“The first thing you’ll need is an idea, youll probably already have this” Oh no, I clicked on this because I’m required to write one for class I’m not even prepared to watch this video..
eeek! ideas are tough. I find that actively hunting for an idea can be quite difficult- I have my best when totally relaxing and not thinking about work- but there are ways to do it. Try this method: start by thinking about relevance first- it's always a good reason to make an essay. What's coming out? Who made it? What was their past work like? What are its themes? Where are those explored in other films? Is there a notable thing about this film's style or plot that can be compared and contrasted with other works? And are there any older films having anniversaries, remakes or sequels? As an example I picked Mank (recent release, prominent director/actor, linked to film culture closely). Here's what I came up with asking those questions: - looking back at Zodiac - another Fincher film based on real life with extensive period reproduction - Hollywood on Hollywood: how US cinema reflects on itself, looking at Sunset Boulevard and other movies about making movies - Gary Oldman transforms: looking at how Oldman has adapted to different roles, probably Darkest Hour, Hannibal - more broadly- how black and white has returned to vogue and why. contrasting The Lighthouse (shot on film, square aspect) with Mank (digital production techniques, low contrast etc) So there you have it! Work on picking a film first and then brainstorm around that. Hope it helps. And don't do any of these videos or I'll tell on you
As someone who's been getting more into UA-cam as a Creator recently, and as someone who's on the journey to becoming a video essayist, thank you so much for this video. Can't wait for the next one!
No worries mate, very glad you enjoyed it and hope to see your video essays soon! The rest of this series is actually already out- you can see them in this playlist: ua-cam.com/play/PLcIJkuWi50vCWWO0P_HTSz4L_1_IUiVKO.html
I too am a fairly new content creator and I want to get into making video essays, so as someone going into the same field - how do you personally find your potential viewers in order to research what type of videos they want to see? This for me has been my biggest weakness in UA-cam so far - not just finding my niche, but finding a gap in the niche by answering the questions that the people interested in the subject want answered
It’s good to watch a wide range of content within your chosen medium- so everything from hbomberguy to vox to bekindrewind to broeydeschanel to tiffany ferg- and then you’ll see in the comments what viewers are gravitating towards that content (as well as learning about different ways of making it!) Another good thing to do is see what people are searching for. You can use Google’s keywords tool for this, or you can open a (preferably incognito) window and search on YT for related terms. I use this by typing the name of the media i’m interested in, and then cycling through A-Z and seeing what the search autocompletes to. One of the most clicked search terms for my channel is ‘explained’, so my Dark City video has a tag with ‘dark city explained’.
Thanks a lot! I'm a teacher, and I'm really interested on teaching my students about doing videoessays as a way to practice their English oral skills. This will become a major source for them ;) Thank you again!
Great video on how to make a video essay! I've weirdly been craving making videos in this format for a while now, I'm thinking about making a more video-game related video but I believe all this will apply beautifully. Thanks for giving me the oars to my rowboat.
I’ve always loved film, and writing film essays in high school film class, I’m currently majoring in English literature and film studies to improve my writing, I’ve always looked at doing video essays/film critiques in my spare time through UA-cam but everytime I start I never finish, there are a list of films I’d love to cover, write about how they impacted me growing up and how they connect on a human level to everybody, 2023 I’m really going to push myself into writing more about the things I love
Love the detail and explanation you put throughout the video. I really want to get more into writing scripts and recording voice lines for my video essays. My only issue is do you know a place where I can submit a rough script for some fair criticism and spell or grammar check. I would feel so stupid to mispronounce a few words.
Thanks so much, really glad you've enjoyed the video. I hope it enables you to get going on your video essay! RE: submitting a script for criticism- my commissioned work goes through approval with an editor and they will pull me up on research/grammar/style and so on. For my own work, I usually read and re-read a lot, trying to get the flow and sense right. Ultimately, practice makes perfect with that stuff; I think I'm writing better scripts than I did three years ago. But still, it's always worth sharing with a friend or someone knowledgeable. Certainly I do that with pronunciations, especially non-English names. I will always check both online and with a friend if I know a native speaker.
no worries, good luck with the project! just remember that a video essay sometimes ends up being a 10 page paper *as a script* and then a whole lot of work on top too😅
Thank you so much for this, it's so helpful it's not even funny. Have you ever considered making content for skillshare? There seems to be a huge lack of classes on crafting good video essays there (I couldn't find a single one when I checked) and your videos seem perfectly suited to fill that gap. Either way thanks again for the amazing content :)
Really glad you like the video and fingers crossed it helps you make your video essays! I haven't looked into doing Skillshare yet. I make corporate video for a living so might feel a bit too much like work 😅
This is a brilliant video and I thank you for making it. I have started making video essays on gaming but I feel I have been going about them all wrong. You have definitely cleared some things up for me and I will apply it to my future content.
thanks so much bud, really appreciate that. glad to know this stuff applies across to gaming as well as film/tv. I watch quite a lot of game analysis essays from Game Makers Toolkit if you're looking for an example of good scripting in video essays- his work is consistently excellent.
hey, thanks for flagging this - I added my own captions, but YT also auto-generates its own, so you might have accidentally had those on. I've deleted them and checked my subs, so hopefully it's all sorted.
my biggest struggle right now is I want to cover a series, specifically I want to do video essay reviews for every season of the digimon anime because it's my passion and I want to compare and contrast them and document my time watching each of them. My problem is I don't know how to go about summarizing a 50 episode seasons in a brief enough way that it doesn't take up the full video but not too brief as I do want to talk about specific details and scenes that I like. Essentially I'm really struggling with organizing my thoughts cause I have things to say I just don't know where to start
When it comes to summarising something very complex, it's best to ask yourself: what changes for the lead characters and their world? Answer that in one or two sentences, and you have a season summary. Then you can be more specific on particular episodes that need more explanation. I know that lots of anime essayists also use 'arcs' as an organisational device; maybe you could summarise arcs instead of specific episodes?
I find myself watching them constantly in my down time and just listening to such amazing men and women we got on this platform. I keep questioning myself… can I… but I should have been asking why not? 😅 thus I found myself here on a nice Tuesday evening while high asf.
I have a story n I want to make a video like I am reading a book but technologically I don’t know how to do it if you can advice as to what app or software I can use for it.
What are your thoughts on faceless video essay videos vs the person cutting in between the footage? Is one better than the other? Is one easier to produce? Thanks!
faceless is easier to produce just in the sense that you don't need as much gear (just mic, vs camera, mic, lights). on the other hand, you spend longer in the edit on 'faceless' stuff, as you have more screentime to fill (because you aren't showing someone on screen talking). In the end, if you already have the equipment, there's not much difference logistically between the two styles- it's more about how you want to communicate with your audience.
4:43 I'm desperate to know how you are putting that script in that sectioned format. I'm using Google Docs and can only do columns, but they're directly affected by each other. I want them to be independent. Should I be using a spreadsheet app, or were you using a specific writing program? Edit: Figured it out! Had to use "insert table" for anyone else who is as clueless as me.
Love this video, very insightful. Any tips on where to find these movies in .mp4 format? Is there a better way than just hopping on and off random russian websites to get them?
thanks so much, glad you appreciated it! I don't recommend downloading pirate movies at all, for a few reasons (it's illegal, they're often poor quality/don't necessary reflect filmmaker's preferred version, and they don't compensate the people who worked on the film). I create my own versions of the movies I cover, usually from blu-ray- you can find out more in the second video in this series, which is here: ua-cam.com/video/dxV3O-ZzMzk/v-deo.html
Thank you SO much for posting this! I found it extremely insightful and informative. I'm thinking of sending a pitch/proposal for an idea I have for a video essay (based on a Korean drama series). Do you have any tips on how I could structure the pitch/proposal if I was to base the idea on the thematic element of the series?
Thanks for the comment Anna- I was thinking about talking about pitching in this but honestly I'm not convinced I have a good enough strategy to recommend, I've only been doing commissioned work for just over a year! That said, here's my two cents. Pitching depends much more on who you're pitching the project to than on the project itself. If I'm pitching to an arthouse/indie platform like MUBI, my pitch is very different to a pitch for a commercial film mag or distributor. If you have a specific publication in mind to pitch to, try to identify what interest they'd have in it. Is there an upcoming re-release of the series? Is a lead star getting a bigger role in a new film/show? Is there a renewed interest in the property for any reason, or are its themes/content newly relevant? Once you have that in mind, a pitch is usually: "Hi, I'm pitching a video essay on x, in light of [x reason why it's relevant or interesting for their followers]. The video would focus on [x thematic/artistic/story element], looking at how [brief description of your video content]." Keep your pitch relatively short, make it interesting to the reader, give them a reason why it's worth commissioning for them, and give them a rough idea of what it would say! Send it off and don't worry if it's rejected- find another publisher and re-jig to fit their interests. Hope that helps and good luck with the video essay, it sounds very interesting!
Thank you so much for doing this video! Is super helpful! What I'm curious about is, if by using pieces of films for video essays, can they still be monetized or are there any risks of copyright problems?
Hey, glad you found the video helpful. Copyright is complicated and I am not a lawyer, so don't take this as definite advice. I monetize my video essays, and frequently deal with copyright claims. Most of these are made by automated systems, and usually appealing it results in an immediate removal of the claims. To make sure you're on solid ground here, it's important to be sure that you only use as much footage as you need, that each use of footage is justified (used to illustrate a critical point or commentary), and that your use is transformative (has been sufficiently altered by editing and critical context). This is the usual criteria for judgements based around 'fair use' or as we call it in the UK, fair dealing. It's a legal defense and not a get out of jail free card, so it's important to have a good understanding of it and your own justification for using the footage.
I do have an idea, but it doesn't seem to fit the approach/perspective ideas you gave, so I'd like to ask for a little advice. What would you suggest for something more along the lines of "Here's a thing; let me introduce you to the thing, what it's like, personal experience w/ it, etc. Now here's how the people behind it kinda shot it in the foot and then cancelled the franchising of thing bc it didn't sell enough for their taste, and calling it garbage."? Sorry if I got too specific there...
yeah I think that's fine! you can approach an essay in all sorts of ways. I would still encourage you to provide evidence for specific points you make. Like, if you say, 'I always felt the story had an emotional resonance', it's better to follow that up with 'because X performance is good and Y character writing is complex in this particular way [... explanation]'.
Hey man, I’m trying to write a video essay on why people should play the controversial EA Star Wars battlefront 2 game in 2021. I have an idea but writing what I want and putting it to paper / or apples pages, has always been difficult for me. I also have an old Mac with basic editing software, iMovie is what I’ll be editing on and I’ve still to figure out how to record my voice when I do come to record my thick Scottish accent. Could you help? Many thanks Maws!
the idea sounds good! I would start breaking down the argument. For something that's clearly persuasive like 'why you should play Star Wars Battlefront 2', a good structure is: a) intro - what the game is and the critical/fan reaction against it b) why people don't like it- the main criticisms c) why you think people should play it- this should be reasons why you disagree with those main criticisms, it can also contain your personal thoughts on the game d) conclusion- play the damn game (this bit can be brief). your hardware/software sounds fine, i'm assuming you have a capture card sorted? no problem with a thick scottish accent, plenty of big tv/film/youtube personalities with a strong accent. if your vocal delivery goes up and down a lot/has an uneven volume, compression filters on the audio can help (iirc iMovie has an 'eq' setting which should contain this) hope that helps and good luck making the video essay, lemme know if you have any further qs!
@@YerMawsDa check out the rest of this series for more on technical stuff. It’s been a long time since I used iMovie but I seem to remember you could record voiceover in it- otherwise Audacity is a good choice for a free audio recording app.
I'm gonna do a video essay on k-12 by melanie martinez I have watched that movie 5 times, it is perfect, and when I see other video essays on it, they dont mention things i would like to be addressed, so even though it cam out a year ago, it is a masterpiece that I will be talking about in like an hour video
nothing wrong with it inherently- it's not my style so i don't have much to say about it! whenever I make a video essay I try to think first about who the audience is- who's going to watch it, what would they otherwise watch, and how will i communicate the message/argument of my video to them. if humour helps in that, great! if it's a crutch to pad out a video, bad. and of course, not all subject matter lends itself to humour.
no i don't! i am working on some follow-up videos on this topic so will try to answer it there. the film grain background seen here is from FilmLooks, their 8mm collection, and the film burn is a free download from VisionColor that unfortunately i don't think they offer any more, but plenty more like it exist online if you hunt for it!
I'm in the process of writing a (free/noncommercial/etc) guide to preparing for your first video essay - so far I have 27 pages (before I even watched this video), but since i haven't made any essays myself, I feel like a bit of a fraud/hypocrite/impostor. Would you be interested in collaborating on this? I don't expect you to do any legwork, but I would appreciate some personal experiences, templates, workflows, time estimates, pitfalls to avoid, etc. Possibly, if I get good feedback on this being useful, I'd also like to do interviews with video essayist to make a video guide / documentary (meta!!!). Even if not, thanks for making these! I'll definitely link to them in my guide.
@@Indietrix The shortest explanation I can come up with now: 1. Because it's fun. And I love teaching / sharing things. 2a. For the community. I don't want to sound pretentious with "for greater good" etc, but I do love the communities around video essays, both patrons, and many of the creators. 2b. Video essays have changed my life for the better and gave me a new perspective on some things, and helped me voice things more eloquently. I like to "pay it forward". 3a. For myself, because (with ADHD esp.) it's easy to get lost in it all. Making a flexible, but codified guide helps me not forget about different facets (and I'm sure you know better than I that there are thousands of facets!) 3b. For myself, because I love learning and figuring how things work. Even if I'll never be , analysing their process helps me appreciate it, and will make me better in tangential tasks in life. 4. And again, not to be pretentious, but I do think video essays are a great new art form - not "great" in the popularity, I get that even having 10M views is a drop in the ocean of popularity of TV/film/AAA games/etc. But I do think we have something neat going on (whether we call it a video essay or not) and it would be good to capture that in time and space, and help guide (or dissuade, in some cases) newcomers into it. While I know video essays aren't radically new (compared to just more-researched old-timey internet videos; indie documentaries; experimental documentaries; text essays; academic or trade show presentations), I do feel like they're in a good spot where there should be a more widely shared information about what it's really like; and (meta/cringe) perhaps a documentary about video essays and interviews with people making them.
its very helpful sir, i like and appriciate your hard work you put into this video, i want to learn from you, can i get your email or any contact medium.
“The first thing you’ll need is an idea, youll probably already have this”
Oh no, I clicked on this because I’m required to write one for class
I’m not even prepared to watch this video..
eeek! ideas are tough. I find that actively hunting for an idea can be quite difficult- I have my best when totally relaxing and not thinking about work- but there are ways to do it.
Try this method: start by thinking about relevance first- it's always a good reason to make an essay. What's coming out? Who made it? What was their past work like? What are its themes? Where are those explored in other films? Is there a notable thing about this film's style or plot that can be compared and contrasted with other works? And are there any older films having anniversaries, remakes or sequels?
As an example I picked Mank (recent release, prominent director/actor, linked to film culture closely). Here's what I came up with asking those questions:
- looking back at Zodiac - another Fincher film based on real life with extensive period reproduction
- Hollywood on Hollywood: how US cinema reflects on itself, looking at Sunset Boulevard and other movies about making movies
- Gary Oldman transforms: looking at how Oldman has adapted to different roles, probably Darkest Hour, Hannibal
- more broadly- how black and white has returned to vogue and why. contrasting The Lighthouse (shot on film, square aspect) with Mank (digital production techniques, low contrast etc)
So there you have it! Work on picking a film first and then brainstorm around that. Hope it helps. And don't do any of these videos or I'll tell on you
Same😂
As someone who's been getting more into UA-cam as a Creator recently, and as someone who's on the journey to becoming a video essayist, thank you so much for this video. Can't wait for the next one!
No worries mate, very glad you enjoyed it and hope to see your video essays soon! The rest of this series is actually already out- you can see them in this playlist: ua-cam.com/play/PLcIJkuWi50vCWWO0P_HTSz4L_1_IUiVKO.html
I too am a fairly new content creator and I want to get into making video essays, so as someone going into the same field - how do you personally find your potential viewers in order to research what type of videos they want to see? This for me has been my biggest weakness in UA-cam so far - not just finding my niche, but finding a gap in the niche by answering the questions that the people interested in the subject want answered
It’s good to watch a wide range of content within your chosen medium- so everything from hbomberguy to vox to bekindrewind to broeydeschanel to tiffany ferg- and then you’ll see in the comments what viewers are gravitating towards that content (as well as learning about different ways of making it!)
Another good thing to do is see what people are searching for. You can use Google’s keywords tool for this, or you can open a (preferably incognito) window and search on YT for related terms. I use this by typing the name of the media i’m interested in, and then cycling through A-Z and seeing what the search autocompletes to. One of the most clicked search terms for my channel is ‘explained’, so my Dark City video has a tag with ‘dark city explained’.
Absolutely ABSOLUTELY love this. Couldn’t have come at a better time myself.
thanks mate, glad you enjoyed it!
Thanks a lot! I'm a teacher, and I'm really interested on teaching my students about doing videoessays as a way to practice their English oral skills. This will become a major source for them ;) Thank you again!
thanks, i'm glad to hear it- hope that your students enjoy making their video essays!
what an amazing teacher.
Great video on how to make a video essay! I've weirdly been craving making videos in this format for a while now, I'm thinking about making a more video-game related video but I believe all this will apply beautifully. Thanks for giving me the oars to my rowboat.
wishing you lots of luck in your boat-trip-into-video-games-essays (i've lost the metaphor here i think)
I’ve always loved film, and writing film essays in high school film class, I’m currently majoring in English literature and film studies to improve my writing, I’ve always looked at doing video essays/film critiques in my spare time through UA-cam but everytime I start I never finish, there are a list of films I’d love to cover, write about how they impacted me growing up and how they connect on a human level to everybody, 2023 I’m really going to push myself into writing more about the things I love
Fantastic potential you have. Share your works. And get better. bit by bit. : )
Love the detail and explanation you put throughout the video. I really want to get more into writing scripts and recording voice lines for my video essays.
My only issue is do you know a place where I can submit a rough script for some fair criticism and spell or grammar check. I would feel so stupid to mispronounce a few words.
Thanks so much, really glad you've enjoyed the video. I hope it enables you to get going on your video essay!
RE: submitting a script for criticism- my commissioned work goes through approval with an editor and they will pull me up on research/grammar/style and so on. For my own work, I usually read and re-read a lot, trying to get the flow and sense right. Ultimately, practice makes perfect with that stuff; I think I'm writing better scripts than I did three years ago. But still, it's always worth sharing with a friend or someone knowledgeable. Certainly I do that with pronunciations, especially non-English names. I will always check both online and with a friend if I know a native speaker.
@@Indietrix Alright. Thank You, I appreciate the advice.
The script writing idea sounds actually really interesting and I think I'm going to incorporate that into my essay.
Awesome, hope it goes well!
Thank you!! I love watching video essays, and this will help me quite a bit on sharing my opinions and creating my own!
Thanks for the tips! My first video is going live at the end of the week, and I'll make sure to keep this advice in mind for my next essay.
just made my first video, tried to use this. Didn't turn out like i expected but i still posted it
I can't believe how helpful this was
This is a really helpful and clearly explained video! Thank you so much! 🌟
thank you bud, greatly appreciated :)
currently in a film class and wanted to do a video essay instead of a 10 pg paper
this helps me understand how to go about it! thank you!
no worries, good luck with the project! just remember that a video essay sometimes ends up being a 10 page paper *as a script* and then a whole lot of work on top too😅
I loved this video! I'm excited to try out making video essays. Thanks :)
no worries mate, good luck making your video essays!
Thank you so much for this, it's so helpful it's not even funny. Have you ever considered making content for skillshare? There seems to be a huge lack of classes on crafting good video essays there (I couldn't find a single one when I checked) and your videos seem perfectly suited to fill that gap. Either way thanks again for the amazing content :)
Really glad you like the video and fingers crossed it helps you make your video essays!
I haven't looked into doing Skillshare yet. I make corporate video for a living so might feel a bit too much like work 😅
This is a brilliant video and I thank you for making it. I have started making video essays on gaming but I feel I have been going about them all wrong. You have definitely cleared some things up for me and I will apply it to my future content.
thanks so much bud, really appreciate that. glad to know this stuff applies across to gaming as well as film/tv. I watch quite a lot of game analysis essays from Game Makers Toolkit if you're looking for an example of good scripting in video essays- his work is consistently excellent.
@@Indietrix Mark is pretty much my main inspiration! Fantastic work
ah great, you're well ahead then :)
The subtitles are different from the spoken lines like... every other second, idk if the subtitles are automated but it's quite disturbing
hey, thanks for flagging this - I added my own captions, but YT also auto-generates its own, so you might have accidentally had those on. I've deleted them and checked my subs, so hopefully it's all sorted.
This is really helpful! I'll make my own video essays about films!
This is a perfect video. Thank you.
no worries, glad you enjoyed and do share it out if so inclined!
my biggest struggle right now is I want to cover a series, specifically I want to do video essay reviews for every season of the digimon anime because it's my passion and I want to compare and contrast them and document my time watching each of them. My problem is I don't know how to go about summarizing a 50 episode seasons in a brief enough way that it doesn't take up the full video but not too brief as I do want to talk about specific details and scenes that I like. Essentially I'm really struggling with organizing my thoughts cause I have things to say I just don't know where to start
When it comes to summarising something very complex, it's best to ask yourself: what changes for the lead characters and their world? Answer that in one or two sentences, and you have a season summary. Then you can be more specific on particular episodes that need more explanation. I know that lots of anime essayists also use 'arcs' as an organisational device; maybe you could summarise arcs instead of specific episodes?
I have to make one for school, this is really helpful
Best of luck!
I find myself watching them constantly in my down time and just listening to such amazing men and women we got on this platform. I keep questioning myself… can I… but I should have been asking why not? 😅 thus I found myself here on a nice Tuesday evening while high asf.
haha, glad this spoke to you!
Thanks for the videos man it's been a great help
i freaked out every time lost in translation was mentioned because thats the movie that is making me want to write an essay
Ah fab! I was doing a video on Coppola at the time (you can see it on Little White Lies’ channel). Broey Deschanel also did a great vid on Coppola.
Thank you so much for this video!! I'm planning to start my own UA-cam channels soon to upload video essays about faith, music and lifestyle 😁👍🏿
Good luck, hope it goes well!
@@Indietrix thank you very much !!!🙏🏿
I have a story n I want to make a video like I am reading a book but technologically I don’t know how to do it if you can advice as to what app or software I can use for it.
I did another video on editing video essays with some advice! The free option for editing software is DaVinci, the best paid option is Premiere.
What are your thoughts on faceless video essay videos vs the person cutting in between the footage? Is one better than the other? Is one easier to produce? Thanks!
faceless is easier to produce just in the sense that you don't need as much gear (just mic, vs camera, mic, lights). on the other hand, you spend longer in the edit on 'faceless' stuff, as you have more screentime to fill (because you aren't showing someone on screen talking). In the end, if you already have the equipment, there's not much difference logistically between the two styles- it's more about how you want to communicate with your audience.
@@Indietrix - Awesome. Thank you!
3:12 scripting your video essay
1. This is a video essay, when possible, make your points with visuals and sound
2.
4:43 I'm desperate to know how you are putting that script in that sectioned format. I'm using Google Docs and can only do columns, but they're directly affected by each other. I want them to be independent. Should I be using a spreadsheet app, or were you using a specific writing program?
Edit: Figured it out! Had to use "insert table" for anyone else who is as clueless as me.
I used Pages for this! Thanks for the heads up though, I’ve just transitioned to Google Docs and need to write an AV script this week 😅
thank you for your help and time!
So for me, I already have an essay written up, and just need to make it into a video essay, thank you for this video it was very helpful
that's great! i made two other videos exploring capturing footage, voiceover, and editing, so do check those out if you're looking for more guidance.
You deserve more subscribers!
thanks! Tell your mates about indietrix 😎
Love this video, very insightful.
Any tips on where to find these movies in .mp4 format? Is there a better way than just hopping on and off random russian websites to get them?
thanks so much, glad you appreciated it!
I don't recommend downloading pirate movies at all, for a few reasons (it's illegal, they're often poor quality/don't necessary reflect filmmaker's preferred version, and they don't compensate the people who worked on the film). I create my own versions of the movies I cover, usually from blu-ray- you can find out more in the second video in this series, which is here: ua-cam.com/video/dxV3O-ZzMzk/v-deo.html
@Indietrix Film Reviews Just watched it, SUPER HELPFUL! Thanks so much man, you're a lifesaver! 😀
@@FilGelabert no worries mate! consider sharing with your friends or online :)
Thank you SO much for posting this! I found it extremely insightful and informative. I'm thinking of sending a pitch/proposal for an idea I have for a video essay (based on a Korean drama series). Do you have any tips on how I could structure the pitch/proposal if I was to base the idea on the thematic element of the series?
Thanks for the comment Anna- I was thinking about talking about pitching in this but honestly I'm not convinced I have a good enough strategy to recommend, I've only been doing commissioned work for just over a year! That said, here's my two cents.
Pitching depends much more on who you're pitching the project to than on the project itself. If I'm pitching to an arthouse/indie platform like MUBI, my pitch is very different to a pitch for a commercial film mag or distributor. If you have a specific publication in mind to pitch to, try to identify what interest they'd have in it. Is there an upcoming re-release of the series? Is a lead star getting a bigger role in a new film/show? Is there a renewed interest in the property for any reason, or are its themes/content newly relevant?
Once you have that in mind, a pitch is usually: "Hi, I'm pitching a video essay on x, in light of [x reason why it's relevant or interesting for their followers]. The video would focus on [x thematic/artistic/story element], looking at how [brief description of your video content]."
Keep your pitch relatively short, make it interesting to the reader, give them a reason why it's worth commissioning for them, and give them a rough idea of what it would say! Send it off and don't worry if it's rejected- find another publisher and re-jig to fit their interests.
Hope that helps and good luck with the video essay, it sounds very interesting!
@@Indietrix you're advice is much appreciated thanks again!
thanks very much for the ko-fi Anna!
Thank you so much for doing this video! Is super helpful! What I'm curious about is, if by using pieces of films for video essays, can they still be monetized or are there any risks of copyright problems?
Hey, glad you found the video helpful. Copyright is complicated and I am not a lawyer, so don't take this as definite advice. I monetize my video essays, and frequently deal with copyright claims. Most of these are made by automated systems, and usually appealing it results in an immediate removal of the claims. To make sure you're on solid ground here, it's important to be sure that you only use as much footage as you need, that each use of footage is justified (used to illustrate a critical point or commentary), and that your use is transformative (has been sufficiently altered by editing and critical context). This is the usual criteria for judgements based around 'fair use' or as we call it in the UK, fair dealing. It's a legal defense and not a get out of jail free card, so it's important to have a good understanding of it and your own justification for using the footage.
I do have an idea, but it doesn't seem to fit the approach/perspective ideas you gave, so I'd like to ask for a little advice. What would you suggest for something more along the lines of "Here's a thing; let me introduce you to the thing, what it's like, personal experience w/ it, etc. Now here's how the people behind it kinda shot it in the foot and then cancelled the franchising of thing bc it didn't sell enough for their taste, and calling it garbage."? Sorry if I got too specific there...
yeah I think that's fine! you can approach an essay in all sorts of ways. I would still encourage you to provide evidence for specific points you make. Like, if you say, 'I always felt the story had an emotional resonance', it's better to follow that up with 'because X performance is good and Y character writing is complex in this particular way [... explanation]'.
Great video man
no worries, glad you enjoyed!
could you share one of you're scripts?
Great video! Thank you very much
no worries, glad you enjoyed and good luck making your video essays!
thank you very much!, very usefull!
no problem, glad you enjoyed it & good luck making your video essay!
Hey man, I’m trying to write a video essay on why people should play the controversial EA Star Wars battlefront 2 game in 2021. I have an idea but writing what I want and putting it to paper / or apples pages, has always been difficult for me. I also have an old Mac with basic editing software, iMovie is what I’ll be editing on and I’ve still to figure out how to record my voice when I do come to record my thick Scottish accent. Could you help? Many thanks
Maws!
the idea sounds good! I would start breaking down the argument. For something that's clearly persuasive like 'why you should play Star Wars Battlefront 2', a good structure is:
a) intro - what the game is and the critical/fan reaction against it
b) why people don't like it- the main criticisms
c) why you think people should play it- this should be reasons why you disagree with those main criticisms, it can also contain your personal thoughts on the game
d) conclusion- play the damn game (this bit can be brief).
your hardware/software sounds fine, i'm assuming you have a capture card sorted? no problem with a thick scottish accent, plenty of big tv/film/youtube personalities with a strong accent. if your vocal delivery goes up and down a lot/has an uneven volume, compression filters on the audio can help (iirc iMovie has an 'eq' setting which should contain this)
hope that helps and good luck making the video essay, lemme know if you have any further qs!
@@Indietrix so how do I record my audio? 3rd party programme or something else? Should I say the whole essay in one go of split it in segments?
@@YerMawsDa check out the rest of this series for more on technical stuff. It’s been a long time since I used iMovie but I seem to remember you could record voiceover in it- otherwise Audacity is a good choice for a free audio recording app.
I'm gonna do a video essay on k-12 by melanie martinez
I have watched that movie 5 times, it is perfect, and when I see other video essays on it, they dont mention things i would like to be addressed, so even though it cam out a year ago, it is a masterpiece that I will be talking about in like an hour video
great that you have such a specific idea- best of luck making it!
@@Indietrix thank you!
How to get that blue background
it's part of a pack of Super 8 footage I bought- from filmlooks if i remember correctly.
Thanks for the tips man, what do you think of implementing memes in a video essay and making it comedic like in my most recent Vid?
nothing wrong with it inherently- it's not my style so i don't have much to say about it! whenever I make a video essay I try to think first about who the audience is- who's going to watch it, what would they otherwise watch, and how will i communicate the message/argument of my video to them. if humour helps in that, great! if it's a crutch to pad out a video, bad. and of course, not all subject matter lends itself to humour.
do you have a video that shows how you edit your videos? Your transitions and effects are so crisp and clean!
no i don't! i am working on some follow-up videos on this topic so will try to answer it there. the film grain background seen here is from FilmLooks, their 8mm collection, and the film burn is a free download from VisionColor that unfortunately i don't think they offer any more, but plenty more like it exist online if you hunt for it!
So helpful!
thanks!
Hello can you help me make a visual essay like right now?
only via these tutorial videos!
fantastic useful information
glad it was helpful!
Fantastic video! Thank you :)
no worries, glad you liked it and good luck making your video essays!
Thank you so much!
You're welcome!
Thank you for this.
no worries mate, hope you enjoyed and good luck making your video essay!
Thank you!
you're welcome, have fun making your video essays!
I started hearing the music at the beginning and was like, “Is that Mark Brown from Game Maker’s Toolkit’s lessons in designing for disability?”
yyyeaaah I think Mark's got great music taste and the whole set of 'Music For Podcasts' albums are fab, highly recommend!
I'm in the process of writing a (free/noncommercial/etc) guide to preparing for your first video essay - so far I have 27 pages (before I even watched this video), but since i haven't made any essays myself, I feel like a bit of a fraud/hypocrite/impostor.
Would you be interested in collaborating on this? I don't expect you to do any legwork, but I would appreciate some personal experiences, templates, workflows, time estimates, pitfalls to avoid, etc. Possibly, if I get good feedback on this being useful, I'd also like to do interviews with video essayist to make a video guide / documentary (meta!!!).
Even if not, thanks for making these! I'll definitely link to them in my guide.
i guess my main question is: why are you writing the guide in the first place?
@@Indietrix The shortest explanation I can come up with now:
1. Because it's fun. And I love teaching / sharing things.
2a. For the community. I don't want to sound pretentious with "for greater good" etc, but I do love the communities around video essays, both patrons, and many of the creators.
2b. Video essays have changed my life for the better and gave me a new perspective on some things, and helped me voice things more eloquently. I like to "pay it forward".
3a. For myself, because (with ADHD esp.) it's easy to get lost in it all. Making a flexible, but codified guide helps me not forget about different facets (and I'm sure you know better than I that there are thousands of facets!)
3b. For myself, because I love learning and figuring how things work. Even if I'll never be , analysing their process helps me appreciate it, and will make me better in tangential tasks in life.
4. And again, not to be pretentious, but I do think video essays are a great new art form - not "great" in the popularity, I get that even having 10M views is a drop in the ocean of popularity of TV/film/AAA games/etc. But I do think we have something neat going on (whether we call it a video essay or not) and it would be good to capture that in time and space, and help guide (or dissuade, in some cases) newcomers into it.
While I know video essays aren't radically new (compared to just more-researched old-timey internet videos; indie documentaries; experimental documentaries; text essays; academic or trade show presentations), I do feel like they're in a good spot where there should be a more widely shared information about what it's really like; and (meta/cringe) perhaps a documentary about video essays and interviews with people making them.
@@Indietrix just do the work
Happy christmas lol
Video essay > ua-cam.com/video/-LFd2u74B_4/v-deo.html
Shhhh... Stop fostering competition!
😬 it's for the best, MAYBE. better video essays. and i'm sure i'll continue to be employed... 😬
@@Indietrix Beware! We all know what happened to Stephen King when he published On Writing.
i want a video essay about making video essays about video essays essaying essays
recursive video essay... i like it!
@@Indietrix fantastic Mate! 🤘😝🤘
its very helpful sir, i like and appriciate your hard work you put into this video, i want to learn from you, can i get your email or any contact medium.
hey- i have a business email listed in the channel about section. and you can tweet me at @willwebbful !
🤔🤔
🕵🏻♂️
anyone here from Mr. Leung's class?
just me? ok
🤚