Digging Deeper: On What I've Learned

I've spent the last couple of weeks talking about the topics on the videos, but I feel like I've neglected something important: the craft of the videos themselves. Before college, I had done some small-time editing work for a D-list producer, who shall remain nameless. It was vapid and soul-crushing—I was stuck stringing together hours of video from a beauty pageant with the most generic camera shots possible, and I still resent the fact that I spent my eighteenth birthday in the editing bay stringing together the different angles until ten at night. The song “All Around the World” by Lionel Richie still makes me nauseous after hearing it for so many hours at a time. Down the Rabbit Hole, in a way, was a rebellion against that; it was the opportunity to make something worthwhile on a topic that had appeal outside of judgmental men.

Yes, I am bitter.

The point is, when I started making these videos, I realized just how much room there is for artistry in the editing process. I don't claim to be a world-class editor, but sometimes, small details can make a world of difference and imply a certain tone or idea. It's fallacious to believe that documentaries are ever objective. To you, I now reveal my super secret secret trade secrets, or more accurately, what I figured out along the way.

First of all, pulling in or out on images not only gives an image more life, but it can be used to promote a certain feeling. If the tone is neutral, I will usually first pull in on an image, pull out for the next one, then repeat. (Insert obligatory sex joke here) However, if this pattern is broken, then it can inherently create a certain feeling. For example, as tension begins to build in the narrative of the subject matter, I will begin to almost exclusively pull in on images to create a sense of claustrophobia. I use this extensively in the Sonichu video around the fifteen minute mark, when I start talking about Christian's background. As soon as the tension begins to dissipate in the narrative, I begin to pull out again to signify it, allowing the visuals to support the narrative. It's a simple, small adjustment, but it can make a large difference.

Zooming in also allows for a certain element of discovery on the part of the viewer. Sometimes, I will have an image that generally pertains to what I'm talking about, but has a particular element I am about to discuss. For example, at about 16:20 in the Digital Homicide DtRH, I start on a screenshot of the steam store page for one of Digital Homicide's games, and I begin to zoom in on the topmost section of it. As the narration continues, I mention that Digital Homicide was still releasing games, supported by the message that “This game is now available on Steam!” at the top. By the time the narration mentions this, it's likely that the viewer has already noticed or discovers this element of the image immediately afterwards. By allowing for this element of discovery, I can more strongly engage the viewer.

Sometimes, however, an image will have too much information on it to be discovered in the 10-20 seconds it is displayed. In these cases, I'll start closer on the image to highlight whatever I wanted to make clear, then pull out to imply context. Zooming out has qualities of its own, as well—I typically use it to create a sense of distance between the viewer and the subject matter, which usually happens near the end of the video, allowing the viewer to feel like they have finally exited out of whatever strange topic I've explored. Again, the strongest instance of this occurs in the Sonichu video, where I zoom out on Christian's self-portrait to the point that the image is entirely surrounded by black.

But sometimes I just do it to make the video look nice. I think that's a fine reason.

Unfortunately, with most of these topics, I haven't been blessed with a glut of images, but in the one instance I have, I've been able to get creative. In an effort to make the Sonichu DtRH even more unsettling that it already was, I began to specially pick which images of Christian and his drawings to use so that, in a vast majority of them, the subject would be returning the gaze of the viewer, implicating them and making them think about their own opinion on the subject matter. Based on the comments, it seems that this produced the desired effect.

I also learned the lesson that video of text is just a mess unless the text is being read aloud by the narrator, and even then, it should be highlighted. This was probably the largest problem with the SCP video, but it was an inevitable one, since it's mostly text.

I feel like, the more I make these videos, the more I learn, and I truly hope that they can get better as time goes on.

I'm sorry that this post is so short; I have the longest DtRH to date to finish, I'm working on a secondary personal project, and I have to finish my work for the Grimm Archives for its launch on the 28th. So please, bear with me!