YouTube is an American online video sharing and social media platform. When YouTube was set up in 2005, its founders defined it as a dating site where users could upload their vlog entries to attract potential mates. “YouTube rapidly emerged as the dominant participatory media channel and most popular entertainment Web site of the new millennium. Its provision of a free, global broadcasting platform was embraced equally by amateur, grassroots video makers and professional, mainstream media producers” (Hearsum and Inglis, 2013).

Since 2005, there have been more than 1 billion videos on the platform, which is far more than the number of movies that have ever been produced. The success of Youtube could be considered that YouTube as an assemblage or ecology, its technologies and aesthetics taxonomies both play essential roles.

Firstly, in terms of technologies, Vernallis mentions that “it speaks differently depending on how and with whom you experience it” (2013, 149). This may suggest that Youtube achieved the function of DIY creation, modification and organisation of content, as well as sharing and commenting. The contents of these videos are diverse, and the categories include music videos, video clips, news, short films, documentaries, movie trailers, live streams, vlogs, instructional videos, and more. So, from the audience perspective, Youtube is more likely a search engine in the form of videos, viewers could accessibly find any contents which fit their needs and freely like, comment, and share works. From the perspective of creators, they are able to adjust the video content through the viewer’s comments, understand the audience’s preferences instantly through background data after the video is posted, and watch the same type of video to improve their own video quality, also they can get traffic by posting their DIY videos, which may be converted into financial benefits if there is enough traffic.

Furthermore, in terms of Youtube aesthetics taxonomies, Vernallis provides a kind of taxonomy of some YouTube content and experiences, such as reception, graphic values, image/sound discontinuity, remediation and recombination, intermediality, mashups, and parody intentional or otherwise. The following content will show two examples that could explain Youtube videos’ taxonomies.

The above video can be described as a mashup and image/sound discontinuity. Because the creator clipped some highlights from the film The Avengers, stripped out the original soundtrack, and created new background music. Although, the video content basically has no relation to background music, this mashup creates a different chemical reaction and highlights the excitement of the video content. On the other hand, viewers are able to regain interest in the original film after watching this video.

The above video can be described as remediation and recombination. The creator posted the clip of the musical number “Jumpin’ Jive” featured in the 1943 movie Stormy Weather which used to only appear on videotape and colored it. Youtube reanimates and reconfigures the classic of the golden age of American entertainment, and modern audiences recall and learn about the former tap dance king in an alive way.

Reference

Paula Hearsum and Ian Inglis (2013), ‘The Emancipation of Music Video: Youtube and the Cultural Politics of Supply and Demand’ in Richardson, Gorbman and Vernallis eds, The Oxford Handbook of New Audiovisual Aesthetics, 483-500.

Carol Vernallis (2013), “YouTube Aesthetics”, in: Unruly Media, New York: Oxford University Press, 127-154.

Carol Vernallis (2013), “Accelerated Aesthetics: A New Lexicon of Time, Space and Rhythm”, in: Unruly Media, New York: Oxford University Press, 277-288.

Written by Zhongzhu Wang (33689304)