Video Essays: A New Type Of Documentary

 Whether it is on late-night television hosts, an amusement park attraction or company that is no longer with us, or perhaps every episode of a sitcom from your childhood, the impact of video essays online has been on the rise and now even rivals the relevancy and presence of podcasts. I watch plenty myself, from restaurants to musical history, entertainment, or even perhaps deep diving into a show from my childhood. I do love wandering the beaten path and watching different topics such as food, modern trends, fashion, and such sometimes to perhaps learn something new and talk about something with my friends when the other day a thought struck me, that video essays are now, not replacing, but are on the quality and can stand alongside documentaries as a form of entertainment that also gives you fun facts to share next time you are out to dinner with friends. 

Video essays are everywhere. You have a topic, you remember a show no one else does, or didn't know there was an amusement park attraction based around Garfield. I love watching these, putting them on either for entertainment or as inspiration. To me a video essay is just that, an essay on any topic that you would not sound out of place as if presented in a class. These are not the same as a review, or a challenge video, and I feel like the term video essay or someone calling themself a video essayist has been thrown around now more then ever. I feel like reviewing something, or deep diving into a topic is can be a video essay and sometimes it isn't. The definition differs from person to person, as some of the friends I have see the challenge videos I enjoy just as fun videos and not as an essay. Those videos deserve a post of their own someday.

There are some documentaries I like on topics such as music, a TV series, an actor, or even the recently released "Movie Pass Movie Crash". Thus why I say that video essays and documentaries coexist rather than replace. There may never be a documentary on the musical version of Groundhog Day but the Youtube channel Wait In The Wings covered that, and I am so grateful. One of my personal favorites of theirs is the video on the King Kong puppet as well as the musical it roamed around in. Giving me things to want to explore more such as more videos, a documentary, a podcast, or even a book. Even if the topics are loosely connected just by a common theme like food, music, or the creative works of the same person. Some videos even end by calling themselves documentaries, and I think they are not out of line at all.

They feel on the same page as a documentary especially when they are made with the purpose of educating the viewer, showing a topic someone researched in depth and want to share their findings with the viewer. Sometimes even on just an episode of T.V or a specific song, boiling emotional nuances down to one specific moment in a piece of media. From a costume or puppet in a musical, or pointing out something that may not have been pointed out before. 

Video essays are something I also find myself watching multiple times, or just listening to in order to pick the facts up or refresh myself on them. Also, some of them are so entertaining and have a good balance of humor whether from the topic being presented or the one presenting it that I find myself laughing at it and enjoying it like I do with a good movie. Video essays are great for information, the people presenting them can collect facts and interviews with cited sources, and the length also proves that the topic being presented was well looked into. Some weave narratives while others give fun points of trivia on what seems to be an endless amount of topics. From current online drama to an amusement park ride that is just a memory, video essays are amazing, and deserve respect. A new type of documentary meant to entertain, inform, and give us something to walk away with... even if that something is a new need to go to Las Vegas and ponder the orb. 

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