how to do video essays

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How to Write a Video Essay: A Step-by-Step Guide and Tips

• by Joseph Kenas
• January 5, 2024
• Writing Tips

The video essay has become an increasingly popular way of presenting ideas and concepts in the age of the internet and YouTube. In this guide, we present a step-by-step guide on how to write a video essay and tips on how to make it.

While it is easy to write a normal essay, the structure of the video essay is a bit of a mystery, owing to the newness of the term.

However, in this article, we are going to define what is a video essay, how to write a video essay, and also How to present a video essay well in class.

What is a Video Essay?

A video essay is a video that delves into a certain subject, concept, person, or thesis. Video essays are difficult to characterize because they are a relatively new form, yet they are recognized regardless. Simply, video essays are visual compilations that try to persuade, educate, or criticize.

These days, there are many creatives making video essays on topics like politics, music, movies, and pop culture.

With these, essays have become increasingly popular in the era of video media such as Youtube, Vimeo, and others.

Video essays, like photo and traditional essays, tell a story or make a point.

The distinction is that video essays provide information through visuals.

When creating a video essay, you can incorporate video, images, text, music, and/or narration to make it dynamic and successful.

When you consider it, many music videos are actually video essays. 

Since making videos for YouTube and other video sites has grown so popular, many professors are now assigning video essays instead of regular essays to their students. So the question is, how do you write a video essay script?

Steps on How to Write a Video Essay Script

Unscripted videos cost time, effort, and are unpleasant to watch. The first thing you should do before making a video writes a script, even if it’s only a few lines long. Don’t be intimidated by the prospect of writing a script. All you need is a starting point.

A video script is important for anyone who wants to film a video with more confidence and clarity. They all contain comparable forms of information, such as who is speaking, what is said, where, and other important details.

While there are no precise criteria that a video essay must follow, it appears that most renowned video essayists are adhering to some steps as the form gets more popular and acknowledged online. 

1. Write a Thesis

Because a video essayist can handle a wide range of themes, video analysis essays lack defined bounds. The majority of essays, on the other hand, begin with a thesis.

A thesis is a statement, claim, theme, or concept that the rest of the essay is built around. A thesis might be broad, including a variety of art forms. Other theses can be quite detailed.

A good essay will almost always have a point to express. Every video analysis essay should have a central idea, or thesis, that ties the film together.

2. Write a Summary

Starting with a brief allows you and your team to document the answers to the most pressing project concerns. It ensures that everyone participating in the video production is on the same page.

This will avoid problems of mixing ideas or getting stuck when you are almost completing the project.

3. Choose a Proper Environment and Appropriate Tools

When it comes to writing your script, use any tool you’re familiar with, such as pen and paper. Also, find a writing atmosphere that is relaxing for you, where you can concentrate and be creative.

Consider what you don’t have to express out loud when you’re writing. Visual elements will be used to communicate a large portion of your content.

4. Use a Template

When you don’t have to reinvent the process every time you sit down, you get speed and consistency.

It’s using your cumulative knowledge of what works and doing it over and over again. Don’t start with a blank page when I sit down to create a script- try to use an already made template. 

5. Be Conversational

You want scripts that use language that is specific and targeted. Always avoid buzzwords, cliches, and generalizations. You want your audience to comprehend you clearly without rolling their eyes.

6. Be Narrative

Make careful to use a strong story structure when you’re trying to explain anything clearly. Ensure your script has a beginning, middle, and end, no matter how short it is. This will provide a familiar path for the viewers of your video script.

7. Edit Your Script

Make each word work for a certain position on the page when you choose your words.

They must serve a purpose.

After you’ve completed your first draft, go over your script and review it.

Then begin editing, reordering, and trimming. Remove as much as possible.

Consider cutting it if it isn’t helping you achieve your goal.

 8. Read Your Script Loudly

Before recording or going on in your process, it’s recommended to read your script aloud at least once. Even if you won’t be the one reading it, this is a good method to ensure that your message is clear. It’s a good idea to be away from people so you may practice in peace.

Words that flow well on paper don’t always flow well when spoken aloud. You might need to make some adjustments based on how tough certain phrases are to pronounce- it’s a lot easier to change it now than when recording.

9. Get Feedback

Sometimes it is very difficult to point out your mistakes in any piece of writing. Therefore, if you want a perfect video essay script, it is advisable to seek feedback from people who are not involved in the project.

Keep in mind that many will try to tear your work apart and make you feel incompetent. However, it can also be an opportunity to make your video better.

The best way to gather feedback is to assemble a group of people and read your script to them. Watch their facial reaction and jot own comments as you read. Make sure not to defend your decisions. Only listen to comments and ask questions to clarify.

After gathering feedback, decide on what points to include in your video essay. Also, you can ask someone else to read it to you so that you can listen to its follow.

A video essay can be a good mode to present all types of essays, especially compare and contrast essays as you can visually contrast the two subjects of your content.

How to make a Good Video from your Essay Script

You can make a good video from your script if you ask yourself the following questions;

• What is the video’s purpose? What is the purpose of the video in the first place?
• Who is this video’s intended audience?
• What is the subject of our video? (The more precise you can be, the better.) 
• What are the most important points to remember from the video?- What should viewers take away from it?

If the context had multiple characters, present their dialogues well in the essay to bring originality. If there is a need to involve another person, feel free to incorporate them.

How to Present a Video Essay Well in Class

• Write down keywords or main ideas in a notecard; do not write details- writing main ideas will help you remember your points when presenting. This helps you scan through your notecard for information.
• Practice- in presentations it is easy to tell who has practiced and who hasn’t. For your video essay to grab your class and professor’s attention, practice is the key. Practice in front of your friends and family asking for feedback and try to improve.
• Smile at your audience- this is one of the most important points when presenting anything in front of an audience. A smiley face draws the attention of the audience making them smile in return thus giving you confidence.
• Walk to your seat with a smile- try not to be disappointed even if you are not applauded. Be confident that you have aced your video presentation.

Other video presentations tips include;

• Making eye contact
• Have a good posture
• Do not argue with the audience 
• Look at everyone around the room, not just one audience or one spot
• Rember to use your hand and facial expressions to make a point.

Joseph is a freelance journalist and a part-time writer with a particular interest in the gig economy. He writes about schooling, college life, and changing trends in education. When not writing, Joseph is hiking or playing chess.

• Scriptwriting

What is a Video Essay? The Art of the Video Analysis Essay

I n the era of the internet and Youtube, the video essay has become an increasingly popular means of expressing ideas and concepts. However, there is a bit of an enigma behind the construction of the video essay largely due to the vagueness of the term.

What defines a video analysis essay? What is a video essay supposed to be about? In this article, we’ll take a look at the foundation of these videos and the various ways writers and editors use them creatively. Let’s dive in.

Watch: Our Best Film Video Essays of the Year

Subscribe for more filmmaking videos like this.

What is a video essay?

First, let’s define video essay.

There is narrative film, documentary film, short films, and then there is the video essay. What is its role within the realm of visual media? Let’s begin with the video essay definition. 

VIDEO ESSAY DEFINITION

A video essay is a video that analyzes a specific topic, theme, person or thesis. Because video essays are a rather new form, they can be difficult to define, but recognizable nonetheless. To put it simply, they are essays in video form that aim to persuade, educate, or critique. 

These essays have become increasingly popular within the era of Youtube and with many creatives writing video essays on topics such as politics, music, film, and pop culture. 

What is a video essay used for?

• To persuade an audience of a thesis
• To educate on a specific subject
• To analyze and/or critique 

What is a video essay based on?

Establish a thesis.

Video analysis essays lack distinguished boundaries since there are countless topics a video essayist can tackle. Most essays, however, begin with a thesis. 

How Christopher Nolan Elevates the Movie Montage  •  Video Analysis Essays

Good essays often have a point to make. This point, or thesis, should be at the heart of every video analysis essay and is what binds the video together. 

Related Posts

• Stanley Kubrick Directing Style Explained →
• A Filmmaker’s Guide to Nolan’s Directing Style →
• How to Write a Voice Over Montage in a Script →

interviews in video essay

Utilize interviews.

A key determinant for the structure of an essay is the source of the ideas. A common source for this are interviews from experts in the field. These interviews can be cut and rearranged to support a thesis. 

Roger Deakins on "Learning to Light"  •  Video Analysis Essays

Utilizing first hand interviews is a great way to utilize ethos into the rhetoric of a video. However, it can be limiting since you are given a limited amount to work with. Voice over scripts, however, can give you the room to say anything. 

How to create the best video essays on Youtube

Write voice over scripts.

Voice over (VO) scripts allow video essayists to write out exactly what they want to say. This is one of the most common ways to structure a video analysis essay since it gives more freedom to the writer. It is also a great technique to use when taking on large topics.

In this video, it would have been difficult to explain every type of camera lens by cutting sound bites from interviews of filmmakers. A voice over script, on the other hand, allowed us to communicate information directly when and where we wanted to.

Ultimate Guide to Camera Lenses  •  Video essay examples

Some of the most famous video essayists like Every Frame a Painting and Nerdwriter1 utilize voice over to capitalize on their strength in writing video analysis essays. However, if you’re more of an editor than a writer, the next type of essay will be more up your alley. 

Video analysis essay without a script

Edit a supercut.

Rather than leaning on interview sound bites or voice over, the supercut video depends more on editing. You might be thinking “What is a video essay without writing?” The beauty of the video essay is that the writing can be done throughout the editing. Supercuts create arguments or themes visually through specific sequences. 

Another one of the great video essay channels, Screen Junkies, put together a supercut of the last decade in cinema. The video could be called a portrait of the last decade in cinema.

2010 - 2019: A Decade In Film  •  Best videos on Youtube

This video is rather general as it visually establishes the theme of art during a general time period. Other essays can be much more specific. 

Critical essays

Video essays are a uniquely effective means of creating an argument. This is especially true in critical essays. This type of video critiques the facets of a specific topic. 

In this video, by one of the best video essay channels, Every Frame a Painting, the topic of the film score is analyzed and critiqued — specifically temp film score.

Every Frame a Painting Marvel Symphonic Universe  •  Essay examples

Of course, not all essays critique the work of artists. Persuasion of an opinion is only one way to use the video form. Another popular use is to educate. 

• The Different Types of Camera Lenses →
• Write and Create Professionally Formatted Screenplays →
• How to Create Unforgettable Film Moments with Music →

Video analysis essay

Visual analysis.

One of the biggest advantages that video analysis essays have over traditional, written essays is the use of visuals. The use of visuals has allowed video essayists to display the subject or work that they are analyzing. It has also allowed them to be more specific with what they are analyzing. Writing video essays entails structuring both words and visuals. 

Take this video on There Will Be Blood for example. In a traditional, written essay, the writer would have had to first explain what occurs in the film then make their analysis and repeat.

This can be extremely inefficient and redundant. By analyzing the scene through a video, the points and lessons are much more clear and efficient. 

There Will Be Blood  •   Subscribe on YouTube

Through these video analysis essays, the scene of a film becomes support for a claim rather than the topic of the essay. 

Dissect an artist

Essays that focus on analysis do not always focus on a work of art. Oftentimes, they focus on the artist themself. In this type of essay, a thesis is typically made about an artist’s style or approach. The work of that artist is then used to support this thesis.

Nerdwriter1, one of the best video essays on Youtube, creates this type to analyze filmmakers, actors, photographers or in this case, iconic painters. 

Caravaggio: Master Of Light  •  Best video essays on YouTube

In the world of film, the artist video analysis essay tends to cover auteur filmmakers. Auteur filmmakers tend to have distinct styles and repetitive techniques that many filmmakers learn from and use in their own work. 

Stanley Kubrick is perhaps the most notable example. In this video, we analyze Kubrick’s best films and the techniques he uses that make so many of us drawn to his films. 

Why We're Obsessed with Stanley Kubrick Movies  •  Video essay examples

Critical essays and analytical essays choose to focus on a piece of work or an artist. Essays that aim to educate, however, draw on various sources to teach technique and the purpose behind those techniques. 

What is a video essay written about?

Historical analysis.

Another popular type of essay is historical analysis. Video analysis essays are a great medium to analyze the history of a specific topic. They are an opportunity for essayists to share their research as well as their opinion on history. 

Our video on aspect ratio , for example, analyzes how aspect ratios began in cinema and how they continue to evolve. We also make and support the claim that the 2:1 aspect ratio is becoming increasingly popular among filmmakers. 

Why More Directors are Switching to 18:9  •  Video analysis essay

Analyzing the work of great artists inherently yields a lesson to be learned. Some essays teach more directly.

• Types of Camera Movements in Film Explained →
• What is Aspect Ratio? A Formula for Framing Success →
• Visualize your scenes with intuitive online shotlist software →

Writing video essays about technique

Teach technique.

Educational essays designed to teach are typically more direct. They tend to be more valuable for those looking to create art rather than solely analyze it.

In this video, we explain every type of camera movement and the storytelling value of each. Educational essays must be based on research, evidence, and facts rather than opinion.

Ultimate Guide to Camera Movement  •  Best video essays on YouTube

As you can see, there are many reasons why the video essay has become an increasingly popular means of communicating information. Its ability to use both sound and picture makes it efficient and effective. It also draws on the language of filmmaking to express ideas through editing. But it also gives writers the creative freedom they love. 

Writing video essays is a new art form that many channels have set high standards for. What is a video essay supposed to be about? That’s up to you. 

Organize Post Production Workflow

The quality of an essay largely depends on the quality of the edit. If editing is not your strong suit, check out our next article. We dive into tips and techniques that will help you organize your Post-Production workflow to edit like a pro. 

Up Next: Post Production →

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Home Resources Free Guides Video Essays Guide Introduction to Video Essays

VIDEO ESSAYS GUIDE

Introductory guide to video essays, introduction to video essays, studying and researching film through film, “if it can be written, or thought, it can be filmed” – stanley kubrick, "...why can filmmaking, film curation, and film criticism not co-exist” – lindiwe dovey.

Drawing on the inspiring work of pioneering educators and researchers engaging with this creative method, this guide aims to offer a research-led introduction for students, teachers and researchers approaching the video essay for the first time.

From 2014, with the foundation of [in]Transition, the first online, open access, peer-reviewed journal of videographic film and moving image studies, an increasing number of academic journals have been welcoming video essays. However, the written word remains the dominant language to disseminate scholarly work, with shared conventions in terms of register, structure and length. In contrast, a glimpse at the range of published video essays evidences the diversity of approaches. While this may be a great opportunity for innovation and creativity, it also presents challenges. How to make video essays? What are their pedagogical benefits, as compared to written papers? What are the technological expectations? How to design assessment briefs to ensure they are equivalent to written papers? Is such equivalence relevant? If the approaches are so varied, what are the criteria of evaluation? What are the copyright issues, if any, when reusing creative work for the purpose of making an argument, audiovisually? And, more importantly, where to start?

Video essays are scholarly videos that invite researchers and class members to explore the audiovisual and multimedia language to make an academic argument. When applied to film research and pedagogy, the video essay is thus a recursive text. That is, the object of study, film, is mediated, or rather, performed, through the film medium. This is a kind of academic piece that encourages creativity, but more importantly, action. As such, video essays have a transformative dimension. When used in the classroom, for instance, as creative assessment methods, they foster a collaborative environment where teachers and students - that is, class members - are co-producers of knowledge, informed by different positionalities. Video essays can thus contribute to a kind of education that Paulo Friere (2018[1978]: 80-81) referred to as the “problem-posing education”, as “the practice of freedom”. This contrasts with the “banking” or “digestive” education as the practice of domination, where students are mere passive recipients of the knowledge transferred from tutors. As universities seek to decolonise the curriculum, video essays seem as pertinent as ever to foster active, creative and critical modes of learning, based on thinking through making. However, the experimental potential in video essays also leads to a certain degree of uncertainty to all class members and eager researchers who would like to venture into this creative arena of knowledge production. Creative educators and researchers are collectively seeking an academic space for video essays, legitimising their production, and suggesting ways of engaging with this kind of recursive language.

As Christian Keathley notes, “the essential question faced in the production of scholarly video is not technical, but conceptual” (2012). That is, video essays, like any other scholarly work, are concerned with the contribution to knowledge. But, how to achieve this? In this guide, we first look at the existing guidelines for the production and evaluation across the different journals, finding some coherence across them. We then suggest some ways of making them, dividing the process in three phases: preproduction, production and postproduction, in alignment with the filmmaking process. These guidelines do not aim to be prescriptive by any means. Rather, they seek to assist the video-making process . Due to our emphasis on the academic value of video essays, we further offer an overview to copyright considerations to take into account for its lawful, ethical and rigorous publication . We also include several journals and dissemination spaces. Finally, we share a case study of the application of the video essay as a creative assessment method at SOAS, University of London.

How to make video essays. Dr Shane O’Sullivan, Senior Lecturer in Filmmaking at Kingston University and Curator of Archives for Education .

Finding Coherence Across Journals

How to make video essay guides, copyright considerations, dissemination.

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How to create a video essay with students.

• February 15, 2023

Video essays are a powerful and engaging way for students to express their understanding of a particular topic or concept. By combining video footage with voiceover narration, students can create a multimedia presentation that showcases their knowledge and creativity. To create a video essay with students, there are free tools you can use.

In this blog post, we will explore how teachers can guide their students through the process of creating a video essay. And I’ll share some of my favorite movie-making tools for students. Don’t forget to download these graphic organizers you can use to plan for your next video project.

What is a video essay?

A video essay is a short film that explores a specific idea or theme. It typically uses various forms of media, such as video, images, and text. In a video essay, a student presents a clear thesis or argument. They use a variety of visual and audio elements to support their ideas and engage the viewer. 

If you are new to using video essays but have introduced traditional essay writing techniques in the past, I encourage you to revisit the same checklists, supporting materials, and rubrics and add on if needed.

Here are some key things a student can include in a video essay:

• A strong introduction that sets the stage for the rest of the essay. It should clearly state the thesis or main argument with text on the screen or audio voiceover.
• A logical and well-structured body that presents evidence, examples, and analysis to support the thesis or argument. They might include transitions with animations and music to indicate different points.
• A conclusion that summarizes the main points of the essay and offers some final thoughts or takeaways.
• A clear and engaging visual style that uses a variety of media. This could include video, images, and text, to illustrate and enhance the ideas being discussed.
• Good audio quality , including clear and audible narration and appropriate use of music and other sounds. Showing students exemplars and non-exemplars can help them understand the importance of this point.

Overall, a successful video essay should be well-organized, visually engaging, and even thought-provoking. It should provide a fresh perspective on the topic and offer the viewer something new and interesting to think about. You might ask students to lead a discussion about the topic afterward or ask for feedback after sharing their project with their classmates.

How do you choose the right tool for your video essay?

If you are deciding on what movie-making tool is the best fit for creating a video essay, there are a few things to consider. Here are some tips for figuring out which app or website is the best one for creating a video essay:

• Consider your specific needs and goals . What are you trying to achieve with your video essay? Do students need a lot of advanced editing tools? Will a simple and straightforward tool get the job done?
• Decide on a few must-have features. Look for an app or website that offers the features and functionality that your students need. This might include things like the ability to import and edit footage and add text and graphics. I suggest using a tool that lets students easily create transitions and add effects.
• Re-examine your toolbelt. I often use the phrase “embrace your place” on my podcast ( listen to new episodes here ). If there are tools you’re already using that can accomplish the task of creating a video essay, make sure to try out that one first.
• Ask for recommendations. Find out what your colleagues are already using and love. Alternatively, you might read reviews and research to find out what other people are saying about the app or website. This can give you a sense of its reliability, ease of use, and overall quality.
• Try out a few different options . Many different tools will help you accomplish the same goals. You may want to check out a few options to see which one feels the most intuitive and user-friendly. Many apps and websites offer free trials or demos, so you can test them out before making a decision.
• Don’t be afraid to ask for help or advice. If you’re unsure which app or website is right for you, you can always reach out to friends, colleagues, or online communities for recommendations (see above).

Tools for Making a Video Essay

Ultimately, the best app or website for creating a video essay will depend on your individual needs and preferences. However, by considering your goals, researching your options, and trying out a few different options, you should be able to find the right one for you.

Adobe Express

This free, web-based app allows users to create videos, graphics, and web pages. It has a variety of templates and design options to choose from and a free version for educators. Check out some of their recent creative challenges here. 

Adobe Premiere Rush

Adobe Premiere Rush is a video editing software that allows users to quickly and easily edit and produce professional-quality videos. It is a step up from Adobe Express and is available for desktop and mobile devices. It Includes features such as automatic color grading, audio ducking, and the ability to add titles, graphics, and transitions.

Microsoft Flip (formerly Flipgrid) is a web-based platform and mobile app that allows educators and students to create and participate in video discussions. Students can use this tool to create short videos using a green screen and other features like adding text to the screen.

Canva 

Canva is a graphic design platform that allows users to create visual content such as social media posts, advertisements, and presentations. It is available online and as a mobile app and offers a wide range of templates and design tools, as well as the ability to upload and use custom graphics and fonts. You can use Canva for Education for free to create videos and graphics.

iMovie is a free video editing app available for Apple devices, including iPad, iPhone, and Mac OS. It is user-friendly and has a variety of features, including the ability to add music, text, and special effects to videos.

Final Cut Pro

Final Cut Pro is a professional-grade video editing software for Apple users. This video tool is used by editors and filmmakers and offers a wide range of advanced features. It may be something students want to explore if they are passionate about filmmaking. 

Benefits of Using Video Essays in the Classroom

Using video essays in the classroom can have several benefits if you’re looking to make a case for video essays. Firstly, video essays can provide an engaging and interactive way for students to learn and express their ideas. This can help to foster a more dynamic and engaging learning environment. Secondly, video essays can provide a more inclusive learning experience, allowing for a broader range of student voices and perspectives to be heard. 

Thirdly, video essays are an excellent option for students seeking a more creative outlet. They can create a visual representation of information and ideas. Additionally, video essays can be easily shared and accessed online, allowing for collaboration and feedback from both peers and teachers. Overall, incorporating video essays into the classroom promotes creativity, critical thinking, and student engagement.

Getting Started with Video Essays

If you want to find examples of video essays, there are a few places you can go. First, you may want to search for “video essays” on YouTube or Vimeo. This link will take you to my free download with YouTube tips for teachers. 

Try searching for specific themes related to topics students are studying. For example, “literature analysis video essays” or “civics video essays” to find more specialized collections of videos. If you are searching for examples along with your students, you might want to check out my article for Edutopia full of tips for online searches.

Creating a video essay with students can be a fun and rewarding experience for both teachers and students alike. Not only does it provide students with a creative outlet for expressing their understanding of the material, but it also allows for a deeper level of engagement and understanding. I’d love to hear your thoughts and help you celebrate your students’ creations. If you share in social spaces, tag me @ClassTechTips on your favorite platforms, including Instagram and Twitter .

Find more posts on Writing Strategies:  

• Innovative Assessment How to Incorporate Video Essays in Your Classroom – Easy EdTech Podcast 206
• Boost Student Writing During Be An Author Month
• 3 Social Media Inspired Student Projects – Easy EdTech Podcast 192
• Video Journals in the Classroom

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Monica Burns

Dr. Monica Burns is a former classroom teacher, Author, Speaker, and Curriculum & EdTech Consultant. Visit her site ClassTechTips.com for more ideas on how to become a tech-savvy teacher.

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How to do a Video Essay: What is a Video Essay?

Introducing the Video Essay: Assignment of Now!

• What is a Video Essay?

The term Video Essay is hard to define as it is still evolving from a long cinematic history. From the screen studies perspective, it is a video that analyses specific topics or themes relating to film and television and is relevant as it comments on film in its own language. On a basic level it could be defined as the video equivalent of the written essay.

This guide refers to the video essay from the context of the academic audiovisual essay as a multimodal form that combines written, audio and visual modes to communicate an idea. As a structure, the video essay is thesis-driven, and uses images with text so that the audience can read and interpret the idea or argument in a multimodal way.

In educational settings, the term video essay is used broadly for teacher/student-learner generated video and as a vehicle to transmediate between written-text to digital forms.  Through the video essay form, students are able to achieve learning outcomes in a new way as a multimodal experience while engaging with the subject, task or assessment through expression and creation of self-knowledge.

PHOTO: TWITTER/@GIZMODO. Retrieved from http://www.straitstimes.com/tech/death-of-the-vcr-5-things-to-remember-about-the-iconic-technology

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• The Video Essay Process
• Modes, MultiModality & Multiliteracies
• A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies
• Modes Of Multimodality
• Video Essay Journals
• Video Essay Channels
• Weblinks to Video Essay Resources
• Weblinks to Creative Commons Resources
• Titles in the Library
• Referencing & Copyright
• Marking Rubric
• Last Updated: Aug 28, 2023 2:57 PM
• URL: https://ecu.au.libguides.com/video-essay

Edith Cowan University acknowledges and respects the Noongar people, who are the traditional custodians of the land upon which its campuses stand and its programs operate. In particular ECU pays its respects to the Elders, past and present, of the Noongar people, and embrace their culture, wisdom and knowledge.

Visual Rhetoric

Video essay resource guide.

PAR 102 (M-Th, 9 AM- 5 PM) Fine Arts Library Media Lab (same hours as FAL) PCL Media Lab (same hours as PCL)

About video essays

What are they.

“The video essay is often described as a form of new media, but the basic principles are as old as rhetoric: the author makes an assertion, then presents evidence to back up his claim. Of course it was always possible for film critics to do this in print, and they’ve been doing it for over 100 years, following more or less the same template that one would use while writing about any art form: state your thesis or opinion, then back it with examples. In college, I was assured that in its heart, all written criticism was essentially the same – that in terms of rhetorical construction, book reviews, music reviews, dance reviews and film reviews were cut from the same cloth, but tailored to suit the specific properties of the medium being described, with greater emphasis given to form or content depending on the author’s goals and the reader’s presumed interest.”

Matt Zoller Seitz on the video essay .

what makes a good video essay? 

Tony Zhou on how to structure a video essay

Kevin B. Lee on what makes a video essay “ great “

why should we use them? what are their limits?

Kevin B. Lee’s  experimental/artistic pitch for video essays

Kevin B. Lee’s mainstream pitch for video essay

“Of all the many developments in the short history of film criticism and scholarship, the video essay has the greatest potential to challenge the now historically located text-based dominance of the appraisal and interpretation of film and its contextual cultures…”

Andrew McWhirter argues that t he video essay has significant academic potential in the Fall 2015 issue of  Screen

“Importantly, the [new] media stylo does not replace traditional scholarship. This is a new practice beyond traditional scholarship. So how does critical media differ from traditional scholarship and what advantages does it offer? First, as you will see with the works in this issue, critical media demonstrates a shift in rhetorical mode. The traditional essay is argumentative-thesis, evidence, conclusion. Traditional scholarship aspires to exhaustion, to be the definitive, end-all-be-all, last word on a particular subject. The media stylo, by contrast, suggests possibilities-it is not the end of scholarly inquiry; it is the beginning. It explores and experiments and is designed just as much to inspire as to convince…”

Eric Fadden’s “ A Manifesto for Critical Media “

Adam Westbrook’s “ The Web-Video Problem: Why It’s Time to Rethinking Visual Storytelling from the Bottom Up “

Video essayists and venues

Matt Zoller Seitz (various venues) A writer and director by trade, Zoller Seitz is nonetheless probably best known as a prominent American cultural critic.  He’s made over 1000 hours of video essays and is generally recognized as a founder of the video essay movement in high-brow periodicals.  A recognized expert on Wes Anderson, Zoller Seitz is also notable because he often mixes other cinematic media (especially television) into his analysis, as in the above example, which doubles as an experiment in the absence of voiceover.

Various contributors, Press Play Co-founded by Matt Zoller Seitz and Ken Cancelosi,  Press Play  (published by Indiewire)   is one of the oldest high-brow venues for video essays about television, cinema, and other aspects of popular culture.

Various contributors, Keyframe   (A Fandor online publication) Fandor’s video essay department publishes work from many editors (what many video essayists call themselves) on and in a range of topics and styles.  Check it out to get an idea of all that things a video essay can do!

Various contributors, Moving Image Source A high-brow publication for video essays.

Tony Zhou, Every Frame a Painting The master of video essays on filmic form, Tony’s arguments are clean, simple, and well-evidenced.  Look to Tony as an example of aggressive and precise editing and arrangement.  He’s also an excellent sound editor–pay attention to his choices and try out some of his sound-mixing techniques in your essay.

Adam Johnston, Your Movie Sucks (YMS) Although an excellent example of epideictic film rhetoric, this channel is a great example of what  not  to do in this assignment (write a movie review, gush about how good/bad you think a movie is, focus on motifs or narrative content instead of  film form  as the center of your argument).  What you  can  learn from Adam is a lot about style.  Adam’s delivery, pacing, and editing all work together to promote a mildly-disinterested-and-therefore-credible ethos through a near-monotone, which I’ll affectionately dub the “Daria” narratorial ethos.

Adam Westbrook, delve.tv Adam Westbrook is part of an emerging group of professional video essayists and delve.tv is his version of a visual podcast.  Using the video essay form, Adam has developed a professional public intellectual ethos for himself through skillful overlay of explanation/interpretation and concept.  Check out Westbrook’s work as a really good example of presenting and representing visual concepts crucial to an argument.  He’s a master at making an argument in the form of storytelling, and he uses the video essay as a vehicle for that enterprise.

:: kogonada (various venues) If you found yourself wondering what the auteur video essay might look like, :: kogonada is it.  I like to call this “expressionist” video essay style.  Kogonada is the ultimate minimalist when it comes to voiceover/text over–its message impossibly and almost excessively efficient.  Half of the videos in his library are simple, expertly-executed supercuts , highlighting how heavily video essays rely on the “supercut” technique to make an argument.  Crafting an essay in this style really limits your audience and may not be a very good fit for the constraints of assignment (very “cutting edge,” as we talked about it in class), but you will probably draw inspiration from ::kogonada’s distinct, recognizable style, as well as an idea of what a video essay can do at the outer limits of its form.

Lewis Bond,  Channel Criswell Narrating in brogue-y Northern English, Bond takes his time, releasing a very carefully-edited, high-production video essay once every couple of months.  He’s a decent editor, but I feel his essays tend to run long, and I feel rushed by his narration at times.  Bond also makes a useful distinction between video essays and analysis/reviews on his channel–and while most of his analysis/reviews focus on film content (what you don’t want to imitate), his video essays stay pretty focused on film technique (what you do).  Hearing the same author consciously engage in two different modes of analysis might help you better understand the distinction between the two, as well.

Jack Nugent,  Now You See It Nugent’s brisk, formal analysis is both insightful and accessible–a good example of what it takes to secure a significant following in the highly-competitive Youtube marketplace.  [That’s my way of slyly calling him commercial.] Nugent is especially good at pairing his narration with his images.  Concentrate and reflect upon his simple pairings as you watch–how does Nugent help you process both sets of information at the pacing he sets?

Evan Puschak, The Nerdwriter Nerdwriter  is a great example the diversity of topics a video essay can be used to craft an argument about.  Every week, Puschak publishes an episode on science, art, and culture.  Look at all the different things Puschak considers visual rhetoric and think about how he’s using the video essay form to make honed, precisely-executed arguments about popular culture.

Dennis Hartwig and John P. Hess,  FilmmakerIQ Hartwig and Hess use video essays to explain filmmaking technique to aspiring filmmakers.  I’ve included the channel here as another example of what  not  to do in your argument, although perhaps some of the technical explanations that Hartwig and Hess have produced might help you as secondary sources.  Your target audience (someone familiar on basic film theory trying to better understand film form) is likely to find the highly technical, prescriptive arguments on FilmIQ boring or alienating. Don’t focus on technical production in your essay (how the film accomplishes a particular visual technique using a camera); rather, focus on how the audience interprets the end result in the film itself; in other words, focus on choices the audience can notice and interpret–how is the audience interpreting the product of production?  How often is the audience thinking about/noticing production in that process?

Kevin B. Lee (various venues) A good example of the older, high-brow generation of video essayists, Kevin’s collection of work hosted on his Vimeo channel offers slow, deliberate, lecture-inspired readings of film techniques and form.  Note the distinct stylistic difference between Kevin’s pacing and someone like Zhou or Lewis.  How does delivery affect reception?

Software Guides

How to access Lynda tutorials (these will change your life)

Handbrake and MakeMKV  (file converters)

Adobe Premiere  (video editing)

Camtasia  (screen capture)

File management

Use your free UTBox account to upload and manage your files.  Make sure you’ve got some sort of system for tracking and assembling everything into your video editing software.   UTBox has a 2 terabyte limit (much higher than Google Drive) and is an excellent file management resource for all sorts of academic work.

Adobe Premiere saves versions with links to your video files, so it’s imperative that you keep your video files folder in the same place on every machine you open it up on.  That’s why I keep all my video files in a big folder on box that I drop on the desktop of any machine I’m working on before I open my premiere files.  The Adobe Premiere project walkthrough  has more details on this.

Where to find video and how to capture it

About fair use . Make sure your composition complies with the Fair Use doctrine and familiarize yourself with the four criteria.

The best place to capture images is always from a high-resolution DVD or video file .  The first place you should go to get the film is the library– see instructions for searching here .

To import the video and audio from your DVD or video file into your video editing software (like Premiere), you will first need to use a software to convert it to an .mkv.  See instructions on how to do that here .

Camtasia tutorials .  Camtasia is a program that allows you to capture anything that’s going on on your screen .  This is a critical tool for this assignment as you decide what kind of interface you want to present to your reader in your video essay.  Camtasia also allows you to capture any high-quality video playing on your desktop without licensing restrictions.

You can also use Clip Converter to capture images and sound from pre-existing YouTube videos , and it may be a little faster and easier than Camtasia.   I suggest converting things into .mkv before putting them into your video editor, regardless of where you get the material from.

Film theory and criticism

• /r/truefilm’s reading and viewing guide

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Video Application Essay: Guide, Tips, and Insight

Some colleges allow applicants to submit a video as part of the application process instead of the traditional essay or as supplement material.

The idea of a video essay borrows a screen studies perspective where students produce a video that analyzes specific topics or themes relating to a specific film or TV show.

Simply put, a video essay is a visual representation of your written essay; however, there is more to it .

Unlike traditional essays, videos allow you to highlight your personality and provide an exposition on why you deserve the chance at a university or college.

A compelling video essay will set you apart from other applicants and increase your chances of acceptance at your dream college. If you want to impress the admissions boards, take your time to come up with the right topic and plan your work.

If you do not know how to create and present a perfect video essay, our experts have put together this comprehensive guide with steps, tips, and useful insights.

What is a Video Essay?

A video essay is a 5-10-minute audiovisual representation of a person, a thesis, or a topic. It allows you to put a face to the application, becoming more than just a name with test scores or achievements.

According to Max Kiefer, author of How to Make a Winning College Application Video Essay , your video essay is the face of your application letter. It lets you control what the audience will view and eliminates most aspects of a live interview. It aims to persuade or convince the recruiting committee that you are worth a chance.

A video essay can be video, image, or text and use a variety of visual and audio elements to support ideas or engage the target audience.

Components of a Video Essay

Like a written essay, you must develop an argument based on the given topic. The video essay will mimic the structure of a film to advance all your arguments. Therefore, you will need to include the following:

• Strong Introduction - this should set the stage for the rest of the video. You should clearly state what your thesis is with either text on the screen or voiceover.
• A coherent and well-structured body- this should present your arguments and evidence examples supporting your thesis and arguments. You can also include animation and music to show the transition to the next points.
• Conclusion - This summarizes all your main points and offers final thoughts.
• Visual Style - this should be clear and engaging. Use various media, such as images and texts, to enhance what you are discussing.
• A great audio quality - your narration should be clear and audible. Make sure the choice of song is appropriate.

You need to approach it in the same manner you would any other type of academic essay. Video essays comprise three main elements:

• Sound (music and audio)
• Words (spoken and written)

Types of Video Essays

A video essay can be a powerful form of communication, but only if you know how to do one. Fortunately, various types of video essays can help you create one for your application. Examples of these types include:

• Auto-narrated videos that utilize a voiceover given by the instructor
• Self-narrated videos that have a personal narrator. It involves you narrating your essay
• Slide shows

Your choice of video essay will depend on what you intend to achieve.

Take note that a video essay is not just a collage of random materials. Rather, it is the systematic presentation of an organized and well-reasoned argument. For this reason, it is sometimes used to replace a traditional research essay. Most colleges and universities will suggest equivalent video length for essay word counts. For instance, a 5-minute video should have between 750 and 1,000 words of essays.

Check that you have done the following if you want a worthwhile video essay.

• You've done the research and planned your work well
• Provided sufficient evidence and examples
• Provided a great structure for the video
• Properly edited the video

As a form of communication, video essays should be engaging and informative. This means you should avoid unnecessary language information and beating around the bush. Take note that for your video essay to be up to par, you have to bring the following skill sets together:

• Critical thinking
• Technological literacy
• Speech-writing
• Textual analysis

Steps for Writing and Shooting a Video Essay for College Application

A video essay is your chance to make a great impression, so you must learn how to create one. The steps for creating a video essay are almost similar to that of a written essay. However, you will need to have technology skills to put everything together.

Read to Understand the Instructions Given

Colleges and universities usually provide guidelines and instructions on how video essays should be created and structured. They will also tell you how long your video should be, so pay attention to the instructions. Overall, you should aim for quality over quantity.

Create a Topic

After reading the instructions, decide on the topic for the video. Some universities may ask you to talk about a particular topic or give a personal introduction.

If you are writing a personal interview, make sure you answer the following:

• Why do you want an opportunity to attend that specific college?
• Whether you intend to make any difference in the school
• What will you do when accepted at the institution?

In other words, say why you will be a good fit for the school.

Other colleges may allow you to choose a topic that interests you. If this is the case, you need to brainstorm great topic ideas. Think of what will best represent you as a person and why you desire to go to the particular institution. Remember that a good topic should be lucrative and exciting. It should also generate a successful video essay.

Outline Your Points

An outline is an organized list of all the points you intend to talk about in your video. It will help you create a strong narrative that the representatives will follow from the beginning to the end. The college representatives will look at different things in your video, including your production skills. So make sure you create a good script and practice several times to come up with something worthwhile. You can use your phone for this, and once you feel satisfied with the results, proceed to the next step. If you are illustrating a point, include anecdotes or story highlights.

Start with a Strong Hook

The opening of your video essay can make or break your initial impression. A strong hook makes an assertive claim about the chosen topic. It should grab the viewer's attention right from the beginning so that they want to listen more. A strong hook could be a thought-provoking question or a brief story about your life. Remember that you only have a few seconds to grab the attention of the admissions committee, who are probably busy, so make the most of it.

Introduce Yourself to the Admissions Board

Next, you need to introduce yourself. Mention your name, age, hometown, educational background, and interests. Take advantage of this opportunity to establish a connection with your audience.

Say the Course You'd Like to Pursue

Once you are accepted at the institution, say what courses or programs you would like to pursue. Explain why the particular program is dear to you and what motivated you to choose it. Doing this will show the audience that you have a clear vision about your education journey.

Additionally, share the qualities and strengths that attracted you to the school and the program. This can be the extracurricular activities offered, internship opportunities, campus culture, etc.

Share the Skills and Values Your Bring

Do you have special skills or strengths that will benefit the institution? Include them in your video essay. This is your chance to sell yourself and show that you will be valuable to the school. If you are skilled in any extracurricular activities, such as sports or music, that will impact the school, include them in your video.

Share Your Dreams

Paint a picture of the long-term goals you want to achieve even after getting that degree. Share the impact you want or create in your community or the world. Tell the committee how your degree will help you achieve this dream.

Shooting the Video

Shooting a high-quality video demands that you have high-quality gadgets. Fortunately, we live in an era where digital cameras can produce high-quality pictures and videos. If you do not have a digital camera, use your iPhone or Android smartphone. Keep the following in mind when using your phone:

• Use the back camera to get quality footage
• Shoot horizontally instead of vertically
• Turn on the overlay grid on your phone

If you want steadier shots, consider purchasing a gimbal stabilizer , an external microphone for better audio quality, and a video tripod.

Plan Your Shoot

If you want to create a high-quality film like a pro, plan the production from start to finish. To do this, create a storyboard. A storyboard is simply a series of interpretations of the scenes in your video that pre-visualize your final footage and desired shots.

Use Imagery

What are you depicting in your video? Think of your background. If you are in the bedroom or living space, make sure it is clean and tidy. Take advantage of your trophies if you have one and display them, particularly if you earned them from extracurricular competitions.

If your room or house is not good enough, film the video outdoors, like in the backyard or a nearby park. Whichever background you choose, make sure it reveals a part of your personality.

If you use images and clips in your videos, make sure they directly depict what you are talking about. A rich library of these images and clips will help you select the correct ones.

Correct the Color of Your Shots

If you want to highlight certain elements, evoke emotions or set the correct atmosphere, then you need to manipulate color. There are lots of color editing options you can use to improve your video. Professional editors use either color correction or color grading. Color correction ensures color in each clip is consistent throughout the film or color grading to give the video a different look. Both of these features are important, especially when you want to make certain scenes as realistic as possible.

Editing Your Footage Using Software

Before you send the video, you must make sure it does not have any errors. Properly edit your video to submit a polished final cut. Some of the techniques you can use include:

• Standard cut: the most common video editing technique. It is where one scene moves to the next without any visual transitions. This form of editing is simple, but it does not mean you should just cut any way you like. You have to do it creatively to ensure visual flow and continuity.
• Crossfade: This is often used to demonstrate the passage of time or to show different scenes filmed at different times.
• Cross Cut: This editing technique is necessary when you want to show events that are happening simultaneously. You can also use it to display similar events that are happening in two well-defined timelines.
• Fade In and Fade Out: This involves fading in and out of a scene with adequate sound effects. You can acquire these sounds from the public music domain.

Several free video editing software can help you garnish the clip attractively. For instance, Videoleap is a great software that you can use to edit essays on your smartphone. The tool gives you control of all the tools to ensure your footage comes out great. You can also try the following Adobe Premiere Pro , Avid Media Composer , or DaVinci Resolve , which offers a free comprehensive lite version.

Make sure you merge all the images into a single clip to create some form of narration. While doing this, ensure you keep your target audience in mind.

Tips for Making Your Video Essay Stand Out

Remember, you are competing with thousands of students for a chance to join that particular institution. Therefore, you need to make sure your video stands out from the rest. The following tips can help ensure this is possible.

Have Good Lighting

One of the best secrets for creating a high-quality video is having good lighting. Consider the types of light you will need and where you intend to place them to achieve your desired effect. If you are using lamps and sun because you are on a budget, think of how you can make them work to your advantage.

Dress Decently

First impressions matter a lot, so you need to ensure you are presentable. Wear presentable clothes like you would for a one-on-one interview. Make sure your hair is well groomed and you have positive body language. Doing this will boost your confidence and help you pass the message across.

Answer All the Questions Directly

If you have any questions, you need to answer them as they are. To make things easier, write all the questions and answers as well as the timestamp on the clip where you have answered them.

Practice Your Answers Instead of Reading Them Out

Your target audience will get bored and distracted if you read your answers from a piece of paper. Also, avoid memorizing the text, as it will come out bland. Make sure you practice all of your responses and hit all the points before you begin shooting the video.

Show Your Personality

For the admissions boards to get to know you, they need to see your personality. Therefore, be yourself and talk about the things you love. Talk about your interests and what keeps you going even in tough times. Also, try to relax while doing this. Be the best version of yourself rather than the applicant.

Watch Video Editing Tutorials

If you do not have any skills in video production, you need to watch a few tutorials to guide you. Many of these tutorials are free and easily accessible. Some of the websites you can try include Video Copilot, Skillshare, and Red Giant, which have many specific tutorials on how to create videos.

Video essays are an important part of the college application process. It serves as a personal introduction to your college application. Even though not all colleges ask for them, those that do expect high-quality and engaging content, this is the chance to sell yourself to the admission board and increase your chances of being accepted.

To come up with a high-quality video, you need to have the right topic, an outline of all your points, and the right hook to capture the audience's attention. You must also plan your work well by creating a storyboard, having the right tools, and using imagery in your film. Additionally, you should edit your work using the right software to ensure the final footage is great.

Finally, as you create your video, keep in mind that the goal is to tell a compelling story. Do more than the basic, and embrace the opportunity to create aesthetically pleasing and emotion-evoking content that will convey the intended message. Use the technical and practical skills you have to achieve this rather than adding unnecessary effects to impress the admissions committee.

If you need help with writing a perfect video essay write-up (call it a script), including the talking points and directions, do not hesitate to place an order on our website. GradeCrest has expert writers who can help.

Gradecrest is a professional writing service that provides original model papers. We offer personalized services along with research materials for assistance purposes only. All the materials from our website should be used with proper references. See our Terms of Use Page for proper details.

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What it takes for video essayists to breakthrough on YouTube

Lindsay Ellis, Michael Tucker, T1J, Maggie Mae Fish, and Patrick Willems discuss the art of dissecting art

by Polygon Staff

If you buy something from a Polygon link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

In the last 10 years, YouTube video essays — on movies, on TV shows, on games, on pop culture, on everyday life — have entered a renaissance. But how do you make a video essay? What does it take to run a YouTube channel that can let a creator’s creativity thrive and serve a demanding audience? How much do algorithms control the pop conversation, and how is someone supposed to break through?

Knowing that dissecting art is an art in itself, Polygon asked some of the top video essayists working on YouTube today to come together in conversation at the 2020 New York Comic Con Metaverse. On Saturday at 9 p.m. EDT/ 6 p.m. PDT, Lindsay Ellis , Michael Tucker ( Lessons from the Screenplay ), Kevin Peterson ( T1J ), and Maggie Mae Fish join moderator, fellow creator, and occasional Polygon contributor Patrick Willems to talk through their career arcs and reflect on what it takes to make a career out of video essays.

Want a taste?

“YouTube really encourages you to fixate on numbers and the algorithm,” Ellis says during the roundtable. “And the way the backend is set up [...] it’s designed to play to your anxiety and it’s designed to, like, make you freak out if your video isn’t doing as well as the last 10. I would like to be emotionally liberated from that because I do think it creatively stifles you. You’re making content based not on what you’re interested in, but what you think will get clicks. I wish I could just be OK with the fact that I’m not going to get a million views a video anymore. That should be OK. I should be allowed to do that.”

Watch the full, 45-minute panel above for even more insight and anecdotes.

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• Video Creation >

Unlike traditional essays, video essays combine visuals, audio, text to analyze or explain a certain topic. Educators use it to break down complex subjects so that students can perform better in classes. Students use it to apply for college. Content creators use this type of video to influence public opinion or raise awareness about important issues.

Video essays are more common than you thought. Also, you don’t even need fancy video editing software or invest a large sum of money to create one. In the following parts, we will be showing you one easiest and most effective ways to a satisfying video essay.

Video Essay Examples

Part 1. The Video Essay Maker We Need

AI tools are changing the way we live, and AI video editors are making video essay creation easier than ever! FlexClip is one of them. It can automatically generate a video essay based on the prompt or essay text you enter.

FlexClip Text to Video Overview

Here are more FlexClip can help out:

• Generate excellent text essays with ChatGPT. Tell FlexClip the theme of the video essay, you will get the best-ever AI essay script perfect for video creation.

FlexClip Script Writer Overview

• Farewell to robotic AI voiceover. FlexClip’s AI text-to-speech tool reads out anything for you in a natural, melodious voice. 140+ language support, and 400 voices will certainly meet all your needs.

FlexClip Text to Speech Overview

• Authentically translate your video subtitle or voiceover into 60+ languages. Make your video go global and reach more audiences!

FlexClip Video Translate Overview

• Tons of video essay templates designed by professionals are ready to be edited and personalized. Go to FlexClip’s template page and get more inspiration.

5 Easy Steps to Make a Video Essay

If you are at FlexClip’s editing page, you are only 5 steps away from a satisfying video essay. Let’s get started now!

Step 1. Preparation

Getting organized always makes you more effective, the same applies to video essay creation. You need to put all media resources like music, photos, video clips in one folder.

Do remember to summarize your text essay into a bullet list. Anyway, video essays are not all about details, but about making ideas more digestible.

Next up, visit FlexClip’s media section, click on the Upload files button, and follow the prompt to upload all photos, videos, music from a local folder, cloud services, and mobile device needed for video essay creation.

Upload Resources to FlexClip

Step 2. Generate a Video Essay Draft

Once you input your text essay, FlexClip can understand the content, match the content with resources from the stock library, and then use them to create a slideshow. AI will add transitions and filters to those media resources to make everything go smoothly.

Go to Tools > AI Video Generator. Here you can enter a prompt to generate a video, or generate videos from an article or URL. Copy the article content or blog URL to FlexClip, select the subtitle style and hit Generate.

Generate a Video with Text

FlexClip will automatically find the key sentences from the article and match them with media resources. You can deselect or re-select the key sentences, replace the resources, adjust the duration, even manually edit the subtitle content. Hit Add to Timeline to confirm all changes.

Finish Video Essay Draft

Step 3. Edit the Video Essay

As we mentioned earlier, the AI text-to-video tool only creates a draft video essay. To make your video essay outstanding, you have to make some manual edits. Here are some ideas to edit your video essay.

Click on any item on the scene, all available editing tools will pop up above the preview window. The most frequently used tools include cropping, speed changer, filters, chroma key.

Instead, move to the text section to add more information, find the right background music to replace, or go to the Elements section to enrich your video essay with stickers, interesting GIFs, widgets, etc. All resources are listed on the left-side panel. Feel free to explore.

Edit Video Essay

Step 4. Add More AI Touches

Voiceover is an essential part of the video essay. You can record your own voice, but why not grab a cup of coffee and let AI do the job? Select the language, choose a voice, and the voice style you love, set up the speed and pitch, you will soon get a natural AI voiceover.

Generate AI Voiceover

Make your video essay go global with authentic translation! FlexClip can help you translate video essay subtitles, translate video audio to audio, and even project text into 60 more languages. Select the target language and let translation begin.

Generate AI Translation

Step 5. Export & Share

Enjoy the ultimate freedom of sharing your video essay at FlexClip. Besides directly downloading to your computer, you can also save the video to cloud services, share the video via a short link, or one-click post to YouTube, TikTok.

Tips for Creating an Excellent Video Essay

Never created one video essay before? Following are 3 must-read tips for making excellent video essays.

• Write Eye-Catching & Strong Video Script

The script is the backbone of your video essay. You should pick a nice topic to make sure you have enough potential viewers, and do thorough research so that your script is trustworthy.

Start with a hook to grab your audience’s attention. Use storytelling techniques and concise sentences to keep them engaged throughout the video.

• High-Quality Footage and Images

Incorporate relevant and high-quality visuals that complement your script. Use original footage, stock footage, and public domain images where applicable at least in 1080P.

Most people will ignore the sound quality. Invest in a quiet environment and a good microphone to minimize background noise. Also, edit your audio to remove any mistakes and pauses.

• Edit for Pacing and Clarity

Edit your video essay to maintain a good pace and ensure clarity. Avoid long, unbroken segments of talking. Instead, use cuts, transitions, and visual changes to keep the audience engaged. You can also edit the video to the music beat.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. what’s the difference between vlog and video essay.

Vlogs are videos showcasing someone’s daily life. Video essays are more like essays in video form. They are used to convey excellent messages and spread information.

2. Can I monetize my video essays?

Yes, you can monetize your video essay through platforms like YouTube by enabling ads, partner programs, offering premium content. Please refer to the social platform’s monetizing policies and guidelines.

3. How do I write a script for a video essay?

Writing a script for a video essay involves extracting the main points from the essay and making it more like spoken sentences. Please keep in mind that the text should accompany the voiceover.

Member of PearlMountain Limited. Has a mania for video editing. Love to share photo/video shooting tips and ideas.

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The Audiovisual Essay

Practice and Theory in Videographic Film and Moving Image Studies

HOW-TO VIDEO ESSAYS by Greer Fyfe and Miriam Ross

HOW-TO VIDEO ESSAYS

By Greer Fyfe and Miriam Ross

If you have never done any video work before it may seem intimidating at first but you will find it easier than you think if you work through the following steps. Seek help if you get stuck (Google is often a quick solution).

Getting started

• Ideally just one sentence;
• Write this down, keep referring to it and don’t be afraid of modifying it as you go through the whole process.
• voice-over ( https://vimeo.com/96558506 )?
• text+image ( http://vimeo.com/28201216 )?
• supercut ( https://vimeo.com/88077122 )?
• Don’t try to create something too complicated. Start with simple ideas and gather limited material at the beginning until you are confident that you can add more.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o47Lr9GXEnI
• https://vimeo.com/album/3198467
• http://vimeo.com/groups/essay
• http://framescinemajournal.com/article/video-essays-in-the-cinema-history-classroom/
• http://festivalists.com/post/110533801961/videoessay
• http://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/intransition/
• https://reframe.sussex.ac.uk/audiovisualessay/

Collecting material

• Remember not to go overboard at the beginning as it is easy to download multiple files. Think about what you need to start the project and add more later.
• There are some online guides to ripping DVDs using readily available software: http://lifehacker.com/380702/five-best-dvd-ripping-tools ; http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/2696/how-to-rip-dvds-with-vlc/
• This can be a tricky area, particularly as some DVDs with greater level of encryption might be harder to rip than others. If you are not confident in this area stick to the other options for gathering material.
• Try to cut down ripped files into sections that you will need. If not you will be working with very big files that may overload your editing software.
• If you can play a film on your computer then you can grab still images from it.
• On a PC. Press PrtScn and then find somewhere you want to paste the image (ie. image editing software). Press Ctrl+V. If you have captured the whole computer screen you may need to crop the image.
• On a Mac. Press Command+Shift+3. This will save the image to your desktop. If you have captured the whole computer screen you may need to crop the image.
• If you don’t have a microphone available, look at your phones and your computer to see if they have a voice/sound recording option.
• Think about who will provide the voice. Make sure whoever does so is comfortable with their voice being used in this way.
• One DIY solution is to use your phone to film material when it plays on a TV or other device. This will create low quality images but is an option if all else fails.
• Use your academic skills to find quotes, factual statements and citations you might incorporate
• Although the footage and images you are working with don’t have to be HD, they should be clearly visible when blown up to full screen size
• When working in groups decide who is gathering what material and make sure this workload is distributed evenly.
• Some of this material will take up a lot of space. Make sure you have designated folders available, that you label your material carefully so you know what it is and that you have a plan for backing-up this work.

Editing material

• If you have not used this editing software before, familiarise yourself with it and do a short practice run.
• If you are familiar with other editing software you can use it.
• Feel free to experiment with split screens, diagrams and text but don’t over do it.
• If you are including a voice over you will need to decide if you do the voice over first and edit the visual material to match the voice over or if you organise the visual material first and then create a voice-over to match it. Neither way is better than the other and there will be some to and fro between the two options.
• Include a bibliography/filmography of sources used at the end of the video
• If this is an academic piece that will be assessed in an academic context aim for a formal rather than colloquial/funny style.

Post-first draft

• Add colour filters
• Swap a voice-over for text screens and vice-versa
• Return to your original argument. Have you made a clear and obvious argument in the video essay?
• Test playback. Check the video will play okay on different computers/television screens.

The How-to Guides as PDFs

• GUIDE A: Downloading Audiovisual Content
• GUIDE B: Editing your Own Content
• GUIDE C: Creating a Mash Up
• GUIDE D: Sharing your Work
• GUIDE E: Extra Software
• How-to Video Essays [as PDF]

Copyright information

The above and linked to information, where it pertains to the use of copyright material, is shared under the understanding that  Fair Use or Fair Dealing  legal exceptions are generally established—for educational, critical and private research purposes—in many, if not all, national jurisdictions. These exceptions have also been supported and successfully defended by a number of prominent professional academic associations including the Society for Cinema and Media Studies . Readers or users of this information will need to ensure for themselves that they obey the laws of the legal territories in which they live. Neither the authors nor REFRAME , University of Sussex, will accept any liability for actions readers or users freely choose to take.

The authors and copyright holders of the above text and linked PDFs— Greer Fyfe and Miriam Ross —have shared their work under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike licence.  CC BY-SA. February 2015.

• TEXT: Greer Fyfe and Miriam Ross
• GUIDE Design: Greer Fyfe

Biographical Note

Miriam Ross is Senior Lecturer in the Film Programme at Victoria University of Wellington. She is the author of South American Cinematic Culture: Policy, Production, Distribution and Exhibition (2010) and 3D Cinema: Optical Illusions and Tactile Experiences (2015).

Greer Fyfe is a Research Assistant at Victoria University of Wellington.

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What Is a Video Essay? Definition & Examples Of Video Essays

A video essay consists of a series of videos that collectively, present an in-depth analysis or interpretation of a given subject or topic.

In this way, a video essay can be thought of as a condensed version of a lengthy written article.

VIDEO ESSAY

What is a video essay.

A video essay is an audio-visual presentation of your thoughts on a topic or text that usually lasts between 5 and 10 minutes long.

It can take the form of any type of media such as film, animation, or even PowerPoint presentations.

The most important thing to remember when creating a video essay is to include voiceover narration throughout the whole project so that viewers feel they are listening in on your thoughts and ideas rather than watching passively.

Video essays are typically created by content creators’ critics to make arguments about cinema, television, art history, and culture more broadly.

Ever wondered how ideas unfold in the dynamic world of video?

That’s where video essays come in.

They’re a compelling blend of documentary and personal reflection, packed into a visually engaging package.

We’ll dive deep into the art of the video essay, a form that’s taken the internet by storm.

In this article, we’ll explore how video essays have revolutionized storytelling and education.

They’re not just a person talking to a camera; they’re a meticulously crafted narrative, often weaving together film footage, voiceover, text, and music to argue and inform.

Stick with us as we unpack the nuances that make video essays a unique and powerful medium for expression and learning.

Components Of A Video Essay

As storytellers and educators, we recognize the intricate elements that comprise a video essay.

Each component is vital for communicating the essay’s message and maintaining the audience’s engagement.

Narrative Structure serves as the backbone of a video essay.

Our crafting of this structure relies on a cinematic approach where the beginning, middle, and end serve to introduce, argue, and explore our ideas.

Film Footage then breathes life into our words.

We handpick scenes from various sources, be it iconic or obscure, to visually accentuate our narrative.

The Voiceover we provide acts as a guide for our viewers.

It delivers our analysis and commentary, ensuring our perspective is heard.

Paired with this is the Text and Graphics segment, offering another layer of interpretation.

We animate bullet points, overlay subtitles, and incorporate infographics to highlight key points.

Our sound design, specifically the Music and Sound Effects , creates the video essay’s atmosphere.

It underscores the emotions we wish to evoke and punctuates the points we make.

This auditory component is as crucial as the visual, as it can completely change the viewer’s experience.

We also pay close attention to the Editing and Pacing .

This ensures our video essays are not only informative but also engaging.

The rhythm of the cuts and transitions keeps viewers invested from start to finish.

In essence, a strong video essay is a tapestry woven with:

• Narrative Structure – the story’s framework,
• Film Footage – visual evidence supporting our claims,
• Voiceover – our distinctive voice that narrates the essay,
• Text and Graphics – the clarity of our arguments through visual aids,
• Music and Sound Effects – the emotive undercurrent of our piece,
• Editing and Pacing – the flow that maintains engagement.

Each element works Along with the others, making our video essays not just informative, but also a cinematic experience.

Through these components, we offer a comprehensive yet compelling way of storytelling that captivates and educates our audience.

The Power Of Visual Storytelling

Visual storytelling harnesses the innate human attraction to imagery and narrative.

At its core, a video essay is a compelling form of visual storytelling that combines the rich tradition of oral narrative with the dynamic appeal of cinema.

The impact of visual storytelling in video essays can be profound.

When crafted effectively, they engage viewers on multiple sensory levels – not just audibly but visually, leading to a more immersive and memorable experience.

Imagery in visual storytelling isn’t merely decorative.

It’s a crucial carrier of thematic content, enhancing the narrative and supporting the overarching message.

By incorporating film footage and stills, video essays create a tapestry of visuals that resonate with viewers.

• Film Footage – Brings concepts to life with cinematic flair,
• Stills and Graphics – Emphasize key points and add depth to the narrative.

Through the deliberate choice of images and juxtaposition, video essays are able to articulate complex ideas.

They elicit emotions and evoke reactions that pure text or speech cannot match.

From documentaries like An Inconvenient Truth to educational content on platforms like TED-Ed, video essays have proven their capacity to inform and inspire.

Sound design in video essays goes beyond mere accompaniment; it’s an integral component of storytelling.

Music and sound effects set the tone, heighten tension, and can even alter the audience’s perception of the visuals.

It’s this synergy that elevates the story, giving it texture and nuance.

• Music – Sets the emotional tone,
• Sound Effects – Enhances the realism of the visuals.

Crafting a narrative in this medium isn’t just about what’s on screen.

It requires an understanding of how each element – from script to sound – works in concert.

This unity forms an intricate dance of auditory and visual elements that can transform a simple message into a powerful narrative experience.

The Influence Of Video Essays In Education

Video essays have become a dynamic tool in academic settings, transcending traditional teaching methods.

By blending entertainment with education, they engage students in ways that lectures and textbooks alone cannot.

How To Create A Powerful Video Essay

Creating a compelling video essay isn’t just about stitching clips together.

It requires a blend of critical thinking, storytelling, and technical skill.

Choose a Central Thesis that resonates with your intended audience.

Like any persuasive essay, your video should have a clear argument or point of view that you aim to get across.

Research Thoroughly to support your thesis with factual data and thought-provoking insights.

Whether you’re dissecting themes in The Great Gatsby or examining the cinematography of Citizen Kane , your analysis must be thorough and well-founded.

Plan Your Narrative Structure before jumping into the editing process.

Decide the flow of your argument and how each segment supports your central message.

Typically, you’d include:

• An intriguing introduction – set the stage for what’s coming,
• A body that elaborates your thesis – present your evidence and arguments,
• Clearly separated sections – these act as paragraphs would in written essays.

Visuals Are Key in a video essay.

We opt for high-quality footage that not only illustrates but also enhances our narrative.

Think of visuals as examples that will bring your argument to life.

Audio selection Should Never Be an Afterthought.

Pair your visuals with a soundtrack that complements the mood you’re aiming to create.

Voice-overs should be clear and paced in a way that’s easy for the audience to follow.

Editing Is Where It All Comes Together.

Here, timing and rhythm are crucial to maintain viewer engagement.

We ensure our cuts are clean and purposeful, and transition effects are used judiciously.

Interactive Elements like on-screen text or graphics can add a layer of depth to your video essay.

Use such elements to highlight important points or data without disrupting the flow of your narrative.

Feedback Is Invaluable before finalizing your video essay.

We often share our drafts with a trusted group to gain insights that we might have missed.

It’s a part of refining our work to make sure it’s as impactful as it can be.

Remember, creating a video essay is about more than compiling clips and sound – it’s a form of expression that combines film criticism with visual storytelling.

It’s about crafting an experience that informs and intrigues, compelling the viewer to see a subject through a new lens.

With the right approach, we’re not just delivering information; we’re creating an immersive narrative experience.

What Is A Video Essay – Wrap Up

We’ve explored the intricate craft of video essays, shedding light on their ability to captivate and inform.

By weaving together compelling visuals and sound with a strong narrative, we can create immersive experiences that resonate with our audience.

Let’s harness these tools and share our stories, knowing that with the right approach, our video essays can truly make an impact.

Remember, it’s our unique perspective and creative vision that will set our work apart in the ever-evolving landscape of digital storytelling.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is visual storytelling in video essays.

Visual storytelling in video essays is the craft of using visual elements to narrate a story or present an argument, engaging viewers on a sensory level beyond just text or speech.

Why Is Visual Storytelling Important In Video Essays?

Visual storytelling is important because it captures attention and immerses the audience, making the content more memorable and impactful through the integration of visuals, sound, and narrative.

What Are The Key Elements Of A Powerful Video Essay?

The key elements include a central thesis, thorough research, a well-planned narrative structure, high-quality visuals, fitting audio, effective editing, interactive components, and a compelling immersive narrative experience.

How Do I Choose A Central Thesis For My Video Essay?

Choose a central thesis that is focused, debatable, and thought-provoking to anchor your video essay and give it a clear direction.

What Should I Focus On During The Research Phase?

Focus on gathering varied and credible information that supports your thesis and enriches the narrative with compelling facts and insights.

What Role Does Audio Play In Video Essays?

Audio enhances the visual experience by adding depth to the narrative, providing emotional cues, and aiding in information retention.

How Can Interactive Elements Improve My Video Essay?

Interactive elements can enhance engagement by allowing viewers to participate actively, often leading to a deeper understanding and connection with the content.

Why Is Feedback Important In Creating A Video Essay?

Feedback is crucial as it provides insights into how your video essay is perceived, allowing you to make adjustments to improve clarity, impact, and viewer experience.

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A video essay is a type of video that is used to present a single, cohesive argument or idea. They can be used to communicate a complex idea in a way that is easy to understand. They can also be used to show how a

It is indeed.

Absolutely, Greg.

Great post! I found the definition of video essays to be particularly insightful.

As someone who is new to the world of video essays, it’s helpful to understand the different forms and purposes of this medium. The examples you provided were also enlightening, particularly the one on the First Amendment.

I’m looking forward to exploring more video essays in the future!

I found this post to be incredibly informative and helpful in understanding the concept of video essays.

As a budding filmmaker, I’m intrigued by the idea of blending traditional essay structure with visual storytelling. The examples provided in the post were particularly insightful, showcasing the versatility of video essays in capturing complex ideas and emotions. I can’t wait to explore this medium further and see where it takes me!

I found this post really fascinating, especially the section on the different types of video essays. I never knew there were so many variations!

As a student, I’m definitely going to start experimenting with video essays as a way to express myself and communicate my ideas. Thanks for sharing!

Interesting read! I’m curious to explore more video essays and see how they can be used to convey complex ideas in an engaging way.

Appreciate the comment

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4 Easy Steps On How To Make A Video Essay

Just like photo essays and traditional essays, video essays tell a story or make a point. The only difference is that it presents the information or story in video form.

However, how to make a video essay is a general question in today’s time. As the development of technology and easy access to the internet has changed the traditional method of narrating a story through written essays has to be video essays. It is quite easy to connect with people through videos as compared to written essays as you can attract them in both express and implied ways. It has risen as an effective and efficient mode of presenting the information. 

Thus, this blog will help you understand how to make a video essay proficiently and the significance of making such an essay. Let’s start by discussing what a video essay is.

What is a video essay?

Table of Contents

The essay is a short formal piece of writing to express one’s thoughts, stories, arguments, and so on. Video essay means narrating the content of an essay in a video through pictures, text, music or narration, etc.

This is why it is a bit challenging to make a videos essay as compared to writing a traditional essay. Hence, the importance of learning how to make a video essay arises.

The following picture shows the steps that will help you get going with your project.

How to make a video essay?

Following are the steps involved in how to make a video essay:

1.   Contemplate your topic wisely

• The first and the foremost step in how to make a video essay is to choose a topic for your essays. You can’t jump on to other steps before finalizing your topic. Your topic must address a brief content of the essay. Since it’s a videos essay therefore you have to decide a catchy title with a view to attract and allure your audience.  
• While contemplating a topic for the essay you should always keep in mind that the product or content is the second thing but the title is the first thing to tell the audience about the essay.

2.   Create a script and structure

• After deciding a topic now you have to create a story from your idea. Since video essays work as written essays, therefore you have to build a story on your idea in an interesting way.
• As in a written essay you have to build a structure and outline to present your story, likewise in a video essay you have to drive a video in three stages beginning, middle, and end.
• This step is very mandatory and has to be observed very cautiously. Create your narration or pictures, text beforehand so that you narrate the actual story in the perfect format.
• As soon as you will make your outline then you can write your script in an efficient and effective manner. Writing a story is an art so make it worth watching.

3. Decide the right clips and images

• By now you have decided your title, outline, and structure for your video essay. Now the next step in how to make a video essay is to choose the right clips and images to tell the story in the best manner.You can  create clip  by selecting the most relevant parts of your footage and trimming them down to fit your story’s pacing and structure. Additionally, consider using images that help illustrate your points or add visual interest to the video.
• Since this is the best advantage of a videos essay that you can use pictures and clips to share your views so you also have to make the best use of them accordingly.
• Always use only those pictures, clips, and texts which directly suggest your point of view or argument or your experience and so forth.
• To choose the most suitable clips and texts and images you must have a rich library of the same. The rich library will help you to find exactly what you need and want to support each and every point you make and to rebut the point you want to rebut. Conclusively, you will craft a better video.

4. Edit the video into a single essay

• You have everything ready to go and you are only left to collect and merge all the chosen images and footage into a single video to give it a form of narration.
• While editing your video essay you can use any tools related to editing the videos as there are several videos editing too . It will help you to garnish your video in an attractive manner. You can make changes in the video while remembering your targeted audiences.

How long should a video essay be?

A 10-minute video essay that is clear, focused, stylish, and well-crafted is much better than a 60-minute video essay that is loose, vague, obvious, and thrown together. Thus, concerning traditional written essays, the following are the idea of the expected length of a video essay:

Bonus Point

What are the best video editors.

Following are the best video editors that are free of cost:

(i) Lightworks: It is the best free choice for those who want to create professional-quality movies or videos without spending a penny.

(ii) Hitfilm express: It is also free-to-use video editing software. This software adjusts color balance, trim clips, and exports your projects in different video formats.

(iii) Movie Maker Online: It is a video editor that runs in your browser. to edit a video, you have to upload an unusual vertical project timeline where you can crop clops and add filters or transition effects.

(iiii) Canva: Canva is renowned for offering tens of thousands of templates in every format imaginable for use on every publishing platform. The features that make Canva video editor a fun, special, and effective tool include real-time collaboration, self-recording plus screen recording that is ideal for classes, training, and webinars, pre-licensed audio tracks, content planner, and publisher, as well as brand kit and colors. Canva’s video editor is also accessible on your browser (for online editing), desktop download (if you want offline editing), and mobile (iOS and Android).

(v) Vmaker AI: An easy-to-use AI video editor that turns your raw video footage into professional-looking videos in just one click. It automatically adds B-rolls, background music, transitions, effects, subtitles, intros, outros, and more, making your videos publish-ready with one click. Vmaker AI transforms long-form videos into short-form content and also creates highlights and teasers from your videos. What sets Vmaker AI apart is its feature-packed, full-fledged editing suite that lets the pros craft their videos to perfection.

If you are well versed with this blog, then sure, you know how to make a video essay efficiently and effectively.

Video Essay As Form Of Marketing

The video essay is the latest popular style of essay in which a short video is made to narrate a story or anything as per the genre of the essay. That is why it has emerged as an effective tool of marketing as now companies can sell advertises their products through video essays instead of advertisement videos. This is more efficient than traditional advertisements because it does not directly intend to do marketing. Instead, it depicts the importance of the product through pictures, video clips or story narration, etc. But all this is possible only when you know how to make a video essay.

Quick Links

• The Complete List Of Cause And Effect Essay Topics
• How To Write An Essay Plan?

With the emergence of technology and awareness of technology in people, the method of academics has completely changed and video essay is one of the modern aspects.  In video essays, You can create clip by selecting the most relevant parts of your footage and trimming them down to fit your story’s pacing and structure. Additionally, consider using images that help illustrate your points or add visual interest to the video. It has also become a tool of digital marketing owing to its advantages. But all this is possible only when you know how to make video essays and all the guidelines thereto. It will help to make a good video essay.

Hope you have found out from the above information how to make a video essay, but if you still have any doubts, then you can help from our experts through essay writing help , write essay for me in a very short period, and how to write my essay in an easy way.

What Makes A Video Essay Great?

According to Max Marriner, intellectual accessibility, genuine or hard-hitting evidence, and an engaging host are key formulas for making a good video essay.

Who Made The First Video Essay?

Mathew Turner created a viral youtube essay arguing that Daniel LaRusso, the young hero of the 1984 film, The Karate Kid, was actually the movie’s villain. You first need to know the story behind the video he posted to youtube.

How Do You Structure A Video Essay?

The video essay will have the same features as an essay; an introduction, argument, discussion, and conclusion. Students should be enabled to approach the development of the video essay in the same way as their academic essays; research, write, plan, prepare, edit, and submit.

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A hub for video essays, super cuts, and other videos critically observing media texts.

Getting footage for a video essay

This question has probably been asked a few times here, so if there is another thread with an answer to this, then putting that in the comments would be just as helpful.

I haven't started a channel but have been considering it for reviews/discussions/analyses. Thing is, I'm not sure how to get footage for the videos. I understand I could use my computer's screen capture software to do so, but I have 2 concerns...

How much footage do I record? Do I capture the whole movie? Wouldn't that overload the editing software? Or do I just capture specific bits?

Copyright strikes and being taken down. Are there any articles or videos I can look at to help educate myself on this topic so that I can, at the very least, learn how to avoid it to an extent?

Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you!

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7 tips for making better educational videos

What type of content do you primarily create?

Half of Youtube’s users are on the platform to learn new things . At one point, the platform even  ranked above printed books and in-person activities for how Gen Z preferred to learn . For the second-most visited site on the internet , that’s a massive opportunity for creators.

Viewers on YouTube can learn intro or advanced physics, biology, or economics. They can learn how to fix a car, paint like a Renaissance artist, or create their first video game. They can overcome challenges in their favorite software or find out how to potty train a toddler. Which is to say, no matter what you want to teach, there’s a decent chance you’ll have an audience that wants to learn.

If you’re a creator learning to share your expertise, whether it’s a tutorial, an explainer video, or something else, here’s some helpful ideas to upgrade your educational content.

1. Find a “so what?”

It’s easy for instructors to get caught up in the fine details of conveying information and forget to ask why it matters. An easy creative refrain is to repeatedly ask the question “why would somebody care about this?” Even when the overall answer seems simple—somebody wants to learn to style their outfits better—it’s easy to lose sight of that when you’re in the weeds of, say, fabric type or belt choice. 

This is especially true for classic topics like science and math. The most memorable teachers are the ones who can connect their subjects to the everyday lives and curiosities of their students. 

2. Convey wonder 

Sometimes it’s hard to connect some subjects to people’s lives. Instead, you can do the next best thing: infect people with curiosity. Channels like Crash Course do a great job of conveying a sense of wonder in topics like biology . That sense of astonishment about the world around us can be contagious. Even if you’re not teaching about the foundations of life, enthusiasm and reverence for a topic can go much further than a matter-of-fact explanation.

3. Mix it up

That’s the advice of teacher-turned-YouTuber Mr. Beat .

“At least once every minute or so, I break up the educational content with a jingle, a bad joke, a meme, or just some kind of change to keep the viewer's attention,” he says.

Creators may feel like comedy isn’t their forte, but remember jokes don’t need to be worthy of raucous laughter. They can work well if they just lighten the mood or break the tension. Even a small outtake can do the trick. 

“There should be just as much emphasis on changing up the audio (tone of voice, pace of voice, etc.) as changing the video, as many people listen to videos these days while they do other things,” Beat said.

4. Pivot with questions

Educational videos tend to jump from one point to the next by simply saying so. “Next, we'll learn how to master your audio,” for instance. 

Consider trying to raise questions to the viewer to keep them engaged from one point to the next. “But now that your edit is done, what if it still sounds bad? Tinny or echo-y? Well for that, let’s talk about mastering,” as a better example. You could also skip the question and go for an exciting promise. Consider “If your audio sounds like THIS, I'll show you how to make it sound like THIS.” 

Questions might also address counterpoints (when making an argument) or appear in a more narrative format (the classic: how are they going to get out of this one?).

5. Drive curiosity with hypothetical scenarios

Many educational creators use hypothetical scenarios to drive their script and engage their viewer. Consider this video from ASAPScience, which asks a basic question: What if we eliminated all mosquitos?

The entire video is not about this single scenario. Instead, it answers the prompt and pivots to highlight new research: a novel way to stop the spread of mosquito-borne disease with bacteria. But “What if we infected every mosquito with a bacteria to stop Dengue Fever” doesn’t have quite the ring to it. While this video quickly pivots away from the actual question, many creators will base entire videos on the concept (Like this video from In a Nutshell).

6. Upgrade your graphics

Most educational creators need to show published papers, news articles, photos, or even just screen captures. If you’re not doing that, consider implementing more visual aids.

But if you are, take this as an opportunity to upgrade the way you show papers and articles.

A new creator might show a static screenshot of an article they’re discussing for a few seconds. If you’re at this point, try adding a subtle zoom or pan (like a Ken Burns documentary). You might also add small animations to highlight specific key words or phrases. (Here’s how to do that in Descript ).

If you’re already using zoom and pan animations, consider new ways to add depth and motion. In this video , creators Colin and Samir skip the pans and zooms and instead go for dynamic cuts between close-ups of individual words, quick highlight animations, and manipulating text colors to draw attention. There’s no one right answer, but even if you’re not a skilled animator, there are motion libraries like Envato and Motion Array with great templates to bring static images to life.

7. Be authentic and conversational

The best educational creators come off as authentic and casual while delivering great information. 

“Any story hits you harder if the person delivering it doesn’t sound like a news robot but, in fact, sounds like a real person having the reactions a real person would,” legendary radio host Ira Glass says .

The truth is, being “authentic” while recording is a skill in itself. It’s very difficult to read off a script while seeming like oneself. I have no doubt that Glass’s down-to-earth style of narration was heavily practiced, despite its authentic feel. Even in my own work, I constantly struggle to sound more like myself while stressing the right words and taking the right pauses.

Some of the problem, though, stems from the writing. We do not write like we talk. While it’s still a good idea to avoid filler phrases like “as a matter of fact” or “at the end of the day,” allow yourself to cheat a little, especially with words like “so” or even a deliberate “uh” or “um.”

Despite being somewhat rehearsed, the practiced authentic you should still be you. Faking a personality on YouTube is a recipe for disaster.

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This will be one of the most important questions asked in your interview! 1. Use a powerful sentence to emphasize why becoming a teacher is important to you. – “I want to become a teacher to change the lives of those around me.”

2. Use past experiences to reason why teaching is a good fit for you. “For the past few years, I’ve been involved with various student organizations that work with children. These experiences have instilled a passion in me for working with children.”

3. Conclude with your honest interpretation of the impact you would make. – “A teacher’s role is not solely educational and can make an impact well beyond the classroom. I hope to be a strong positive force for future generations to come.”

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About In-Text Citations

When writing your papers, it essential to recognize other authors who contributed to your work and avoid plagiarism. 

Use in-text citations when:

• paraphrasing
• directly quoting 
• referring to another person’s writing
• referring to data from prior studies
• reusing tables, figures, images, or passages

These should always include the author’s last name and year. When using a direct quote, also include the page number.

Types of In-Text Citation

• Paraphrasing or Summarizing
• Missing Information

When paraphrasing or summarizing information, in-text citations must include the author's last name and year of publication. This will be in parenthesis at the end of a sentence, with a space between the name and year, and a comma after the name. 

Example 1: single author

Falsely balanced news coverage can distort the public’s perception of expert consensus on an issue (Koehler, 2016).

Example 2: more than one author

Two authors: (Koehler & Smith, 2016)​

Three or more authors: (Koehler et al., 2016)

As an alternative to parenthetical citations, you can cite the source in your narrative, which allows you to incorporate the authors more closely into your discussion:

Example 3: narrative citation

Koehler (2016) noted the dangers of falsely balanced news coverage.​

When using direct quotations in your paper, your in-text citation should also include a page number when available. The page number will come after the year, with a comma after the year. Longer quotations are to be formatted as a block quotation, meaning the entire quotation starts on a separate line and is indented 0.5 inches. Quotations can also be in narrative format. 

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Effective teams can be difficult to describe because “high performance along one domain does not translate to high performance along another” (Ervin et al., 2018, p. 470).​

Example 2: block quotation (40 or more words)

Researchers have studied how people talk to themselves:​

​Inner speech is a paradoxical phenomenon. It is an experience that is central to many people’s everyday lives, and yet it presents considerable challenges to any effort to study it scientifically. Nevertheless, a wide range of methodologies and approaches have combined to shed light on the subjective experience of inner speech and its cognitive and neural underpinnings (Alderson-Day & Fernyhough, 2015, p. 957).

Example 3: block quotation in narrative form

Flores et al. (2018) described how they addressed potential researcher bias when working with an intersectional community of transgender people of color:​

Everyone on the research team belonged to a stigmatized group but also held privileged identities. Throughout the research process, we attended to the ways in which our privileged and oppressed identities may have influenced the research process, findings, and presentation of results. (p. 311)

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19 Celebrities Who Actively Spread Misinformation

Of course, a certain presidential candidate made the list.

BuzzFeed Contributor

We're thick in the age of misinformation that often impacts the most vulnerable.

Fake news spreads quicker than facts, while unsubstantiated conspiracy theories are pervasive on social media. it's hard to escape when information flies 100 miles per minute..

What's worse is that celebrities and trusted public figures have played a role in disseminating false information. Below, we've rounded up 19 celebrities who've spread misinformation over the years.

1. donald trump.

Where to start? Throughout his political career , Trump has skewed and straight-up spread misinformation to the American public. Between the COVID-19 pandemic and the "rigged" election claims that led to the January 6th insurrection , Trump has been just as much of a proponent of spreading fake news as the media outlets he claims do the same. 

2. Tom Cruise

Cruise's commitment to Scientology in the past has proven to be problematic, and perhaps that's why their community hasn't necessarily been received in good faith by the public. Cruise denounced psychiatry as "pseudoscience" while trying to uplift the Church of Scientology during an interview with NBC. Later, he admitted that he was arrogant in that situation. "After looking at it I really thought it's not what I intended. I thought in looking at myself that I came across as arrogant," Cruise said , per Reuters. "I absolutely could have handled that better."

3. Kyrie Irving

While a brilliant basketball player, Irving has faced his fair share of backlash in recent years. Not only for his hesitancy toward the COVID-19 vaccine but also for pushing flat-earth conspiracy theories. He later went on to say it was an "exploitation tactic" and claimed he was trolling during an interview with  Toucher and Rich.  

4. Gwyneth Paltrow

Paltrow has, surprisingly, been at the forefront of several accusations of spreading misinformation. Her testimony surrounding how she treated long-term COVID-19, including fasting and frequent visits to an infrared sauna, prompted the NHS to condemn her suggestion of "intuitive fasting." Furthermore, she's also faced backlash for what has been described as health and wellness misinformation through her company, Goop, which some health experts have described as being pseudoscience-based. 

5. Ye ( Kanye West )

An affiliate of Donald Trump and arguably one of the most divisive musicians of the 21st century, Ye's social media activity and interviews in recent years have had an immense impact on his fanbase, his peers, and the global community at large. His appearance on  Drink Champs  (an episode that has since been pulled from YouTube) not only saw Ye double down on antisemitic conspiracies but also claim that George Floyd didn't die at the hands of police brutality but rather a drug overdose, per the Hollywood Reporter . 

6. Elon Musk

Perhaps one of the worst perpetrators of spreading misinformation, Elon Musk has been scrutinized for pushing unsubstantiated claims surrounding the election, COVID-19, and general conspiracies. In fact, he ended up removing the Community Notes function on X (formerly known as Twitter) last year after he was fact-checked and claimed that it was being "gamed by state actors," per Sky News .

7. Jenny McCarthy

Jenny McCarthy has been vocally against vaccines due to the conspiracy theory that it has been the cause of autism in children. Her views have been challenged often during appearances on Larry King Live  and other shows where she's debated medical experts. Still, she's remained committed to pushing these theories. However, she's claimed that she doesn't consider herself anti-vaccine but rather pro-safe vaccine, per PBS.

8. Roger Stone

Considering that Stone was a close ally of Donald Trump, it's not inconceivable that he'd be peddling misinformation. In the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, Stone was among those who claimed that election fraud took place. What's worse, footage obtained by several news outlets revealed that he plotted to overturn the election.

9. Joe Rogan

Among the most vocal opponents of COVID-19 mandates is Joe Rogan. Throughout the pandemic, he often pushed anti-vaxx and COVID-19 theories, along with controversial guests who would back up his claims. Ultimately, it led to a group of physicians asking Spotify to restrict the misinformation he was spreading, per Rolling Stone . 

10. Nicki Minaj

The Pink Friday  rapper has shown right-leaning tendencies over the years, and her take on the COVID-19 vaccine was arguably one of the wildest conspiracies anyone has touted over the years. On X/Twitter, she revealed that she wouldn't go to the Met Gala since vaccines were required, but she said that her hesitancy was partially due to her cousin's friend allegedly becoming impotent after the jab . She faced immediate backlash with Dr. Anthony Fauci and the health minister of Trinidad and Tobago debunking her claims. 

"Every time I talk about politics, people get mad,” Minaj told Vogue . “I’m sorry, but I am not going to be told who I should get on social media and campaign for. There’s a lot we don’t know that’s going on in the government, and I don’t think it changes whether you lean to the left or right."

11. Roseanne Barr

Roseanne Barr's questionable online activity has been subject to plenty of analysis, backlash, and general disdain. Barr has pushed QAnon conspiracy theories and pro-Trump conspiracy theories in the past, many of which have been debunked, according to CNN .

12. Kylie Jenner

Back in 2015, Kylie Jenner jumped on X/Twitte r, where she shared a meme about chemtrails with her 9+ million followers. Although she's seemed to stray from conspiracy theories since then, there was plenty of criticism for her post on the platform.

13. Woody Harrelson

The coronavirus pandemic undoubtedly led to some wild theories, including one suggesting a link between the respiratory infection and 5G networks. Per Al-Jazeera , Woody Harrelson, unfortunately, was one of the celebrities who suggested that 5G cell phone networks have resulted in adverse effects, specifically COVID-19. 

14. Jim Carrey

Another anti-vaxx promoter, Jim Carrey has previously pushed back against the idea of vaccinating children. According to The Guardian , he previously called out the former governor of California, Jerry Brown, for passing a bill that required all children to be vaccinated. 

15. Lil Pump

The "Gucci Gang" rapper has turned into a staunch Trump supporter, one who clearly didn't mind when the former president referred to him as "Lil Pimp." Nonetheless, he's gone to bat for Trump in recent weeks, including trying to push the theory that Kamala Harris isn't Black, per Billboard . 

16. Rosie O'Donnell

It's been over 20 years since the tragedy of 9/11, yet many are still unconvinced that the U.S. government didn't have a role in the attack. Rosie O'Donnell, for instance, has openly rejected the mainstream narrative of what happened in 2001. According to the Washington Post , she previously stated that she does "not believe the official story." 

17. Ted Nugent

Nugent infamously became a COVID-19 denier in the thick of the pandemic. "It’s not a real pandemic, and that’s not a real vaccine,” he said in a livestream, per Forbes . Ironically, he caught COVID and detailed just how bad the symptoms got. 

18. Candace Owens

These days, Candace Owens has undoubtedly garnered enough detractors from both the left and the right, but that's largely due to some of the theories she's espoused. Whether it's attempting to discredit George Floyd's death as a result of an overdose rather than a murder at the hands of the police, downplaying white supremacy, or joining the likes of Elon Musk and Joe Rogan in discrediting the dangers of COVID-19, the political commentator has faced tremendous backlash for pushing misinformation onto the public, as documented by the State Journal-Register.  

19. Rob Schneider

Another anti-vaxx advocate, Rob Schneider obnoxiously urged his X/Twitter followers against getting the COVID-19 vaccine. "Just say no… And keep saying no,” Schneider posted , per Page Six . “Over Half of the US population is continuing to say no to this unapproved experimental gene therapy!"

Are there any celebrities we missed? Share them in the comments.

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