This is a Rough Cut ✂️
The metanarrative behind Lydia Lee's film
blog.seventy-four // I’m writing these words from an Amtrak train, en route to Baltimore by way of New York. I’m running on an average of five hours of sleep these past several days.
It’s been a busy week!
Nevertheless, one week from now, we’re endlessly excited to host 70+ artists, filmmakers, and friends from around the creator world at the Summer Block Party, featuring fireside conversations with guest creators Daren Vongirdner, Kat Abughazaleh, and more.
Have you gotten your ticket yet? RSVP here if not.
I’m handing the mic over to Judd for this week’s review(s). Scroll down to read below—you’re in good hands.
— NGL
P.S. Last blog, we wrote on the debate of turning life into content—and shared our third video episode. You can read it here.
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Video: ‘Rough Cut’ (2025)
Creator: Lydia Lee
Review by: Judd Karn
Not to sound like a broken record, but this idea of “impactful narratives” has remained stuck in my head.
Just two weeks ago, Anthony Po appeared on The Colin and Samir Show and proclaimed that “people have kind of done everything on the internet.” “What matters more is not the narrative of the video,” he said, “but the metanarrative of the page…the story past the video.”
If you were looking purely to garner the most views, you’d, logically, create a video that can be packaged in the most broadly-appealing way. However, building actual depth within your audience—that’s a different challenge altogether.
At first, the consensus was an extraordinarily grounded one, rooted in the foundations of narrativity: story comes first. If you’re telling a great story, then there’s no need to edit for retention—the viewer will be engaged. It’s straightforward, but at the height of sensationalist YouTube, it felt like a revelation. Even MrBeast himself eventually joined in, lengthening videos to incorporate contestant character arcs and bringing on storytelling-driven creators like Mack to join the team.
But now, the conversation has been pushed further. And although Anthony’s mindset on “metanarrative” isn’t the same reason why I believe this video, Rough Cut, resonated with so many, I do believe the wildly-different “approaches” of Anthony and filmmaker Lydia Lee both tap into the same psychological core. We’re drawn not just to what a video is, but to the context and intention behind it.
Rough Cut wasn’t designed to go viral. Lee had “no intention [whatsoever] of anyone seeing [it],” uploading it for technical reasons; as the title suggests, it’s purely a rough cut. And yet the blunt title and auto-generated thumbnail characterize the video perfectly.
Directly interacting with the ideas of what a rough cut is, the video places us into the world of New York with hard cuts and overlapping audio tracks. Within seconds, you’re left claustrophobic: alarms blare and fireworks go off, cushioned by overlapping conversations about growing up in the city.
These recollections, snippets from interviews Lee had with young adults, blend into one another. The voices overlap, emulating a shared conversation—or a shared voice. It’s all communal, even while each person’s story feels deeply individual.
In a generation obsessed with irony, it’s scary to be earnest. To show an objective truth of yourself. And I think that’s what this cut captures so well: it gives us the slow reveal of real vulnerability, mirroring these people’s accounts.
The subjects start closed off. Over time, they open up. But it’s not until the very end—when Lee quietly enters their rooms and lets us sit with their objects, their spaces, their selves—that we perceive them truly. Not through what they say, but through what we see.
The video’s brilliance isn’t in spectacle. It’s in the vulnerability that’s revealed, the world that’s built. That’s what makes it stick.
That’s the metanarrative.
Judd’s Score: 4/5
‘The history and government of the Tri-State Area (a Phineas and Ferb theory)’ (2025)
Creator: GuyMRY
I have one hard and fast rule when it comes to watching YouTube: multi-hour videos hyperanalyzing random kids' television are a must-watch. This video—a painstaking dissection of the potential politics and policies within the fictional locale of Phineas and Ferb—was no different.
Commentary creator GuyMRY sections off the video into five talking points, constructing a surprisingly sound governmental & historical account within the confines of a rather absurd cartoon world—looking through all of the show’s potential clues and restrictions to do so (as proven by the fifty-two pages of notes taped up behind him…and linked in his description).
It is a rather ridiculous concept; some may argue it doesn’t warrant the runtime. Yet Guy engages you down the entire rabbit hole, and, like most videos that fall within the niche, it’s is more than just a lengthy visual essay. It’s a trip down memory lane, a revisitation. Not just of the show, but of a moment in time, a moment of youth—with Guy’s storytelling and pacing, I felt transported back to my elementary school playground, cooking up all these crazy theories with a close friend.
Judd’s Score: 4/5
‘3000 Miles’ (2017)
Creator: Sean Wang
In light of our latest video episode, I thought it might be fitting to highlight this old short film that Didi (2024) director Sean Wang created when he first moved away from home.
The film is centered around this dialogue between the audio—his mother’s voicemails, full of care and concern, convey the emotional weight of distance—and the visual—moments in New York from Sean’s Sony A7Sii and iPhone, where he experiences and observes life in this brand new world. Though modest in scope (sporting a five-minute run-time), the piece resonates deeply, draws emotions out of us, and gives us a glimpse into the bonds he shares with his family. Plainly, it’s beautiful.
It reminds me of this recent uptick I’ve seen in this format of video—so many wonderful creators documenting a portion of their life, compiling and color grading it, then underscoring it with a euphonious score and companion piece of audio that articulates the emotions they experienced in those moments. And I think Wang, long before his breakout feature, performed a masterclass in it.
Judd’s Score: 4.75/5
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