Video essay popularity

[Oscar J Stones]

Has anyone else noticed that, in the last 6 months or so, video essays have gone from a thing that only 5-6 channels really do, to almost flooding the market. I'm not necessarily complaining, I mean I myself started making them at around the same time, but the more channels I noticed pop up, the more similar they all seem to be. There are still the shining beacons, with very unique editing and writing styles, but in general most of them seem to be largely the same. I suppose I'm just asking if anyone else has noticed this/ is taking part in it and if so, how would you set yourself apart from the pack. [Personally, in the latest video I've made (which has taken a long LONG time) I've found myself moving away from the video essay format a bit and really going all out with my excessive eclectic editing style.]

 

[Jed]

I think that what makes them appealing to me at least is the fact they offer knowledge in a relatively easy to digest fashion. I hadn't really been aware that there was a sharp increase in the number of video essays being produced but then I wasn't looking out for a large influx of video essays (in fact I didn't even know they were called video essays until 5 minutes ago). In terms of how to stand out from the crowd I think there are few ways to do so.

The first would be to stand out in terms of quality. So by having top quality visuals and editing (sidenote: your latest video's editing must have been mad) basically making the video as aesthetically pleasing as possible. But even still you'd be surrounded by a lot of channels that still make similar 'products'

The next would be to stand out in terms of engaging with your audience. I think this is where you can start to differentiate between different creators. Because in essence they are all feeding you information so it's about how interesting they can make it. Some do this by picking topics that a lot of people will be interested in which is a kind of win-lose situation. It's a win because they're clicking on your video but a loss because they're not clicking on the video for you but for your topic so unless your topic appeals to them next time they're not going to watch
Others do this by having an inviting personality which is better because those are the people who can take any topic and can make it interesting and that's good because it gives your audience a chance to broaden their horizons and learn new things and it gives you a chance to talk about things you want to talk about not just things you have to talk about which doesn't put you in a box as a creator and gives you creative freedom which is nice

As for a totally new concept and way of doing a video essay, I can't think of one but then I don't make video essays. I think if you think about how you like to learn and then look to creators that you like, not necessarily video essayers, it can be anyone and look to what you like about what they do that can go a long way in inspiring you to find a new way of doing things.

But I think that even if you don't find a revolutionary way of making video essays if you manage to excel in terms of the quality of your video and engaging with your audience, especially with a good personality you'll have set yourself apart enough for you to have your style of doing things which will be unique to you and you'll do well.

I think the last thing I want to say is that personally I don't think that having loads of channels that make similar videos is a bad thing. I mean we have phone companies that make phones that are all very similar give or take a few details and that isn't a bad thing in fact if anything it encourages the companies to advance and improve on every iteration. I think the same can be said for any genre of video on YouTube including video essays the only difference is you're not even competing between the other content creators because unlike phones you can easily watch more than one video by loads of different creators which I think is cool.

Anyways those are just my thoughts. Sorry for the essay (pun intended)

 

[Martha W Acosta]

Interesting information. In my opinion, a video essay is a better way to convey information than, for example, a written essay and is much easier to prepare. And it would no longer be necessary to turn to https://www.essaywritinglab.co.uk/write-my-dissertation/ for help in preparing written papers. It would be great if this essay format was introduced in our college.