I started this project hoping to find a Harry Potter-related YouTuber to analyze. However, I found that searching “Harry Potter vlogs” got me to channels focused on merchandise, travel, and makeup when what I was really looking for was story-based analysis. I changed course and was able to find many YouTubers who create videos on film and popular culture, many of whom have one or two Harry Potter videos.
One of these creators is Jenny Nicholson, whose scathing review of Fantastic Beasts: the Crimes of Grindelwald, made me laugh until I cried in late 2018. As I rewatched this video and explored her others for the first time, I was intrigued by her distinctive dry humor and quirky creative choices. Her recent Frozen 2 Script Doctor video, in particular, left me wanting to better understand her approach; it focused on intense criticism, yet also included positive enjoyment of the film. I decided to focus there - no Harry Potter after all!
After multiple rewatches of the Frozen 2 Script Doctor video I turned to the analysis questions in the assignment and looked back through our course readings. Rereading the vlogging section of Create to Learn was particularly helpful in reminding me of vocabulary for some of the choices I saw Nicholson making, such as direct address and jump cuts (Hobbs, p. 171-177). I felt clear that Nicholson was doing a lot to build intimacy and foster a sense of authenticity for her audience, but I was struggling to wrap my mind around her ultimate purpose. Why spend over 20 minutes criticizing Frozen 2 and offering ideas to make it better only to admit that she did actually enjoy it? I had a breakthrough after reading about adaptation in The Library Screen Scene: “As one scholar puts it, ‘Every text offers itself as an invitation to be rewritten.’ ...Because adaptations construct and reconstruct narrative, looking at what they include and what they omit from the source text sheds insight on how meaning is constructed through choices.” (Hobbs et al., p. 95).
This lens shed new light on the end of the video when Nicholson laments that “I just wish they had realized the potential” of Frozen 2. Ultimately, I think that Nicholson offers a form of adaptation (or pre-adaptation), exploring what new meaning could be made. All the things she does to connect with her audience work to invite us into this re-imagining.
With this thesis in mind, I reorganized my analysis notes into an outline. I was surprised by how easily the script text flowed and had to hold myself back and streamline examples in order to fit the word count. I drafted my script in a Google doc and recorded ideas for images using the comment tool as I wrote. At this point I also returned to YouTube and watched videos from creators such as Lindsay Ellis to get additional ideas for visual approaches.
I spent a good deal of time deciding which screencasting software to use to record clips from Nicholson’s video as well as to record myself. I was hoping to find a free tool that would let me record Nicholson’ audio directly from my computer, but didn’t (it looks like the subscription version of Screencastify allows this). I ended up using QuickTime on my Mac laptop and recorded with the volume up pretty high (and temporarily turned the heat off in my house) to limit echo and white noise. Recording myself went more smoothly because I was able to use a microphone connected directly to my laptop.
I used iMovie to edit my screencast together. While it did have some limitations (few text options, only two image layers), I found it to be fairly intuitive and was particularly excited about options to create split screens and picture-in-picture views. One of the hardest parts of editing was dealing with Jenny Nicholson’s jump cuts because they are just so close together. I also struggled with balancing the pacing of my images, especially because Nicholson’s video itself doesn’t change a whole lot visually. I tried to mirror her style by adding clips of myself in there as well.
Overall, I enjoyed this project. I’m coming away with a new appreciation for quite a few vloggers as well as increased confidence in my video creation abilities.
Ellis, L. (2016, Oct. 3). Hercules, Disney's Beautiful Hot Mess: a Video Essay [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KznZcK7ksf4
Hobbs, R. (2017) Create to Learn: Introduction to Digital Literacy. Wiley.
Hobbs, R., Deslauriers, L. & Steager, P. (2019). The Library Screen Scene: Film and Media Literacy in School, Public and Academic Libraries.
Nicholson, J. (2019, Dec. 2). Frozen 2 Script Doctor [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwN3Myxrpvw