Alexis Rocha - Reviving Documentaries into Short Compelling Stories

Channel banner designed for YouTube

Overview

During my time at Zoo Ethnological Documentaries (ZED), a film production company in Paris, I was entrusted with a pivotal initiative to spearhead a new YouTube channel: Slice.

I assumed the role of a Digital Project Manager, embarking on a fascinating journey of reviving classic documentary films through the power of digital media. I was tasked with the creation and management of a new YouTube channel dedicated to showcasing reimagined documentary content. This endeavor involved curating a plethora of full-length feature films, transforming 90-minute narratives into engaging 10-minute experiences.

As the sole driving force behind the inception of ZED's YouTube channel SLICE, I curated, edited, and contextualized archived films, giving a new life to content that was overlooked. I creatively selected documentaries and transformed them into captivating content, entailing meticulous editing for compelling storytelling, designing visuals for diverse platforms, and crafting engaging narratives all while maintaining a seamless image. I also oversaw the publication of full-length documentaries, ensuring our channel offered a diverse range of content.

Full-length documentaries thumbnails crafted for the channel

My Responsibilities

Video Editing

As the digital project manager, I took the lead in editing and crafting compelling videos that condensed the essence of these remarkable documentaries, ensuring they made sense within the short format.

Content Promotion

Beyond video creation, I spearheaded the promotion of these videos across various social media platforms, including Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, extending the reach of our content to a broader audience.

Contextualization & SEO

I played a pivotal role in ensuring our YouTube video descriptions were informative, captivating, and well-optimized for search engines. This included crafting enticing titles and identifying the most effective hashtags to enhance discoverability.

Channel Branding

Defined the channel's visual identity by designing the banner, thumbnails, watermarks, main logo and shaping the overall style of the homepage. Additionally, managed playlists and tailored the layout for an engaging user experience.

Main logo

Channel teaser for YouTube

Key achievements

This project showcases my ability to adapt and transform any content for an online audience. By combining artistry and data-driven strategy, I successfully breathed new life into once-forgotten documentary films, expanding their reach and relevance in the digital age. The creative foundation and processes I established contributed significantly to the channel's success, gathering more than 200 million views and a dedicated following of over a million subscribers today.

Collection of documentary snippets with descriptions below

In the Porsanger Fjord (Norway), a predator is menacing the biodiversity: the red king crab, also called Kamchatka crab. Not originally found in Europe, King crabs were introduced by humans before conquering the northern European Artic coast a few decades ago. Fierce invader, the king crab has an insatiable appetite and devours all prey that comes within its reach. It can grow to a leg span of 1.8 m (5.9 ft), and weigh up to 10 kg (22 lb).

The Colombian flag is a horizontal tricolor with yellow taking up half of the space. The color yellow symbolizes the riches of Colombia's history, the sun, harmony, justice, but mostly gold—the country's original source of wealth. Discover Colombia’s most beautiful jewels of pre-Colombian civilization in Bogota’s “Museo Del Oro” (Gold Museum).

Whilst ships join battle today at a distance of over a thousand kilometers (600 miles), four centuries ago they confronted each other in deadly close-combat battles. In France, one ship was perfectly designed for that type of combat: the galley. It originated in the Mediterranean 600 years BCE and was France’s combat weapon during the 17th century.

Deep in the Issa Valley in Western Tanzania (East Africa), wild chimpanzees mastered the art of building high-perched nests in tree canopies. Each adult of the species builds at least one of these platforms every single day. Such shelter keeps the apes safe from predators and allows for a comfortable rest—not to mention the view...

In 1940, the Alsace region in eastern France was annexed by the Third Reich. Unbeknownst to many, it became the only French territory to host a concentration camp: the Natzweiler-Struthof camp. It was a labor camp, a transit camp and, as the war went on, a place of execution. From May 1941 to September 1944, an estimated 22,000 prisoners died at the camp from the exertions of their labor, malnutrition or the medical experiments inflicted on them.

The World Health Organization is a specialised agency within the United Nations whose budget comes mostly from private contributors. One of which is none other than Microsoft mogul, Bill Gates. German Velasquez, former director of the WHO is denouncing its lack of independence and questioning the philanthropist's outsized influence over global health.