I’ve been thinking about doing this for a while, and over the holiday weekend, I got my chance to devote the necessary uninterrupted hours and see it through. After a year of incorporating YouTube videos into the blog via TFINYW (not to mention my annual coverage of the Oscar Original Song category), as well as my periodic work with my friends at Behind the Rabbit Productions doing video reviews and podcasts, I’ve kind of had the itch to incorporate original videos into the blog’s content. And now, I’ve done it.
Based on a previous Back Row Thoughts column where I ranked the MCU films in anticipation of Avengers Infinity War, I decided to start off with a simple video ranking a different cinematic universe – Pixar. There’s something for everyone, you can make a case for almost any of the films (emphasis on almost) to be the best, and with the combination of Zoom and the Tier Maker website, I could make the video without having to do any editing. Going into this weekend, there were only two Pixar movies I hadn’t previously seen (Cars 2 and Cars 3), so I quickly polished them off and got down to business.
After a few tests to make sure my audio didn’t have too much white noise, and recalibrating my personal YouTube account to be a channel for this blog, I was ready to go. The result is me talking about one of the most beloved franchises in cinematic history.
I don’t know if this is worth the time, effort, or energy, but I’d like to. So if you have thoughts, please share them. I’m more than open to criticism, as long as it’s constructive. For instance – and this is just me being a generally anxious, insecure person – I’m worried that it’s too long. I just sort of vamped on each movie for a few minutes, generally not being too verbose on any one, but there are 24 of them, and that time adds up, resulting in the video being 84 minutes, essentially the length of your average Pixar film. My immediate thought is that I probably should have split this into three videos. I didn’t because a) I was more focused on simply doing the thing rather than trying to perfect it (especially with no editing), and b) I thought it might be overloading to split my first entry. My second concern right off the bat is that the thumbnail YouTube chose has me looking like Pizza the Hut with my neck flab. I’m sure I can change it, and I probably will at some point, but I’m very much in the early stages of figuring this shit out.
But hey, you don’t know until you try, right? I genuinely would love some feedback on this if you have it. What works? What doesn’t? Do you have any ideas for what would make a good video? For instance, I’ve thought about converting TFINYW into a video series where I could go more in-depth visually as I break down trailers, maybe make the Redemption Reel a standalone thing. You know, something along those lines. Or it could be something completely different that I haven’t considered yet. So if you have a suggestion, I’d love to hear it.
Finally, and most importantly, I sincerely apologize if you have to watch ads during this. I’m not trying to monetize this in any way at the moment, but that doesn’t stop YouTube from interrupting any and every video for the dumbest possible commercials, half of which you can’t skip. I can’t control that, and I’m sorry. Just know that any ads you see are not my doing.
Enjoy. I hope.
Join the conversation in the comments below! Did you like the video? Did you hate it? Did the lighting make me look like I have a Hitler mustache? Let me know!
I Actually Paid To See This 