Long-form video
One long video a week, made properly
Deep dives into how things are built, why they broke, and what everybody got wrong about them.
Videos
Latest videos
Everything published, newest first.
The bridge that should not have fallen
Four independent safety systems, all of which worked exactly as specified. A film about what "as specified" is worth.
How It Broke · Published last week · 1.2M views
The toaster that outlived its company
A 1948 appliance still in daily use, and the accounting decision that made building it that way impossible.
Built to Last · Published 2 weeks ago · 840K views
Why your charger is that shape
Eleven years of standards committee minutes, condensed. The better connector lost for reasons that had nothing to do with the connector.
The Standard · Published 3 weeks ago · 2.1M views
Inside a working foundry
Three days in a foundry that has been casting the same component since 1961, filmed with no narration for the first eleven minutes.
Field Trip · Published last month · 1.6M views
The tunnel nobody signed off
A project where every individual decision was defensible and the sum of them was not.
How It Broke · Published last month · 980K views
The world’s most boring screw
A fastener designed in 1936, still specified today, and the patent fight that nearly killed it.
Built to Last · Published 6 weeks ago · 1.4M views
What happened to the second format
It was better, it was cheaper, and it lost in eighteen months. A film about distribution.
The Standard · Published 2 months ago · 760K views
The factory that refused to automate
Filmed over a week on a line that is still run by people, and the numbers that say it should not be.
Field Trip · Published 2 months ago · 1.1M views
Six inches of water
A flood defence that failed by a margin nobody had thought worth modelling.
How It Broke · Published 3 months ago · 1.9M views
The quietest room I have ever filmed in
An anechoic chamber, a very confused sound recordist, and what silence actually does to you.
Field Trip · Published 3 months ago · 2.4M views
The cable under the ocean
The channel’s longest film, and the one that took five months. Laying, breaking and repairing the thing everything else depends on.
Built to Last · Published 4 months ago · 3.1M views
The committee that chose wrong
Nine people, one vote, and a decision that is still costing money forty years later.
The Standard · Published 5 months ago · 690K views
Series
Series
The recurring shows, and where to start each of them.
How It Broke
24 films · start with the bridgeEngineering failures, told from the inquiry documents rather than from the headlines.
Built to Last
18 filmsObjects that were over-engineered on purpose, and what happened to the companies that made them.
The Standard
12 filmsWhy one format won and the better one did not. Mostly about committees.
Field Trip
9 filmsOn location, in places that do not usually let cameras in.
Follow
Where to find me
Every platform, in one place.
YouTube
@channel
1.4M subscribers
The main channel. One long film a week.
Patreon
/channel
6.2K members
Early access, the research notes, and the cuts that did not make it.
Discord
/channel
9.1K members
Research leads, corrections, and people posting what they built.
@channel
210K followers
Behind the scenes from location shoots.
Nebula
/channel
Ad-free
Every film, plus two originals that are not on YouTube.
The weekly note
About
About Marisol
One long documentary film a week — researched from primary sources, edited without filler, and fact-checked by somebody who did not write it.
More about meWho I work with
- Tooling manufacturers
- Engineering software
- Component suppliers
- Technical education platforms
- Materials producers
Contact
Get in touch
Audience figures, formats and rates are all on the media kit. If it looks like a fit, send a line about the product and I will tell you honestly whether it belongs here.
Send a message