An Uncanny Reality
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- Опубликовано: 24 июл 2024
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pity poor flesh and trees, poor stars and stones, but never this
fine specimen of hypermagical ultraomnipotence.
Support me: / jacobgeller
Follow me: / yacobg42
Additional Voices- Laura Crone: / lauracrone
Video credits:
LiquidSnakez28- The Nurses: • Silent Hill 2 - The Nu...
Shesez- Off Camera Secrets | Silent Hill 2 - Boundary Break: • Off Camera Secrets | S...
Fungo- Silent Hill 2 All Cutscenes and Endings: • Silent Hill 2 All Cuts...
Thumbnail Credit: HotCyder- / hotcyder
Interview with Silent Hill CGI Director Takayoshi Sato- www.gameanim.com/2017/10/20/i...
Footage Used: Devotion, Silent Hill 2, Centipede, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy X, Toy Story, God of War 2, Making of Silent Hill 2 (documentary), Mega Man 2, Luxo Jr., The Polar Express, The Tonight Show, Google Duplex A.I showcase, Uncharted 4
Music Used:
Devotion (Lady of the Pier, Wander into the Woods), Detention (Left Alone), Demon’s Souls (Maiden in Black), Silent Hill 2 (Prisonic Fairytale, Heaven’s Night, Silent Heaven), Silent Hill 3 (Rain of Brass Petals), Bioshock (Dancers on a String), World of Goo (Welcome to the Information Superhighway)
Description Credit: pity this busy monster, manunkind- E. E. Cummings 
Игры
If you just haven't had enough of me talking about these two games, I'll be releasing a full-length director's commentary on this video for patrons! EVEN MORE DISCOMFORT.
Jacob Geller why do you always sound like you’re about to cry?
@@Halfspace99 Because of that audio book he recommends at the end, I presume.
Your videos fill me with a sense of existential dread that I weirdly enjoy, I keep coming back to this channel wanting more. I can’t wait for your next vid.
I get so much out of this video, even though I never play computer games. Weird.
Are you a huge fan of the Demons Souls/Dark Souls series? I love that in a part of this video you use the Nexus music from Demons Souls.
Me: FMV. Full Motion Video.
My brain: Fallout Mew Vegas
Fallout Motion Video
@@JacobGeller when the cutscenes are rendered in-game without pausing it and the NPC you're talking to gets killed by a crashing vertibird
@@JacobGeller Full Metal Valchemist
@@JacobGeller Full Motion Vegas?
nyan nyan owo
One unsettling thing you didn’t mention about that Maria “jump-scare” scene is that the game purposefully forgoes the standard shot/reverse-shot format that lets viewers know characters are facing each other when talking...instead, both characters are facing left during their individual shots, yet another way the game seeks to unsettle its players by eschewing the ways in which we expect stories to ground us in a firm sense of reality.
I'm sorry, can you explain it again to me ? I'm having difficulty understanding this
@@ahmedboukhalfa288 Shot/reverse shot is explained here: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shot_reverse_shot
Basically you film two characters having a conversation seperately, but make sure they are facing each other in these single shots. This makes the scene more understandable, visually we know the characters are facing each other and talking, even if they are filmed in isolation.
It is part of the language of cinema, it looks natural to us because we see conversations filmed this way all of the time.
When this convention is subverted however it makes scenes more uncanny because we dont face away from each other whilst talking. Its a subtle trick that informs the viewer that what is happening on screen isn't entirely moored in reality even if they can't put their finger on why it feels wrong
@@ahmedboukhalfa288 The shot/reverse-shot format is something you see a lot in movies and tv when two characters are having a conversation. It usually consists of a shot of the first speaker's face followed by a shot of the second character's face when they are speaking, then it goes back to the first shot again for the response. This is repeated instead of using other camera angles. The technique is cheaper and less time-consuming then alternatives which makes it a popular choice for projects with lower budgets.
@@ahmedboukhalfa288 Sure. So imagine sitting in a chair facing a person sitting in a chair. if you wanted to film this, you're in a tricky situation. The two subjects are in a mirror position. Because of the limitations of the camera and human perception, you can't show their full faces during the conversation at the same time (well, you could with a 360° camera, but it would look weird on screen). So what you typically do is film one person speaking while facing left. That's the shot. Then you film the countershot. The countershot is the other person facing _right_ and speaking, instead of left. This gives us the idea that these are two distinct entities, facing each other in conversation.
If the subject of both the shot and the countershot are facing left, it's... Jarring to look at. It breaks the idea that these are two distinct entities talking to each other and to me, made me question if Maria is actually real or just a figment of the POV character's imagination.
"But she touched him, a couple of times."
Anyone who's ever kissed someone in a dream or had a night terror can tell you about haptic hallucinations and how wonderfully or terrifyingly real they feel.
But maybe that's not it either... Maybe it's just the universe of the story, maybe it's just the nature of that universe to make you uncomfortable, to punish you. In a world where demon zombie fetish nurses are running around without faces attempting to hack you to shreds, just a little bit of clarity, a teensy bit of certainty, goes a long way.
I think that's why horror as a genre is often tied together with a cheaper production, it can be hard to tell what's an intentional detail and what's a mistake or poor production or something that doesn't work. Is the lack of a shot-reverse-shot an intentional detail or was the team not as familiar with general cinematic trends/techniques,? Maybe it was a rushed cinematic, or due to in-game/engine constraints, or was it just overlooked? It's that sort of ambiguity that really sells it, I think.
The fact that we can keep talking about SH2 for almost 20 years is amazing.
My favorite game from the PS2
Good games never die out !!
That and he even referenced final fantasy 7, x which is more impressive.
FFX has even better FMV's to be honest, mind blowing for that time
@@wendigochild I wish that were true. Too many good games were lost to time
*Absolute MASTERPIECES never die out.
When you talked about the part in Devotion where the father is going through the motions while his daughter lies sick in bed and then you very subtly interspersed SH2 footage from when James was watching Mary die?! I SAW THAT SHIT, 10/10
Everytime Maria says "see? I'm real" I get chills down my spine.
why?
Maybe because in and out-of-game, she is uncanny, as Jacob says. James sees there is something wrong about her; we see there is something wrong about her.
For a second she did look real for me
It reminds me of the film Perfect Blue 👀
"honey it's 8 am time to rewatch jacob geller's uncanny reality video essay again"
"yes dear"
girly i keep seeing you here and you just keep me safe while i watch these horrific mind bending videos
@@mothballsva The ribbon doggo keeps us all safe
reading this comment at 8:14 am two years later
This video certainly helped explain just how much of a shame taking down Devotion was. One can only hope it persists in data and memory despite all that has been done to it before.
Atleast those few of us who played it were affected and can spread its word, hope red candle puts it up for sale again alongside the great Detention.
It’s on the “usual” sites if you’re interested in playing it
Literally "In data and memory" so in some form of reality. 🤪
@@idontcare6736 👍 thank you. You really "don't care". 😅
Devotion? Which one was that? Watching the video for the first time.
People complain so much about the stilted voice acting in SH2, and what I think they forget is the vocal tones the designers wanted were as tightly controlled as the digital art. They *wanted* odd pacing on intonations, they insisted on some of the off-beat deliveries. What that leaves us with as an end product is a game that, from the very first moments, unsettles us, disorients us. It's not just the FMV work, though that's stellar for the time. It's the fact that anyone and anything in James' version of Silent Hill is not quite okay. You're absolutely right in that the FMV work, the way they used character animation and reflections, makes us uncomfortable. But so does the voicing. It all contributes to something slightly skin-crawling...and that's why people still talk about it today.
I'm really glad you talked about Devotion. As a taiwanese it saddens me that chinese government can just censor masterpieces like this. Apart from what you've mentioned, Devotion is also a reflection of reality. It highlights how a family like this can be torn apart, it shows how the pressure and expectations a father like this can break a child. It also shines a light on these cult like practices that is practiced even to this day. On top of that, the real life footage that the father always watched is actually a real TV show that existed back in the day. The game intersects with reality very well!
Free Uyghur
Protocetus taiwan isn’t the prc
Free Tibet. Freedom for HK
@@protocetus499 that isn't Taiwan.
@@balazsnagy5781 it’s another group being systematically oppressed by the Chinese government. In the end this systematic oppression is all the same thing it’s a massive government attempting and seeming to succeed at either oppressing or preforming cultural genocide on a group That the ruling party does not like and because of money and greed other nations businesses refuse to sanction China for their atrocities but instead bend over backwards to appease these abuses by either relying on them to manufacture cheap goods or appease China to be allowed to sell their product or show their movie in China.
Part of the reason there is very little significant lbgt+ representation in many Hollywood movies is so that it’s easy to remove the gay stuff in a cut to release in China. American cut look see this characters gay; we’re woke! Buy our stuff we’re on your side! Cut out three seconds and theres no openly gay character at all and chinas happy. Even worse is when you get the Milan remake where Disney likely directly had work done by Uyghur slave labor and disney parroted chinas political lies and agreed that the re-education is nothing bad it’s not concentration camps people aren’t having their cultural histories ripped from them to remake people into a regular normal Chinese person with the same homogenous culture. But nope no bad camps Disney said so. Then in video games you have the professional gamers banned from their games for drawing to speak up about China and supporting the Hong Kong protests but good old blizzard has to make sure China isn’t threatened by the words of this bad video game player cause they want to sell copies over there. So better punish a person for believing in human rights.
It’s all the same thing corporations want that China money or want cheap Chinese goods and will censor whitewash and sanction whoever it takes to make sure that Winnie the Pooh rat bastard stays happy with them. The Chinese people are a wonderful nation many members of that nation especially those of minority groups within that nation are being oppressed by a dictatorship and to keep being allowed to make money by using China or by selling in China companies bend over backwards to keep a dictator Happy at the expense of the people that dictator oppresses
It is clear that our businesses remain not on the side of the Chinese people but on the side of their dictator. And we as customers must draw the line if we want to live in a world where the people of China matter. We have to stand up and say to hell with dictator the Pooh and to hell with any company that supports him and his regime.
The End of Evangelion sort of did the same thing as devotion, by showing live action scenes they showed how real Shinji's reality is for him compared to the dreamlike state that is human instrumentality.
Wuzzems can you explain this better? I don’t get what you are referring to.
@@francescopassero8369 In the movie "The End of Evangelion", after human instrumentality has started, there's a bit where everything transitions to live action footage. Showing footage of Tokyo but with the skyscrapers from the show added in, together with the actual voice actors as well as cosplayers of Asuka and Rei. The experience of Human Instrumentality is pretty much like a dream, the things that happen in it aren't real, or at the very least that's the conclusion that Shinji comes to. It's not real thus he wants to go back to reality, in his own words "I knew my feelings back then were real".
There are two reasons for live action being used. One being the one I mentioned in the first comment, that instrumentality is like a dream and hiding in a dream is just running away from reality/your problems, thus the live action is used to show us how real that reality is to Shinji, that his experiences with Rei, Misato, Asuka and everyone else is just as real as our own experiences in real life. The second reason is meta commentary on us the viewer. The theater that is shown fully packed and then later shown completely empty tells us that after the movie is done, we also have to return back to reality, to go back to our jobs, family, lives etc.
that moment when you and Maria said "Anyway!" at the same time was... UNCANNY
Dude I quote the lines with ANYWAY any chance i get
How is it uncanny? I get that you were making a joke, I just don't see what's supposed to be humorous about it.
@@DeadAndAliveCat sorry didnt mean to bump into ur huge brain :^)
@@DeadAndAliveCat it was uncanny in the way that it was unsettling and creepy
Jacob's sense of aesthetics is what always makes me excited to watch his videos.
For a second I thought you said, Jacob's sense of autism. Lmao I was like yeah that makes since
@@bombomos What?
Spoilers for devotion, clarifying the mysterious illness:
She had panic attacks. In the game, there's a document from a doctor that's torn up. When you fix the x-ray image, it's normal, and the document is repaired. The doctors looking into her illness determined that it wasn't a physical problem, and referred her to the psychiatric department. But her father rejected that diagnosis (apparently there's still very strong stigma against mental illness in taiwan, and he thought that any mental illness would mean his daughter was crazy) so he sought second opinions and other treatments. Apparently he spent much of his money on that, and tried acupuncture and buying an incredibly expensive arowanna fish for good luck. He also started isolating her from anything that triggered her panic attacks, which makes those symptoms worse. Apparently the cult treatment seemingly worked better than anything else, but that was a coincidence. The illness is consistent with how panic attacks work throughout the game. It was never a physical illness
"We're still not perfect at creating digital expression"
*Shows clip from Polar Express that came out more than a decade ago*
I think that’s actually Tintin...which, being fair, is still about a decade old
@@tremisanthrope He showed both but when stating the example quote a clip from Polar express was playing.
also, both of those movies were stylized to look that way on purpose, people just don't like them because they're not stylized enough. Same with Beowulf, actually...
"And we're still in the woods."
What a line.
"See? I'm real."
No you're NOT MARIA STOP
I'M NOT YOUR MARY, JAMES
she is... you take her home in one ending, and she has a harsh cough
James last line
"better watch that cough"
Sinister.
Dope pfp
Me: waaaaaait.....didn’t I just read an article on polygon about this exact thing??? Jacob, I thought better of you than plagiari-
Polygon: article by Jacob Geller
Me: ...........I’ll excuse myself
(Btw this topic was a great read/watch, I definitely think fmv has some properties that we take for granted in games)
hahaha if only I was fast enough to rip off an article published on the same day
nice to see ya getting some more cred under your belt though! We already both know that Control is amazing but I’m glad you talked about the fmv in that game over at poly-g too
didnt know he wrote for Polygon, nice
I legit won't be surprised if this channel is at 1M by the end of 2020.
If there's any justice in the world, he'll get double that many.
@@DodderingOldMan If there's any justice in the world, I'd have 100k by 2020 end, provided I make the content I hope I can. But true, Jacob has one of the most well done content out there.
Well, I know it was just increased by one.
that would probably be true if he did toy unboxings or some stupid challenges and pranks. Content like this is far above the average youtube viewer
Hey Jakob, wanted to let you know that you're becoming one of the channels I feel excited for whenever they drop a new video. I really like your work and how you delve into media (specifically video games) to explore the questions that shape our experience as individuals and a society.
I know
His videos have this Exurb1a feeling
smug dancing Hat Kid exactly
So two things, the first is that I am so familiar with this game I can recite the opening from memory, so when I heard that music with Mary's dialogue it totally threw me off, so good job.
Second, holy shit, I congratulate you for finding something about Silent Hill 2 to analyze that hasn't been done to death already. You're great.
Just found your channel recently. Every video is like a miniature masterpiece. Keep it up you’ve got something special here!
Showing Tin Tin when talking about perfectly imitating reality is perfect. That movie is almost ten years old and it's still the cutting edge.
Seriously well done for making a relevant, thought provoking and original think piece on Silent Hill 2 in 2020. You'd think that'd be impossible at this point
I don’t comment a lot usually but I just have to say how amazing your videos are. I think your perception for art is something that can sometimes be hard to find these days, especially when talking about games. Don’t get me wrong, it’s completely okay to have some easy going fun hours with a game but taking some time to analyse and focus on it is, at least in my opinion, the way art really can change your life and leave and deeper impact. Keep it up, your channel is amazing!
@GiRayne I totally agree that they are amazing content creators out there, I was talking more from a personal standpoint since pretty much all my friends who play videogames only look at them from a pure entertainment standpoint (which is totally fine btw) and I sometimes feel a bit isolated when it comes to seeing videogames as art. So seeing videos like that just gives me something I wouldn't get otherwise haha
@@TheJmix 5 months late but I feel like how monotone mainstream video games have become is related to that "not seeing video games as art" reaction.
@@LuigiGamesful I agree. Not every game needs to push for those things but I just got really sad and frustrated when I saw the feedback to Death Stranding. That game really tried to do something new and fresh and was well aware of the current mainstream trends, but people called it bad/boring and didn't even give it a chance.
@@TheJmix Yep. People say Death Stranding's gameplay is boring, but honestly, IMO Silent Hill's gameplay is well, not that exciting either. But it's shadowed by the fact that the atmosphere, the story, the visuals, are so top-notch. People are expecting a much more action packed Death Stranding I guess, something that leans more towards the "fun and exciting" part of video games.
"Mild spoilers for Devotion"
Hoooo boy, thanks for the warning, I wanna play that game somewhere in the future!
do you know where to find it?
@@denji5426 No, it got yeeted of the face of the Earth
I know I am way late to this uncanny party, but I just finished playing Devotion after buying the rerelease from Red Candle's store.
After finishing it, the only game I could think of that made me feel the same way Devotion did was, in fact, Silent Hill 2.
To quote Takayoshi Sato: "It shake human heart...uh...deeply."
1:35 I would like to inform you the Chinese characters for "reality" is spelled--or rather combined--wrong
It's "現實" not "現時"
although both "實" and "時" are pronounced the same, the former means substantial/with form, while the later means time
while 現實 is a common collocation, 現時 is not, despite one can interpret it as present time, if used under the right context
still glad to see he uses Devotion as reference tho
I stared at the screen for a while trying to figure out if that was Japanese or Chinese xD
@@tiagox3275 could be both. Japanese kanji is essentially Chinese characters (hanzi). There are slight differences, but most of them mean the same things, as far as I can tell.
@@PyroNexus22 yeah but you usually wont see that many kanji back to back to back in japanese, as particles used to string kanji together are written in hiragana
@@jojo-yi5pi yeah, I suppose. Frankly, I didn't pay attention to what he was talking about, so I just went off of the 2 words that the OP mentioned.
as a cosmic nihilist at heart, your videos remind me that meaning IS real, only because people think it is, because they feel it is. Reminds me that I want to be perceived as a person that has purpose, a hidden inner life, someone that can impact others meaningfully, either positively or negatively. That even if my own search for meaning keeps leading me to dead ends doesn't mean its not a worthwhile endeavor, just that ive been looking in the wrong place.
Ya Jesus my dude. Because live does have meaning.
This is a rick and morty fan
Never heard about Devotion before, happy to learn something!
Learn from the other side too:
www.reddit.com/r/Sino/search?q=Devotion&restrict_sr=1
Your analysis of the art of the uncanny reality brought me to tears, I hope you know. It's as if this realization has washed over me that this isn't just a game, but an artwork. Thank you, thank you. I'm so grateful that you shared this video. I think it's changed how I view art, and my own art.
And that the WORLD and society are art. Expression is everywhere and it is all we have to relate to each other.
Devotion was one of my favourite games of last year. Not enough people got to play it and not enough people got to say anything about it. It hurt me on such a personal level, I was never scared of it, as an Asian Australian it felt so familiar to me. It was like watching my life through my parent's eyes and that was what made it so horrifying and tragic
I'm always excited when you put something new out. Hope the year treats you well!
'They just end, and we're still in the woods'. Absolutely chilling. Thank you for this!
I’ve watched essentially every video you’ve put out over the course of the last week, and I love it. This video too! Great job man, so excited to see what you do next
As I understand, FMVs are live action, like in Dark Forces 2 or Command and Conquer. Silent Hill 2's cutscenes are just referred to as "prerendered" or CGI
The euphoria of “Jacob Geller uploaded a new video and it’s related to a topic I love And its 22 minutes”
Ive been on a binge of your videos and have fallen in love with your analysis and narration, thank you for the hardwork! Looking forward to more!
You, my good word smith, are exactly what I have been searching for. The deep analysis of the human psyche and pooling the information gathered into a cohesive yet elegant structure of phrases and ideas makes my being truly happy to have stumbled upon your works.
I started binging your videos yesterday and you upload a new one?
I'm already down on one knee.
I guess you meant this as a joking marriage proposal but my first thought was the thing that happens when an essential NPC in Skyrim loses all their health.
I hope Devotion comes back someday...
I just gotta say man that I think I you make the most interesting video essays out there. You don't rely on cheap or annoying gimmicks, you talk about some deep shit, even if it's a game I never played I am fascinated by your videos. You can really tell how much work goes into your stuff.
It feels like when Maria is in FMV she has a weird sort of smile that no matter what she defaults to
Great video as always, Jacob. I still feel like years would go by and I would still love to watch and rewatch your analysis and essays; not because of your academic-like level of narration, but because that same way with words is accompanied both in subject and delivery with something many narrators forget is still important: realness. A fitting matter for these invoked thoughts. Thank you.
When the first song hit, my heart broke. Bad enough hearing Devotion but seeing the best of what Silent Hill was capable of. Very sad.
I’m amazed at your ability to be amazing
While I'm always impressed by your skill with putting these together, the few moments where you make allusions to moments of my life I've experienced are really quite intense. "This fear instead is a dense forest...one where you think you're only feet from the path, but then you turn around and it's just trunks and underbrush and twisted roots stretching out in every direction."
I've experienced exactly that moment of dread - walking home one evening, taking a shortcut through a bit of unkempt backwoods to get home faster, using my phone as a flashlight because the sun's gone down. I think I know where I'm going - there's a path there that I've used a dozen times that year...and then I realize I'm tripping over fallen branches and salal, turn around, and there's no sign of any sort of path.
It turned out to be no big deal. This bit of backwoods is on a hill, and I know that it ends against the road I wanted to come out on if I walk along the level with uphill on my right. I keep going until I see the lights of houses, then head uphill toward the where the trail comes out - the backwoods on the uphill side is bounded by a massive property's perimeter fence, so I know I've not gone too far uphill. Got out safe and sound, only realizing that I'd found the path again when I reached the point where it slips between two properties and back into civilization.
There's a lesson there: no matter how well you know a bit of forest, do not go walking in a forest at night unless you're prepared to wait for the sun to show you the way back out. That path was pretty much as packed down and well travelled as paths get, short of actual construction work getting involved, and I knew it pretty well, but I could not even tell I was walking on it after I'd lost it for a bit.
These are my favorite type of videos and im so happy i found your beat saber video. These videos are so well made and remind me of a TED talk mixed with a documentary. Thank you for making content
The performances of SH2s mocap/voice actors really helps with the FMVs. They're very grounded voices; I can imagine talking to somebody like an Eddie or James because of their speech patterns. A lot of people dislike the remaster because of the 'professional voice acting remaster' because the actors try way to hard to sound breathy and whatever.
i watched someone play through devotion live very soon after it was released. It was more powerful, and more tolerable, in some weird way, than any horror game i've seen before or since.
Boy, Silent Hill 2 really is the gift that keeps on giving. Almost 22 years later.
I love your videos! One of the best unintentional birthday gifts I received today
This is the type of content I use RUclips for. Thanks, keep up the great work!
I just got REALLY happy that you uploaded
I just found your channel and whoa, I've been watching it all. Keep up the good work. Your stuff is great.
I love your work, the span of emotions you are able to show in your essays are insane. I love them and so very much want to find a way to create something similar. We all have stories to tell and I would love to learn how to tell them. Thank you so much for the videos and take care of yourself. No work is easy so congratulate yourself on all you have accomplished. Especially all the little things.
Your videos are so good, you deserve more recognition man
Jacob your channel is incredible! I love how you break down everything into such a gorgeous narrative that goes by unnoticed. I can't stop binging. Release 500 videos immediately!
Not kidding, i saw your shadow of the colossus video months ago and loved it but lost track of you afterwards- just to stumble back onto the same video just now to see that you JUST dropped a video. Love it, keep up the good work!
Jacob, I just want you to know that I adore your videos. So unique and so much work has gone into this. You really have a talent about telling stories and connecting things, and I am currently watching your entire library. Thank you. :)
Every time I watch one of your videos I'm reminded of my favorite cinema lectures from university. I learn to think about an art form I love in a new way. Thanks for doing what you do, you're helping me grow
I look forward to these videos!! I’m so glad you’re talking about Silent Hill.
The care you put into these videos is really reflected by the weight you put in the rhetoric and in the details of the audio and video. Very talented, my dude, can't wait to see you grow even moreb
Fantastic video, man, as always! Wonderful job. Keep it up!
Oh shit hey Dennis... wasn't expecting to see you here...
SH2 worst creepypasta when?
By god this was an absolute gem of a video. Incredible job sir!
Awesome video about things I didn't previously care about as always, Jacob! Thank you!
I love your work. I get so happy when you upload, your analysis is always worth hearing, enjoyable, and thought provoking. You deserve 10x the amount of subs you have.
Currently binging every single one of your videos and just want to say thank you for your hard work.
I have to say that I really love each of your videos. You manage to sit me down in a magnificent atmosphere that is very proper to your channel, and as an artist who needs that sort of contained bubble to work, I am very happy to have found you! You are my favorite youtuber to listen to and come back to. Please keep up the amazing work!
You've quickly become one of my absolute favorite essayists on youtube man. Keep it up!!
Just the absolute best video essays. Thank you!
Another stellar analysis. You are genuinely one of the best video essayists out there. This video really challenged the way way I think about how the medium can become part of the message.
I can’t express how much I enjoy your content, your analysis is apt, interesting and the craft of the video is brilliant. You’ve inspired me a lot for my own dissertation film, and I couldn’t of done it without your critical analysis videos! Keep it up Jacob!
This is such a powerful video, such an eloquent way of exploring it, understanding it, this feeling of uncanniness.
Never stop talking about this.
Never.
Silent Hill needs to be remembered.
Even people who havent played games back then, need to be shown what gaming once was. What potential there was.
Jacob, you never fail to unsettle, but the way in which you do it is not threatening. You rearrange perspective in a way that articulates a subject’s depths with our perceptions, rendering the obvious surface-level into another part with its own unfamiliar articulations laid bare.
I haven't played Devotion, but the character's obsession with that show and its surreal influence on the story as you describe it here, reminds me a lot of Ellen Burstyn's character in Requiem for a Dream, who becomes so obsessed with getting on her favorite game show that she thinks losing weight is all she needs to accomplish it, until she pretty much goes insane from abusing amphetamine diet pills to lose weight. There's a dream-like sequence in which she believes she's finally made it, until it is revealed she's actually being revived at the hospital after overdosing. Hopefully I'm correctly recalling this, its been a while.
Thanks for this Jacob, this is what I needed to get me out bed today. Great video.
Absolutely wonderful video I love the weight and importance you place behind everything without becoming pretentious thank you for this
Jake, you're truly a one of a kind. I'm watching your video and I'm sucked in.
Man, I’ve watched Jacob’s essays about a hundred times over and I still haven’t had enough yet.
It started with the Shadow Of The Colossus video and now i've binged all of your videos. The topics you've discussed have been so new and fresh that I've had enjoyment I've never had before on RUclips. So keep on doing what you're doing man your videos are outstanding! :)
Really love your stuff, man. I'm so happy you're blowing up!
I look forward to each of your uploads man, keep up the amazing work!
Hey there Jacob, I just wanted to let you know that I really adore your videos. The way your analyse even the smallest of details is so so interesting to me! That you know what the developers were thinking while programming and designing their game is truly amazing. Game designing and psychology are what I might wanna do further in life so knowing how someone sees these little details gives me a pretty good idea of how to learn more about these things! Greeting from Germany! Love your videos
This is my new favorite channel. Keep up the good work.
always a treat to wake up to your new video notification, cheers!
It sucks that people don't have a legal way to play Devotion. It's such a creepy, haunting, and beautiful game. The Red Candle folks know how to make you feel so many emotions along with the horror. Their previous game, "Detention," is also outstanding.
Another terrific video! You're quickly becoming one of my favorite people on RUclips.
This video deserves more views. One of your best. Please more like this.
Just discovered your channel and it is amazing. Thank you for this kind of content.
*"Team Silent"* will never be beaten
*They are the True Masters of SH*
and no one else will ever come close
*Not even Kojima*
*even if he was to make a SH game*
This channel really is something special. Keep up the good work!
Somehow I have managed to equate your voice with anxiety and fear just from watching all your videos. At the end when I listened to it without music, I was genuinely unsettled. I absolutely love it. It's powerful
This will always be one of my favorite video essays of all time, the opening with Lady of the pier never fails to give me chills. It's been 2 yrs and I keep coming back lol. If you're still reading this, your work is awesome!
Lovely video, nice to hear someone speak of the sensations I've experienced from Silent Hill and Akira's hauntingly beautiful soundscapes.
I love inspiring videos like this. Gets my creative juices going for developing my game.
it’s insane how well done your videos are
I enjoyed this a lot, so glad i subscribed. Thanks bro, keep it up
Ah, Devotion aka "We can't have nice things because of China, again"
Fuck the communist party.
It's unfair you're this good at making videos!