So, since my channel has been steadily gathering views and subscribers over the years, I decided to try something new than uploading obscure shit just for myself. I made a "video essay" about The Witcher 3 and its Slavic origins. Any likes, comments and shares will be appreciated. I don't know if this is going to be a thing on my channel from now on or not - I've put a lot of work into this video and I feel the end result is not as great as it could be. In any case, the more people see it and the more feedback I get will help me judge if I should carry on and maybe start thinking of a topic for a future project similar to this... or it's so shit that I shouldn't bother wasting my and everyone else's time. The video can be viewed in glorious 1080p@60fps here.
well, I got a email about it and everything from youtube so it must be serious. It's really interesting and I can tell you are talking about something you care about and that interests you and kudos to you for putting yourself out there and educating. The only negatives are that you could probably speak slower and slightly less mumbly but part of that is probably your accent but apart from that, it's great and I hope to see more
I second all that Darkness said, including that this is really well made! Lots of interesting facts, I don't understand where you even get all this from. The one thing I will highly recommend is a more enthusiastic tone and attitude, that really helps to bring out the audience's interest. I'd like to see more as well
Thanks guys! And yes, that's what I was worried about the most while I was uploading it - that I speak too fast and not clearly enough. I was actually considering doing it all over again, but I already had the whole project set up and stuck together with all the audio and video editing adjusted correctly to each other. If I was to rerecord it, I'd have to pretty much remake the video from scratch, and unfortunately at that point I was just so fed up with making it that I really wanted to get it over with tbh. And yeah, I think it's a combination of my accent and a slight lack of self-confidence as well (I've done some public uploads on the internet with my voice when I was younger, but never as properly as this and always ended up making the videos private), so this is something quite new for me. Could yous point me to any part of this video where I perhaps deliver the lines in a better and more relaxed way? That would be really useful for me if I was to make any future video. As for the info, I'm glad it actually came off as educational and interesting without being too boring. I was really sitting on this knowledge for ages now, so working on this vid didn't require as much research into the topic as it might seem (plus I'm really into Early Slavic pagan stuff - from genuine historical evidence to silly folk metal bands that are more fantasy than real pagan heritage). Anyway, thanks again for the feedback.
It's difficult to point to parts of video where you deliver the lines better as it's an up and down thing. You deliver most of it in a perfectly confident and understandable way. Your part about the Skellige islands was particularly good but there are parts where you either come out of speaking polish and understandably someone who has no knowledge of the language has to adjust for a second and sometimes your voice will simply drop and become slightly incoherent but again, it is very interesting. What other topics are you thinking about?
Thanks, this is not only helpful for any future projects I might do like this but also extremely fascinating for other reasons! You see, I often find it really quite difficult to switch quickly between speaking Polish and English in conversation - regardless of who I'm talking with, especially if I want to preserve correct pronunciation of either tongue, I usually end up having to butcher one language in favour of another depending on who I'm with if I want to be understandable to the majority. This is also why, for example, if I'm reading out something in English to someone from my family (we all speak Polish to each other) I usually do it subconsciously with a much thicker Eastern European accent than usual as it's just easier for me (and for them to understand too). I've also gotten the feeling that my voice is lower when speaking proper English, whereas of course my Rs are rolled and other sounds are more emphasised when speaking Polish. It was really interesting to hear how that switching sounds to someone else, especially to a native British English speaker. I'm honestly not sure yet. Although my head was bursting with knowledge for this one already, the idea for the video came only a few weeks ago at random. I just thought I might as well share these ideas and trivia with non-Polish (or younger Polish) fans of the games/books who might not have heard about these things and still be interested. So far I was thinking of maybe doing something Metro or Stalker related to stick with the Slavic/Eastern European theme while I'm at it (maybe even do Cryostasis, but it's been even longer since I played that). But I haven't started writing any scripts or putting any ideas on paper yet. If you got any suggestions that you think I could pull off well, please do let me know.
My suggestions would be to carry on with the slavic theme, especially the medieval era as eastern european history really interests me as in British schools, you learn about Russian history or western history. Poland Lithuania and other slavic states are kind of pushed to the back and I've heard that the Poland Lithuanian empire and its actions contribute to the inherent dislike between Russians and Polish although I might have mixed that up. I've also always wondered throughout my time on this forum whether you plan to stay in Britain for the rest of the forseeable future and how is brexit going to effect you if it even does? Sorry for the questions.
No, you got it right. Well at least partially. I'm no expert historian (though I like history), but I know where I come from well enough to tell you that Eastern Europe's history is a real shitstorm haha. It's a long and complicated story that (when it comes to the Balts and Slavs at least) starts around the 500s CE when the Early Slavic tribes started migrating in three different directions across Europe and developed distinct cultures over the next centuries. From there it's a long series of alliances, wars, changes in dynasties, etc. I'd say nowadays most arguments between Poles and Russians usually tend to stem from relatively recent stuff, with a focus on anything that happened between these states from like late 18th century till now, so really around the time when Poland ceased being an independent country for a really long time (same goes for Lithuania). But yes, numerous wars between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Tsardom of Russia over centuries have definitely added to the fire and really not helped Polish-Russian relations. They can still cause a lot of drama for people - especially those who just don't want to live in the now and prefer to dig up old wounds for their ancestors, for some strange reason, instead of learning from their mistakes. Thanks for telling me this, I like the idea. It will be difficult to stick with the theme of medieval Eastern Europe for long since there are so few games out there that even mention it, but I can already think of maybe a decent video on the cultural background behind Mount & Blade: With Fire and Sword. I imagine something like Crusader Kings and Europa Universalis would also be an area ripe for exploration of European history in general, but sadly I never properly got into any of those and I would wanna do the topic justice if I were to try it. I don't mind you asking. I used to really want to return to Poland because I missed it, but I realise now that it's not the best idea - especially with the current political situation in Europe. I will try to be brief, as I tend to get side-tracked myself and write too much as you know heh. Basically, the current government we have in Poland is really shit. They are extremely conservative and far-right - it is heading in a similar direction like Orban in Hungary, and allied with Hungary as well, but unlike him most of them are anti-Russian coz obviously they hate each other. Not that I liked the previous Polish liberal government that was in power before either (and I wasn't a fan of Poland trying to do everything like Merkel's Germany), but this government has started to make things noticeably worse; they are well on their way to undoing much of the progress Poland has made on trying to leave the "second world country" category, both socially and economically. Most of them are also quite racist (not just towards Muslim minorities and others, of whom there are barely any to begin with, but also towards Germans), homophobic and sexist (they tried to restrict the already crap abortion laws not that long ago, but were met with huge protests fortunately). Yet here I am getting off-topic again. :lol: Back to UK: I'm honestly not 100% sure how Brexit will affect me. Materially it has not in any way so far, but that may change with future legislation. I am lucky to have resident status after living here for so long, which means it is basically harder to kick me out and I get many (but obviously not all) of the same privileges as do British citizens. However, the problem with this is that even though it takes years of living and working/studying in Britain to achieve this residency, it is much easier to lose it. If say you go abroad for a holiday that is a week too long or spend too much time with your extended family back in the old country, you lose your residency. With Brexit actually incoming now, I'm not sure what will happen. And it's already affected me mentally a bit in that this uncertainty is a bit scary. Plus there was that series of attacks on Poles through England after the actual referendum results came in last year, but that's all calmed down for now thankfully and none of my family were affected. I really wish I could find a nice-paying legal job quick, which would secure my position here as a migrant right now, and hopefully save up enough for a British citizenship. Unfortunately, they don't give us a discount no matter how well we've come to know and like the country over the years we live here. But yeah, with a British citizenship I would be much more secure in general, wherever I would wanna live. Polish documents are unfortunately worth almost jack shit outside of Poland - especially now that EU is becoming more and more regulated, so British papers are just much more useful to have.
So my absorption of random knowledge isn't entirely wrong. I think Crusader Kings would be fantastic although I do have some bias towards it as one of my favourite games ever. It's sad to hear about your situation but hopefully the government will be not entirely aggressive in relation to immigrants especially with the fact that theresa may wasn't actually pro brexit and you've got a while before anything is put fully in action thanks to to the blocking the labour party are doing. Also, from the sounds of your position, if the government did start kicking immigrants out, you and your family would probably be quite low priority.
Indeed, we're not really bothering anyone, so a whole lot of other things would have to change in this country first if they wanted to throw us out. And in that case, I may actually try getting into Crusader Kings again at some point. However, I can't promise you I will make anything for it soon since I shouldn't really spend my money on expensive games atm plus I know it requires a ton of time investment from the player. I did find the concept of the game really appealing at one point though, so there's a good chance I'll give it a go eventually.
Crusader Kings does take an investment. Although if it catches you, you will find it creates some of the greatest storylines you'll ever see. Any companies can spend millions on a writer but none of them beat the time as a welsh count, I united wales, fabricated a claim on the crown of England and through some realpolitik, took down England with Scotland and Frances help. Twenty years under King Grufydd brought prosperity to the realm as Scotland was brought into the kingdom but then a particularly bad fever killed him and his slow four year old daughter took power. Two years later, she was a countess of an obscure county in northern England and a year later she was deposed. That post took a different turn
Ahaha, yes indeed, I've heard about some of the amazing stories you might end up with over the course of one game! :lol:
I can relate to this soo much :lol: Not only the Rs, but also connecting different consonants, makes my otherwise close-to-perfect english break down too often. I know of a game........ METRO! I don't know if you'd be interested in posting a video like this about it, but you're in the perfect situation for it; you're sitting on a ton of great deep information about the game that many others don't, especially after reading yourself into the universe through both books (and other novels). And a lot of that information comes from yourself, your own experience and knowledge. Would be perfect, if you ask me :thumb: I also just noticed a point in the video after looking around a little; at 4:53, for one long sentence, you used more variation in your tone perfectly combined with pauses, and you talked slightly slowlier while speaking a little clearer. Another thing: Don't see this "speech-problem" as only a negative thing, for it has its positive sides as well; one thing I dislike about many videos like yours, is when the narrator(?) gets over-enthusiastic. It's good to be very enthusiastic because it makes it easier to keep attention to the subject and makes it more interesting, but it can be exaggerated as well, to a point where it becomes tiresome and too obvious, in some cases where they more or less yell the words to you. What I'm trying to say with this, is that the sincerity and seriousness in your voice fits very well with the informative video :thumb:
You know, that is actually a good idea too. Though I'll have to give some thought as to what would be the main focus of the video in regards to the games, so that I wouldn't end up talking more about the books than the games! :lol: However, I've had time to think about Darkness' ideas a little more now and I think that will be my second project, so I will save Metro for a third video. Thanks, again this is useful for me so I can hear an example that I can base my future recordings on. Cheers! I see what you mean, some YouTubers sound so damn annoying that you just wanna turn the video off as soon as they start speaking haha
