All the video suggestions this week were sent in by newsletter readers! And those videos have all jumped out of their usual audience in some way, reaching a wider group.
They're videos I'd never have clicked on from the title and thumbnail: I needed someone to say "trust me, this is good". - First up: Dua Lipa versus the literary landscape (one bit of strong
language at the very end), a well-crafted video essay about literature from small channel Below the Fray. I would never have expected something like this to hit the mainstream, but: 1.5 million views! And it's fascinating, even to someone like me who doesn't get some of the literary references in here. Interviewing is a skill, particularly deep and intelligent interviewing, and -- breaking stereotypes -- it turns out that pop star Dua Lipa has it. (Thanks Adrien for the
suggestion.)
- How slick is this video about an auto-aiming trash can?! There's so much in here, presented so quickly, that I find it hard to believe some of it. For other makers, this could be three videos, each half an hour
long, talking about the processes and failures along the way -- and that would help "sell" the reality. But here it's just the results, all-killer-no-filler, at a relentless pace. Then I recognised the name, HTX Studio: I've seen this channel before! Back in May, I linked to a video about making a Chinese typewriter, noting that YouTube's
auto-translation of subtitles made it perfectly understandable. But that's on their Chinese channel, and this video is on their all-new, English-language channel. They're posting the same stories to both: but if there's someone talking in-vision, they film it in both languages, and all the graphics have been translated too. So they're not using
YouTube's new single-video multi-language features here, and that's almost certainly the right decision. (Thanks to Isak for sending this over!)
- I'd never have clicked on this next video because the title and thumbnail loo like the sort of inane lowest-common-denominator clickbait that plagues modern YouTube. In fact, I'm not going to tell you the title for that reason. All
I'm going to tell you is that you need to stick with this, it's a slow burn, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. (Strong language.) Full marks for the technical work and performance, too: it "feels real" in a way that a lot of videos like it don't. (Thanks to Barr for sending this!)
And around the rest of the web: And finally: four radioactive wasp nests found on South Carolina nuclear facility. I'm sure it's fine.
All the best,
— Tom |
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