Bay 12 Games Forum

Finally... => General Discussion => Topic started by: Gatleos on August 26, 2017, 03:14:17 pm

Title: Youtube Video Essays
Post by: Gatleos on August 26, 2017, 03:14:17 pm
Anyone else on Bay12 addicted to Youtube video essays? It's kind of an interesting format, one that couldn't have existed in the abundance it does now without platforms like Youtube.

A few of my favorite video essay creators:

What are some of your favorites?
Title: Re: Youtube Video Essays
Post by: nenjin on August 26, 2017, 03:41:03 pm
I've watched some of Every Frame A Painting and Bunnyhop before. I particularly like EFAP, because I don't know much of the technical details about films and they do good breakdowns about scene construction, framing, all that jazz.
Title: Re: Youtube Video Essays
Post by: RoseHeart on August 27, 2017, 07:28:03 pm
ptw
Title: Re: Youtube Video Essays
Post by: Harry Baldman on August 28, 2017, 09:19:06 am
There's Noah Caldwell-Gervais who does a fairly large amount of video essays of variable length (ranging from around 10 minutes to 2 whole hours or more) for various video games, here's a shorter one about Jalopy you can sample (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pcDAjTBfcA) to get a feel for the style.

Lindsay Ellis does some great ones about film these days, including a series about analyzing Michael Bay's Transformers through a variety of critical lenses (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRXI__Wixas) and another interesting one about Mel Brooks satirizing Nazis and the questions thereof (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62cPPSyoQkE).

And also Hbomberguy does some great video essay work now and then about a variety of topics, such as this very good analysis of the LISA series (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-5_zoEsY6c) (he also quasi-famously did a 2 hour one about how BBC's Sherlock was awful (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkoGBOs5ecM) and a couple of others).
Title: Re: Youtube Video Essays
Post by: RoseHeart on September 14, 2017, 04:42:25 pm
Adorkable Misogyny (https://youtu.be/X3-hOigoxHs) and Sexy Born Yestarday (https://youtu.be/0thpEyEwi80) are both well made, yet any description I think of feels I am getting in the way of them. I will say the first heavily features Big Bang Theory and the second Tron Legacy and 5th Element. They feel like a TV Tropes page with a voice, and draws out the conclusions a fair analysis would.

The Unfulfilled Potential of Videogames (https://youtu.be/9Sq-EjKYp_Q) fulfills it's clickbait title and delivers a thorough look on what I myself feel when browsing E3 and reveals in the gaming industry.
Title: Re: Youtube Video Essays
Post by: MetalSlimeHunt on September 14, 2017, 04:55:38 pm
Historia Civilis (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCv_vLHiWVBh_FR9vbeuiY-A) covers parts of mostly Roman but occasionally Greek and more modern history in a way I've never really seen before. It's got a coverage of ancient politics and society that's highly detailed. For example, did you know that Julius Caesar rose through his career as a populist reformer sourced in his term as an Aedile, which did a lot of things but most notably held festivals for the urban poor? Or that in Caesar's term as consul, he politically outmaneuvered his counterpart Bibulus to the extent that people started calling their year the consulship of "Julius and Caesar" instead? Or that Sparta's downfall as a civilization was probably caused by setting up a political system so absurdly biased towards conservative old men that they accidentally withered themselves out of existence, the whole time paranoid of a slave revolt that never ended up happening?

There's also battle analysis videos, which I find less interesting but that any milsimers amongst you would probably enjoy.
Title: Re: Youtube Video Essays
Post by: RoseHeart on September 17, 2017, 05:37:25 pm
Just discovered the gem of a channel Ahoy (https://www.youtube.com/user/XboxAhoy). Documentaries about "video games and their impact on culture: history, influence and artefacts of design." according to their Patreon. Incredible stunning level of quality in visuals, sound, and presentation.
Title: Re: Youtube Video Essays
Post by: My Name is Immaterial on September 17, 2017, 06:48:58 pm
Quote from: roseheart on September 17, 2017, 05:37:25 pm
Just discovered the gem of a channel Ahoy (https://www.youtube.com/user/XboxAhoy). Documentaries about "video games and their impact on culture: history, influence and artefacts of design." according to their Patreon. Incredible stunning level of quality in visuals, sound, and presentation.
I have to also recommend Ahoy. They're fantastic. They did a fantastic bit of investigative 'journalism' on the origins of Polybius, and Ahoy probably found the guy.
Title: Re: Youtube Video Essays
Post by: heydude6 on September 18, 2017, 09:52:48 am
Ahoy also has his "iconic arms" series which goes heavily into detail about some famous guns in media and games, explaining their history and mechanics.
Title: Re: Youtube Video Essays
Post by: RoseHeart on October 08, 2017, 12:16:13 am
Mark Brown
There is so much here. Here (https://youtu.be/gwV_mA2cv_0) is a ve about detective mechanics in games. Here (https://youtu.be/ouO1R6vFDBo?list=PLc38fcMFcV_ul4D6OChdWhsNsYY3NA5B2) is a breakdown of all the goodness of Zelda boss dungeons. There is a lot more on his channel.
Title: Re: Youtube Video Essays
Post by: Gatleos on November 08, 2017, 07:46:57 pm
Have some (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bL6hp8BKB24) videos (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF4PGCvgVlg) on film special effects. I've been exploring a lot of channels that make video essays on filmmaking and film analysis, and these are a couple of my favorites, from the same channel.

What are some of you guys' favorite film-related channels?
Title: Re: Youtube Video Essays
Post by: Folly on November 09, 2017, 12:00:30 am
What's the opposite of addicted? I can't stand youtube essays. I feel like any information that could be relayed in a lengthy video could be conveyed much more succinctly with text and a few photos.
Title: Re: Youtube Video Essays
Post by: heydude6 on November 09, 2017, 11:38:34 am
Sometimes you need to prove a point with a video. If you want to explain why a certain cutscene (or movie scene) is great for example, your message will be conveyed much for effectively if you actually show the scene rather than describing it and posting screenshots. It also allows the viewer to decide for themselves if they actually agree with you.

Nother example. Say your topic is a certain video game (say Cuphead for example), and you're trying to argue that the game is super hardcore. As an example of this difficulty, you decide to show off the tutorial and you post this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=848Y1Uu5Htk) clip. Though you did end up struggling a lot there, it's very clear that it is your fault and not the game's. This technically undermines your point, but that isn't always a bad thing. Bad points should be undermined! How many times have you read a pretentious essay explaining to you why a certain book is a masterpiece only for you to finally read it and realize it's crap. The themes the author was talking about were barely there and the dialogue, plot, prose, and characters were dull. Video evidence is stronger than a photo, which itself is stronger than a quote.

I will say though that many of the things people perform video essays on could be performed written instead. The only real reason why I watch them honestly is because they cover topics that more professional academics consider themselves "too good for". If you want an in-depth critique of video games, you have to watch Joseph Anderson (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyhnYIvIKK_--PiJXCMKxQQ). You can't just google "in-depth critique of x" because you'll either get crap or nothing at all most of the time. I'm not saying that good written video game critiques aren't out there (here's one of Nier:Automata (https://planckstorytime.wordpress.com/2017/04/25/nier-automata-analysis/), though you have to have played/watched the game to actually appreciate it), but they are hard to find.

If you want to see a video essay that takes advantage of the fact that it's a video essay. I would recommend Why is it So Hard to Remember What Happens in Transformers? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aE-6M7IbNSI) by Lindsay Ellis. She talks about the delicate balancing act of making a frame interesting enough to keep you entertained, but not making it too exciting to prevent your brain from being overloaded. As you can guess, Michael Bay fails at this. If you already know her and aren't a fan of her political views don't worry, they're barely present in this one. It gets going at around the 3 minute mark in case you get bored and are tempted to quit before watching the entire video. Tell me what you think.
Title: Re: Youtube Video Essays
Post by: Urist McScoopbeard on November 09, 2017, 02:17:11 pm
Damn, just started watching every frame a painting... that shit is EXCELLENT.
Title: Re: Youtube Video Essays
Post by: StrawBarrel on August 24, 2022, 12:47:39 pm
The Ethics of Looking And The “Harmless” Peeping Tom
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeSiwHnV5L0

I didn't know so many movies had this problem. I guess that's a benefit of living under a rock. This Pop Culture Detective video had many interesting critiques.
Title: Re: Youtube Video Essays
Post by: nenjin on August 24, 2022, 01:04:21 pm
Jacob Geller (https://www.youtube.com/c/JacobGeller), if you want soulful video essays on a variety of topics from games to movies to.....stuff. The dude has a style that is pretty compelling to me (YMMV.) He tends to delve into some darker topics, almost always with a philosophical bent. Particularly as they relate to darker movies and video games. Never watched a video of his I didn't sit all the way through.

And if you're left leaning and feel like both being entertained and horrified.....Some More News with Cody Johnson. (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvlj0IzjSnNoduQF0l3VGng) They're LONG videos, really well researched and slightly unhinged in their delivery. Which can be both entertaining and tough to watch depending on how what they talk about affects you. The mania of the delivery is part of the bit, although in recent times it feels less like a bit and more like the natural outcome of having to understand how truly fucked up things are getting.
Title: Re: Youtube Video Essays
Post by: voliol on August 24, 2022, 01:50:03 pm
If any of you are fans of weird anime (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trwdaJA-6z8), not as weird anime (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNidRSwwKSg), or Sonic I guess (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GmRdvhif2Q), Hazel's channel (https://www.youtube.com/c/hazelll/videos) is a treasure trove.
Her videos go a bit out there at times, but purely from the nature of the topics at hand, the strange world that we live in and the equally strange media it produces. The videos are varied in length, but even the long-form ones manage to keep high quality thorough, without dragging on thematically. It's great stuff.
Title: Re: Youtube Video Essays
Post by: StrawBarrel on August 24, 2022, 04:11:17 pm
Hazel's videos are good, but I haven't watched any of Hazel's new videos. I think I was honestly intimidated by how some of them are more than 1 hour long. When I was looking over her channel most of the videos didn't seem familiar to me.

But while rewatching Hazel's A Normal Manga About A Boy And His Mom (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4XcGHX3EHY) I figured out why I remember liking the channel but none of the content is familiar to me:
Spoiler: image (click to show/hide)
The Grell video isn't up on the channel anymore. So I assume of a couple videos I watched a long time ago are gone now.
After rewatching the ookumo-chan flashback video, I think I'll give hazel's content another; I could just put long length videos in the background while I'm at work or just watch them in piecemeal over a few days.

Disabilities in Prehistory
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7J_oybRfuc

This youtube video is very informative. The video shines an uplifting light on prehistoric humans.