Video Scripts

You'll notice some differences between the final product and what I have written in these: I'm gonna leave those in, because I think that's interesting. Another thing you'll notice is that a lot of these sentences do not work without the inflection I use reading them aloud. Writing for audio and writing for text are too very different processes. The final thing I want to point out is that the formatting here isn't quite equivalent to how I format my scripts in my private documents, due to a limitation in how I add text to this website. If people are interested, I'll make a blog post about my ideal formatting for recording voice over at a different time.

Season 2

The Cliffhanger Problem (Across the Spider-verse)

This one took six drafts, but that's a little unusually high. After my previous Spiderverse video won the algorithm lottery, the stakes felt high, so I wanted to really make sure I made something good. I also wasn't precisely sure what I wanted the video to be about, so the early drafts were primarily exploratory; very little from them made the cut. Looking back, I think the final draft probably could have used a few more editing passes, but I think that about ALL of my old videos, so I'm pretty satisfied with the final product.

Why "Filler" is a Bad Criticism (RWBY Volume 9)

If you ask me, this one definitely needed some more time in the oven before I recorded it. It was originally going to be a more straightforward Volume 9 review like I did with Volume 7 and 8, but I noticed that most of what I had to say kind of tied together into one overarching argument. The final video does tie its four different sections together, but only just barely; it would have been smart to make the connections to the thesis clearer. Plus, my AI argument was so bad I felt the need to amend it afterwards. Overall I still like the video, but I wish it was a tad more coherent.

Chainsaw Man: Kill Your Darlings

One of my favorite videos to make, and one of my favorite final products I've made, too. The two-pronged approach of writing advice and narrative critique/analysis is functioning as intended, here: that Himeno analysis section works on its own, but also counts as evidence towards my point. The video is also mercifully short. Would have been embarrassing if I didn't kill my darlings in a video about how you should kill your darlings.

Mob Psycho 100 and Writer's Block

Probably my best work, at least on YouTube. There's a reason people say "write what you know"; I've been writing since I was a kid, so there's little I know better than writer's block. Fittingly, this video was extremely difficult to make, particularly in the writing phase. I knew I could give good advice about writer's block, but I didn't want the actual show to get lost in the shuffle. It was important to me to prove that these themes are present in Mob Psycho 100, and not something I decided to talk about with arbitrary anime footage playing in the background.

How Spy x Family's Premise Works

The young writer usually begins as one of two things: an under-writer or an over-writer. I began life as an under-writer, but around here (and a fair bit in Season One's videos) is where the pendulum swung in the other direction. Still, I think the video's fun and insightful. To be honest I may have given Spy x Family a bit too much credit in places, but what I can say, I think this show's setup is dynamite. As for the rest of the show...I'll tell you if I ever revisit it.

Season One

(coming soon)