Hbomb
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First 35 minutes of the Adobe video, an update, and two tiny car accidents
🕑 Added 2025-08-12 05:33:32 +0000 UTCHello darlings,
First off, please find enclosed the first 35 minutes of the Adobe video. A lot more is done than that, the video is shaping up to be much, much longer (the script is telling me it’s 46,000 words, which feels wrong but there we go) but, minor spoilers, a lot of the back four fifths or so of the video are being shot on an actual location (which we’re driving out to in like 12 hours! wow!) and this is about as much of the video that makes any sense without any of those shots in there. After the shoot, the rest of the video should be ready to go pretty fast we hope.
There’s an animated segment in the opening which is still being worked on by Allie and Joe, but what they have so far is so cool so I wanted to show it off in this draft. I’m still messing around with the whole thing of course, there’s a ton of stuff to redo once I have the rest of the video finalized, so please treat this as a rough draft and let me know what you think!
Ok go watch the video now and come back and read the rest of this post with the apology for how long it’s been and other stuff!! GO NOW!!!
Welcome back!
We’re putting a lot of effort into the live-action video segments for this one. As you might have seen, in addition to helping with research and giving copious notes on the script and the edit, Kat has somehow also spent much of the last few months making puppets:
"Michael! Michael! Don't leave me here!"
If you can somehow guess which real life person the second puppet is of, you get twenty points. Kat showed a picture of the completed puppet to Adam Savage and he correctly guessed who it was, which was astounding.
You know, when I made the videos all by myself I was never sure they were good until they were done and other people said they were ok. I can look back and think ‘this was good,’ but in the moment it was just me doing what I thought worked, and second guessing myself the whole time. Now I can see physical work someone else is putting into the video, and now I’m getting feedback on my own work in real time from another person, I can see it for what it is. I think this is the first time I’ve thought ‘this video is going to be good!’ before it was actually finished and released. It’s a nice feeling! I’m so excited that I’ll probably forget to sleep before we have to film it tomorrow, lol.
Anyway, now for the fun part of the patron post, the excuses.
I kept meaning to write this post sooner, but then thinking 'I should get a piece of the video finished first so it's not just a text update' and then getting distracted by editing, or just going back to working on the video and forgetting people might be wondering if I’m still alive. And then it would have been longer since my last post, so I wanted to make sure I had more to show, and that spiral continued for a while. Silly. Expect more frequent updates from now on, even if I have less to show. You’re keeping me alive by supporting me, you should expect to know what I’m doing at all times.
The other main delay has been the visa process.
Since a lot of this video is being filmed in the USA, I needed a work visa to legally do it without getting arrested or deported or barred from the country forever. The process of getting one is exactly as complicated and time-consuming as people say it is. Also, given the current situation in America, this seriously messed with my life for a while. I was advised by a lawyer to be extremely careful what I said on social media about the country (and some of its allies) for a while (and sent a list of old tweets to consider deleting) so I had a chance of being approved. I also called in a lot of favors with internet celebrities to get them to write letters of recommendation for me. So if I appear on Adam Conover’s podcast any time soon, please understand I owe him big time.
It’s been annoying not being allowed to tweet ‘Death 2 Amerikkka’ and 'stop killing people' for a while but it’s also helped me focus on the work more. I certainly didn't miss posting on the rotting husk of twitter for a few months, at least. Plus, now the visa is approved, a lot of other videos I want to do in future will benefit from being permitted to do actual work here! But this does mean this project got delayed a lot more than I'd like. Sorry about that.
The other minor source of delay was the car accidents (Kat’s note: “THEY WEREN’T MY FAULT”). Let me explain in more detail so you feel sympathy for us:
Doing prep work for the video, getting props and equipment and stuff, Kat and I got rear-ended by a driver who was distracted by some kids on bikes. The damage wasn’t super bad (dealing with whiplash, car got scuffed up) but we decided to delay the big shoot until after we got it fixed and recovered a bit.
Anyway about a week later, before we had got the previous damage fixed, a car smashed into the side of Kat’s car on the freeway. We weren’t seriously injured, but the passenger-side door was completely crushed in. It can’t physically open any more, I had to climb out through the driver’s side to leave the car.
The other car then drove away very very fast. I managed to get a picture of the license plate before it disappeared at least, so Kat can do whatever Americans are supposed to do when this sort of thing happens. There’s a billboard ad for an injury lawyer every twelve feet so I’m sure there’s a healthy system figured out for all this.
Once we got back Kat’s car was leaking mysterious fluids from somewhere. Cumulatively the poor thing was a little more damaged than we were comfortable driving for hours to get to the location, so part of planning the shoot became renting a series of cars to finish getting stuff together, and later to actually get to the shoot. If this wasn’t already the most expensive and logistically annoying video I’ve ever done, it certainly is now. Kat is also looking for car recommendations.
Since I was stuck in America and I’d been invited, and we had needed to delay the shoot anyway, I did a panel at Open Sauce in San Francisco last month (this is also how Kat ran into Adam Savage and started showing off the puppet pictures). I’ve been advised not to get on a plane unless it’s to leave the country, so we rode with some friends who happened to be driving there. Those of you who attended Open Sauce have probably heard most of this story already from me, it’s certainly a fun story to tell.
It was nice meeting those of you who went! Hanging out with other people, and creators who do similar stuff, instead of sitting in the woods talking to myself, is pretty cool! I can see why people live near other people now. Since I’m stuck in the US for a bit, I might plan a meetup at some point in California if anybody’s interested!
Basically, this video has taken a long time for a wide variety of extremely trivial reasons, mostly me being slow and doing far more research and rewriting than I had planned to do (Remember the proposed title Adobe Must Die: The Rise of Open Source? The entire open source part is now a separate video), but for once I have reasons outside of my own incompetence. Thank you for being, well, the best audience ever. You’re better than I deserve. If you were meaner maybe I’d’ve had to work harder.
I’ll let you know how the shoot went asap! I want to taunt you with more cryptic puppet pictures before the video is done.
Sincerely,
Harry
Comments
Banished Kuroe
The precautions you have to take with my country seems like trying to get into North Korea, except even worse somehow. I hope you get back to the UK safely after all is done.
Katie P.
I'm now convinced "partnered" is a made-up word created by Hbomb and Adobe
a grím nele janbbi
a dovey :3
NumberedMonk
"Did you think you lived in a democracy? You idiot. You worm! That doesn't generate money for shareholders. There are higher principles at play here than making the world a better place for humans to live in. You can't even measure joy. There is no immortal soul! But there is a god, and his name is NASDAQ!" This might be, genuinely, the single most metal description of capitalism I've ever heard in my life. Lives in my head rent free, and I posted this in a group chat (tongue-in-cheek, of course) when we were all bitching about the next round of price increases being pushed out to customers next quarter. Hold on to your butts, cable is getting (even) more expensive (again)!
Andrea Cervantes
Went back here after listening to the Kelliot podcast roasting the latest Adobe Max releases lol.
IDoDabble
I do wonder whether the fact that Adobe has a very sizeable data selling business at this point, will come into play.
MrGamy
At 20:30 about the conflict of interest: Yes, it's a massive conflict of interest! But there are some channels out there showing how it should be done. Gamers Nexus is known for their harsh critique towards companies no matter if they sponsore(d) them in the past. Of course that also only works thanks to additional income via patreon or their store. I'd say the mix of income streams keeps the advertiser overreach at a minimum. (And advertisers that do try will be called out by them)
ArchieMcW
This has been sort of a wake up call for me, I've known Adobe to be a pain in the arse (purely from having to work with it's tools) however I never realised that the long history of the company has been purchasing competitors tools, making bank and then letting it rot. Just recently I've been using Frame.io since it got bought, and I've found the product no different than before, other than it being EXTREMELY buggy now. I think one thing that has been nice to see is the tutorial space really growing on platforms like TikTok and seeing a lot of young creators help each other out. I don't really bother using YouTube these days for tutorials unless I really need to, as it's just littered with sponsors and techniques that involve a sponsored plugin. Also, the part about the frankenstein monster of names and tools across the apps is so true man. I can't imagine the nightmare someone had when they were in charge of creating the dynamic link tool between Pr & Ae. Oh and having to use plugins so you can properly import shit from other programs, like having to use Overlord to bring Illustrator projects into After Effects. Need someone to make the Blender of video editing & mograph tools, I can only dream
Terra4311
recently Ive been learning Unity (game engine) and their tutorials are actually super robust on their website, as if they want people to learn how to, you know, use the software, and its actually helped me learn a ton, I hate Unity, but they want you using it at least
Taylor Brodie
Have you seen the affinity website / emails? A “big change is coming” October 30th. They were bought by Canva a year ago - reddit is almost certain a subscription model is imminent. They’ve taken the option to purchase the perpetual license off the website. Will be interesting to see what the outcome is - but as a hobby designer, who dropped $500AUD on the V2 affinity suite perpetual license, I’m feeling very very bleak. Might be good to keep an eye out in relation to this for the vid, I fear that the expectation for AI included in these platforms, the subscription model being the way these companies make ongoing revenue for their shareholders, and a 500 million dollar acquisition by a company like Canva is another death knell for a great software.
Milo
I'm so sad to say I'm intimately familiar with adobe animate. I have to use it for work because I'm an artist for a virtual pet site that used a lot of flash. I work with .swf and .fla files daily since theyre so integrated into the site we couldn't possibly use any other program, and we need to vector brush tool. This is all in my personal opinion and in my experience and stuff but soooo many things break when I export them and when I don't know what to do it's sometimes impossible to find tutorials to explain it, the only people that can help are people that have worked in flash since I was a child and never stopped. And even then, sometimes the only thing you can do is start again from scratch. I could make my own damn essay about how it can clog up a whole production pipeline with its nonsense. My team jokes about how it's like we're all in an abusive relationship with the program.
Dagger
I definitely think game reviewers shouldn't have sponsorships with games but shoes, mattresses, the latest anime blind box subscription service or whatever are far better because everyone needs clothes and a bed and lotta gamers might like an anime blind box. Gamers shouldn't be doing RAID shadow legends ads.
Holly Smith
happy birthday
Calysto
this also reminds me of a video adam savage made about sponsorships during their time at mythbusters where he said they didnt want to get put into that position of having to lie or portray something favorably if they were sponsored so i think they basically never did it. i believe that video is on his youtube channel
Apes a Plenty
Really good video. Despite the fact that I know adobe killed flash for money it would be a much better video if you cited some kind of evidence for it. If you can locate any shareholder presentations you can usually find some good mask off moments there.
(micah gray-berrios)
i’m so excited for the full version !!! :^D i hope the rest of production goes more smoothly best of luck guys <3
Rachel Davis Smith
I'm so excited for this video! Great topic, killer intro, intriguing puppets. If you're still looking for feedback, here are a couple of thoughts on structure/clarity from a former journalist: 17:30-ish, where you start talking about the ethics of YouTube sponsorships: I think this could be tightened up. It gets a little into the weeds talking about the ethics of sponsorships *in general* and takes too long to tie back into the actual subject of the segment, Adobe sponsorships. The point about the pervasiveness of Adobe sponsorships among YouTube tutorial creators is really important and I think it would be better made with less of a ramble to get there. 24:00-ish, where you talk about Ryan from Film Riot recommending a set of $2400 lights: Again, we're getting a little too far from the actual subject of the segment (Ryan's relationship with Adobe). The point about him recommending products that are too expensive for beginner filmmakers is interesting, though. If you plan to keep this in, maybe you could add some narration mentioning that Adobe software is also very expensive and not necessarily accessible to most beginner filmmakers. That way you'd have a nice tie-in to the overall topic, because it's not immediately clear how the lighting stuff is relevant. (Seriously, the Adobe monthly subscription model is murder!! I get a free license through my school, but if I ever leave I'll have to pay $840 USD annually to access all the programs I currently use. I miss the days when you could uhhhh, extralegally download an old version of Photoshop. That was my gateway into digital art way back in the early '00s.) Anyway, good stuff, as always. If you have the time and footage, maybe you could also release a short Patreon thing about making the puppets? I fucking love puppets. OK byeeee.
STICKEY MYX
this argument is less structured than i want because i've sat on it a few days—i am not a filmmaker or a video-based creator, I am a writer. and i thought about how writing doesn't necessarily have an adobe equivalent, technically you don't have to pay for anything. but then i realized i've never faced a paywall because i've used google docs. google docs has no competition because no other writing program has the liberties to make itself free. google docs is too easy to use to kill. i could and have found multiple google docs alternatives but most major ones have file limits or feature limits. their only competition is microsoft. you can properly migrate off of google docs, but your alternatives are your notepad app or paid services.
Tania
Those puppets are absolutely magnificent.
Morgan Ashwin
pssspsssss Mr. Hbomberguy you have promised us puppet pictures psssspssss I don't care if there are any other updates show me the PLUSH
Charli Harvey
as someone who has just spent about one hundred years tearing my hair out troubleshooting a colour issue because of how completely opaque After Effects is about what is actually going on with its colour management, this is greatly appreciated.
Maddie King
My husband and I both hate Adobe so we're excited for this! Thank you for touching on what a bad tutorial feels like, there's hardly anything more frustrating. I see your second puppet and raise you swedish chef and his catch phrase. Also- we would support a CA meetup! We're in the Bay area.
Kyle Baker
Was very excited to watch this, and it did not disappoint. Look forward to seeing more soon!
Mo Scheibling
It took me quite a while to understand the bit, you found out if it was a drone or if there is a building, right? Very excited for the „heavily telegraphed“ plot twists this time. I still haven’t recovered from „this video is about James Somerton“, I never expected that.
Susanne
1. This is already great and super exciting to me personally - I've been wanting to burn everything down since they went to subscription only, the swine. 2. Would you consider shortening the partnering with... section? I feel like it's a taaaad too long. 3. I want to say that puppet looks like Jamie but that might be bias because you mentioned Adam. :D 4. I'm glad you're both okay!
Katherine Moore
I showed this to my wife who edits videos and hates adobe. She said it was good. Well done, lads.
Charlie Atkinson
I'm so excited! This is a great!
Serious Sergal
I've already watched this straight through twice and love it to bits. Can't wait for the full video or even the first hour. Will likely watch that twice as well!!!
Alex K
you joke about watching a video about software not appealing to your audience, but i'm best known on tumblr and reddit for a comment i made regarding just how much biomed research is critically dependent on abandonware from companies that don't care or no longer exist, so i think this might be popular in this crowd.
FriendlyAnarchist
Father is back! Father has posted! And it's not a delectable voyage to discover all my favorite Oreo products, boys! I'm gonna watch this too many times, I already know it...
Puckfigs
3:50 ZEEKYBOOGYDOOG
Evan Mullin
This is awesome and easily follow-able, even for a technologically illiterate Luddite like myself. And what you said about kids looking into tutorials and being discouraged because of the price of the products advertised is spot on, though fully present in adults-myself included. It’s almost a hyper-reality situation.
Sierra Clibourne
So nice meeting you at open sauce! I was mostly there for my husband and you were an awesome surprise once the set list was released. Sorry you're stuck in america and can't even tweet mean things, wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy ALSO, Kat I cannot emphasize enough that if you have one at all available in the used market near you, a 2018-2021 honda civic hatchback is the perfect car. I just got one last year and it's literally the best car i've ever had. It can haul tons of stuff with the seat folded down but is still a small car, it's good on gas mileage, it's a honda so it's not crazy expensive to buy OR to maintain and it's very repairable, it has a really good mix of carplay-available screen and physical buttons, it's an incredibly good looking car, and the center console has this like modular rail system so you can buy inserts for it and customize like what size and shape of cupholders you have and if you want any other storage bin shapes instead. I just had a friend move to the UK and they literally chose to import their car instead of sell it because they also have a hatchback honda civic from the same year range. The newer ones are not as sexy and that's a vital and necessary need so that's why I'm specifying the year. The hatchback is also a very important part to mention here, the non-hatchback is the same size but uglier and hauls less with no real upside and i'm not even quite sure why people get them over the hatchback option Seriously, every time I go to the dealership they ask me if I'm looking to sell the car because it's so popular in the used market. A perfect commuting car, a perfect road trip car, a perfect car for me to haul home random facebook marketplace hauls and costco trips but also way smaller than most other cars on the road. A perfect car in every way. Cannot recommend enough.
Lee Rogers
You're a far braver man than I, going to the US at the moment. Best of luck.
Props It Yourself
ACTIONSCRIPT WAS GREAT FUCK YOU ADOBE On a side note, the first 10 minutes already have me laughing my ass off and missing the old days of programming random fun stuff, amazing job i can't wait to see the rest !
Verdana
This is a great opener to the video! Looking forward to seeing where it’ll go! As a fellow Premiere Pro user I can’t tell you the amount of times a feature I used frequently just up and vanished. In many cases, the changes Adobe makes to Premiere end up doing the opposite of “streamlining” the program. There used to be a nifty tool called “change to color” which allowed you select a certain color and within your clip and adjust it to a different hue. It was as easy to use as a tool gets, but they took it out in favor of a more complicated, less functional version that’s part of the Lumetri color panel. They love moving things around so that it’s all in the same place, but that doesn’t actually make editing easier or more user friendly. What’s wrong with having more simple tools for beginner editors? Lumetri color is also infamous for being prone to crashes as it’s built upon outdated tech, completely unable to compete with Da Vinci’s lossless color correction. And unless they rebuild everything from scratch, they’re stuck with it. Anyways, love what I saw so far. Looking forward to the finished product!
Hbomb
Yeah and I think Adobe acquired the original Premiere when it was in a super nascent state? For the sake of that segment I figured I'd give them the point.
Dan Stott
32:17 Premiere -Pro- may be an Adobe product but the OG Premiere was based on a SuperMac editor they acquired iirc
Skallagrim
Wow, so much has happened... Well, it's been a hot minute too. ;) That Adobe video is going to be massive, eh? Wonder if they'll ever recover from that... and they better not! Such a scumbag company. Cartoon villains are nicer. Anyway, looking forward to it! I'll resist the temptation to peek at the preview for now, will keep waiting for the full release. Thanks for the update though.
Laurel Nelson
OH MY GOD the low budget big sponsor videos!! I watched a few videos from a renter friendly interior decorating channel whose style I liked, hoping to learn a thing or two that would help me keep my sanity in a bland college dorm and then in a marketable beige apartment. In addition to the fact that their landlord seemed to be WAY more accessible and accommodating than mine, she got SO MUCH free furniture, new from sponsors!! If I could afford that furniture, I would simply buy a house
terrorist hamster
one, thank you so much for this preview. it's GOOD. i think some tangential references are fine (like the chinese train) but also, you'll need a SAFEWORD to get out of the stunlock. otherwise we'll end up with another tommy tallarico situation. by the way, did you know a second tommy tallarico has just hit the political commentary sphere? it's mutahar!
DestructoDee
I hope both of you are doing okay after the accidents. Not just physically, but mentally as well. That shit can stick with you. That aside, I love the draft and am so excited to see the finished product once it's good and ready. Take care, you two! And the puppets are AMAZING! <3
Zero Promises
I have unfortunate news - you have another topic you need to cover. You need to look into Scaleform - a games industry middleware. I promise as soon as you give it a quick google it will be obvious how relevant this is to the core of the essay.
Camille-Délice Blin
Jokes on you a video about softwares (and the enshittification of it all) actually interests me A LOT, so I'm buckled up, strapped in and ready to go Glad to get news from you ! Good luck in the US of A, take care 🤙
tiger
as a fellow editor who also uses premiere for my job (no matter how many times i beg them to switch to davinci), i appreciate you voicing my rants about adobe and their useless products in a slightly more unhinged way than i already to do my coworkers
Cleen
We are SO back also thank you and have a lovely day gang
AquariaMoon
Great start. As an artist I hate adobe, but the underlying insidiousness obviously goes way deeper and farther and is even more interesting, I love how a specific example can illustrate much better than abstract thoughts. Looking forwards to the full video! Glad you guys got out of the accident okay and survived the US. Mostly.
Adam Gaffney
My guess for the puppet has to be Theodore Roosevelt, if it's not it's got mega Roosevelt energy.
