← All posts

Making Videos

3 March 2025

Today I felt like writing a blog post, but didn't know what to write about, so I picked a topic from the "blog post topics" list in my phone. I chose this one, which relates to my recent video-making efforts. This topic won't be revolutionary; I just thought it'd be something vaguely interesting when I added it to my list of topics (at least I imagine that's what I thought).

Pokémon Solus videos

Around the time I became unemployed last August, I was also working on my Pokémon Solus romhack project. Since I still had a lot of free time after I finished it, I also wanted to try my hand at making a video essay about the project. I guess I gravitate toward "retrospective"-type content, whether it's in writing or in videos; but I always seem to want to share my experience of working on my projects.

So anyway, I made the video after the project was mostly finished. I'd made random videos in the past, but it was my first video project for which I wrote a proper script, recorded voiceover, and edited together a video. (Actually, I cheated and used my original Solus blog post as the basis of the script, but I did end up editing it a bit to sound more natural.) The voiceover recording process went pretty well, aside from a few obsessive re-recordings because I kept thinking I sounded weird.

That brings me to the editing. In a word, it was tedious. I don't enjoy it. On the one hand, I think I do have a knack for editing videos on a macro scale, so they end up flowing naturally. Timing, music, things like that. On the other hand, it is very tedious, and when you're a perfectionist (like I am), it becomes very easy to obsess about minute details. And to be clear, I'm not saying I'm the best at editing in terms of skill; I just think I have an idea of how to structure the project well, so it at least comes out coherent. Fancy effects and tricks are beyond me.

That first video ended up doing very well. I think this was mostly due to the content which ends up attracting views (Pokémon/romhacks), not necessarily my video-making prowess. Either way, I was happy about its reception. Getting comments to read and respond to, even those that are negative, is pretty fun.

After this video, I realized I should also have a trailer for the romhack. So I made that a couple weeks later (and after the last, more significant changes to the romhack were finalized — this way the trailer could feature them). Honestly, I think I did a good job on the trailer. I think my music choice was very fitting (thank you, as always, Kevin MacLeod) and I timed transitions and effects nicely. The video was a lot shorter than the first one, but if I remember correctly, it took a lot more effort — I needed to collect footage, and I experimented with some more "special" effects. It paid off though. I'm still very happy with it, even if it didn't do as well.

I did make a third video about the Solus project, but it was easily the "worst" of the three. Its style was similar to that of the first one, but I think the content of the video was just naturally less interesting. Instead of introducing a romhack, I was explaining feedback I received on a romhack and reporting on some statistics. It was boring I think, but I still wanted to make it for myself, at least to have on record.

Other kinds of videos

So the question is What's next video-wise, if anything? It's something I've been thinking about lately. Much like the "blog post topics" list I alluded to at the start of this post, I also have a "videos" list in my notes where I jot down random video ideas. Honestly, I've been doing that for years now, I just never made anything significant until these Solus videos. So that should at least tell you that I do want to make other types of videos.

But I guess these "other" video ideas are not a big priority, otherwise I would've made them already. But I do add new ones to the list from time to time. Here's a random sample, for reference:

Yeah, pretty varied. But these are the ideas I entertain (i.e. imagine myself making) most often. Maybe one day you'll see me make a video from one of these categories. The plus side to some of these is that they will require much less tedious editing (the part I don't like).

I think that's all I have to say about videos for now. Thanks for reading, and have a good one.

— Derek Andersen

Tags: youtube

← All posts