This is a 45-minute walkthrough of someone’s Notion project and it has half a million views.

Thomas Frank’s Second Brain Setup probably sets two records for 2022. The video with the most views and the video with the most minutes.

Normally long demos are a drag, but Thomas sets an excellent pace. His demo sprints into action with an engaging introduction that makes great use of b-roll and has a nice little soundtrack.

The main part of the demo, however, is a marathon. But like tables with tiny plastic cups of water on the side of the road, the layout changes that Thomas uses help us reach the finish line. Every so often we’re switched between screen + camera, screen-only, and camera-only.

Thomas takes it up a notch with some more advanced shots too. At 5:58 he zooms in to focus on the Save to Notion extension and repositions his camera to stay visible without blocking the user interface. At 5:35 we get an actual shot of his laptop — not a screen recording but the whole computer. Then at 14:30, we get a desk-view shot while he draws stuff on a whiteboard. Peak performance.

Thomas Frank has nearly 3 million subscribers on YouTube so the guy knows what he’s doing. And what he’s done this year is earned himself a spot on the podium for Product Hunt Video of the Year.