Poladr0id - Your Steam Deck can do MORE than you think...

Here's the ad-free version of the new video going over some of my favorite Decky plugins, along with some BTS images and production screenshots!

I also break down the "why" behind some of my editing decisions, and why I think editing is more problem-solving than clicking.

Enjoy!

I've always had a habit of screenshotting my timelines when I finish a video. I don't really know why I've never shared them here before, but I'd like to start.

As an artist, I've always compared it to standing really close to a piece of artwork while you're making it, then finally taking a few steps back and seeing the whole thing at once. When I look at a finished timeline, that's kind of what it feels like.

You start realizing that the video you're watching isn't just the result of all the planning, writing, filming, and editing. It's also hundreds (thousands?) of tiny decisions stacked on top of one another.

I've always thought of editing as problem-solving more than anything else. You're constantly asking yourself little questions:

Is this section dragging?

Do I need to cut something?

Should I put more dead air between these two sentences?

Does the audience need a breather from all the talking for a few seconds?

Do I cut the music here to bring emphasis and clarity to what I'm about to say?

Do I need another angle here for the sake of visual variety?

Is the point I'm trying to make actually clear?

And there usually isn't one correct answer. You're just weighing a bunch of options and trying to find the one that makes the whole thing...flow a little better?

Being able to recognize when something isn't working, figure out why, and come up with a better solution is the real skill. The better I've gotten at that part over the years, the more confident I've become in the edit itself. And that's not because I always know the answer immediately, but instead, because I trust myself to eventually find one.

That's also why I think editing is way more thinking than clicking. The software matters, obviously, but knowing Final Cut or Premiere inside and out doesn't automatically make someone a great editor.

Judgment, pacing, and storytelling matter more, and those are skills that I don't think can entirely be taught. At a certain point, you learn to feel them.

A good example is the way I edit my intros and outros. If you've noticed, those tend to feel a little more dramatic than the rest of the video. Some of that comes from the way they're shot, but a huge part of it is how much attention I pay to the empty space between phrases.

Here's the outro:

Those blue sound waves are my voice, and the cuts between them were literally and figuratively made with my eyes closed.

Really, though!

I'd hit play, close my eyes and listen, then press the space bar whenever it felt right for the next phrase to come in.

The way you phrase something -- and the space you leave around it -- can completely change how a message is delivered and received.

If I didn't make those cuts and instead let every sentence fire off like a hyperactive YouTube Short or Instagram Reel, the pacing would be way too fast and the ending would lose a lot of the sentimental, cinematic tone I'm trying to create.

Knowing when not to say something can be just as powerful as knowing when to say it. That's an art I think gets lost in a lot of short-form media, where the goal is often to bludgeon the viewer from 0:00 with as much information as possible in as little time as possible.

It's also a huge reason I struggle with short-form content, despite the suggestions of my agency's analytics team. My brain simply doesn't work that way.

The memes and little visual gags that end up in my videos come from the same kind of problem-solving, just in a completely different way.

When I'm writing, I'll color-code something blue in the script because I know I want an image, clip, meme, or something visual there to help convey the message.

Sometimes I already know exactly what it'll be. Other times I have to start Googling and see what I can find. And then other times, the thing I was convinced I wanted doesn't work at all once I see it in the edit, and I stumble into something much better than what I originally planned.

That "The Boys" clip after the main title card (which I changed from BETTER BASICS to PLUGIN POWER) where my older video is on a big screen on the side of a building was a very last minute decision that I stumbled upon.

I originally intended for it to just highlight parts of that old video during that part of the script, but I ran into that clip on YouTube while searching for something else, and a lightbulb when off:

Oh! This can convey, in a funny meme kind of way, "more than half a million people" watching my old video.

That's really editing in a nutshell for me.

You have an idea of where you want to end up, but getting there is a constant process of trying things, watching them back, realizing something isn't working, and finding another way through it.

And I think that's why my brain is usually completely fried for a day or two after finishing a video.

The actual clicking and cutting is only part of the work. Most of it is making decision after decision after decision for hours on end.

I hope that gave you buds a little peek into my brain!

Much love, and thank you for being here.