How the 600 Year Old Essay Was Revolutionized

How do you learn more efficiently? Are you more of a reading off paper type learner, or a hands-on visual learner? Everyone has their own style or way of learning and for you, one may be more efficient than the other. In recent studies, researchers found out that 65% of people today are visual learners (Spencer). This information may be why the video essay has become so popular and has been gaining popularity. Video essays are essentially essays just being read out with some visuals, photos, charts, or graphs being presented in the background. For my video essayist, I wanted to take a closer look into film essayist The Closer Look. He looks deeper into film, and certain styles and characterizes that can either make or break a film. In this paper, I wanted to take a closer look into what makes video essays so revolutionary and how video essays make it easier for people to follow along and learn.

So how did the video essay become what it is today? The film essay first came into the world in the 1940s from a man named Hans Richter. An example of a video essay in one of its earliest stages is one called “F for Fake” directed by Orson Welles. This old example of a video essay looked similar to that of a documentary, but what differed was when the film would cut back to clips of Welles with him giving a deeper layer to the video. These are examples of what a lot of video essays looked like in the early stages, but it wasn’t until the 2010s when YouTube started picking up and the video essay was changed forever. People were able to use the platform of YouTube as a creative medium to create video essays and share them with the world. Creators began creating these video essays about almost anything you can think of, film, music, pop culture, sports, politics, and social issues. YouTube was a place for people who created video essays to share their ideas with the world.

But what really differentiates a video essay from a narrative film, documentary film, or short films on the internet? This definition is hard to pin a nail on because of the vast evolving in cinematic history, but to put it simply, a video essay is a video that analyzes specific topics or themes and is relevant. Kind of like the essays we wrote in school, but in video form. The video essay usually begins with a thesis on what the video will be about, like an introductory paragraph. Followed by more information and personal opinions on the topic at hand, similar to our supporting paragraphs. Then closed out with the ending where one reiterates their thesis and concludes the essay, resembling an outro paragraph. The essay and the video essay are pretty much the same thing, right? Well, almost, but the video essay has something that the old school essay lacks and that’s the use of visuals. The video essay utilizes its video format which allows the author to share much more information than any other regular essay. The audio-visual presentation gives an extra layer and allows the author to use animation, film, or PowerPoint to get his ideas across to the audience. This allows them to share more complex information, in a less complex form. As stated before, 65% of people are visual learners and reading an essay front to back isn’t always to grasp new information for everyone. With the video essay, charts, graphs, pictures, and film can all be used to help the watcher listen, look at, and understand the information. The video essay also allows the audience to step into their life in a way and build a deeper connection with the author. A lot of examples of video essays have the creator with a camera set up on them, recording themselves talking about their subject. You can visually see the face that is giving you all this information, and you can relate to what they are saying more, because we can see that it’s coming from another human being. The author can integrate their life and experiences into the video essay which allows people to put a face behind the thoughts.

Video essayists have the ability to talk about just about anything. YouTube watcher’s have the ability to type into the search bar just about anything and find a video essay on it. Personally, I’m super into film and for my analysis of video essayists, I wanted to take a deeper look into The Closer Look, or Henry, a video essayist who investigates film and gives his opinions on movies, and cinematic techniques. He dives deeper into strategies that directors take advantage of, and things that directors mess up in their films. This is obviously something that people have been able to do in regular essays, but having this analysis be in video format allows Henry to integrate clips from movies that back up his point. This allows not only him, but the viewer to watch the examples he shares in real time, right as he is saying it. Henrys videos range in a variety of different lengths, but most of them come in between the 20- and 45-minute mark, but he does have videos that are right around 10 minutes, and he also has something that are getting close to two hours. All his videos are almost all in the same format, a voice over narrative while different clips and graphics appear in the background.

The voice over is almost necessary in The Closer Looks videos because a lot of his video essays are all opinion based. He will state his opinion and then show lots of examples and clips in the background to back his claims. I think this would be almost impossible without a voiceover because the audience wouldn’t be able to connect with Henry and build a para-social relationship with him. Most of his audience has a very similar viewpoint as him and through that they gain this connection with Henry because the relatability in his video essays. I think without the voice over, that relationship wouldn’t be possible. One way Henry could make his video essays more relatable with his audience is by showing his face and recording himself talking in all his video essays, but I don’t think that’s extremely necessary.

I believe him being able to share the movie clips and interviews in the background is what the audience wants and keeps them drawn into his content. Henry does have a single video essay of himself on his page, and it was one where he admitted that he didn’t agree with one of his past video essays. This was a video of him addressing his mistakes and correcting himself, but I do think his normal format of video works perfectly for him. The production of his films are not the most A-1 productions, but for his purpose, it serves fine. I feel as if his desired audience, producers, film makers, and overall film watchers and fans in general, are satisfied with his current production. If he is talking about a certain movie, or genre, he will gather several clips and interviews from the respected movie and genre and play them in the background of him talking, and if he is using a clip as an example, he will play the audio and let the audience hear. His production is very simple, but most of his audience is mostly there for the commentary and the clips. Henry does not have a Discord Channel or a twitch, but he does host polls on his account for the audience to help him decide his next video.

A lot of Henry’s videos are the same, but they have worked for him nicely, and I don’t really see any reason to change what’s been working for him.

The place where video essays being readily available on the internet for anyone gets dicey when the concept of commodification and earning money off these videos come into play. The definition of commodification is taking a product or an idea and using it to be sold or traded. In class we spoke about how commodification can have a major effect on these video essays. What separates the free information we can gather on the internet compared to the information we learn in lectures at university? Can they change the narrative? Will it affect what someone has to say on the subject? There’s a tension between commodification and video essays because these questions we might not always get a straight answer to. Companies and people who sponsor these videos can be the ones making the script and spreading their information. These companies can be paying these creators and making them share information that might not be 100% true but could benefit their company. In class we learned about how there have been instances of huge companies sponsoring YouTubers to make a video similar to the style they usually make, but to promote the ideas of the company. This can affect the view of video essays because One thing I noticed about The Closer Look, is that he doesn’t partake in the commodification of his videos. He doesn’t have any sponsorships and he doesn’t have any Patreon or donations. The projects that he creates are self-funded and seem like something he does because he enjoys it. A lot of his content is opinion orientated so viewers don’t have to worry about big companies coming in and using his channel as a platform.

In this world that is constantly changing and advancing everyday, the video essay is one of those things that just make sense. The ability to take the standard essay and turn it into video format and incorporate video clips, graphs, charts, art, animation, interviews, photos, PowerPoint, etc. has revolutionized the way we can learn and absorb information. The video essay allows the audience to create para-social relationships with the video essayist and relate to the content in the video much more efficiently. Video essays are essential for that 65% of people who find it easier learning through seeing and hearing the content of an essay rather than reading it from front to back.

One might not see the differences between the written and the video essay. People might argue that there is not much difference between the two, but I disagree. A video essayist that is able to utilize the vast possibilities and available options can drastically change the outcome of an essay. After analyzing The Closer Look’s video essays, I really do believe that he has the concept of video essays on lock. He stays aways from the commodification of his videos and strictly makes videos that he personally wants to put out. In some aspects, video essays can’t get scary when it comes to the purpose behind the video, and the intentions that the video has, but overall, I believe video essays have changed the way we take and give information.

Spencer, E. (2018, October 30). How to work best with the 4 different types of learners. Retrieved from Work Life by Atlassian website: https://www.atlassian.com/blog/teamwork/how-to-work-4-different-learning-types#:~:text=The%20majority%20of%20the%20population