i am absolutely exhausted by the concept of having to make video media content to supplement whatever else content you make.
you make illustrations, you should record timelapses and show off your brushes and tools. you're a costumer or crafter, you should record videos of you making stuff. you make video content already, you should make shorter videos and clips of it, indifferent to fitting the format.
there are plenty of studies and trend mapping that shows that video content can boost the nebulous idea of "engagement" but to imply that it needs to be an intrinsic part of your other creative practice in order to gain an audience is just a poisoned perspective of what it means to have an audience. it ties into the idea that you need to have a constant and regular stream of content to provide to your audience to maintain their attention and therefore engagement and therefore money. that's the freelancer social media game. there's plenty of other elements that have been added to "the game" as social media, internet literacy, and capitalist societal decay progresses and video content is just the latest in this string of it.
the "time to complete" on my own work is pretty long, even without accounting for other necessary-to-live factors. i can't "trickle feed" content when i go a week working on the same mock up. this length of time doesn't just exist in hand made 3d craft work; video game makers, voice actors, and writers are all examples of occupations where "time to complete" can also be very long and you rarely have "enough" of something to show off week after week, day after day and you can't be resigned to give play-by-plays on all things related to your practice that you do because that would effectively double the amount of time it would even take to complete something because you have to sit and explain it to an audience. imagine if a writer had to explain why they put down every sentence to an audience every week. it's idiotic to even ask for that, but the social media game expects you to "feed" your audience if you expect to keep it nearby because if you stop feeding them, they're going to go to different creators who will.
thinking of an audience as a ravenously hungry and gluttonous animal feels like a mean comparison, but that's what social media and capitalism has produced. i am including myself in this generalization also. i love consuming media, i can also be flippant about it, and i legitimately lose motivation and get depressed if i don't have something new and unique to consume. but i'm also mature enough to not be a piece of shit and demand content out living, breathing people. people are not content factories.
but the pushing of videos as another way to feed the audience is in my opinion just as inhumane. being a creative and especially a freelancer requires you to wear many hats already. i literally do not have room to add videographer, audio editor, and video editor to my list of jack of many trades bullshit that i do on the daily. i am an illustrator, plushie maker, seamstress, video game programmer, video game developer, website developer, character designer, prose writer, tabletop rpg designer, tabletop rpg writer, financial bookkeeper, agent/representative and other things i forget just in my own personal creative practice. "what's adding just three more things?" you might ask? it'll be what breaks my back and actually makes me physically disabled ay this rate.
video content makers already have a lot of skills they have to contend with. most people just starting out will have to do everything themselves. there's a whole other skillset beyond what i am even capable of conceptualizing when it comes for what is needed for video content creation. sewing patterns and making videos both require "creativity" but they require two different types of thinking!
unless i'm lucky, i even with all my 20 years of skills of being an artist probably can't make a video as good as someone intentionally and specifically trying to further their video content production over the course of a year. why am i being forced to make content that would be objectively comparatively mediocre just because it would help me maintain an audience? why put out a bunch of shitty things instead of one good one? because capitalism only values quantity, not quality. my shitty video will have a "better" reach by immediately being seen by my pre-existing audience rather than someone releasing their first video. my video will look immediately better, and that's also what capitalism values: instant numbers and instant returns. everything faster and faster to feed this sick machine and overfed audience.
there's probably also a discussion about the devaluation of creative work and art in general under capitalism that caused this phenomenon to begin with but that can be for another day.
i've never had a large social media reach. nothing i do "gets viral" or garners large swaths of attention. the social media game requires that you have a large audience and therefore influence. when i started freelancing i made the decision to while i am monetizing my hobbies, i still need to enjoy it at the end of the day. i sew literally every day for hours and i've gotten burnt out but it was due to extenuating circumstances and not the constant labor itself. for my own mental health and for the love of what i do, i don't have a huge audience and i'm not financially successful (or stable for that matter but lmaooo), but i am still happy at the end of the day. the bar is so low, but with my existing disabilities that affect my ability to physically work and communicate, i just have to be thankful for what i have and that there's people that like what i do as is.
i have the motto of "make what you want to see in the world". i don't want to see uninspired and pressured content output from other people so i refuse to fall in that mindset and create that content as well. some people have the personality to play in the social media game, but i know i can't. admitting that is more freeing than you think.
value the creators you like. support them when you can. and i guess don't make media consumption your main hobby. you can have a consumptive hobby, but be sure to have a productive hobby too. then i think you'll understand everyone just a little bit better. eat a hot dog and feel better about everything.
