Video editing has always been one of my favorite ways to express myself. As someone who works with different mediums both professionally and in my spare time, putting together videos is always something I’ve enjoyed doing. Specifically, I like creating what I refer to as scrapbook videos; videos that take existing footage and videos and piecing them together into something new. When I was in undergrad as a film major, I had limited time and resources that I could work with. Never fully comfortable using camera equipment, I turned to using things I already had for my projects. Old home movies, royalty free images, archival footage, anything I could get my hands on I would use to tell the stories I wanted to share. It became a fun challenge for me to take media that was already out there and turn it into something new.
YouTube is a great place for creativity that may not be the traditional film school definition of production. People have things to say, and they aren’t going to let their lack of formal film education or professional equipment hold them back from doing what they want to. One of my favorite YouTube channels is SB Nation’s Secret Base. They’re a handful of content creators that create videos focused on sports history. Because they’re a relatively smaller blog and a lot of the subject matter they cover is far enough in the past to be pre-digitalization, their resources are a little more limited. How they work around this is by using still images and voiceovers. On paper that sounds like a boring Ken Burns rip off, but in reality, their videos are creative, funny, and engaging. The style of editing really compliments the subject matter and has become one of my biggest inspirations.
Watching video series like these, full of all this inspiration, I knew I wanted to make a video series of my own. The problem was I didn’t know where to start. I already covered my rudimentary camera skills, and I was never a fan of filming myself or my face, so I would need a subject with a lot of already existing material to work with. I found my subject matter towards the end of quarantine.
As a long-time fan of true crime, I have watched its popularity grow over the years. During the pandemic alone I must have watched at least 10 true crime documentaries; it seems like Netflix’s main page is nothing but that genre these days. Even as crime rates continue to steadily decrease, true crime firmly maintains its place as one of the most popular genres in media.
The recent media frenzy over the Gaby Petito case got me thinking about the true crime genre and its relationship with American media. It seems like there is nothing Americans love more than a high-profile case. From Charles Manson to Jeffrey Epstein, it seems people want every gruesome detail they can find. One of the most popular movies of the last five years is based loosely on Laci Peterson’s disappearance. There are numerous explanations as to why people are so obsessed with true crime – personals safety, a need for justice, or morbid fascination – and I wanted to explore that more.
As early as the Renaissance era, people have been captivated by brutal crime. I still remember Dominos recording a record number of sales during the OJ Simpson trial. America loves a high-profile crime story, so much so that we’re now seeing people commit mass shootings because they want to be “famous”. With the genre being so solidly part of American media at this point, people have begun to discuss the ethics of consuming this content. There are many people who believe true crime coverage is a way for women to protect themselves against danger and a large portion of criticism is based in misogyny. Others believe putting investigation under the scrutiny of the internet pressures people who serve and uphold the law to change in the name of progress. But there is a new and vocal group of people that believe the positives that true crime media provides don’t outweigh the negatives. The biggest condemnation is that true crime podcasts and documentaries center excessively on those who are committing the crimes and not enough on the victims.
My goal for this video series is to examine a brief history of true crime coverage in the media and its effects of the American population. It’s clear at this point that this is a business and it’s not going to stop booming any time soon. As someone who engages with this media, I think it would be good to explore all opinions on the subject matter.
I have developed a proposal for my video series, which you can check out here.
Comments