right now, I think the videos are actually a bit too slow, and they can be ramped up a little bit. But obviously, that's within the constraints of okay. 3D is a little bit more expensive to draw out. Uh, so how do you manage to bring the fast, rapid cutting of, let's say, more traditional editing where the assets aren't expensive to a software and program where it rewards longer holding of the camera? So if that can get cracked, if I can figure that out, the videos will hopefully have more of a wave of pacing. Right now, it's still a bit too, uh, monotonous. Two years ago, H started his YouTube channel posting video essays, which is a very prominent genre on the YouTube platform. In his first few videos, H focused specifically on European issues from an outsider-insider perspective, being born in the Netherlands and growing up in the US, and later moving back. After the first few videos, the topic shifted more to design in a wider range of disciplines, such as Urban Development and graphic design. In his videos, H crafts a consistent Style with

3D animation, as one of its more distinctive elements, combined with the use of genre-defining elements such as archive footage, musical elements, and voice-over, the overall aesthetic quality of HK videos has increased incredibly over the past 2 years. While earlier videos were often animated with 2D images sliding in and out of the screen, the videos are now dominated with highly detailed 3D models. Each model is shown through the use of multiple camera angles, specific lighting, and smooth animation. These 3D models are labor-intensive to make and often designed and rendered specifically for the videos, which is fairly unique within the genre of video essays on YouTube. These 3D animations that let HK stand out from other videos on the platform, combined with the use of voice-over and archival footage, give his videos a forensic quality as they allow the viewer to examine a reconstructed model of the video's topic up close. Lately, H started the joint venture with his colleague, Simplism, as Fern, a new YouTube channel where they post armchair documentaries.

in similar style, but on a wider variety of topics than H videos, from McDonald's packaging to how the Netherlands should be considered a giant City. What we, um, typically ask, uh, as our first question is, uh, what is your content routine, um, how does it begin, um, okay, um, yeah, so I wake up, and I, I go to an office, and then usually me and this guy will walk, and we'll talk about YouTube Philosophy for about 45 minutes, and it's usually the same conversation each time, kind of like a married couple, so we just repeat the same things usually, and then I'll, I'll sit down, and, uh, usually I'm either writing or I'm editing, so I'm in an editing program, blender mostly, and then I will, yeah, maybe 50% of the time is just fiddling around with random things in there, and then if it's not that, I will be writing, usually for a next script, and I guess I'm starting to delegate a bit more of that, and then my least favorite thing to do, which is maybe once every two weeks.

is recording but that's usually my routine pretty much every day. I see, yeah, and recording is where in the process is it. It's the first thing. Well, after you make a script, you go into a booth and you record, and you put the voice over into the timeline, and then you can put all your edits in place because they'd pce correctly with the Audio. I see, I see. And you mentioned, uh, blender, should you should we go right into it. I can, I can show you blender, yeah, yeah. So what do we have here. F first have to say that it's really weird to, uh, uh, talk to a lot of my friends about this actually because usually I think they don't think I have a real job. I'm today they'll find out today, uh, today they'll find out, um, yeah. So, uh, blender is a, a 3D open source program, so it's completely free, uh, which is also what makes it the best, uh, program on the planet, and has a cult following, and, uh, it's, it's a 3D animation program so

other than 2D, you usually do with mesh. And you basically have models in a 3D space, and you have cameras. So if you make the models, you can basically make a really nice model of something. And then if you want to stretch out a lot of footage in a timeline, you can just change the camera angle. Yeah, so if you don't know what you want to film, but you want to make it look really professional, you just buy a really high-class model. And then just change the camera angle. And then, uh, you've got a video pretty much. And those are most H videos actually, just changing the camera angle around one really nice model, um. And this is how I would do it. So I'm making a video on the Kilda and why it's the best currency, uh, ever made in my opinion, um, because of its colors, uh, the fact that it looks kind of like a comic. So as opposed to money in the United States, it's very serious and over the top. And you know, it kind of, yeah, it

just comes off kind of pretentious. I think the Dutch currency is very playful and looks cool, so I just wanted to make a video on just the Kilda. So, and it's perfect for it. It seems super expensive, but all you do is you just get a bunch of images of ailda and you place it in random scenes, add some sunlight, you know, make some camera shake, add some shallow depth of field, and then people think you're an artist when in reality very cheap tricks. Well, but you do know how to do it. I think that's a big part of it. And I was also wondering because you said like um, or you compared it to the dollar, is that also the thing like I said in the introduction, like the outside insider perspective? Do you feel like that's true? And if so, do you feel like that helps you in making videos or finding an angle? For sure, I think most like a video like the plus, like a public Ural, you just don't have those in

the US, so in the US, you have a culture of just if someone needs to go to a bathroom, you just let them in your establishment and they can use the bathroom, whereas here, that's not the case. You have to pay, and they have cast iron toilets, so if you don't live here and you get introduced to that, that's just kind of weird, um, and so there's obviously a market for what is weird, um, and so with the dollar, actually, that's not entirely fair. I, to be honest, the money usually comes from my Dutch parents who do not have that difference in perspective. They just like to ramble about why the Kilda looks beautiful and why the Euro looks boring, uh, so that's where the idea mainly comes from, but I do think it does generally help have that perspective. So does this idea came from talking to your parents or hearing them go on about Thea? I know exactly where this video comes from. It was dinner with actually my grandparents and my dad. My dad thinks the fire tower.

is uh the f is beautiful yeah but my grandfather will reminisce. Like A Very Old Man and say the that was a that was a real beautiful bank note. And that's uh and then I put in my notes app and then I've got it. That's my next uh next. So do you keep it list on your notes. Yeah yeah Notes app where you sort of track down what you what your thoughts are videos. Yeah a bunch. Yeah many videos maybe it's good for the audience also to know like at the at the point of making this video this is uh something that you haven't shared yet it's in production. Uh can you tell us a little bit uh where you are at in the process right now of making and maybe show us also some considerations that you yeah so okay uh so the script is pretty much finished and then I have to record it. Uh but right now basically what you do is you make one collection. I don't know if other people do this but and it's basically like you're assembling your toolkit so you know that

you have a bunch of scenes you're going to recycle. You're going to come back to, uh, because you want to make it, uh, financially feasible to produce a video in, in a fast enough time. So basically, all the assets you're thinking that you might want to show, or you might want to go back to, you basically set them down in this plane, and then you can reference them as instances later in future scenes and change the lighting or whatever, uh. And this is actually, in some ways, the, uh, the chest part because it's just like, you know, it's assembling all your Lego pieces, and then you're going to put them all together, uh, when you know this scene is going to be, I don't know, this scene will be a dramatic shot of, uh, of ailda, uh, because I don't know what to show on screen. So instead, I'm just going to place this, uh, banknote that rotates in a specific way, and it looks, uh, cinematic, uh, and I can put that for 20 seconds or 30 seconds into the

timeline, yeah, and uh, you know, kind of structuring that, uh, from the start. Uh, and that, that's, that's what an asset, uh. So right now, I haven't sketched out exactly which scenes, and the next thing I will do is after the recording is finished, I'll cut it up into the specific scenes, and I'll put those wave files in separate scenes in Blender, and then I'll animate the camera over the, over the sound. I see, so you make a collection out of the things that you have created from multiple angles, and then you render that out into like pieces of video, which you use in your timeline. Can you show us the timeline that you're, yeah, yeah, I can. So just, I did, I didn't, uh, I lost all my files, uh, in the audio, but doesn't matter for this, uh. So for people who don't know, uh, this program, I think it's DaVinci Resolve, yeah, yeah, it's a similar program as, um, Adobe Premiere, and it's, uh, just essentially an editing program for video, very simple, straightforward, I, I'd say.

but I would say it's not the same as Premiere. I think Premiere is like an old, angry man that's on his last legs, and DaVinci Resolve is a young, hip, much more ambitious, also free to use program from the get-go. So yeah, somebody knows there and software just all I have to say. And this is then maybe also the moment where your research and then also, of course, your voice over, which is now missing, and the videos that you've created in Blender are sort of merging together. How sort of like you already mentioned that you got the idea from talking to your parents, but where what do you do from there? Like how do you research? Like do you go into archives or do you just do it online? Like how's that process? So maybe one more thing if I'm choosing topics the I ramble about this quite a bit, which is that I usually filter if they videos in the

first place uh has uh I always get slightly angry which is that you have a lot of philosophers on YouTube or want to be talkers that actually just want to speak and get their voice across, and that's great. Those make good writers, but video is a completely different platform, and so it should be made for you. You should know what you're showing on screen, and if you don't know what you're showing on screen, then maybe it's not actually uh made for a video visual medium. And so that's in the mind. So then when my parents recommend that video, and I think, okay, that's actually also visual because you're just talking about uh build, the reason that video gets chosen is it, of course, I find it interesting, but it also checks the box of oh, I can draw out and make a lot of footage of this video when I'm trying to explain what it is, uh. So I'll structure it like a basic shot list, um, and then this timeline becomes kind of intuitive, and you don't really need to

think much about it because yeah when you're saying something, it's usually very, it's usually always corresponding to something you're showing. Yeah, yeah. I don't know if that answers the question well. It starts uh to answer the question. Good book is not good FM, uh, that's what you're uh showing here. Like if you go through like the, uh, so at the like I said, if you talk about the, it's a currency that's been there for ages. I don't even know how long, but this is something that might be already in your head, uh, and you know all the or or you do research in like the, the, the, the social use of the, or like the ways of saying, uh, that came from the H, like how, how does that work? Like so like you're so you have your script basically, and what do you, you can't make it two hours long, so which ones do you choose is basically the question, yeah, exactly, yeah, yeah. Um, I think that's maybe where the just what

you individually prefer to I think maybe you'll speak about something different about Thea than I would. I don't know. I uh I usually do it on I. I want things to show that people can look at on screen so they don't turn the phone that they they won't turn the phone let's say uh horizontal. No, they will will'll keep it vertical. You want something that they turn horizontal and keep watching because they feel like they can only really understand the video if they're watching. So the script will write like, okay, uh, this currency is special because it's colorful. It needs to be shown in contrast with muted boring color currencies. Uh, this color this uh bank note is special because it features these crazy buildings with no real National ties like the lighthouse. And you contrast that to Germany's uh marks where was specific buildings or it was the first bank notes that was not a person. And so you show the bird and the flower. And then that's always showing something. And it'll go, you know what also makes it special is the watermarks.

a bee uh um the the bird again, and a uh down. Can I don't know how you say that but just a rabbit bunny from a dune uh you just show that so it's always kind of structured the script so that you have something to look at. Of course, not perfect, but you know if it's if I don't know what to show then just a new camera angle and then you've got to just stretch out the scene a bit longer, yeah. And if you if you zoom out like in an overview of other videos that you've made um I I I can imagine for the h is very much graphic design and very uh fastpac of of of of facts that you can tell about it because everyone knows what currency is, yeah um. And in other uh videos like the Barcelona video where you talk about the the urban planning of the of the city of Barcelona and how that came to be um that's maybe something that has a bit more of a sort of social political background or like um

how do you decide on what you uh what you're going to tell and show like in order to make this big uh how do you say this bigger topic um uh into a digestible video for people to watch and to take away something if I want to include something like social like a kind of complex social political topic how do I include that in the yeah or if it's like uh for example the the the sex scraper uh video uh that's something that uh yeah has very has many angles like how do you uh what are the considerations that you make when you make a video like that I'll do the I think the sex scraper actually like would probably be criticized for um uh not being that deep particularly so I I would say my answer is actually a cop out I try to avoid avoid that usually so that they don't actually go that deep it's a little bit uh I would say it's kind of Normie content what I would it produced in that in that sense um but if

you know there's maybe a topic of like okay what do you do do you do you get rid of the women uh sorry the sex workers do you hide them do you I mean that's technically an urban planning visual you close the curtains on a model of a room uh you show rooms disappearing uh you know that's a way to visualize it that is technically a political you're you're laying out the political options so you're still telling people what the political options are and how they're changing but it's still kind of like look at me I'm just making 3D models you know it's a don't need to worry about that well it also then it brings me also to the comments section because um uh with your viewers I I feel like uh or at least that's that's that's how I also uh experience it going through the comments in your videos is really interesting because there are many viewpoints and conclusions that you don't necessarily uh make but then the audience does it uh or does it from their perspective or

like from like uh yeah. How do you, how do you, how do you, uh, experience that and how do you work with the comments in YouTube? Like, does it help you in your process for making a new video, for example? Um, no, I hate comments. I, I hide every, I, I think maybe 50% of the comments you see are people already hidden, uh, just permanently. I, I find it distracting. I think it's the, you're, yourself biggest critic. Get what you want to do correct first and then, uh, what, uh, I don't know what Gerald in his, you know, mom's basement thinks is maybe next online, yeah. Um, I don't know, man. I, I hate comments, man. I don't know. I, like, I know there's like some essays and philosophical discussions down there, but you know, I'll leave that in the, in the, the cesspool that it is, yeah. Sorry, was that really, that was really harsh. I didn't mean that. That kind of, I understand, um, but, but you do have a Discord that

you start, yeah man, but that's going to go away eventually. Well, I think just distracting. It's a lot of like, uh, it's just so much, uh, so much noise, you know? It's just, uh. And like, you know, actually, quite frankly, like, if I want to get criticism, I can go to my friends, my family, and YouTubers that I think are significantly more talented or have more skills than I do. And I can just literally ask, ask them what they think about the video. And that's already such a more concentrated higher, you know, that I think that makes sense, yeah, yeah. That's quite similar to also, uh, my own experience in making stuff, is that people around you are the best critics because they know you best as well, yeah, yeah. Um, I was wondering, uh, if we go back to the timeline, like, uh, just going into like the making process again, um, like, uh, the pacing of your video and also like how, how did it, how did this evolve, uh, along the way also, um, because you

started two years ago um and then we just also saw in the introduction video that lots have changed has changed including your skill um how do you reflect on that looking back at those older videos and uh compare it to what you do now uh okay another thing I I hate looking at my old videos I don't like that was uh when you show them on the screen I was I don't watch them back I don't like uh I I don't watch any really I man I hear my voice in the oh God I just cannot I cannot watch them again so it's on to the next one you know I yeah so I think in the terms of Pac and has changed is right now I think the videos are actually a bit too slow and they can be ramped up a little bit but obviously that's within the constraints of okay 3D is a little bit more expensive to draw out yeah uh so how do you manage to bring the fast rapid cutting of let's say more traditional editing where the assets

aren't expensive to a software and program where it rewards longer holding of the camera so if that can get cracked if I can figure that out the videos will hopefully have more of a wave of of pacing. Right now it's still a bit too uh monotonous where uh you know I'll just speak monotonously and then I'll add a Ambient sound underneath it and then I just expect the viewer to watch for three minutes and uh maintain an exact similar amount of excitement. So I don't know that answers your question but just hopefully the pace will increase. Well there is some it feels in a way not really conflicting but because it's it takes so much time to make a 3D model it's also uh getting in the way of making a fast-paced video is that what yeah and then um are you also considering in in in working with people who can make like a 3D model for you or are you are you already doing this um yeah for sure yeah I would like to uh

start delegating at least some part so I can go to, uh, yeah, focus on other things. Um, yeah, I guess that's my, uh, yeah. I think I would make. I would delegate some model creation to make it go faster, but again, it's more of a, it's not really that much of a model problem. It's more just the, yeah, you need to choose fast-paced music. You need to know which articles to flash or like, uh, which, you know, archival. It also depends on what type of video you're saying. You know, if it is a building, if it's a video about a literal building, it's just like, look at this building for 14 minutes, whereas if it's a video about, I don't know, investigative piece into a politician, yeah, you can use a lot more footage of that politician and be much, yeah, it depends, but I think maybe the best people added that. I think they know how to blend and not be dogmatic and choose which for

which you know that's a yeah. I don't know and sort of make uh letting the craft of making the video be the most important yeah. Probably for you yeah yeah. And that's that's also the problem with maybe delegating is you lose a a little your own uh yeah. There's a there's a big DIY part of starting a YouTube channel and just seeing where it ends yeah um. And now you're at a point that you're maybe uh having to Branch out a little bit yeah for sure yeah. That's a that's a stressful experience for sure yeah also because you have to act like an authority and it's like a I'm not so speak about things yeah. Thank you so much for sharing this is there anything you would like to uh add or is there something that you'd like to show that you're really excited about for your next video maybe or yeah have to say one thing and I'm going to sound like such an [ __ ] but the the term Creator always always gets me a bit uh rubs me.

off the wrong way because um I I don't know I get the point content, but the thing is it, it sounds like you know, I just have to, sorry, I have to say my family hates when I keep rambling about this, but like, you know, everyone can create, and it just seems when you do content creator, it kind of like, it kind of comes off as though there's a gatekeep label for doing what YouTube, what a YouTuber does, right, and the beauty of it is that anyone can do it, so I think it, it's more like, you know, if you, yeah, I don't know if you make a beautiful painting, you're, you're, anyway, I don't know, that's my, my gripe, that's the one thing I wanted to, I hope that label changes a bit, you know, just a, a video editor is the better, you know, do you know what I mean, do you, I exactly know what you mean because chef and, and me, we had this discussion about this, like, do we call it content creators

or social media makers, which is like in Dutch, very um, makes a lot of sense. But maybe in English, I'm not sure. So maybe you can help with that, uh, later on. Um, so how would you feel like if someone went up to you in a bar and was like, What do you do? And they're like, I'm a creator. Uh, it sounds a bit sort of like God-like, as if you are sort of a God that you can decide on where things go, which is not the case. So yeah, um, I think, uh, uh, that answers most of my questions. Um, and maybe the audience also has lots of questions. I can imagine. Are there any questions from the audience? I have to be honest, like half of these people are my friends, so I ramble about these things a lot. Be critical because we have a question here on the left. Hi, um, have you ever had anyone recognize you for your voice from your videos? Because that happened to me today. I was like, Oh, that's him. Oh, no, I've not.

had that uh no, I've not had that uh, uh, luckily not yet, no, um, uh, yeah. I don't want that prer, that would be a yeah, no, no, my answer to that is no. I've had other moments of recognition, but those uh, stay and uh, deepen, deepen my soul, and I will keep those private. Hi, um, uh, I agree with you that uh, the the the Dutch um, Bank notes are really beautiful, uh, but did you also know that there is a a very tiny text on one of those notes, and I forgot which one, yeah, but it is in a circular shape, yeah, and um, it's in Dutch, of course, but it says um, if you can read this, you probably need a magnifier or something like that. It's really like a small joke, see it, but if you, if you use a magnifier, you can read the, you can read this small text. So this not only beautiful, but also some humor and some fun, yeah, no, that those notes, that's the uh, so a big part of uh, like the the guy oakar, he puts his

fingerprints into the hair maybe made him I don't know if you can be very clear to be honest but uh he snuck it in and the D and Bay didn't realize what it was until after it came out so right there. I believe it is the Dutch bank d bay I don't know if you can see it actually yet but basically there should be a fingerprint stuck right there. Yeah, that's his fingerprint that he put in and the printers did not know till after the fact. Uh, he also snuck his his uh girlfriend, his granddaughter, and a friend's name into the firehouse uh uh sorry uh Lighthouse. Yeah, and uh uh they also didn't realize that so that also happened after the fact and on the on the text of the magnifying glass. He put little texts on all the bills so that when you're the purpose was that when you're on the toilet you have something to read thought that was a great guy great guy what a brilliant man oh there over there.

oh man, not this guy. I wanted to ask you about, like, a graveyard of video topics. Do you have one? And what kind of topics end up there? And why did you ever think of revisiting it? Oh man, a graveyard, maybe like within new skills that you build up with time. Um, yeah, I'm trying to think of the videos. I've cut a lot. Um, there's one video I'm trying to bring back, which is on fridges. So why American fridges are so big and European ones aren't. That one was in the trash for a while, but it's getting tempting. It's looking attractive again. But it's usually put in the trash if I don't think it's, quite frankly, an affordable video to make. Not like in terms of money, but just like to make it in a month-long time span. If you can't make the scenes, if it doesn't come intuitively, and that is so when the

skills increase finally. Uh, the intro that I wanted for the fridge from the start is finally possible. Uh, so, yeah, I don't know because of you or the software. This, the software, both me understanding the software, you know, a little bit more. There definitely are topics I'm like, Oh no, I don't want to touch that yet until I know. So like, uh, for example, the um, the Tokyo video I want to do on water. Uh, but I felt like I didn't know enough about water. Um, so I'll do maybe like, uh, the Paris video, which had a little bit more water. And so I can learn Paris. The water part is not very important to learn, but with the Paris video, I can learn a bit more about water so that when I do the Tokyo video after, I have the skill set to give that video a bit more, um, to give it a better chance of succeeding, if that makes any sense. So, yeah, it's, it's skill-dependent. I think, Where do you see yourself in five years? Um, yeah, my dad asked me the same thing.

um, I don't know. I think I keep making videos, keep making, uh, very lean videos. So videos that do, yeah. I want to, I want to, hopefully in five years, I'm still making videos and I'm still learning how to make videos. And I've got, uh, some, uh, young ambitious people on the team that are, uh, willing to screw up, helping me along the way. Um, that would also be part of what I want to, maybe a bit more of a team, but yeah. Um, Y and I were literally talking about this yesterday, so I don't know why he's asking the question. But the I think there in five years, I think the, the what I want is to be able to make videos that look, that feel so random, but that do well. So I don't want to make a video on a large geopolitical topic and that get a million views because people have opinions on political topics. I want to make a video about a banknote and that get a million views. The weirder the topic, but the higher ratio that, that's what I would.

just to keep pumping those videos and get weirder and weirder. I think that's uh, it's just so much more fun as well, you know. I don't know, that's uh, yeah. Do you also feel like can just get away with more if you do it about Bank notes then? Oh, for sure, yeah, yeah, for sure, yeah. No, there's going to be some edgy jokes in here and I can get away with it because it's uh, who is this guy, he makes videos about Bank notes, you know. On that note, uh, are there topics that you are not able to uh, cop out of, um, that you will do bigger topics that you can't hide behind the fact that uh, it's just about Bank notes, it doesn't matter what you say about it. Do you mean there are videos that I want to do that are inherently big and I can't just make these that you are going to do? Yes, uh, yeah, I think, I think some videos on uh, I want to make videos on some politicians and that will be uh, that

will be a big topic um yeah but then I then I won't have my voice in it so maybe that's a I don't know I uh yeah Pro probably probably I I don't know the answer yeah maybe I I don't have those topics on my list right now for the time being um at least not all of them I mean fr is in my next thing uh so no not that will happen and when that happens I will uh get a double check by someone make sure that I come off like a very dry stick and uh I'm sure it'll do fine but that's not where my heart is I think hope that answers your question would you be open to uh start creating AR augmented reality experiences instead of videos in the near future why and when and I love this is genuinely find this in a very interesting uh I think the idea of like if you have a if you have like a mystery or something like that and you can build the scene or like of a town that it specifically happened in

and you could do that in augmented reality, and you could kind of walk around in it. Not walk around, but see where the asset moves. I think there's so much. I don't know. I'm not. I think I could build the models for that, but uh, right now, not everybody has an augmented reality glasses at home where I'm like feeling it's justified. But for sure, if that gets mainstream, I would, I would love to do that kind of stuff. Love that question. Good man. Thank you. Um, how about edgy topics that will get demonetized? Uh, get the video demonetized potentially. How comfortable are you with exploring those? Well, 100%, the sex scraper was demonetized, and I would love to make another sex, sex scraper video. I know, uh, no problem with that. If I can get a sponsor and, and that's fine, no problem. I'll do it. I mean, I don't even need sponsors on every video, but um, no, no, I will not, uh, I would love to do some more ASMR videos, yeah.

well, we'll wrap it up on that one. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Can I just plug? [Applause] [Music] out [Music] [Laughter] [Music] sh

Hoog and Fern, how do they do it?

Hoog and Fern, how do they do it?