Video essays have always interested me as they have always been able to showcase a persons passion or interested in a topic that a paper or written work cant do full justice. Especially if the video essay creator uses themselves as the person to explain the topic and all of their thoughts in a creative way. Specifically, the video essay and more so creator of it I would like to showcase is Scott The Woz on YouTube and his “Not for Resale” video essay:
Scott’s video essay doesn’t take the exact formal approach most do, he understands that comedy through quick whiplash bits and segments keeps people engaged while able to inform the audience of more information that can be used for another bit/segment. This language is perfect for nerd type audiences and those who are curious about video game topics to both be informed and entertained. He is able to keep a semi professional tone about the topic while being free to put emphasis and swearing about segments he has stronger beliefs about which may resonate with the audience too.
The usage of imagery is really well done as he uses video gameplay for the segments he is informing people about and uses imagery on top of that to visually point out key components. Meanwhile, he reserves showing his face specifically for bits and comedy so that it is clear to the audience what they may expect. This reminded me of the F is for Fake video talking about “meanwhile back on the ranch” as when he is done talking about the logistics of a topic, he rounds it off with comedy as a segway into the next section.
His consistency of theming all ties into one another really well to even be using video game music in the background for the majority of the video, even cutting the music out during a punchline to extenuate the impact of the joke. The visuals and the audio tie into each other so well because Scott understands that with his style of comedy that timing is key. Every pause, whiplash, cutaway, and visual on screen helps to keep the audience either informed or comedically entertained. Thus he stays true to the points from How YouTube Changed The Essay by Evan Puschak by being a “Short Interesting Truth.”
So how would I go about writing my own video essay? Well the two key points I took away from the videos that I want to keep in min while writing is the goal in mind and its execution. The goal should be to keep whatever topic I think of to be short, interesting and truthful at heart. Even if the essay takes a bit more of a stance or opinion, it still needs to be factual information, brief yet informative, and have a gimmick or way of keeping audiences interesting. Which I believe can be obtained as long as I stay true to the execution of being causal using “therefore,” “but,” and “meanwhile” to connect all of the topic and points together in a linear fashion. As for how I actually write down the pacing and structure, I should look into a two column structure or at very least be descriptive in what visuals and audio are happening when as voice over and visual cues will be necessary.
-Rylan Eisenhauer