PhilosophyTube

BTS Pics - 'The Problem with Video Essays'

Added 2025-05-12 17:07:50 +0000 UTC

Hello lovely Patrons!

We were on set today filming our next episode, working title The Problem with Video Essays. I'm super proud of this one; it gets a little personal and reflective, and I think it'll turn out nicely

The video is in two pieces. The first is about geography, and the founding of the United States

But the second is a bit more personal and meta - it's about why it's difficult to make video essays, not just about this topic but about any topic

In the meta sections I reflect a bit on the business of making video essays for a living, and the limitations of the format

Brian Conway returned as stylist, and did a super job as always! We went for a super cute cowgirl look for the sections about the early USA

Nicki Buglewicz did the hair and makeup - you might even be able to see she added little freckles!

and then for the meta sections we went for a much more natural look, way less than we normally do. I'm thinking a lot at the moment about aesthetics, and how "fancy" I want Philosophy Tube to look, especially now, when the economy is super bad and a lot of people are hurting. It's an ongoing balancing act

We'll have a lot of fun in the bit about the USA too; I used the Chaos Wall format again to talk about the philosophy of physical space!

pow powwww!

I think this'll be a fun one, and one that people remember; I'm proud of the way it all came together in the writing towards the very end of the process. You'll hear more about that in the video itself and in the postmortem livestream.