Video Essay Recommendations

Random video recommendations from a silly lil indigo crayon

Just thought I'd make a list of video essays I really liked, ranging from topics I know a lot about and just wanted to hear someone's thoughts on, or (more commonly), topics I know absolutely nothing about that I just wanted to watch a video on out of curiosity. Don't expect me to write any in-depth analysises of wht I like these specifically and what I found really engaging about the videos; while I will try to write something like that, I might be too sleep deprived to summarize it properly at the time, and even then my reasoning might boil down to "I just thought it was neat :3"

The Most Annoying Trope in Horror Writing

Video posted by Roughest Drafts

Discusses the common trope in internet horror stories where it's revealed that the protagonist is actually writing the story in the moment, and how it often ends up falling flat.

I really liked it because it brought up a trend in internet horror I've seen in my time exploring the vast expanse of the world wide web, summarized the nature of the trend itself, and addressed a few of the vague things I disliked about it that I couldn't quite put into words myself.

Run time: 16 minutes, 33 seconds

Three Specific Kinds of Terror

Video posted by Jacob Geller

Dissects specific kinds of terror various horror games use; those being the use of consequences to the player's choices in the Bunker, the nature of control and choice itself in the reveal that us, the player, are the creature posessing the protagonist in Who's Lila, and the use of colossal, incomprehensibly vast creatures in the Ulity Room that completely dwarf the player and make us seem utterly insignificant compared to its scale.

I loved this video essay because of the analysises on multiple awesome sounding games I never woukd've heard of otherwise, due to my tendency to avoid horror games most of the time, and the writing, background music, and narrator's style really helped keep me engaged. The video wrapped up the similarities of all these games in the way they derive horror from the player's choices in one way or another, in a way that felt really satisfying and mind-blowing.

Run time: 32 minutes, 12 seconds

The Cruelest Video Game

Video posted by Super Eyepatch Wolf

An entertaining dive into the video game Fear and Hunger and how cruel and punishing it is to the player through the use of various powerful, unbeatable enemies, low rewards, and other mechanics, and also points out how the game effectively teaches the player how the game works through this cruelness.

The video was both informative about the topic, which is a game I'd heard literally nothing about, entertaining, and had plenty of fun little jokes at all the right moments that didn't distract from the information itself and kept my attention. It also had a fun, very specific trope in video essays I enjoy that I like to call, "Creator spirals into madness pursuing a random rabbithole, live on stream."

Run time: 48 minutes, 37 seconds

The Giver: Teen Dystopia Filth

Video posted by Big Joel

A video dissecting how the film adaptation of the Giver fails on many fronts when compared to the book it's based on, for reasons ranging from their decision to make things far less abstract in the movie, to the protagonist being aged up in the movie and give him a romantic relationship that ends up undermining the plot, and more!

I like it 'cause it's just, like, a fun video to watch while I draw or code, and it's a pretty good video in general.

Run time: 28 minutes, 15 seconds