Are Video Editors Doomed? The Sam Sulek Problem.
Is this the end of video editors?
I sure hope not.
I was introduced to Sam Sulek from a Jamie Rawsthorne tweet and it has indeed, opened Pandora’s box.
I’m now 5 Sam Sulek videos in and I can see why I should be scared as a video editor.
Let’s talk about it.
I’m 100% clear that I think authenticity should be the long-term goal of any content creator.
Leveraging yourself and your experiences and perspectives put you in a n of 1 not of 1000’s.
The main question here is low production/ high authenticity going to be the new meta for YouTube and beyond?
It depends.
As a video editor who gets paid to create high retention videos, I should be massively against low production.
I should be gunning for things staying as they are, after all, it means more potential work for me, no?
This comment describes it best:
But I couldn’t be more excited for it to come.
YouTube content since the introduction of TikTok has created a race to the bottom.
The bottom being ‘how brain-numbingly retentive can we make our videos?’
How can we squeeze every single drop out of our content and make the juice as addictive as possible?
It gets exhausting, both in consuming and in creating videos.
Does this mean every piece of content will go full ‘Sam Sulek’?
No, there will be more of it, but not tonnes.
Mark Manson summed it up very well under Jamie’s original tweet
I’m paraphrasing here:
‘as long as the subject is highly admirable and represents audience aspirations, then high authenticity low production will suit them’
‘if the main draw is I want to be like X, showing unedited, raw content is better. If ideas or jokes are the main draw, probably not’.
You have to position yourself into a specific set of boxes for this content to work.
Makes sense.
You wouldn’t want EVERY creator producing 60 minute long videos all the time.
It would get exhausting to watch and not every one would watch.
Sam might have just struck gold with being a mix of a down-to-earth awesome guy who happens to be a point of admiration to many people.
I hope this happens much more often and is sustained.
In terms of potential work for me in the future,
- I’m not worried I’m going to have 0 work.
- I welcome in video like this, what’s best for the creator and the audience is best for me.
My personal take to why this format is gaining traction
- It goes against the status quo of hyper-edited videos.
- Sam is genuinely a down-to-earth guy, he’s doing what he enjoys and just taking us along for the ride.
- He’s not trying to sell anything, just trying to get his pump.
- He is great to just listen to. I’ve watched 5 videos back-to back and I can’t seem to stop.
- There’s elements of relatability, a off-shoot of what authenticity is made of.
Who else is fitting the mold of authentic creators right now, I’d be keen to know.
How can you apply this to your life?
- If you’re going about creating content, video, written etc, DO be as authentic as you can be, just know where you stand with your audience and what you enjoy making — do they like long videos? Do you like making them?
- Welcome in new waves, embrace what’s been missing from YouTube for so long now, learn how to edit for it.
- Go and watch these creators and figure out why they appeal.
