John Green Crashcourse:
The esteemed author runs a YouTube channel in which he analyses or otherwise talks about various parts of society, history, psychology and politics. Interestingly his work merges live-action with animation and graphics - notably there are more of these in his later videos. The production value for the videos is rather good and judging by the amount produced are clearly popular enough to warrant more videos to be made.
An issue I have with his style of video is how he often deviates for comedic purposes giving insight into his personality with comments about things like his "bias towards Canada!"; this excited fast-talking video combined with such comedy seems forced and awkward, not having much relevance to the topic at hand. History is surely interesting enough that I don't have to saturate it with my personality in order to engage with the viewer, although it is likely John Green does this as he is famous and therefore in the public eye - providing an incentive to entertain his fanbase and followers.
Additionally, in terms of the video quality itself, I do not believe I could draw much from this as I have firstly decided against full animation but secondly don't believe I have a set or team to produce the live-action aspect of the video to a high enough standard; there then comes the issue of locating an area for the shoot whilst simultaneously ensuring quality audio, plus from my experiences within my Media Studies I'd be running the risk of continuity errors.
John Green Before - an earlier video
Jonh Green After - a later video
ExtraHistory:
ExtraCredits typically run videos on video game design but frequently branch out into providing overviews on historical topics that their Patreon supporters vote for. They occasionally bring on other artists to work on the show when they need to give their usual animator a break or they simply want to have a guest work on the video and showcase their own art.
From a technical standpoint, it is great to see them own a distinct art style of their own that is simple despite the lack of animation - animations typically being relatively simple as to make drawing frame-by-frame easier. Although, more detail seems to have gone into the recent stills used within the videos; I have considered the detail of my characters somewhat but will likely need to finalise such thoughts in a separate post looking at character design. Regardless, their use of animatics is useful as I have decided to draw from their content such a technique. This will otherwise ensure the work isn't too time consuming.
Onto the videos' content, I'd certainly say they are set out clearly with the narrator even establishing either what they will talk about or opening up with a description of the historical figure in the future of their story as to best provide context or intrigue to the viewer. However I would like to criticise them for the fact that their videos are too narrative, in some of their recent work they appear to pick up on some factors but generally they seem to focus on the annecdotes of historical figures and not factors or asking specific questions of if the topic was a 'failure or victory' in a way. I would personally like to explore more factors with my own audience but acknowledge that ExtraCredits aim to provide information accessible to those who don't necessarily study history and therefore have to provide more context when bringing in factors - instead choosing to explore a narrative as it is easier to understand.
Another criticism is the use of a voice changer, I am aware that some of the comments on YouTube have been complaining about the voice however I personally don't mind it. I assume the changer is used in order to make the narrator truly seem 'cartoony' but it doesn't necessarily entice people to watch the video as much as it is something which either polarises them or doesn't register as something worthy of note. I would however consider the narrator as a whole, upon making this post and analysis.
ExtraCredits - video with some animation
ExtraHistory - video as an animatic
Knowledge Hub/Alternate History Hub:
Overall, the channels appear to give a fairly simple and basic understanding for the viewer to follow - in regards to history. Within most of his content, Cody touches upon certain factors however his content on Alternate History Hub focuses more on a speculatory narrative. In this aspect, I would say I have mixed feelings with applying his approach to content within my own; factors are briefly mentioned and dictate the way in which the supposed "alternate history" occurs, additionally he does have an overall question which he refers back to and aims to answer.
In terms of the technical areas of Cody's work, I very much like how he represents countries by colour and typically having a single on-screen character embody the country. Such personification helps to establish some humour and perhaps add perspective to the content. With this in mind, the Crusaders are usually led more so by specific leaders rather than by countries, or at least not countries as we know of them today. As a result, I will likely not be basing my character designs on this creator, plus his designs are perhaps too simple to represent specific leaders and otherwise distinguish them. However, I shoul mention that he does include an animatic style which I believe to be something I have clearly decided to focus on. Additionally, the videos include real life pictures and maps, likely saving the creator time but also helping to focus the audience's attention as they are intrigued by images that directly link to reality and the subject matter.
Lastly, the way in which he delivers the script is very good. It's prose enough for it to be something casual and informative whilst still embedding information, he's clear with his pronunciations and his deep voice makes him rather distinguishable from other creators - memorable to a point in which might benefit the information he gives. However voice is something which I likely cannot mimic although I should keep an ear out for someone with a similar voice.
Alternate History Hub - a video with some pictures
Knowledge Hub - a video with more pictures and maps
Zepherus:
He's a smaller YouTuber than most of the others I have analysed and clearly it is due to his career only being relatively recent, as a result he seems to be a lot less experienced in terms of his videos from a technical standpoint. Around 0:21, in the video I will link below, he makes a very hard cut on his audio and his intro is rather loud and he therefore needs to balance his audio better. Another note about the audio is the bad quality of it, sure his performance is somewhat clear due his accent however the performance is quite an unconfident one and he messes up some words - leading me to ensure I re-record audio in my own project as to avoid amateur quality. Furthermore, there is some noise within his audio (as in the echo and air are audible) so to avoid this I would need to look out for a good padded location to record clear audio.
On the topic of the technical areas in his videos, Zepherus uses images from real life sources and as such does not draw characters or assets to represent reality. This is a more conventional method of relaying information to the audience as it saves time and allows for them to clearly see factual images of the subject in question, however I will likely only use some images in my project - the main video being comprised of drawn characters of my own, as to represent the historical information I put forward.
Zepherus - the video I used to represent these comments
Military History Visualized:
Interesting use of minimalist visuals but the editing may be too complex given the amount of branches that occur under his 'factors'. This mainly applies even to the diagrams and visuals he uses, often the number of people is represented by a lot of onscreen assets that I don't believe I have the time to replicate. Additionally, his visuals appear to be self-made but don't feature historical characters or cartoons - likely due to his work centering around mainly facts and figures as opposed to a narrative. This provides an extremely clear video with easily digested information and visuals to further aid such information.
Unfortunately, English appears to not be his first language so some of the pronunciation may be hard to understand however his accent is rather distinct and may engage some people. His overall voice and line delivery is rather flat but I suppose it fits with the style of video, plus his audience seems to be those who are more specifically interested in history - my demographic including those who may not be as interested in history, therefore requiring more engaging audio. The lack of narrative focus may take away interest from a casual viewer and disengage them from the video; the large amount of figures perhaps alienating some viewers.
The video I used to base most of these comments on is linked below. It is quite useful in providing some added knowledge on castles for me, however the extent at which this content will feature in my work is still debatable.
Military History Visualized - a video using simple visuals and lots of facts, figures and statisitcs
History Buffs:
This channel focuses on correcting historical misconceptions and inaccuracies in film-review styled videos. A review of the film is given overall but the historical accuracy of the film is also taken into question and history is provided to help clear up any errors. It is in these areas that the channel stands out the most as it engages a casual audience by gaining their attention through well-known films and bringing the discussion about history through such a link. The content seems to be very narrative in following the chronology of history in relation to real events however the host ensures to focus on key facts to support his review.
Notably, History Buffs includes an animated avatar to refer back to and represent himself. He fully animates the mouth and makes sure to lip-sync however the other body movements of the character occur in an animatic style; this style is quite jarring if multiple videos are viewed at a time, plus the lip-syncing would take so long. It is perhaps just easier to maintain a fully animatic style within the video as to keep it consistent.
In terms of visuals, there is sure enough a decent amount of the animated character however the majority of the video is comprised of movie clips and real life pictures and sources in order to evaluate those very clips. Given that the video focuses on the reality of a film this makes sense, however I aim to keep the majority of my work drawn as to still maintain a clear style within my video and engage the audience with never-before-seen visuals.
Below is a video linked to the channel, the content of which I analysed is around the Kingdom of Heaven film. This helped provide some historical information on a time near to the Third Crusade; I may perhaps use some of the information provided if it is applicable to my overall project.
History Buffs - a video with context on the crusades
The Great War:
Content is specialised around the World Wars but it is nice to clearly see a lot of attention and depth around a major part of history. With this in mind, it is unlikely I will be able to glean any information relevant to my subject choice from the Great War. The technical areas of the channel are pretty good, the formatting seems to be similar to that of John Green's in terms of the live action however there is a more serious and educational tone (Green often being too 'internet casual' or adding in humour and high speed talking). The visuals used are all real photographs or paintings and clips, therefore adding to the realism aspect; it is likely that the Great War doesn't focus on providing cartoony visuals as a means of maintaining some solemn respect for the subject he is talking about.
There's not necessarily much I can learn from his videos, but I figured he was worth checking out as I discovered him through a collaboration he did with History Buffs, additionally his channel shows that he is affiliated with Knowledge Hub and Extra Credits. It is interesting to see how closely affiliated all of these people are despite their clearly different styles and focuses.
The Great War - a video which I based most of my comments on
It's important to include a long enough time to ensure enough depth is applied but not too much as to result in a bored or disengaged audience. I intend to maintain my viewer's attention. Additionally, as my video will likely go on YouTube, it should be noted that they have changed their algorithm; the changes to YouTube mean that content worth is based on watch time, the most successful channels producing content that lasts around 10 minutes - clearly indicating its effectiveness at ensuring an audience is engaged, since it is the most popular time on the platform. Additionally, new channels require verification before they can upload more than 15 minutes of content according to my research which is an added reason for this choice.
For starters, not all crusaders wore the red cross. In fact, only the Templars and other religiously devote/founded factions really did although there are likely some accounts of particularly pious individuals adding crosses to their attire. Throughout the First, Second and Third Crusades it is more likely that soldiers bore the appropriate sigils of either their house or the houses they swore fealty to. Additionally, the helmet poses some more issues in that the latest period I have considered for my video is the Third Crusade which occurred between 1189-1192, in which many agree is out of the time in which Great Helms were used - although some perhaps had begun to be used as they are recorded in the 13th century, relatively close to the period. The trope of a crusader in a Great Helm is so common within today's depiction that even a quick Google search reveals that the majority show the iconic helmet.
