Idaho's Inland Seaport — Animated Map Explainer (Spec)

Spec work. I made this sample as part of my application to the Across the Globe YouTube channel. It was not commissioned or published by the channel.

A 2-minute, 16:9 animated geography explainer in a documentary YouTube style. The question: Idaho is completely landlocked, so how do its potatoes, grain and giant wind-turbine blades reach Japan and South Korea? The answer is a working seaport 465 miles inland, at the end of a "giant concrete staircase" of dams and locks on the Snake and Columbia rivers.

Animated satellite-style maps: state highlights, river routes drawn on, labelled ports and an orbiting 3D globe tracing the trade route across the Pacific

Custom diagrams: a river elevation "staircase" profile from Lewiston down to sea level, and a cross-section showing downtown sitting below the river behind a levee

Mixed real footage (port, cranes, turbine blades, river canyon) with map and graphic beats

Word-by-word highlighted captions and a consistent paper-texture, muted colour look

Date and fact callouts (e.g. "Authorized 1938"), checkbox reveals and source credits on screen

Pacing, music and sound design for a narrated, faceless channel format

Format: 1920×1080, about 1:55, long-form YouTube.