Faceless YouTube Editor — Hip-Hop Documentary-Style Video Essays (Archival + Motion Graphics)

I'm launching a documentary-style YouTube channel doing deep-dive character analysis of hip-hop and music-culture figures — the storytelling depth and polish of a premium music documentary, built for YouTube. This is a faceless channel — no on-camera host. The entire video is built from archival footage, clips, images, and motion graphics cut under a voiceover narration. Your job is to make that voiceover come alive visually. I'm looking for a long-term editor to take a finished script and recorded voiceover and turn it into a premium, archival-driven documentary. This is full-service editing: you source the footage AND cut it. REFERENCE CHANNELS — THIS IS THE EXACT STYLE I'M AFTER Please watch these before applying. Your work should live in this world: - Jay Diggs — receipt-heavy music-industry analysis, archival clips under narration, bold on-screen text and quote overlays - Patrick CC — documentary deep-dives on culture figures; tight intros, motion graphics, retention pacing - That's Joaq — clean, restrained, character-study editing; minimal but premium If those channels make sense to you and you can see how they're cut, you're the kind of editor I'm looking for. WHAT EACH VIDEO INVOLVES ARCHIVAL SOURCING — finding real interview clips, footage, photos, and B-roll that match the script. Accuracy is critical: when the narration references a specific moment, the visual has to be THAT moment. Wrong or generic clips break the credibility of the whole video. This is the single most important skill. TIGHT EDITING TO VOICEOVER — cutting footage precisely under the narration with documentary pacing that keeps a long video feeling fast (retention is everything) MOTION GRAPHICS — clean text callouts, lower thirds, subtle push-ins and zooms, and quote/receipt overlays (After Effects-level work, not just basic timeline cutting) CLIP INTEGRATION — dropping relevant interview and archival moments INTO the narration as supporting evidence, the way the reference channels do A PREMIUM DOCUMENTARY FEEL — real archival texture, not a slideshow of stills, not a reaction-style edit Finished length roughly 10–20 minutes YOU'RE A FIT IF YOU Have edited documentary or video-essay content before (non-negotiable — I need to see it) Are strong in After Effects (or equivalent) for motion graphics Can source archival footage and clips quickly and accurately Understand retention pacing and hook-driven structure Can match an established visual style and take frame-by-frame direction TO APPLY — IMPORTANT Send a link to a sample of past work in this exact style: documentary or video-essay editing where you sourced and cut archival footage under narration. This is the single most important thing. Applications without a relevant sample will not be considered . If your reel clearly shows this style, we'll go straight to discussing the first episode. If you've done this type of work but your portfolio doesn't show a close-enough example, I'm open to a paid test edit of one short section (paid flat rate, credited toward the episode if we move forward). In your reply, tell me: your editing software, your typical turnaround for a 10–20 minute documentary edit, and your rate (per finished minute or per project). This is a real, long-term channel — I'm looking for someone reliable for ongoing work, not a one-off.