Why YouTubers Hold Microphones Now
January 5, 2024 5:04 PM Subscribe
YouTubers hold microphones (including lav mics specifically designed to be clipped to clothing) to signal authenticity on a website where media corporations are getting increasingly better at camouflaging their visual style to fit in on a platform originally centered around individual creators. STYLE AS WEAPON [1-hour SLYT by Tom Nicholas]
(BTW, if you think YouTubers hold microphones to signal authenticity on a website where media corporations are getting increasingly better at camouflaging their visual style to fit in on a platform originally centered around individual creators, you didn't actually watch the video. The full hour (or half-hour if you watch it on 2x) is worth the watch.)
(BTW, if you think YouTubers hold microphones to signal authenticity on a website where media corporations are getting increasingly better at camouflaging their visual style to fit in on a platform originally centered around individual creators, you didn't actually watch the video. The full hour (or half-hour if you watch it on 2x) is worth the watch.)
half-hour if you watch it on 2x
Why don't Youtubers just edit their videos down instead of asking people to play them at double-speed?
posted by splitpeasoup at 6:03 PM on January 5 [24 favorites]
Why don't Youtubers just edit their videos down instead of asking people to play them at double-speed?
posted by splitpeasoup at 6:03 PM on January 5 [24 favorites]
> Oddly enough none of the Youtubers I watch hold a mic.
I thought so too, and then I noticed a couple in the examples he showed (including YouTubers I've previously posted to Mefi.) It's a subtle detail that's easy to miss.
> Why don't Youtubers just edit their videos down instead of asking people to play them at double-speed?
They don't ask that. This is just something I do with video essays sometimes, so I put it out as a suggestion.
posted by AlSweigart at 6:21 PM on January 5 [3 favorites]
I thought so too, and then I noticed a couple in the examples he showed (including YouTubers I've previously posted to Mefi.) It's a subtle detail that's easy to miss.
> Why don't Youtubers just edit their videos down instead of asking people to play them at double-speed?
They don't ask that. This is just something I do with video essays sometimes, so I put it out as a suggestion.
posted by AlSweigart at 6:21 PM on January 5 [3 favorites]
Yes, I find this to be an annoying affectation. Personally I first identified it as holding lav mics or old iPod wired earbud mics, and the speaker is green screening their head over some other video or image. Very "amateur" where the green screen effect keeps changing the boundary of their wild bedhead hair and the skinny wire of the mic is also flashing in and out of existence. More concerning (as in very annoying to me) is a verbal style that coevolved. Kind of an excited too-cool monotone? I find that voice in derrick gee (featured in vid this and jonpaulsballs (whose content is A+, but narration kills me). I associate this with reactionary cultural commentary videos where I took the mic to be a small convenience to produce the video as quickly as possible from this cafe that the YouTuber is about to be kicked out of. This way their "reaction" is fast and authentic, and they are too cool to be too interested.
posted by abcanthur at 6:34 PM on January 5 [4 favorites]
posted by abcanthur at 6:34 PM on January 5 [4 favorites]
Watching it right now and this dude is taking 5 minutes to say, “The structure and incentives of YouTube impacts how I make content which impacts what you see.” This is why, as a peri-old person, I hate YouTube videos. . . just get to the point!
posted by flamk at 6:41 PM on January 5 [42 favorites]
posted by flamk at 6:41 PM on January 5 [42 favorites]
Watched this a few days ago. Short version: It's so that people know that you're part of the Youtube I-recorded-this-myself-in-my-bedroom crowd instead of being a big corporate entity.
He mentions that some big corporate entities do it, too, if they want to be one of the cool kids, like Vox getting their presenters to record in their bedrooms while holding their mics.
posted by clawsoon at 6:41 PM on January 5 [4 favorites]
He mentions that some big corporate entities do it, too, if they want to be one of the cool kids, like Vox getting their presenters to record in their bedrooms while holding their mics.
posted by clawsoon at 6:41 PM on January 5 [4 favorites]
There used to be a Chrome plugin that managed to auto-skip prefatory remarks and sponsor commentary, which I cannot now find due to the entire search terminology being infected with GPT-adjacent spam.
...so I guess I'm reduced to saying things used to be better, and now they suck and I am not able to address the suckage but a better world is possible as long as you're smarter than I (which, tbh, should be easy).
posted by aramaic at 6:50 PM on January 5 [1 favorite]
...so I guess I'm reduced to saying things used to be better, and now they suck and I am not able to address the suckage but a better world is possible as long as you're smarter than I (which, tbh, should be easy).
posted by aramaic at 6:50 PM on January 5 [1 favorite]
aramaic, it sounds like you're thinking of sponsorblock? It's available for firefox as well as chrome and it makes youtube a lot more bearable for me.
posted by Proofs and Refutations at 6:59 PM on January 5 [11 favorites]
posted by Proofs and Refutations at 6:59 PM on January 5 [11 favorites]
Adam Ragusea did something on Tiny Mics half a year ago from the perspective of someone that came from "old" media but is also riding the wave of Youtube mini-stardom - In praise of tiny mics and Gen Z media
posted by mincus at 7:06 PM on January 5 [2 favorites]
posted by mincus at 7:06 PM on January 5 [2 favorites]
> Short version: It's so that people know...
This short version is accurate in the same way that, "Romeo and Juliet is about two lovers whose families are sworn enemies so they kill themselves" is accurate.
I really do encourage people to watch the video.
posted by AlSweigart at 7:17 PM on January 5 [8 favorites]
This short version is accurate in the same way that, "Romeo and Juliet is about two lovers whose families are sworn enemies so they kill themselves" is accurate.
I really do encourage people to watch the video.
posted by AlSweigart at 7:17 PM on January 5 [8 favorites]
How mysterious!
posted by tigrrrlily at 7:40 PM on January 5 [3 favorites]
posted by tigrrrlily at 7:40 PM on January 5 [3 favorites]
So mysterious it is apparently impossible to express in text form!
I can only assume Rick Astley makes a special appearance?
posted by Not A Thing at 8:02 PM on January 5 [9 favorites]
I can only assume Rick Astley makes a special appearance?
posted by Not A Thing at 8:02 PM on January 5 [9 favorites]
Why don't Youtubers just edit their videos down instead of asking people to play them at double-speed?
posted by splitpeasoup
"I have made this longer than usual because I have not had time to make it shorter."
posted by Carillon at 8:15 PM on January 5 [14 favorites]
posted by splitpeasoup
"I have made this longer than usual because I have not had time to make it shorter."
posted by Carillon at 8:15 PM on January 5 [14 favorites]
Quoting a review of Bourdieu.. come on. Give us a 100-word meandering sentence, coward; your video is long enough for it.
posted by Monday, stony Monday at 8:39 PM on January 5 [1 favorite]
posted by Monday, stony Monday at 8:39 PM on January 5 [1 favorite]
What's up with the compulsion to shit on video essays?
Is it the new "we don't have a TV?"
A piece of communication can have all kinds of aspects. Text is good for some, video for others. People who are not you might get something out of it.
People who are not you do actually exist, and they like different things than you do!
If you aren't into video essays, totally cool, I usually prefer text myself, but why the urge to complainabout it in a thread where multiple other people have already commented on it too?
posted by Zumbador at 8:55 PM on January 5 [40 favorites]
Is it the new "we don't have a TV?"
A piece of communication can have all kinds of aspects. Text is good for some, video for others. People who are not you might get something out of it.
People who are not you do actually exist, and they like different things than you do!
If you aren't into video essays, totally cool, I usually prefer text myself, but why the urge to complainabout it in a thread where multiple other people have already commented on it too?
posted by Zumbador at 8:55 PM on January 5 [40 favorites]
Annoyed as I was by the executive anti-summary, the wife and I thoroughly enjoyed the video. Thank you, AlSweigart. Unfortunately I guess I must have missed the point completely, though.
posted by tigrrrlily at 9:16 PM on January 5 [1 favorite]
posted by tigrrrlily at 9:16 PM on January 5 [1 favorite]
That was surely a lot more words than whatever it would take to explain the linked video.
posted by Back At It Again At Krispy Kreme at 9:17 PM on January 5 [1 favorite]
posted by Back At It Again At Krispy Kreme at 9:17 PM on January 5 [1 favorite]
I noticed this trend, too. I saw a youtuber about a year ago talking into (and gesticulating with) a very fancy retro microphone. So I went digging to find what kind of microphone it was. It was a fake plastic microphone prop. I felt betrayed. I thought about it, and concluded that youtubers need something to do with their hands.
But Tom Scott has a deeper take. He's pretty clearly saying that youtubers hold microphones (or plastic microphone props) to signal authenticity on a website where media corporations are getting increasingly better at camouflaging their visual style to fit in on a platform originally centered around individual creators.
posted by drhex at 10:02 PM on January 5 [5 favorites]
But Tom Scott has a deeper take. He's pretty clearly saying that youtubers hold microphones (or plastic microphone props) to signal authenticity on a website where media corporations are getting increasingly better at camouflaging their visual style to fit in on a platform originally centered around individual creators.
posted by drhex at 10:02 PM on January 5 [5 favorites]
The great take away I got from watching the entire piece was mention of the article "It’s Supposed to Look Like Shit: The Internet Ugly Aesthetic" by Nick Douglas.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1470412914544516
posted by rmmcclay at 11:35 PM on January 5 [6 favorites]
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1470412914544516
posted by rmmcclay at 11:35 PM on January 5 [6 favorites]
One of my favorite, new to me creators is Emily from Shut Up and Sit Down. She is hilarious as you can see here, here, and here. She also holds her lav mic which was the first time I'd see someone doing that.It's I guess the new hotness but doesn't seem to really impact much. I guess it means you feel more like they are off the cuff instead of more produced?
posted by Carillon at 11:35 PM on January 5 [6 favorites]
posted by Carillon at 11:35 PM on January 5 [6 favorites]
I watched this a few days ago. (I love video essayists and I watch a couple dozen on the regular.) I'd never seen this guy before and his sing-song narrative delivery was a bit excruciating for me to get through, but I found the topic interesting enough to endure. The anti-Prager aesthetic resonated with me as a reasonable explanation, but what I found more compelling than anything he actually concluded was this apparent return to a demand for authenticity I haven't seen since I was a grungy Gen-Xer banging about goth clubs in the early 90s. You know, back when being a "poser" was the worst thing you could be.
It's inevitable (as pointed out in the video) that these visual signals of authenticity be co-opted by corporate media, but I have a feeling that handheld mic PragerU videos will have "how do you do fellow kids" energy. I imagine that only the smaller creators building a new brand will really get the aesthetic and be able to co-opt it successfully.
posted by MagnificentVacuum at 12:05 AM on January 6 [1 favorite]
It's inevitable (as pointed out in the video) that these visual signals of authenticity be co-opted by corporate media, but I have a feeling that handheld mic PragerU videos will have "how do you do fellow kids" energy. I imagine that only the smaller creators building a new brand will really get the aesthetic and be able to co-opt it successfully.
posted by MagnificentVacuum at 12:05 AM on January 6 [1 favorite]
by Nick Douglas.
*choking with stifled laughter* wait, the same Nick Douglas who was the "Shut up Meg" of #mefi back in 2003??
Google says he's doing extremely well for himself, which warms my heart.
posted by Ryvar at 12:17 AM on January 6
*choking with stifled laughter* wait, the same Nick Douglas who was the "Shut up Meg" of #mefi back in 2003??
Google says he's doing extremely well for himself, which warms my heart.
posted by Ryvar at 12:17 AM on January 6
I was reading the transcript until
This is most obvious in some of Polygon’s wackier stuff…
and i had to flip over to the video to make sure that it was BDG onscreen at the time. (It was, thankfully.)
posted by supercres at 12:52 AM on January 6
This is most obvious in some of Polygon’s wackier stuff…
and i had to flip over to the video to make sure that it was BDG onscreen at the time. (It was, thankfully.)
posted by supercres at 12:52 AM on January 6
Meanwhile Climate Town uses a lav mic properly by duct taping it to his hairy chest. Which signals a different sort of authenticity I suppose.
posted by autopilot at 3:08 AM on January 6 [5 favorites]
posted by autopilot at 3:08 AM on January 6 [5 favorites]
Why don't Youtubers just edit their videos down instead of asking people to play them at double-speed?
"Heres a 5 minute introduction to the thing I'm about to say [AD BREAK] now before we get into it [SPONSOR SECTION] OK heres a list of the 10 things we are about to tell you [AD BREAK] actual content [AD BREAK] [Patreon thanks]
There's a reason young people all prefer TikTok.
posted by Lanark at 3:14 AM on January 6 [8 favorites]
"Heres a 5 minute introduction to the thing I'm about to say [AD BREAK] now before we get into it [SPONSOR SECTION] OK heres a list of the 10 things we are about to tell you [AD BREAK] actual content [AD BREAK] [Patreon thanks]
There's a reason young people all prefer TikTok.
posted by Lanark at 3:14 AM on January 6 [8 favorites]
In case you think a lav mic is for recording in the toilet, it isn't. Not exclusively, anyway.
posted by chavenet at 3:32 AM on January 6 [1 favorite]
posted by chavenet at 3:32 AM on January 6 [1 favorite]
It's also to announce to the world you can afford an SM-7b or fancy Røde lav, unlike those scrubs with their USB mics.
Is it the new "we don't have a TV?"
I think it's more the new "not another podcast."
posted by snuffleupagus at 6:02 AM on January 6 [1 favorite]
Is it the new "we don't have a TV?"
I think it's more the new "not another podcast."
posted by snuffleupagus at 6:02 AM on January 6 [1 favorite]
What's up with the compulsion to shit on video essays?
Is it the new "we don't have a TV?"
A piece of communication can have all kinds of aspects. Text is good for some, video for others. People who are not you might get something out of it.
People who are not you do actually exist, and they like different things than you do!
I'm a text person and personally get really frustrated when I have to watch/listen to the typical "you tuber" videos and podcasts where people chatter away in a meandering fashion, at their own speed. But that's my personal taste and honestly mostly my personal impatience -- I want to go at my own speed, not someone else's speed. I mostly end up watching you tube videos with people talking when I'm researching a product (because people post extremely detailed video reviews of things like backpacks and cars) or trying to figure out a DIY thing.
But I find it really interesting, and much more noticeable in the last couple of years in terms of being sent links by friends and so on, how many people really prefer getting information by being told it, not reading it. Like, they'd much rather watch a 10 minute video of a you tuber explaining recent events in Ukraine rather than read the article that the you tuber is paraphrasing from.
So the subject of this FPP is interesting -- if you are a you tuber who wants to reach that huge market, what do you use to signal that you are "real" vs a slick corporate shill, or worse, an amateur who lacks credibility? One of those signals, apparently, is choosing to hold a microphone even when that is technically unnecessary, and that is interesting.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:24 AM on January 6 [6 favorites]
Is it the new "we don't have a TV?"
A piece of communication can have all kinds of aspects. Text is good for some, video for others. People who are not you might get something out of it.
People who are not you do actually exist, and they like different things than you do!
I'm a text person and personally get really frustrated when I have to watch/listen to the typical "you tuber" videos and podcasts where people chatter away in a meandering fashion, at their own speed. But that's my personal taste and honestly mostly my personal impatience -- I want to go at my own speed, not someone else's speed. I mostly end up watching you tube videos with people talking when I'm researching a product (because people post extremely detailed video reviews of things like backpacks and cars) or trying to figure out a DIY thing.
But I find it really interesting, and much more noticeable in the last couple of years in terms of being sent links by friends and so on, how many people really prefer getting information by being told it, not reading it. Like, they'd much rather watch a 10 minute video of a you tuber explaining recent events in Ukraine rather than read the article that the you tuber is paraphrasing from.
So the subject of this FPP is interesting -- if you are a you tuber who wants to reach that huge market, what do you use to signal that you are "real" vs a slick corporate shill, or worse, an amateur who lacks credibility? One of those signals, apparently, is choosing to hold a microphone even when that is technically unnecessary, and that is interesting.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:24 AM on January 6 [6 favorites]
In case you think a lav mic is for recording in the toilet, it isn't. Not exclusively, anyway.
"What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course,"
posted by Horace Rumpole at 6:44 AM on January 6 [5 favorites]
"What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course,"
posted by Horace Rumpole at 6:44 AM on January 6 [5 favorites]
But Tom Scott has a deeper take. He's pretty clearly saying that youtubers hold microphones (or plastic microphone props) to signal authenticity on a website where media corporations are getting increasingly better at camouflaging their visual style to fit in on a platform originally centered around individual creators.
OK, I don't generally like YT videos, but since one of my hobbies is (and part of a career was) mics and sound recording, most of the few videos i do watch are about microphones etc. Spoiler: little electret mics are amazing for the price, and most YT makers use acoustically shitty locations and inexpensive gear, so you do get a better voice pickup and less "room" by holding a cheap lav closer to your mouth. But it looks stupid, no? Like people who hold their phone out like a pizza slice.
Like pizzaphone, it sounds like this holding a lav thing is now an affectation or a signifier. LOL.
posted by Artful Codger at 7:31 AM on January 6 [12 favorites]
OK, I don't generally like YT videos, but since one of my hobbies is (and part of a career was) mics and sound recording, most of the few videos i do watch are about microphones etc. Spoiler: little electret mics are amazing for the price, and most YT makers use acoustically shitty locations and inexpensive gear, so you do get a better voice pickup and less "room" by holding a cheap lav closer to your mouth. But it looks stupid, no? Like people who hold their phone out like a pizza slice.
Like pizzaphone, it sounds like this holding a lav thing is now an affectation or a signifier. LOL.
posted by Artful Codger at 7:31 AM on January 6 [12 favorites]
much rather watch a 10 minute video of a you tuber explaining recent events in Ukraine than read the article
It's a heavily politicized and scaremongering discourse, but there's at least some reality to the worries about kids not reading, or reading way below their grade level. Including in college.
And if it's true about that kind of short-form journalism and news reporting, then it certainly makes sense that they'd rather watch a multipart series from some entertaining online lefty personality filled with clever cuts and pop culture references they can understand than actually read Das Kapital. Which better than nothing, and maybe no worse than skimming the book and relying on lecture notes and summaries, etc. If we're going to be honest about older student practices—depending on the quality and source of the content, of course.
Beyond that, there's always been a lot of crossover between book people and the 'edutainment' audience. Like with the original cable incarnations of the History Channel, Discovery, Learning Channel, FoodTV, HGTV, etc. Now, there's content like that developed by people who share your specific concerns, interests, identity, etc.
Still, as large as market as there is, there are a huge number of would-be content creators chasing it; and there does seem to be a certain cargo-cult mentality when it comes to the trappings (shared with streamers) — the mic, the RGB lighting, the cube display shelves in the background, visible computer, the gamer chair, an entirely ineffective handful of acoustical panels. Walls usually either otherwise bare (except maybe fairy lights), or else entirely covered with posters and display items.
the you tuber is paraphrasing from
For context, the whole video essay scene was recently rocked by an hbomberguy expose on plagiarism by prominent figures. Previously.
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:04 AM on January 6 [1 favorite]
It's a heavily politicized and scaremongering discourse, but there's at least some reality to the worries about kids not reading, or reading way below their grade level. Including in college.
And if it's true about that kind of short-form journalism and news reporting, then it certainly makes sense that they'd rather watch a multipart series from some entertaining online lefty personality filled with clever cuts and pop culture references they can understand than actually read Das Kapital. Which better than nothing, and maybe no worse than skimming the book and relying on lecture notes and summaries, etc. If we're going to be honest about older student practices—depending on the quality and source of the content, of course.
Beyond that, there's always been a lot of crossover between book people and the 'edutainment' audience. Like with the original cable incarnations of the History Channel, Discovery, Learning Channel, FoodTV, HGTV, etc. Now, there's content like that developed by people who share your specific concerns, interests, identity, etc.
Still, as large as market as there is, there are a huge number of would-be content creators chasing it; and there does seem to be a certain cargo-cult mentality when it comes to the trappings (shared with streamers) — the mic, the RGB lighting, the cube display shelves in the background, visible computer, the gamer chair, an entirely ineffective handful of acoustical panels. Walls usually either otherwise bare (except maybe fairy lights), or else entirely covered with posters and display items.
the you tuber is paraphrasing from
For context, the whole video essay scene was recently rocked by an hbomberguy expose on plagiarism by prominent figures. Previously.
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:04 AM on January 6 [1 favorite]
Say "naïïïïïïïïïïïïïïïïïve" again. Come on, say it...
posted by tigrrrlily at 8:12 AM on January 6
posted by tigrrrlily at 8:12 AM on January 6
Wait, I've only got up to chapter 2, (I, YouTuber) but it looks as though it's People who make videos for YouTube who are the lav-holders, and YouTubers who are all mics out of shot because they'll get in the way of their wacky hijinx. Am I right in that?
posted by ambrosen at 8:46 AM on January 6
posted by ambrosen at 8:46 AM on January 6
Wait, I've only got up to chapter 2
Oh no, I've just got that feeling that was so familiar from lectures where I just put my hand up and asked a question which is immediately answered. Sorry guys!
posted by ambrosen at 8:49 AM on January 6
Oh no, I've just got that feeling that was so familiar from lectures where I just put my hand up and asked a question which is immediately answered. Sorry guys!
posted by ambrosen at 8:49 AM on January 6
For me it's
"Here's a 5 minute introduction to the thing I'm about to say. Now before we get into it, skipskipskipskipskipskipskipskipskipskipskipskip oops, skip back OK, heres a list of the 10 things we are about to tell you. Now the actual content".
Next video.
I watch youtube all. day. long.
Young people love tiktok because ads are cancer and neither google nor apple want you to use ad blockers.
(Yes, I'm aware there are many other reasons, but the original comment was talking about ads)
posted by tigrrrlily at 8:51 AM on January 6 [2 favorites]
"Here's a 5 minute introduction to the thing I'm about to say. Now before we get into it, skipskipskipskipskipskipskipskipskipskipskipskip oops, skip back OK, heres a list of the 10 things we are about to tell you. Now the actual content".
Next video.
I watch youtube all. day. long.
Young people love tiktok because ads are cancer and neither google nor apple want you to use ad blockers.
(Yes, I'm aware there are many other reasons, but the original comment was talking about ads)
posted by tigrrrlily at 8:51 AM on January 6 [2 favorites]
Advertisers have certainly noticed the hand-held trend. There’s a commercial for, I think, some app that tracks your paid subscriptions, and the couple in the ad are posed as “podcasters doing their show in their living room” and they both rock large handheld mics. It’s definitely something I (who admittedly doesn’t watch a lot of video podcasts) noticed immediately as being quite different than the podcasts I’ve seen. It looked hellishly awkward to do a whole show that way.
posted by Thorzdad at 9:10 AM on January 6 [1 favorite]
posted by Thorzdad at 9:10 AM on January 6 [1 favorite]
For me it's
"Here's a 5 minute introduction to the thing I'm about to say. Now before we get into it, skipskipskipskipskipskipskipskipskipskipskipskip oops, skip back OK, heres a list of the 10 things we are about to tell you. Now the actual content".
Next video.
For me is the title being something about an in-depth look at specific wide topic and starting with, well we need to tell you 15 min of absolute 101 history first. Yeah, no.
posted by tiny frying pan at 9:56 AM on January 6 [1 favorite]
"Here's a 5 minute introduction to the thing I'm about to say. Now before we get into it, skipskipskipskipskipskipskipskipskipskipskipskip oops, skip back OK, heres a list of the 10 things we are about to tell you. Now the actual content".
Next video.
For me is the title being something about an in-depth look at specific wide topic and starting with, well we need to tell you 15 min of absolute 101 history first. Yeah, no.
posted by tiny frying pan at 9:56 AM on January 6 [1 favorite]
The microphone thing looks like YouTubers cosplaying investigative journalists. "I'm here on the scene, where a man has purportedly eaten an entire bag of Cheetos for breakfast."
Do they also talk unnecessarily about their "reporting" a lot? Or is that something else? I keep hearing it in news podcasts, where one person will talk to another person about their reporting. "I'm here on the scene, where, according to my reporting, a man has purportedly eaten an entire bag of Cheetos for breakfast."
posted by pracowity at 10:41 AM on January 6 [1 favorite]
Do they also talk unnecessarily about their "reporting" a lot? Or is that something else? I keep hearing it in news podcasts, where one person will talk to another person about their reporting. "I'm here on the scene, where, according to my reporting, a man has purportedly eaten an entire bag of Cheetos for breakfast."
posted by pracowity at 10:41 AM on January 6 [1 favorite]
In case you think a lav mic is for recording in the toilet, it isn't. Not exclusively, anyway.
obligatory
posted by avocet at 11:21 AM on January 6 [3 favorites]
obligatory
posted by avocet at 11:21 AM on January 6 [3 favorites]
That was more than obligatory. Thanks.
Grandad/grandma had the reporter microphone thing sorted before most YTubers were born, but these require a proper preamp or mixer.
posted by Artful Codger at 1:03 PM on January 6
Grandad/grandma had the reporter microphone thing sorted before most YTubers were born, but these require a proper preamp or mixer.
posted by Artful Codger at 1:03 PM on January 6
Young professional youtubers are very adept at searching the internet for gear that might help them make a living. It's not like they just don't know what to do with an XLR port.
It's basically the entire point of the video.
posted by tigrrrlily at 2:12 PM on January 6
It's basically the entire point of the video.
posted by tigrrrlily at 2:12 PM on January 6
No significant statement about microphones apart from the observation that we already went through this phase once, in The Dark Times, when it was considered gauche for your MySpace page not to look like ironically shitty amateur blink-tag-ridden shit. I recall at the time people were comparing this to the allegedly intentional lowbrow aesthetic of a Wal-Mart as a shibboleth for authenticity.
But thanks, AlSweigart, for introducing me to another streamer with your name prominently appearing in the sponsorship list to fractionally justify my experimental Nebula (via CuriosityStream) subscription. I’m not confident enough in the definition of “lifetime” to invest in one of their lifetime subscriptions, and moreover, as Nicholas alludes to in one of his other videos I’ve already watched, provided they survive long enough eventually Doctorow’s “enshittification” will claim them too, but for now it’s nice to be able to watch some decent creators without eventually being funneled into hourlong ads for shitty diet and exercise scams featuring wannabe Nazi idiots under the assumption I’ve fallen asleep and might not skip them. The only feature I could suggest for Nebula is a switch for “don’t show videos about YouTube drama.” I’ve already seen h.bomberguy’s piece on plagiarism, but I keep getting funneled towards it again somehow, and even LegalEagle ends up diving into the legal ramifications of squabbles between Internet personalities I cannot dig up a solitary, dusty fuck about.
posted by gelfin at 3:29 PM on January 6 [3 favorites]
But thanks, AlSweigart, for introducing me to another streamer with your name prominently appearing in the sponsorship list to fractionally justify my experimental Nebula (via CuriosityStream) subscription. I’m not confident enough in the definition of “lifetime” to invest in one of their lifetime subscriptions, and moreover, as Nicholas alludes to in one of his other videos I’ve already watched, provided they survive long enough eventually Doctorow’s “enshittification” will claim them too, but for now it’s nice to be able to watch some decent creators without eventually being funneled into hourlong ads for shitty diet and exercise scams featuring wannabe Nazi idiots under the assumption I’ve fallen asleep and might not skip them. The only feature I could suggest for Nebula is a switch for “don’t show videos about YouTube drama.” I’ve already seen h.bomberguy’s piece on plagiarism, but I keep getting funneled towards it again somehow, and even LegalEagle ends up diving into the legal ramifications of squabbles between Internet personalities I cannot dig up a solitary, dusty fuck about.
posted by gelfin at 3:29 PM on January 6 [3 favorites]
What's up with the compulsion to shit on video essays?
I've been candid before, YT essay/explainer videos are too often pure shit. They often suck very badly at what they're intended to do, which is convey information. I get infuriated by information presented in a sloppy garbled manner. It just pushes my buttons. YT has started adding descriptions of scenes under the fast forward button, which does help. At least if I'm reading something badly written I can skim ahead easier.
Lavalier Microphones are cool. I've often experimented with using them in unconventional ways in home recordings. Personally I think people speaking into hand-held Lav Mics is pretty funny, and doesn't offend me at all.
posted by ovvl at 3:32 PM on January 6 [3 favorites]
I've been candid before, YT essay/explainer videos are too often pure shit. They often suck very badly at what they're intended to do, which is convey information. I get infuriated by information presented in a sloppy garbled manner. It just pushes my buttons. YT has started adding descriptions of scenes under the fast forward button, which does help. At least if I'm reading something badly written I can skim ahead easier.
Lavalier Microphones are cool. I've often experimented with using them in unconventional ways in home recordings. Personally I think people speaking into hand-held Lav Mics is pretty funny, and doesn't offend me at all.
posted by ovvl at 3:32 PM on January 6 [3 favorites]
Remember, if you’re a crazy person you have to record your rants from your car. It’s internet law.
posted by misterpatrick at 4:11 PM on January 6 [5 favorites]
posted by misterpatrick at 4:11 PM on January 6 [5 favorites]
Fine, I'll spoil it for all of you.
This video is actually about James Somerton.
posted by charred husk at 4:21 PM on January 6 [1 favorite]
This video is actually about James Somerton.
posted by charred husk at 4:21 PM on January 6 [1 favorite]
First, I learned a lot, so thank you for the encouragement to watch the whole thing, OP.
Second, around the 28-minute mark, he talks about the "ugly" internet while sitting on the edge of the stage. It looks to me like his shirt is unbuttoned around his stomach area. Is this an intentional kind of in-joke about "be real" / "internet ugly", just something that happened, or are my eyes playing tricks on me?
posted by Calvin and the Duplicators at 4:25 PM on January 6
Second, around the 28-minute mark, he talks about the "ugly" internet while sitting on the edge of the stage. It looks to me like his shirt is unbuttoned around his stomach area. Is this an intentional kind of in-joke about "be real" / "internet ugly", just something that happened, or are my eyes playing tricks on me?
posted by Calvin and the Duplicators at 4:25 PM on January 6
This is my first Tom Nicholas video, and I'm ashamed to say that the first thing I thought was "Honey, I shrunk Matt Smith (but not his clothes)".
Long talky youtubes are very much my thing, so I'm grateful for the introduction of another seam to mine.
posted by BCMagee at 2:22 AM on January 7
Long talky youtubes are very much my thing, so I'm grateful for the introduction of another seam to mine.
posted by BCMagee at 2:22 AM on January 7
Second, around the 28-minute mark, he talks about the "ugly" internet while sitting on the edge of the stage.
The dilapidated faded 1970s style of this video is just fantastic, as well as the ruffled hair and brown suit. It's definitely something to give the impression of him being someone that's been lecturing on this for ever and ever and has got a bit complacent with his style. So yes, a little belly gape seems appropriate.
I was curious enough to look around and see if his style on other videos differs, and it does vary a lot between videos with good internal consistency. It's impressive. In terms of content, I was particularly taken with this video (in a good outdoor reportage style) titled Britain's New Prison Ships, because it's telling you WhAt tHe mAiNsTrEaM MeDiA DoEsN'T WaNt yOu tO HeAr — about how one of the Prime Minister's flagship policies is all of deeply trivial, cruel, against the UK's treaty obligations, incredibly mismanaged, designed to fail and, above all, pure vice signalling.
So how does Britain's New Prison Ships do this? Adopting the style and writing of a 2000s-2010s news documentary program, and managing to do this at a similar quality. Using a decent amount of filming on location in Portland [Dorset] and library footage, he presents a coherent narrative of the facts that we here hopefully all know and fully accept — that Britain's only ‘refugee crisis’ is the cruelty with which asylum seekers and refugees are treated by the Home Office — in a manner that's as calmly authoritative as a Panorama documentary. Because format and style works and is hugely important.
So I think that's the lesson of the linked video: an exploration of how, well, The Medium is The Message. But this is something we need to remind ourselves of frequently, and to update with regards to current media.
posted by ambrosen at 4:20 AM on January 7 [2 favorites]
The dilapidated faded 1970s style of this video is just fantastic, as well as the ruffled hair and brown suit. It's definitely something to give the impression of him being someone that's been lecturing on this for ever and ever and has got a bit complacent with his style. So yes, a little belly gape seems appropriate.
I was curious enough to look around and see if his style on other videos differs, and it does vary a lot between videos with good internal consistency. It's impressive. In terms of content, I was particularly taken with this video (in a good outdoor reportage style) titled Britain's New Prison Ships, because it's telling you WhAt tHe mAiNsTrEaM MeDiA DoEsN'T WaNt yOu tO HeAr — about how one of the Prime Minister's flagship policies is all of deeply trivial, cruel, against the UK's treaty obligations, incredibly mismanaged, designed to fail and, above all, pure vice signalling.
So how does Britain's New Prison Ships do this? Adopting the style and writing of a 2000s-2010s news documentary program, and managing to do this at a similar quality. Using a decent amount of filming on location in Portland [Dorset] and library footage, he presents a coherent narrative of the facts that we here hopefully all know and fully accept — that Britain's only ‘refugee crisis’ is the cruelty with which asylum seekers and refugees are treated by the Home Office — in a manner that's as calmly authoritative as a Panorama documentary. Because format and style works and is hugely important.
So I think that's the lesson of the linked video: an exploration of how, well, The Medium is The Message. But this is something we need to remind ourselves of frequently, and to update with regards to current media.
posted by ambrosen at 4:20 AM on January 7 [2 favorites]
Anyway, I'd not seen his work before, although I'd had Britain's New Prison Ships come up in my YouTube recommendations a lot recently. Thanks for sharing, AlSweigart.
posted by ambrosen at 4:23 AM on January 7
posted by ambrosen at 4:23 AM on January 7
I find it really interesting . . . how many people really prefer getting information by being told it, not reading it
This trend is what first made me fully aware of my difficulties processing auditory information, which I previously attributed to impatience. Impatience is still the primary issue - the potential information density of the medium is wasted and usually distracting if the product is an unedited/unscripted monologue.
What's up with the compulsion to shit on video essays?
This FPP provides copious examples of why someone might shit on video essays.
posted by aspersioncast at 7:33 AM on January 7 [1 favorite]
This trend is what first made me fully aware of my difficulties processing auditory information, which I previously attributed to impatience. Impatience is still the primary issue - the potential information density of the medium is wasted and usually distracting if the product is an unedited/unscripted monologue.
What's up with the compulsion to shit on video essays?
This FPP provides copious examples of why someone might shit on video essays.
posted by aspersioncast at 7:33 AM on January 7 [1 favorite]
I cranked this up to 1.5x when it came out, and found that too slow, so I listened to the whole thing at 2x and it sounded perfectly natural.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 8:09 AM on January 7
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 8:09 AM on January 7
What's up with the compulsion to shit on video essays?
Ok, so first of all, I watch a lot of video essays. I just finished Quinton Review's 9.5 hour video on Sam and Cat and I'm up to Quake 4 in Noah Caldwell-Gervais' 2.5 hour Playing Quake for the Narrative video.
That said, asking a very simple question, and then going into a one hour video to know the answer seems annoying. I watch video reviews where the medium is important to the message. Like, I won't watch all of Noah Gervais' videos, I'll listen to a lot of them, but when he talks about the aesthetic changes in this level I can look at the screen and see 'oh yeah, I see what he is talking about'
Asking someone to spend an hour of their life on someone they've never heard about before, and then saying every summary gets it wrong, without clarifying 100% rubbed me the wrong way. This is a question I'm curious about as in his latest reviews Quinton has started doing this, holding a giant desktop microphone of some sort by a stand clearly meant to be clipped to something. But he has always had a thing for the reverse of slick production values and is using yarn and a corkboard with badly printed photos for part of the review, so I thought it was just him being silly again.
posted by Canageek at 9:19 AM on January 7 [2 favorites]
Ok, so first of all, I watch a lot of video essays. I just finished Quinton Review's 9.5 hour video on Sam and Cat and I'm up to Quake 4 in Noah Caldwell-Gervais' 2.5 hour Playing Quake for the Narrative video.
That said, asking a very simple question, and then going into a one hour video to know the answer seems annoying. I watch video reviews where the medium is important to the message. Like, I won't watch all of Noah Gervais' videos, I'll listen to a lot of them, but when he talks about the aesthetic changes in this level I can look at the screen and see 'oh yeah, I see what he is talking about'
Asking someone to spend an hour of their life on someone they've never heard about before, and then saying every summary gets it wrong, without clarifying 100% rubbed me the wrong way. This is a question I'm curious about as in his latest reviews Quinton has started doing this, holding a giant desktop microphone of some sort by a stand clearly meant to be clipped to something. But he has always had a thing for the reverse of slick production values and is using yarn and a corkboard with badly printed photos for part of the review, so I thought it was just him being silly again.
posted by Canageek at 9:19 AM on January 7 [2 favorites]
Like, I consider the video to be high-quality, and the low-key comedic touches really worked for me, and while I often speed up videos, I found the slow, deliberate pace of this one to be engaging . However, I didn't know that that would be the case going in, and the framing didn't give me much to go on. Nevertheless, I'm really glad that OP posted it. Good job, OP.
posted by tigrrrlily at 10:14 AM on January 7 [2 favorites]
posted by tigrrrlily at 10:14 AM on January 7 [2 favorites]
Firstly, this isn't Tom Scott - Tom Scott I'd a different video essayist whose videos are actually relatively short for the genre.
He's pretty clearly saying that youtubers hold microphones (or plastic microphone props) to signal authenticity on a website where media corporations are getting increasingly better at camouflaging their visual style to fit in on a platform originally centered around individual creators.
I've noticed this recently around user generated content in terms of online advertising. It's meant to evoke everyday videos of unboxings, Get Ready With Me, try-ons, etc, without relying on the content creatorto have a brand or audience. However, there's still an expectation of professionalism and polish that seems to be a holdover from influencer marketing - the lighting has to be right, use a tripod for steadiness, carefully choose your words or music. The content creator is way more like an actor in this case, but also their own one-person production and editing team, making agency-level work that's meant to look authentic - but not TOO authentic because no one will buy from shaky videos with spotty lighting!
posted by creatrixtiara at 3:44 AM on January 9
He's pretty clearly saying that youtubers hold microphones (or plastic microphone props) to signal authenticity on a website where media corporations are getting increasingly better at camouflaging their visual style to fit in on a platform originally centered around individual creators.
I've noticed this recently around user generated content in terms of online advertising. It's meant to evoke everyday videos of unboxings, Get Ready With Me, try-ons, etc, without relying on the content creatorto have a brand or audience. However, there's still an expectation of professionalism and polish that seems to be a holdover from influencer marketing - the lighting has to be right, use a tripod for steadiness, carefully choose your words or music. The content creator is way more like an actor in this case, but also their own one-person production and editing team, making agency-level work that's meant to look authentic - but not TOO authentic because no one will buy from shaky videos with spotty lighting!
posted by creatrixtiara at 3:44 AM on January 9
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posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 5:43 PM on January 5 [2 favorites]