Media Recommendations: Video Essays

A bit of a left-field pivot but a friend of mine asked for some video essay recommendations and as I started compiling a list, it occurred to me that the “genre” (or whatever you want to call it) of video essay is one that I value wholeheartedly. There are, of course, a lot of different shades to the “format” (still struggling with how exactly to define the umbrella term here) that range from the media analysis, mini-documentaries, political discussions and everything in-between. And, of course, for me, lots and lots about video games. As I typed out a text to my friend, the list kept getting longer, even as I tried to limit myself to one or two max videos per creator I wanted to highlight, so I decided to turn this into a bit of a blog post to make linking to the videos a bit easier. I also am leaving out most commentary as I think the videos all pretty much speak for themselves. And while a lot of these are indeed media discussions, I have found that these video essayists almost always work to create a singular experience in and of itself with their works: meaning that you really don’t have to have played, say, Red Dead Redemption 2 to get a lot of value out of Noah Caldwell-Gervais’ masterful treatise on the matter (I am one of those people, actually).

And for a bit of food for thought for those still scratching their heads at the idea of a video essay being artistic works themselves, I also urge you to watch what may be the ur-video essay of the modern era (though very far removed from youtube and video games), Spanish Erice’s La Morte Rouge, which can be seen on a weird Daily Motion channel here. Made in 2006, I’m certainly not claiming that any modern youtube based video essayist has even seen this relatively obscure short film from one of world cinema’s most elusive and enigmatic directors, but like carcinisation, I think that what we’ve come to see as a “video essay” can arise spontaneously from any creative thinker with a penchant for combining personal history, observational writing, media analysis, politics and visual storytelling (amongst other things). There’s quite a bit to be said about the democratization of filmmaking tools that has also helped spurn so many “amateur” creators into getting their work out there, but that’s probably a discussion for another time.

This is a long list so I’ve hidden the rest of this post behind the link below. Happy viewing!

(Presented in no particular order. Also, some of these videos may not have “aged” well, so take with the necessary grains of salt and view as examples of form as well)

Jacob Geller

HBomberguy