[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiFXWQ7bldr2uJx7S9mDAqDLRUuSlkssO[/youtube]
Pure Commercial (Star Wars Trailer, Majora’s Mask 3DS Trailer)
The first two videos are YouTube serving as a minuteman advertising agent. Often, I’ll find myself looking up video trailers on YouTube before or right when a video game or movie has come out so as to help me decide on if I wish to engage in consumerism of these works. Their existence doesn’t reflect negatively on YouTube in my mind. I see the place advertisements occupy as simply a matter of course because of the ubiquitous nature of YouTube and the Internet.
Online Transmission of Engaging with Existing Media: Reviews (theneedledrop on an Iron Maiden album, grumpyjiisan on The Tatami Galaxy)
The next two videos see YouTube as a platform for individuals to partake in the age-old tradition of sharing opinions. There’s an innumerable amount of people on YouTube who do review vlogs for all sorts of media but the only one whom I keep up with today is Anthony Fantano aka The Needle Drop, a music reviewer who covers a wide breadth of musical content of the day and occasionally will opine on old favorites. My all-time favorite reviewer of the universe though has to be Grumpy Jii-San, (Jii-san being Japanese for “old man”) a bespectacled elderly white man living in either Arizona or New Mexico who would regularly go out for hikes in the early morning, set up his camera mid-hike, and record his self giving anime reviews. His description is too weird to make up and that’s what I love about this channel. Unfortunately, he’s retired from the reviewing scene for reasons not everyone is sure about.
Online Transmission of Engaging with Existing Media: Exposition (Every Frame A Painting on Texting And The Internet In Film)
One of the channels I subscribe to actively is Every Frame A Painting, which does these incredible breakdowns of film-making techniques, with emphasis on the editing. This channel is sparse in terms of quantity but abundant with quality through his concise yet eye-opening expositions. I would not hesitate to call this my favorite channel.
Online Transmission of Engaging with Existing Media: Lists (License to Review on George Costanza’s Best, WatchMojo.com on Top 10 Video Games With Customizable Characters)
Top-X Lists are a mainstay of the Internet mediums of brevity. I tend to avoid banal ones that I would be able to easily predict myself, and instead I gravitate towards those that I feel offer a comprehensive collection of the most note-worthy examples in a field, whether it be through a long list or a list for a niche. I view these lists as almost the complete minimum level of engagement with existing media.
Video Essay/Articles (PBS Idea Channel on North Korea and Hackers and SciShow on The Giant Crystal Cave)
YouTube as Artistic Media: Experimental Video (Donald Glover’s “Clapping For The Wrong Reasons” and The Weeknd/xoxxxoooxo’s “The Flower Shop”)
YouTube can act as a fairly low-risk platform where creative video can be readily disseminated. As such, creative types can use YouTube to show off their potential in acting and/or film-making. I’d like to take this opportunity to note that YouTube has been extremely integral in getting the career of The Weeknd off the ground. His channel, xoxxxoooxo initially served as his sole personal broadcast station where he uploaded each of his first three mixtapes’ songs, all featuring an eye-catching background image for the video, with almost complete anonymity. In turn, he came to build a persona shrouded with mystery and that control of his public image fueled his rise in the music world.
YouTube as Artistic Media: Music Videos (Breakbot’s “Baby I’m Your’s” and The Notorious B.I.G.’s “One More Chance (Remix)”)
As a kid, I loved watching music videos on MTV. MTV doesn’t do that anymore, ironically enough, so now I use YouTube to instantly look up music videos new and old. I believe that the greatest set of cameos in any music video ever is contained in the “One More Chance (Remix)” video.
YouTube for the Fans: Clips (Mulholland Drive’s “Llorando” Scene and Serial Experiments Lain’s Opening Credits)
Regularly, I’ll think back on excellent moments in visual media and I want to be taken back. Sometimes, YouTube is nice enough to do that for me.