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Post-NerdCon Haze

2015-10-16 · letter vlog · Hank · 3:58 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Internet & YouTube (also: Projects, Books & writing) · mode: Personal essay · tags: self promotion, community lore

After NerdCon, Hank rambles through the podcast, his newfound love of editing, Paolo Bacigalupi and local bookstores before reaching his point: the formats available shape the stories told, and YouTube opened a format free of TV's ad-driven lengths, which the Vlogbrothers capped at an arbitrary four minutes.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Greeting; Hank checks his phone for the date

00:00:14 — Hanging out at NerdCon in Minneapolis; plug for the podcast Dear Hank and John

  • ★★ Hank says he and John got to hang out at NerdCon in Minneapolis; a very brief interaction between them closes the latest episode of Dear Hank and John. — 00:00:14 · Dear Hank and John
  • ★★ Hank plugs the brothers' podcast Dear Hank and John: they answer viewer questions, give dubious advice and bring the week's news from Mars and AFC Wimbledon. — 00:00:23 · Dear Hank and John, Mars, AFC Wimbledon

00:00:32 — Camera set too low; NerdCon went great; editing NerdCon footage for YouTube; after eight years Hank finds he likes editing; Greg the computer

  • ★★ Hank says NerdCon went really great; he has been editing NerdCon material, some of which goes up on the YouTube channel for people who weren't there and those who were. — 00:00:42 · YouTube
  • ★★ After eight years of making videos, Hank has realized he likes the quiet editing part, sitting and clicking alone with his computer, as well as the loud interactive parts. — 00:00:56

00:01:36 — Too many video ideas; Paolo Bacigalupi and Ship Breaker; Shakespeare and Company in Missoula and local bookstores versus Amazon

  • ★ Hank says he came away from NerdCon with many video ideas and couldn't pick one, so this is one of those videos where he screams and nothing happens. (playful) — 00:01:36
  • ★★ Showing Paolo Bacigalupi's Ship Breaker, Hank says it won a staff pick and may have won a Printz or been a Printz honoree, but he isn't sure. (unsure) — 00:01:58
  • ★★ Hank recommends visiting Shakespeare and Company in Missoula, saying local bookstores are part of the fabric holding a community together; think of that next time on Amazon. — 00:02:09 · Missoula, Montana, Amazon

00:02:25 — Last Amazon purchase: the 'No, It's Becky' shirt; Anus Georg

  • ★ Hank shows his 'No, It's Becky' shirt, calling it one of his favorite internet things, right up there with Anus Georg. (playful) — 00:02:37 · No, It's Becky, Anus Georg

00:02:50 — Formats shape the stories told: TV's fixed lengths versus YouTube's new format and the Vlogbrothers' arbitrary four-minute limit, enforced by ending the video

  • ★★★ Hank says he and Paolo Bacigalupi discussed how the formats available to us tend to influence the stories that get told. — 00:02:50
  • ★★ Hank says that for ages the only video formats were the thirty-minute episode, the sixty-minute episode and the movie-length thing. — 00:03:02
  • ★★★ Hank says YouTube created a new format shaped not by when ads show up or by dividing a day into 24 pieces, but by the best way to tell a quick story or make a quick thing. — 00:03:08 · YouTube
  • ★★★ Hank says in 2007 the Vlogbrothers imposed an artificial four-minute limit on their videos, as arbitrary as the 24-hour day, and it's great they stuck with it. — 00:03:28 · Vlogbrothers, Four-minute rule

In the description and comments

  • ★★ In the description Hank states his intended point: if distribution systems affect which stories get told, many wonderful stories simply aren't being told. — video description
  • ★★ Hank says short fiction was hard to ship, poor value for readers and hard for publishers to make money on, so most short-form media people took in was video or non-fiction magazine articles. — video description
  • ★★★ Hank says that with a simple system for digital content, serialized novels and novellas are suddenly in high demand: content not produced for a generation has an audience again. — video description
  • ★★ Hank asks what became of the short stories and novellas never written in the meantime: maybe their creators wrote great novels instead, maybe not. (hedged) — video description
  • ★★ Hank says an infrastructure has been built around novels, in bookstores and in our minds, and most classes focus on the novel because that is the format that has existed. — video description · education
  • ★★ Hank says teachers might even discourage students from publishing in other formats, calling them 'not legitimate' or because they grew up with no market for them. (hedged) — video description

Humor (significant)

  • Hank introduces his computer Greg and chats to it about its cooling noise. — 00:01:35

    “Greg's a hot, he's a hottie.”

  • Hank has so many post-NerdCon video ideas he can't pick one. — 00:01:49

    “doing one of those videos where I scream at you and nothing happens.”

  • Right after praising local bookstores, Hank tells viewers to think of them next time they're on Amazon. — 00:02:20

    “or I'm on Amazon buying cat litter.”

  • Having explained that the Vlogbrothers imposed an arbitrary four-minute limit, Hank finally reaches his point. — 00:03:45

    “despite the fact that I only just got to the point, I have to end this video”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Four-minute rule · NerdCon: Stories · YouTube

Also: People: Paolo Bacigalupi

Projects: Dear Hank and John

Works: Ship Breaker

Organizations: AFC Wimbledon · Amazon · Michael L. Printz Award · Shakespeare and Company

Concepts: advertising · independent bookstore

Places: Mars · Minneapolis · Missoula, Montana

Memes: Anus Georg · No, It's Becky

Only in the description or credits: novel · serial fiction · short story

Also centred on NerdCon: Stories: Announcing NerdCon: Stories · Book Towers for Miles · Thoughts from Comic-Con (NO MORE CHEETO MEDIA!) · Let's Talk about Failure

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