Media
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QUESTX DOCUMENTARY USE & TERMINOLOGY
You might have noticed that our videos aren’t structured like most videos of this type (YouTube, etc.). In order to bring you, the viewer, an experience that fits in better with what you want out of a learning experience, we tend to present our material in a more flexible format. Many of our videos follow a looser format, in which there are rough narrative arcs that collect information together in different ways. We think of this as “choose your own adventure” viewing, in which there are several different ways to watch any set of material or learn about a given topic. Our videos, in general, will be 2-12 minutes long. Some are brief introductions to topics or vocabulary that everyone has heard, but may not be understand, and some are in-depth explorations of topics, research, or places, complete with interviews and demonstrations. We use some specialized terminology to help viewers navigate this (Questx) experience:
~ > module: similar to an “episode”. The word episode indicates that the viewing process is episodic. This is not. One module might belong in several clusters (see below), some can be watched with no background information on a topic and others will build from information in previous material (when this is the case the “recommended pre-viewing” will be listed in the description). A module will be a polished, edited piece that tells a story.
~ > clip: think of crazy cat videos. Clips will be short videos of animals, places, experiments, that are interesting and provide visuals but will have little to no information associated with them. Clips are provided: 1. as a quick piece that we think is interesting and want to get up, but don’t want to create a whole video around, 2. as “teasers” to modules (after you’ve seen two minutes you want an explanation of what the hell that monkey was doing, etc.), and 3. as appendices to modules (reference material and further visuals). Clips are short and exciting, and visually informative or demonstrative.
~ > cluster: like a season, only not. Because, again, we’re not really episodic. A cluster is a group of modules. For example, our first cluster is about the scientific method and how science works. All modules and clips in this cluster will be about how science itself works. Some clusters, such as this one, will have strongly recommended “viewing orders”, and other clusters it won’t really matter what order you watch modules in. However: 1. modules from this cluster may also appear as modules in other clusters as they are relevant to other topics, and 2. clusters are ever-growing groups. Think of them as food webs of videos, instead of food chains. There are a lot of ways to reach the top of the food chain. That said, not all modules in a cluster will come out (be released) together. We create modules on a lot of different topics, as things need addressing or opportunities arise to film. Sometimes one cluster may be started, then not visited again for several months.