Post-Release Week | The Friday Update

Hello! Welcome to another edition of the Friday Update: my weekly round-up of what I've been working on and how I've been spending my time!

Without further ado...

What have I been up to this week?

As I tend to do in weeks following a video being released, I've spent a decent chunk of this week monitoring the latest video, responding to comments and preparing some of the Patreon treats such as the accompanying script. While, these days, I format the script as I go, I like to give it a good checkover for any spelling mistakes or errors in the referencing as, while these don't matter whilst I'm filming, it's always nice to ensure the version I send out to some of you is looking tip-top!

As I mentioned in last week's Friday Update, the latest video has launched some really fascinating discussions. I really appreciated the other educational creators who joined in by sharing either their frustrations with "advertorial" content or their experiences of having worked on similar deals and, in several cases, having regretted it. Perhaps the most interesting response (see below) came from Quinn who hosts the channel Snazzy Labs and who was also involved in the Waymo campaign. He talked of having to work on several redrafts of the script before getting their approval to film the video—none of which is really a surprise, but it's interesting to hear.

Whilst I've started to make some headway on reading for my next video (which I'll reveal a little more about shortly!), I've also been spending some time preparing for a trip to Oslo, Norway next week where I'll be doing a few days of guest lecturing. Alongside giving a talk to some undergraduate students, I'll be leading a two-day seminar with some lecturers in the hope of passing on some words of wisdom with regard to making engaging, creative educational videos. If you've been to Oslo and have any tips for things to do in the evenings then I'd love your recommendations!

And outside of work?

While I'm now lucky enough to be able to make YouTube videos full time, I still continue to do the occasional bit of theatre-making. This is partly because I really enjoy it, partly because it's nice to do something which involves a bit more human interaction that video-creation and partly because I still think it's wise to keep my options open should this whole YouTube thing fall apart!

I've been spending a couple of evenings a week over the past seven weeks working with a group of young people creating a show which, broadly speaking, sought to engage with what it's like to be teenagers who've just lived through an epidemiological crisis and are now facing the realities of an ecological one. It largely focussed on them telling stories of their lives, exciting things that have happened to them so far and the things they hope might happen in the future.

The show was made to coincide with the COP26 conference in Glasgow and so was performed earlier this week. I don't like to be too positive about anything I've been involved in creating(!) but it went really well and it was great to see them taking the stage to have their say about the challenges facing the world!

What have I been reading/watching/listening to?

Speaking of childhood, my recommended watch for this week has to be the latest video by Dan Olson (of Folding Ideas). This came out maybe two hours ago and I had to drop everything to watch it; not only because I love Dan's work but because of the topic.

The video (which you can find here) is a look at the celebrity chef Jamie Oliver's mid-2000s war on processed food. Anyone who was alive and living in the UK (particularly if you were school age) during this era will likely have big pangs of nostalgia watching this. It's hard to overstate the impact that Oliver's campaigning against chicken nuggets and other "unhealthy" aspects of school dinners had—entire items were banned, menus overhauled and vending machines exiled from schools!

Whether you were in the right place and time to remember this the first time around or not, the video is a really interesting rumination on the manner in which the ways we talk about food are inflected by class. It brought back big memories of the viscously classist cultural trends of the 2000s; see, for a further example, the character of Vicky Pollard in the sketch show Little Britain (pictured below). And all of this in a period where we were being told that, as John Prescott put it, 'we're all middle class now'.

That brings us to the end of this week's edition of the Friday Update!

As mentioned above, I'm spending next week in Oslo undertaking some guest lecturing (and hopefully finishing my initial reading for the next video if I can find somewhere cosy and warm to snuggle up!).

I'll be sure to take some photos to include in next week's update along with some revelations of what I'm working on next!

Thanks as ever for your generous support folks!