Find three unique "trends" on YouTube - cultural, political, musical, etc. - and create a playlist of 5 or so videos that demonstrates that trend. The Trend should be relatively new - within the last 6 months. Think of a trend as an internet "meme" -- a new genre of videos or a particular narrative that is gaining interest within the YouTube community (and sometimes off) and offers a snapshot of the cultural zeitgeist today. Write a brief blog entry (100-250 words) for each of the three trends that provides any additional context you think the viewer should have to fully appreciate the trend.
Like a younger, more feminine version of unboxing videos, the latest Internet trend for teenage girls involves recording themselves with webcams meticulously itemizing recent purchases from their latest trip to the mall, and posting it to YouTube. Inspired by makeup and beauty tutorials, a typical haul video lasts between 5 and 10 minutes and includes the ‘vlogger’ showing off her newly acquired goods and sounding off on everything from the importance of embellished denim to where to find the best deals on lip gloss. Videos are often organized by store (Target, MAC, Forever 21) or type of product (cosmetics, accessories, shoes).
It’s estimated that there are upwards of 110,000 videos currently uploaded to YouTube. With many of these videos being viewed millions of times, some of these teenage shoppers are shaping into e-commerce tycoons. As haul videos grow in popularity, it has become increasingly common for vlog haulers to receive products from companies and to establish partnerships with YouTube to earn a share of their ad revenue.
While there seems to be little stylistic deviation from one haul video to the next, according to sisters Elle and Blair Fowler, two of the phenomenon’s biggest fans, a successful haul video should identify seasonal trends, help others find bargains, and never be overly boastful.
Epic Beard Man [EBM]
[Disclaimer: due to the fact that some of the videos in this playlist may be inappropriate for some users, not all videos can be included in an embedded playlist. Click link for full playlist]
This past February, a YouTube video was uploaded depicting a confrontation between an inebriated and unruly African American man and an equally confrontational 67-year-old Vietnam vet on a city bus in Oakland. After a series of misconstrued comments resulting in a racially charged argument, the provoked senior citizen ultimately snaps and delivers a beating so vicious and bewildering, the video gained over a million hits in the first 24 hours -- inspiring an outpouring of creative remixes and mashups.
Amid the online buzz, local news stations and citizen journalists tracked down the key players and both men appeared on radio and news programs to tell their side of the story, adding even more fodder for YouTube satirists and remixers. Raising issues of race, voyeurism, violence and generational inequities, subsequent spinoffs mythologize the bearded protagonist, now know as “Epic Beard Man,” and poise the eccentric senior as the hero who stood up to the disrespectful young hoodlum. For example: one video humorously portrays EBM as a mild mannered anime character, slowly pushed to his limits, while yet another version envisions him as a victorious combatant in the classic arcade game, Mortal Kombat.
8-bit Stories
Attracted by its simplicity, or perhaps more likely, nostalgia, artistic YouTube users are repurposing 8-bit imagery from old-school video games to create new art and to tell imaginative stories. Using classic games like Pac Man, Space Invaders, and Super Mario Brothers as their inspiration, creatives are appropriating the retro style by hacking, tweaking, and reprogramming outdated hardware. Due to the ubiquity of gamer culture, these 8-bit throwbacks appeal to a massive audience and enable creators to remix new ideas with classic memories.
While 8-bit musicians have been transforming games into music for sometime now, artists have only recently begun exploring the potential of using pixelated games to tell visual stories. Lately, there have been scores of videos uploaded to YouTube that endow video games with a more cinematic quality, inviting the viewer not to play, but to watch the game unfold. This newly introduced medium has been used for everything from satirizing pop culture to discussing gender roles, and has even been utilized as a wedding invitation.
The trend has even gone offline, inspiring individuals to recreate pixelated experiences with stop motion photography and analog tools, including Legos and Post-its.
