ArTorr Updates: February 2023

Hey folks! I've kept so busy lately that I completely forgot to do the monthly update post that I usually share at the start of the month. Nevertheless, here's the rundown on what I worked on in January and thus far in February, and what I expect to work on in the month ahead...

Two weeks ago, I made it official on the channel's YouTube community tab that the next video is about The Last of Us. This video has consumed 75% of my attention since the start of the year, going from script completion only a few weeks into January, recording and audio editing up to the start of February, and the middle stages of video editing up to now.

Though the video's scope and length have ballooned slightly over the last two months, this still remains my shortest video of the last 2 years (as intended), coming in around 55 minutes. It goes a bit more in-depth than my previous video on The Last of Us: Part II, and in that, I feel it is a strong benchmark for how much I've improved as a writer and editor over the last 3 years. Joseph Campbell and The Hero's Journey, the importance of compassion and hope, and other such ideas that crop up repeatedly in my essays... this video is a rebuttal to a lot of those ideas, and will be the first of many videos this year built around challenging the traditional qualities of our stories. I hope you enjoy it!

Here's what the Premiere timeline looks like currently, pre-video pass completion and pre-effects pass...

And here's a work-in-progress in thumbnail. The final thumbnail may be similar to this. Or it might be totally different. The video will be called Lost in The Last of Us.

The remaining 25% of my time has been divided between two other videos, both of which I announced in our Happy New Years post: a video on the Indiana Jones sequels, and a video on Andor (remember-- keep that video a secret!!!)

After writing a pitch for what aspects of the Indiana Jones sequels I wanted to explore with my video, I wrote a first outline to help illuminate the core beats and points of the script. Currently in the midst of heavy research on the making of the sequels, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas's careers, and the critical reception of Indiana Jones overtime, that initial outline has already morphed and evolved quite a bit, as I gradually get a better idea of what "story" I'm telling.

Similar to the TLOU video, my goal is to challenge a perception about filmmaking that has been glorified through films like Indiana Jones and figures like Lucas and Spielberg. I'm still navigating all of what that is, but it's been a very fascinating time researching. This will probably be even shorter than the TLOU video, but hopefully, a far more impactful experience than the Raiders of The Lost Ark video. I'll most likely start writing the script next week. Stay tuned!

As for the Andor video, the process has more-or-less ran parallel with the Indiana Jones video: pitch, first outline, research, and a second outline. The big difference is length: the Andor video is going to be a big video, comparable to the Rebels, Mass Effect 3, or Mandalorian videos as I've done them on my channel, hence why-- even though the Indy video is next-up after the TLOU video-- I've already started working on it.

Because the Andor video will touch on a myriad of historical accounts about revolution, facism, and persecution, the research stage of this video has been quite extensive. Tony Gilroy and his creative team constructed an intensely history-conscious story, and trying to explore every aspect of that in both the depth the material deserves and to the degree I'm satisfied with has felt like navigating a treacherous maze. In hand with what I hope becomes a robust outline on it's third or forth pass, I will no doubt spend less time writing the video than establishing its foundation.

That being said, *if* the video becomes what I hope it will from my second outline, there is some cool shit in here I think you guys will love. I've seen a lot of video essays on Andor since the end of the first season, and from that I've developed a unique approach to the show (and unique to my videos, in some ways) of exploring it. I'd say I can't wait, but I very much could because I don't want to rush! Just stay tuned, and be excited.

That's all I got. Thanks for reading, and look out for Lost in The Last of Us later this month!