Chapter 9: Video Essay

A video essay is a video that analyzes a specific topic or theme relating to film and television and is relevant as it comments on film in its own language. They are essays in video form that aim to persuade, educate, or critique and are considered a form of multimedia nonfiction or creative nonfiction.

Video essays include a strong thesis. A lot of research is done behind the scenes of a video essay which is usually focused on responding to the video's thesis statement. Many sources are used from interviews to peer-reviewed journals. An example of a content creator who has strong skills in developing thesis statements is Every Frame a Painting.

Voiceovers are commonly used in video essays since they don't distract the listener from the content by introducing a character (host). Instead, the voiceover is often a script written before production so that the script can be recorded all at once. This allows for the audio quality to be consistent throughout the entire video.

Some content creators will write their scripts as they edit. This can be a helpful technique if you aren't sure of the amount of time some of your video clips are. Therefore, you can get a better idea of how long your audio should be when syncing the audio and video together.

A great example of a creator that uses voiceover is Screen Junkies.

Video essays are visual, it's what makes them engaging for viewers. A strategy some creators use is overlaying content with other visuals. This could be clip art or memes to add impact to what the narration is saying or it could be clips that overlay each other to help illustrate the variety of examples or ideas being made.

Finally, creators often use storyboards to plan their video essays. Since there are a lot of elements that go with the production of a video essay (e.g. voice over, sound clips, music, clips from other sources, images, transitions, effects, etc.) it's to the advantage of the creator to plan out their script before starting production. Just like you would use an outline to write out an essay for your composition class.