Motion Graphics + Video Editor for Geopolitics/Finance Explainer YouTube Series (ongoing)

Editor + Motion Graphics Brief: Geopolitics / Finance Explainer Series The project in one paragraph I'm producing a series of long-form explainer videos about citizenship-by-investment programs (countries that sell passports) and how the EU and US are cracking down on them. The tone is calm, dry, factual, and analytical, think a smart person explaining how the world actually works, not hype. Reference channels for tone and pacing: **h0ser** (primary), and for the map-and-documents visual style, **Johnny Harris**, **PolyMatter**, **Wendover/RealLifeLore**, and **Patrick Boyle**. The whole point of the channel is credibility: we show the real documents and the real data that other channels skip. Visuals should reinforce that "here are the receipts" feeling, never feel like an ad. There are three videos to start (roughly 15, 20, and 20 minutes). If this goes well, it's ongoing. What I'm hiring for Video editing and motion graphics. This can be **one person who does both, or two people** (an editor + a motion designer). Tell me which you are and how you'd want to split it. The bulk of the work is motion graphics (maps and on-screen documents), with editing and pacing around it. What I'll provide - **Full scripts** for all three videos (attached). Each script ends with a "RECEIPTS" section listing the real documents and data sources referenced, that's effectively your shot list for what needs to appear on screen. The scripts are written clean for text-to-speech (no dashes, etc.). Pacing and pauses are up to you to interpret from the writing. - Brand colors, fonts, and any logo once we lock a look (open to your recommendations here). I do **not** provide voiceover audio. You generate it, I choose the final voice, see the Voiceover section below. The visual style I want **1. Map-driven.** Most of the runtime should be supported by a clean, modern world/region map. Countries highlight, zoom, and get color-coded as they're discussed. A recurring device in Video 1 is sorting countries into buckets ("exposed," "safe," "too new to call"), I want a clear, repeatable color system for this: - Red = under pressure / banned / exposed - Green = safe / protected for now - Neutral/grey = too new to judge This red/green system should carry across all three videos and the thumbnails so the series reads as a set. **2. On-screen documents (the "receipts").** This is the most important and most distinctive element. When the script cites a real document (a court ruling, an executive proclamation, an EU report, a Treasury advisory), we show it: the actual document or a clean recreation, with the key phrase highlighted or called out. Example: when the narrator says the EU used the phrase "pending the discontinuation," that phrase should appear on screen, highlighted, with the document name/number visible. Treat these like evidence being presented. **3. Kinetic text for key lines.** A handful of punchlines should hit as on-screen text, short, bold, well-timed. Example beats: "Not reform. Not improve. Discontinuation." and "Same program. Banned anyway." Used sparingly, for emphasis only. **4. Lower thirds / labels.** Clean labels for countries, people, dates, and dollar figures as they come up. Needs to be a reusable template. **5. B-roll.** Licensed stock footage to support the narration where maps and documents don't fit, e.g., Caribbean islands, airports, ports, banks, Brussels/EU institutions, government buildings. Keep it tasteful and relevant, not random filler. Voiceover You generate the voiceover from the script. I choose the final voice. - The VO is synthetic (AI / text-to-speech). Use a high-quality TTS tool of your choice, tell me which one. - **Propose two or three voice options** as short samples reading an actual passage from the script. I'll pick one, and we use that same voice across the whole series for consistency. - The voice should match the tone: calm, dry, conversational, analytical. A natural, understated delivery, not an over-produced "announcer" or anything hypey. (Reference: h0ser's casual register.) - The scripts are formatted to read cleanly through TTS (no dashes, plain punctuation). If anything trips your tool, flag it and I'll adjust the script rather than have you hand-fix it. Pacing and tone The narration is deliberately understated and dry. Visuals should match that: confident and clean, not flashy, no constant zooms, shake, or meme-y cuts. Let the maps and documents breathe. Sync cuts and reveals to the VO, and let the natural pauses in the read land. The humor in the script is deadpan, support it, don't oversell it. ## Audio - Generate the approved voiceover from the script (see Voiceover above) and edit to it. - Add a subtle music bed (licensed) appropriate to the analytical tone, low enough to never fight the narration. - Light, tasteful sound design on key reveals (document stamps, map transitions). - Burned-in or soft-subtitle captions (tell me which you can do). Technical specs - 16:9 horizontal, 1080p minimum (4K preferred if you can). - Standard frame rate (24 or 30 fps), tell me your default. - Final delivery: high-quality MP4 per video, plus the editable project files (After Effects / Premiere / Resolve) and any custom templates, since this is a series and I need consistency across future videos. ## Rights and legal (please read) - Work-for-hire: I own all final deliverables, project files, and custom templates outright. - All stock footage, music, and fonts must be properly licensed for commercial YouTube use, no unlicensed assets, ever. - Do not use copyrighted news footage, clips, or music without clear licensing. Because this channel is built on credibility, getting flagged or sued is a dealbreaker. When in doubt, ask. Process 1. **Paid test first.** Before committing to a full video, I'd like to pay you for a short test: one 60-90 second segment (likely the opening of Video 1) edited and animated to near-final quality, including your proposed voiceover so I can hear a voice option at the same time. This tells us both whether the style fits. 2. If the test lands, we move to full videos, one at a time, with milestones (rough cut → revisions → final). 3. Two rounds of revisions per video included; we'll agree on anything beyond that. 4. Timeline: tell me your realistic turnaround per video. What to include in your bid - Portfolio links, especially anything with **map animation, data/infographic motion graphics, or document-on-screen explainer work**. This matters more than general editing reels. - Whether you do both editing and motion graphics, or one of the two. - Which text-to-speech / voice tool you'd use, and whether you can provide a few voice samples. - Your rate structure (per video, per finished minute, or hourly) and an estimate for a ~20-minute video in this style. - Realistic turnaround per video. - Whether you're open to the paid test. - Software you work in and what you'd deliver as project files. Thanks, looking forward to seeing your work.