In 2020, I released a series of videos about how to make video essays,
and I started off with a little joke.
The first thing you'll need is an idea.
You probably already have this.
After all, you clicked on a video called How to Make a Video Essay,
and it turns out that a lot of you didn't agree.
Of course, I understand that
sitting down to make a video essay can be a daunting task
if you don't have a clear idea in mind.
You have the whole world of film, TV, video games
to choose from and decades of history.
And all you have in front of you is a blank page.
So how do you come up with ideas
for video essays?
In this video, I'm going to try and explain
as much as possible about how I generate ideas.
Drawing on my experience as a video essayist,
I work specifically on film focussed videos,
but lots of the advice in this video will be applicable
across videos about games,
TV history and any other topics that you're working on.
So your first step in picking a topic is to think about
what motivates you to make a video essay.
If it's for class.
Hopefully your teacher will have given you some kind of prompts,
or at least a general brief, a sort of direction to go in.
If you're inspired by other video essayists,
it's worth thinking about what it is that you admire about their work.
Is it the storytelling?
Is it the humour?
Is it explanation?
And if you're just excited to explore a particular piece of media
like our favourite film or something,
and I think you already have a good starting point.
I start my ideas generation by thinking about what I'm passionate about.
That way you're motivated to work on the project
simply because you enjoy it.
I think a good rule of thumb for
this is if it's something
that keeps coming up in conversation with friends or new people,
you meet a way that you connect with people,
something that you're excited about.
So for instance, there are some directors whose work I really love
people like Dario Argento, Joanna Hogg, Diana Lavoro.
And there are some genres that are always interesting,
like Gigolo, a 1970s Italian horror genre, for example.
And sometimes there are individual films that grabbed my attention.
Whether that's because they're underrated
or because they have a very distinctive
aesthetic approach or a kind of a plot idea
or a way of structuring the story, for instance.
So right now, that's just a list of things that I like coming up with.
A video essay script means drilling down into these options,
finding interesting angles and conducting research.
Perhaps most importantly,
we also need to think about the audience for the essay.
Doing all of that is pretty time consuming,
so this list needs to be narrowed down.
And to do this, I usually try to think about relevance,
because that's a big motivating factor for people to watch your video.
It means it's not just a good idea,
but it's an important one for right now.
So I look through my list of things that I like
and I try to work out what the most relevant things are.
That might be a new release that everyone's talking about.
Maybe it's blown up on Twitter or whatever
social media platform exists by the time this video finally comes out.
There may be an anniversary, a sequel or remake for an older movie,
or a resurgence of interest in an actor or director.
Your deep dive on the soundtrack of Donnie Darko
becomes a lot more relevant
if you frame it as a 20 years later retrospective, for example.
And I'm not advocating for you to pursue a hot
take begging for clicks approach to making your video essays.
This is not an invitation to stick to mainstream release schedules
and talk about the same things as everybody else.
Rather, I think it's about making sure
that you create video essays that are outward facing, that articulate
clearly to the audience why those audience members should be interested.
A great example of this is one of my favourite channels
be kind rewind the really focuses on Hollywood history
and in particular deep dives about famous female actors.
Now that's a pretty specific niche,
and you might not think it's one with a lot of traffic,
but actually lots of videos on the channel are specifically motivated
by current events and trends in film.
So, for example, a couple of years ago
when Greta Gerwig's Little Women came out, they published a video called
Comparing Every Version of Little Women,
and then they did another one called Everything You Need to Know
About Mank, about the new film from David Fincher.
So when they're doing this, they're expressly linking their videos
to brand new releases
that are quite mainstream that a lot of people are talking about,
but they're also drawing on the channel's
speciality and the interests of the essayists.
For me, the great thing about relevance
is that it doesn't just help you prioritise ideas,
it also helps you to come up with specific angles,
allowing you to focus on achievable, interesting projects
without getting mired in the entire history of your field.
So to show you how this works, I went through an ideas generation process
inspired by Be Kind rewind around the movie Mank.
And key to this process, I think is making quick notes
that can be expanded later.
Some people use mind maps,
I'll use bullet points, but really it's up to you
so quickly.
A bit of background info on Mank.
It's a 2020 movie directed by David Fincher.
It tells the story of Mank, a golden age, Hollywood screenwriter,
as he works on the script of Citizen Kane
and thinks back to a series of events and experiences that inspired it,
particularly his relationship with a newspaper
magnate called William Randolph Hearst
and his partner Marion DAVIES,
as a big Netflix movie by a famous director, it was obvious in the lead
up to the release of Mank
that it was a film that people would talk about,
which means that video content around it will be very relevant
and likely to get good traffic in the weeks around its release.
So what ideas can we come up with for a video essay about Mank?
Firstly, let's look at the subject matter as a film about Hollywood.
There's plenty of movies to riff on.
We could do an introduction to the films of the real life Herman J.
Mankiewicz, for example.
We could look at other Hollywood movies
about Hollywood Sunset Boulevard, for instance.
We could compare the films portrayal of Orson Welles to other movies
that he's been portrayed, like Ed Wood.
Then let's look at the constituent
parts of the film, its cast and crew.
It's the first film from director David Fincher since 2014,
so maybe we could look back at his previous work.
Whether that's an individual film like the Game or a broad
look at his directing trademarks, like the extensive use of master
wides, the lead actor of Mank is Gary Oldman.
Maybe we could show his other transfer motion or performances,
or pick up on one of his acting trademarks.
He really likes to shout.
And then there's the film itself.
Mank is shot in black and white,
something that's come back into style recently.
And maybe there's a video in that talking about notable
recent black and white releases like The Lighthouse
and even its differences,
because the lighthouse was actually shot on film,
whereas Mank was shot digitally and so on and so forth.
So there's eight ideas for a video essay that broadly riff on Mank.
Some stand very clearly on their own, like a Fincher retrospective
or a take on modern black and white movies.
And others feel, I think, quite closely linked to Mank, but distinct.
So the comparison of Welles
performances, for instance,
importantly, I think each topic is worthy of discussion,
and it also happens to be linked to a highly relevant
new release gathering significant press.
So that's how I typically generate ideas and prioritise
on which projects to focus on.
Your process may differ, and if you have any tips to share,
it would be great to hear about them in the comments below.
If you're wondering about what steps to take next,
then check out my videos on how to write a script for video essays.
And if you're more experienced video essayist
looking to make a commercial work.
I'm also working on an upcoming video about how to pitch video essays
for real life money.
So keep your eyes peeled for that.
And if you've enjoyed this video or found it informative,
please consider heading over to my coffee
to drop me a few quid as a way of saying thanks.
Have a good one and I'll see you next time.
Bye for now.