The Killing of Trayvon Martin

I really liked this video. One small note; when it comes to Zimmerman going to Retreat View Circle to check the 'address' I feel like Zimmerman is implying that he DID know the name of the street but was going to check the numbers on the houses. At around 17:45 he says (paraphrasing) "I couldn't see a street sign, but I knew if I went straight through that is Retreat View Circle and I could give him an address". It doesn't change the overall point, of course, but it is not as ridiculous as Zimmerman forgetting the name of the street he lives on, as you imply at 20:20.

I didn't know much about this case. I now know much about this case. Brilliantly executed Shaun.

I, for one, have no major criticisms for this video. I think you did an excellent job, and this is in my opinion a really great direction for you. This kind of work is absolutely invaluable. I just hope you won't depress yourself too much! Thanks!

This video seems technically quite good.The foray into "amateur forensics" does have me concerned, but only in that it seems really easy for there to be a slip up on your part that could lead to damage to your reputation. You provide links, which is of course great. It might help in future videos like this to talk about the sources of info within the video--like, I'm using this map, which was also brought into the case by these people, or referenced at this point to this effect. Sources are very necessary, but it can also be just as necessary to address their methodology in collecting and presenting the info first hand--similar to the kinds of problems with that arson map many videos back, the appearance of a source's authenticity in video may be just as vital in convincing others as the suppling of the source. Idk if this helps, you may know this already, but I hope it does. Thanks, good watch :)

Since you're looking for feedback... I'm not sure this is the best direction for your channel. I'm always wary of detective work being done via the internet, and even though you seem to have a decent grasp on things and were pretty good at explaining the event and poking holes in the official story, it's a lot of work with little payoff, and it's also not really what drew me to your channel. HOWEVER... Your Quebec Mosque shooting video might be a good pointer to what you could do if you wanted to address these sorts of things. At the end here you did a similar thing, where you focus more on the response to the event and try and contextualize the reactions. That might be a better way to go about addressing this stuff, although I get how you may be tired of response-videos by now. In any case, this was still well done.

I really liked the video, great job. Being a European myself, I wouldn't have been able to spot any factual errors, except that I'm not entirely convinced that you can take the map at 18:22 at face value ("a neighbourhood with three streets") - it's been my personal experience that not everything that looks walkable on a map is actually accessible to pedestrians in the US, so I'm not sure how many of these roads would have been familiar to George Zimmermann. I liked the way you presented the evidence in contrast to the Amon Bundy incident. I think I've noticed a similar pattern with right wing extremists and Muslim terrorists; most of the (white) right wing extremists like Anders Breivik survive their attacks and get arrested by the police, while nearly all of the Muslim terrorists were shot on the spot, suicide vest or no. I don't feel protective of either type of violent attacker, but I do think there is an obvious racial or ethnic bias. Great job as usual, looking forward to the empire video. The one about Rome was one of my favourites, even though less upsetting than it could have been (2 / 7 Teal deers).

It's hard to be fair to Zimmerman when you look at his self-reported evidence. Participants in violent crime such as this are naturally unreliable as sources of information. What looks like him recanting and recalling facts wrong and may appear to be constructing a web of carefully crafted lies are easily explained as a victim having unreliable information about facts during a period of high stress. Also absent I believe is the public pressure on the prosecutors that caused them to overcharge Zimmerman. As you say, he might well have gotten jail time and been convicted under a lesser charge. Now though I'm forced to assume he's as innocent as O. J. Simpson I very much enjoyed the video though and I believe it is more or less fair in its presentation.

Content-wise this is of course as good as your other videos. Being another European I can't comment on the case itself. I'm always wary of cases of amateur forensics though, in a criminal case there is always so much the public isn't privy to. But I am happy you are getting your thoughts on the topic out.

Benedict Marko

Shaun, I've seen similar issues solved (though I don't think I've seen it for credits yet) by switching from rolling titles to title cards. You can fit a lot of names on a screen, and if you show every title card only briefly (like, about 1,5 seconds) you should actually be able to fit all Patreons in your credits, even if your followers continue to increase a lot. For many people it's probably just a huge thing to be on that list at all, and they don't care much about how long they appear or how small the name is. People who really want to read that stuff are going to freeze-frame it and read it at the highest possible resolution anway.

Benedict Marko