Awesome Video Essays

(PG-13) From the late ’80s to the early 2000s, MTV was the vehicle for musical artists to spread not just their work but their creative wings as well. Polyphonic recounts the trends along with lots of trivia from the golden age of the channel. Big-budget short films, raw performances, and the early days of CGI all coexisted and entertained two generations of viewers.

“…2+2, that’s it.” Sabrina. The Seven-Year Itch. Some Like It Hot. The Apartment. Writer and director Billy Wilder is behind some of the greatest American films. Much like the man himself, Every Frame a Painting forgoes fancy editing and dramatic narration to give us a snappy overview of what made Wilder’s films a joy to watch and think about.

“Have you seen Percy Jackson is Good Because of Reasons by YouTuber Firstname Lastname!?” Two guys name-drop the longest video essays they’ve watched in Man Carrying Thing’s silly commentary on the proliferation of lengthy YouTube videos. But for real, we unironically love those white noise and beach sounds videos.

(PG-13: Language) Polyphonic elucidates what many music lovers have known deep down: genres are fading into a natural and inevitable death. With instant and affordable access to music from different cultures and eras, it doesn’t matter if you can’t define the music you like because you’ll most probably enjoy a little bit of everything.

“And we said nay, we are but men.” Polyphonic’s April Fools’ video is only partly silly. In it, he explores the references, metaphors, and themes in Tenacious D’s seminal song Tribute. It’s a surprisingly rich dive with lots of interesting trivia. It ends with a pragmatic reflection on chasing perfection versus finding fulfillment in the act of creation itself.

Looney Tunes cartoons are known for iconic characters like Bugs Bunny, Road Runner, and Foghorn Leghorn. The animators who created these characters and their voices often are mentioned, but the artists who created the background images are rarely mentioned. The Gaze gives credit where credit is due with this video essay focused on artist Maurice Noble.

(PG-13: Language) Creative writing requires persistence and a willingness to accept failure far more than success. J. Marcelo Borromeo of 101 Things I Learned About Fiction from Film created this video essay on the challenges and rewards of writing, told using footage from the films of Wes Anderson. (Thanks, Rob!)

If you can believe it, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was the first theatrically-released animated movie to feature one of the Avengers. It was a huge gamble to create it like a live-action comic book, but that creative decision paid off. Danny Boyd from CinemaStix offers his take on why it worked so brilliantly.

Serious fans of science fiction and anime might know already about the parallels that exist between Cowboy Bebop and Blade Runner, but not all of us were aware of the connections. Kaptain Kristian digs into the aesthetic and spiritual links between the two Tech Noir franchises in another of his fantastic video essays.

The second part of Kirby Ferguson’s documentary reboot delves into memes, sequels, genres, superheroes, and more aspects of modern pop culture. Along the way, he dives deeper into why we like to copy existing ideas and modify them to make new ones.

We’ve all heard of Captain Marvel, but the character has a long and complicated history, mired in lawsuits that gave birth to oddities like the UK’s “Marvelman.” Nerdwriter explains how the long lost character was resurrected and became the forefather of today’s of dark and flawed anti-hero characters.

Did you know that Warner Bros. made an entire unaired Blazing Saddles TV series just so they could skirt a contract issue with Mel Brooks? Or that the GEICO cavemen had a sitcom? Hats Off Entertainment’s Forgotten Failures is a great series about these and other obscure sequels and reboots.

Michel Gondry’s music videos, TV shows, and films deftly combine humor, childlike whimsy, and in-camera effects to entertain our brains. In this clip from Polyphonic, essayist Noah LeFevre explains how Gondry’s background as a percussionist has influenced his work through rhythmic, repetitive, and redundant imagery.

Despite its jangly and upbeat sounds, Gorillaz’s 2005 hit Feel Good Inc. was actually a sharp criticism of the music industry and consumer culture. Polyphonic offers up a great analysis of the track and its music video, and why it’s so clever in the way it delivers its message.

These days, you can’t go more than a few hours without encountering some gadget with a human-sounding voice. The Science Elf provides a concise look at the history of machine-made speech, from early mechanical devices through modern voice assistants like Siri and Alexa.

We always assumed that the phantom vocal sounds we hear in some songs were intentionally placed there, but You Can’t Unhear This‘ explains how that’s not always the case, and how sometimes they’re simply a remnant of old school studio recording.