
other SES because we're all very
supportive in this community I mean
after all you can't trademark a style
but if you want to become your own
standout creator you don't just want to
blend into the background with a dozen
others you want to be unique and easily
identifiable and the kind of
and that I personally would drop
everything when I see that you've
uploaded so because I want to watch your
video if you want to achieve that you
need to discover your voice do you want
to deliver your line slowly in a low and
calming voice something like how stories
like Oh does it do you want to have your
essay is filled with snarky wit where
you combine interesting analysis with
humor like Lindsey Ellis does do you
want to tackle it all from the
perspective of a writer when you don't
put that much effort into motion
graphics because when it comes to
editing you're extremely lazy like me
for example um do you want to be the
kind of essayist who makes exclusively
insert X film here is way worse than you
remember and here's why and you do
nothing but winch and complain about how
anyone who likes a thing is actually
wrong in their opinion and they need to
change it I mean I think there's already
more than enough creators out there who
take their angle on things I'd probably
argue that one is probably more than
enough but if that's truly is your voice
if being that cynical whinger is
genuinely true to who you are deep
inside then screw all the positive
analytical nerdwriter lessons from the
screenplay now you see it crap you make
those kinds of videos because that is
the voice that fits you the best
if there is something the average viewer
is a master er it's noticing when
someone is using a voice that doesn't
fit them as a person but the average
viewer will pretty much never
consciously realize hey I still now you
see its style it's pretty much never
that simple but what the viewers will
realize subconsciously is that your
voice lacks synergy a lot of newer
creators make the mistake of thinking
that finding your voice is like browsing
the shelves of a supermarket they'll say
oh I like this one or like that one and
they will copy elements wholesale those
creators are wrong finding a voice is
more like browsing the ones at
Ollivanders you try and you fail you try
you fail you try again you have a little
success but you still fail you keep
trying again and again and after years
of experimenting you finally reel
is the exact kind of music you won the
thumbnail style how you enunciate your
sentences and do your research and what
angle do you take on attacking a topic
and your personal content strategies for
how you plan to go in the algorithm
assemble the toolkit that is the style
that fits you the best and the only true
way to discover what you want to be in
your toolkit is to just create and the
more you create the more you experiment
the clearer of an idea you'll have as to
exactly the kind of person you are the
voice that fits you and the brand and
style you want to have in your videos
anyway I've rambled on for long enough
but if you found this video useful and
you want me to make a few more just like
this where I might look at a different
angle of creating video essays like
editing or research or any of that stuff
please do leave a like and tell me in
the comments that you want exactly that
and for those of you who aren't already
in the club please consider supporting
me on patreon I only charge every time I
upload so pretty much you'll only get
charged
what's every 500 years but honestly if
you could you'd be directly supporting
me so I can create more videos and even
if you can only spare the loose change
of $1.00 that's $1 more in my income at
the end of the month and when people do
that in a group that number adds up to
something considerable I am currently
recording this in my bedroom at my mum's
house so I kind of need the funds to
move out so please help me but basically
I really want to move out so like my mum
stops reminding me
ohh oh Henry this isn't a hotel you know
she'll remind me isn't Hotel despite the
fact that you know I I'm actually paying
rent and I'm doing all of the chores
around the house that she asks me to do
anyway getting off a track if you donate
you'll find a bunch of cool rewards
there you'll get access to my patron
exclusive discord server which I'm
always active on and we can discuss
games and movies and all the stuff you
want to do you can also get your name in
the description and at the higher tier I
have a quick consultation session where
you can send me your work whether it be
a novel or a screenplay or your YouTube
channel and I'll give it a quick
once-over identify what you're doing
right what you're doing wrong and help
you grow and improve
you'll craft so if any of that sounds
good to you please click my patreon link
in the description and just send the
loose change of a couple dollars my way
and trust me it really means the world
to me when you do that cliche is a salad
anyway thanks for watching I hope you
enjoyed the video and I'll see you guys
next time on a closer look
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