Smiling Friends Season 2 Video + The Channel's Future

Hey hey! For those who don’t have time.

TLDR:

• Working on a new Smiling Friends video essay that’s quite different to my first Smiling Friends video.

• I feel like I’ve stagnated as a creative, and want to refocus my efforts into doing other projects that aren’t video essays, since scope creep has gotten too much for me.

• Revamping my stream setup, since it’s what currently rejuvenates my interests in being an artist. It looks really neat! And I’m happy with how it’s turning out - check out the pics I've shared below.

• Will be doing commissions on stream.

• I still want to make videos, but they may not necessarily be video essays due to the break I wanna impose on myself. 

Hello!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted an update so I'd like to share with you what I’ve been working on.

I’m working on a Smiling Friends video essay. And much like the previous Smiling Friends video, there’s gonna be a twist!

But while the previous twist was mimicking YouTubers who find meaning out of nothing, this new Smiling Friends video will take the opposite approach. Something more sincere. 

The title will be along the lines of ‘Zack and Michael’s Influence’, where the first half of the video is a standard recounting of the duo’s history, and how they (and people like them) have inspired a new generation of people to become artists. The twist that happens midway is that it becomes a mini short film of sorts; exploring all the annoyances with wanting to become a successful artist. From playing the algorithm, the bullshit subscriptions, the advent of generative ai, etc.

But, ultimately, it ends with the sentiment of ‘to be a successful artist to be an honest one, but an honest artist doesn’t necessarily mean a popular artist. And that’s okay’. Exploring that monetary success and personal satisfaction are often at odds with one another, and even unachievable by most people. And I’m hoping to tie this all together in a way where it’s structured like a Smiling Friends episode, ending in that smiling friends ‘smile’ sound effect - so hopefully that ends up working out!

I wanted to make something relatively more down to earth since it’d be a nice contrast to the goofiness of the initial Smiling Friends video, and it’s been a feeling brewing in my mind for a while now.

–

Truthfully my interest in making video essays has waned, and I think it’s because I missed creating for the sake of creating. As said in a previous post, I feel like I’ve hit a glass ceiling as a video essayist. I always saw myself as an artist first and video essayist second, and I fear attempting to keep one upping myself is hitting a limit.

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE researching and the act of writing an essay - but the issue more so arises with the creative side of making my videos and how much time it takes. If y’all seen Synecdoche New York, I feel like Philips Seymour Hoffman’s character in that, where scope creep ends up eating him alive. I feel like I’ve explored everything I can realistically do, so the amount of effort required to recreate / one-up the standard I’ve set for myself has gotten too laborious for me. The line can’t go up forever (without sacrificing everything else in my life, and SCREW THAT).

I’ve written a handful of vomit drafts now, even recorded one that’d equate to a 30 minute video, but the passion to turn these scripts into video isn’t really there. So while there are topics that are worth discussing, the idea of editing them in the manner I've done for the past few years is starting to wear down on me.

I can safely say though that every video made and published is one that I’ve been proud of, in one way or another. And I’d like to keep it that way, I don’t want to force myself to make a video essay just because I need to make a video essay. So I’m in need of a break from that medium for now, as I’d like to pursue work that interests me as creative.

–

Hence why I’ve been focusing my efforts in revamping my stream setup! Look at what I’ve made so far.

(Hopefully these images load properly this time)
And this isn't even all of it! There's been a lot of work behind the scenes just making it all work, and it's all coming together very nicely :)

It was something I was working on by the side when making the Blade Runner video, and now I’ve been really enjoying the process of tinkering and playing around with it. One of the initial reasons why I'm revamping stream was so that I could work on commissioning people on stream, and still appear in a digital space in between the months of video releases. But so much has changed between now and the last time I streamed regularly, that finding out all the new things I can do has reinvigorated my enthusiasm with creating! It’s taken a hold of me in a way that I didn’t expect.

I’ve been able to transfer a lot of my video essay design language right into OBS with the help of a few plugins and other FREE software (FUCK YOU ADOBE, AAAAH). I’ve reached out to other creatives to help me out with certain elements that don't cost a fortune, since video work tends to be much more pricey. And I’ve even learnt how to implement features that viewers can interact with on stream like, like sharing a song and activating certain things through !commands.

So I’m really happy with how this is all turning out, and planning to stream the Smiling Friends commissions this month. It’s gonna start off with a few test streams to work out the kinks, but overall I think my stream setup looks pretty neat! It just needs some sound effects to bring everything together

–

What’s the future of the channel?
Truly, I’m not sure. It’s not like I’m pivoting myself to become a full time streamer. As mentioned a couple of paragraphs ago, I just need a break from having to make video essays I’ve been making and reassess a few things. I still wanna make videos, they just may not necessarily be video essays. At the end of the day, I still wanna be around making stuff, I’ll just be making different sorta stuff.

Anyway, that’s it!

Not entirely sure what the future holds but I’m happy for your support.

If you’d like to unpledge since I am pivoting, that’s fine! You’re more than justified to do so.

Thanks for sticking around, let's see what the future holds!