Would you believe Jalopnik has been in the video game since 2015 now? But what you might not know is that behind the success of things like Build of the Week, Carguments, Five Things and Jason Drives—which just hit 25 million total views!—is a massively talented team of people that subscribe to the same philosophy as the writing staff: “Do whatever you want, make it awesome, and the people will come.” I think it worked.
Before I highlight the best work from our strongest year of videos to date, I have some folks to thank. Our current video team has two amazing producers. We don’t often get a lot of chances to do blogs or write, so you may have seen their names in the credits, so you may not know much about them, but they kick ass:
Eddie Costas had been with Fusion for the better part of three years now and joined Jalopnik earlier this year. He is one of the most talented editors I have had a chance to work with. His work on Build of the Week were fantastic and he is currently editing the next season of Jason Drives. Expect that to launch in early 2019, and get excited!
Erica Lourd was our newest hire in October. She came to us from Time Inc.’s The Drive and was at Fast Lane Daily before that. In only a few short months she has not only shown herself to be a more than capable producer and editor, but she has completely ingratiated herself into the Jalopnik culture.
I am so thrilled to be able to work with such a wonderful and talented team, nd I know that 2019 will be a phenomenal year for Jalopnik videos. So tell us: What do you want to see more of on the video front? Give me your ideas so I can pass them off as my own, and look like a genius in meetings.
Get the Yugo Off the Worst Car Lists
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Jason was visiting us in New York for a different video and he really wanted to drive Ballaban’s Yugo. Jason is a wonderful human but his taste in cars is often times questionable. News Editor Erik Shilling also wanted to drive the Yugo. I wanted to video this happening and this is the video we produced. It still cracks me up every time I watch this.
Carspotting
This series started life as a Facebook Live experiment that the Jalop team did when many media outlets were paid by Facebook to do that. Because Facebook is a hell company, it stopped underwriting that stuff, but we kept the idea going because it’s a gem.
Touted by Raph as “New York City’s worst tour guide gives you a walking car tour of the city,” this was a series that almost everyone at GMG would say to me “You should make that a series.” Well, we did!
Fake Jeep History
I love this video. David dies a little every time we talk about it. I didn’t think Ryan Felton could pull this off, but he did. And it’s amazing.
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Car vs America: The Lost Tapes
Jalopnik had a television show! You probably didn’t watch it because it was on Univision’s now-dead deep cable Fusion network.
That being said we had hours upon hours of raw dailies (unedited video, for the layman) that was just sitting here. Many of these scenes were never edited into the show, much to our dismay. But when one door closes another opens! So we decided we’ll make our own clips from the show. This was a wonderful segment (cut of course) on Gary Duncan and his incredible JDM collection.
Build of the Week
Build of the Week was my first real project as a Senior Producer. It was one of the most stressful projects I have probably worked on for a multitude of reasons. It was a huge logistical challenge to arrange, shoot, edit and release in short order, but we’re super proud of the outcome.
Both former editor Alfonso Solis and Eddie did an amazing job shooting these and Eddie did a wonderful job editing. Here’s hoping to another (hopefully less stressful) season two next year.
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Carguments, AKA Jalops yelling at each other for 10 minutes
I am not sure who came up with Carguments in order to meet a onetime aggressive daily video quota that no longer exists. But I can say that it was one of our most popular series in the GMG office, mostly because it’s just funny to see these loons argue about the most ridiculous car things. Even if you don’t love cars, you can always appreciate two jackasses hilariously arguing about anything.
The Triumph GT6+ Is Bloody Brilliant!
Anytime we get a chance to have Kristen Lee on film is a sheer joy. She’s eloquent, smart, talented, and really just a joy to work with. She brings something to the table that is really special. We truly are lucky to have her as a part of the Jalopnik team, and I can’t wait to see what she’ll bring in 2019.
Designing a Toy Car
This was a fun project to producer with our very talented staff cinematographer, Santiago Garcia. Jason had a blast coming up to NYC to film this and I think this was a really great video.
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Jason Sleeps
I dunno what it is about watching Jason Torchinsky sleep in things that you sickos love, but these two videos got over seven million views on YouTube. We get the signs folks. You really love to see him and us sleep in stuff, you weirdos!
And then there was this one too, which was also a big hit:
Jalopnik Investigates: The Goodyear Scandal
By the time this article posts, our dear Senior Reporter Ryan Felton will have moved on from the hallowed halls of Jalopnik to raise VC money for his e-scooter startup. He is now dead to me, but aside from that, still an incredibly talented reporter.
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His Goodyear G159 stories sparked a ton of controversy opening up people’s eyes about their RV tires. We’ll miss you Ryan, wherever you may be.
Alanis Drives a Monster Truck
Alanis King got to drive a Monster Truck. Not much else to say. She was slightly terrified about the notion, but being the badass that she is, got her nerve up and took it around the dirt track. Unfortunately they wouldn’t let her take it off a jump like she wanted to afterwards, but maybe next year.
The Cars Of Radwood Philly
Do Jalop bosses Patrick George and Mike Ballaban just scream and complain at each other all day, like they do on video? Yes. What you see here is what you get, people. But they (and all of us) had a blast at Philadelphia’s Radwood, thanks to all the amazing cars and car people who showed up.
Abandoned Cars of Hong Kong
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This is why we even make video, people. There’s a lot words and still photos can do about Hong Kong’s bizarre abandoned video scene, but seeing it on video brings a whole new dimension to the experience. David shot this mostly on a cell phone but the DIY doc style works well here.
Alanis Takes Her Mom Off-Roading
You can’t watch this one and not be jealous a bit. The drone shots from our Texas freelancer were amazing too.
Will David Make It To Moab?
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No year on the site is complete without an ill-advised David Tracy old car road trip, and his latest Moab Jeep adventure was full of drama and roadside wrenching heroics. Will he manage the same with the postal Jeep in 2019?
Wow, that was a hell of a year. I can only say that this list makes me so proud of the work that our team has accomplished throughout some very tough times. I am also so happy to have a job being able to produce and deliver this fun, exciting content to you, our dear car-obsessed readers.
Have a wonderful rest of the 2018 and we look forward to an exciting 2019!
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