A window into my creative process

I wanted to give you all a quick update on this project. I've just gotten my voice back after battling a bad flu for most of February. While I couldn’t record videos during that time, I took the opportunity to write scripts and research clips. 

To give you a brief window into my creative process I thought I’d share my project wall (pictured above) where I plan out future video essays. Pink cards are ideas for videos about positive masculinity trends in media. Blue cards are ideas for critical videos about negative masculinity trends. Green is for videos that focus on politics in entertainment. Yellow cards are shorter videos about a specific definition or counter argument. Red stars indicate that a script has been drafted. Silver checkmarks indicate that examples have been researched. As I engage with entertainment on a daily basis I’m always taking notes on examples that might fit into one of these future essays. 

Each video essay has 5 production and preproduction stages. 

1) Researching examples in movies, games and TV shows
2) Sourcing and collecting usable media clips
3) Writing the script
4) Recording audio/video
5) Editing the recording and clips together

In order to illustrate a media pattern, I try to collect clips from a wide variety of sources, both old and new, from film and TV etc. To give you some idea of the amount of research involved, I have found 50+ examples of films that include the “Abduction as Romance” trope (mostly action movies). And 50+ more films that include examples of the “Stalking as Romance” trope (mostly romantic-comedies). 

Upcoming videos in March 2017

I have 2 videos about media manhood researched, scripted, sourced and ready to record. Both should be published this month. One is on a trope I came up with called “Born Sexy Yesterday” which focuses on troubling relationship dynamics in science-fiction media. The other is a critical look at Harrison Ford’s filmography and how his most famous characters have often disregarded basic notions of consent. I think you'll find both video essays interesting.

Thanks again for your support! 

Best,
Jonathan