Cinema was once an exclusive space, closed off literally and figuratively. Not only are cinemas enclosed spaces, where distractions are limited and the space has been purposefully tailored towards the viewing experience but from a creative standpoint, historically it has been very difficult to gain access or entry into the filmmaking sphere as an outsider. However, as Casetti (2015) notes, in this current digital age, anyone can have access to the technologies required to be a filmmaker and the historic cinematic apparatus is being broken down into a kind of assemblage. Wherein someone in the past may have had to go to a cinema to watch a film and feel immersed within the content, nowadays it’s possible to create an audiovisual bubble. For example, watching a YouTube video on the bus with noise cancelling headphones on; you are still immersed within the content, without having to take part in the cinematic machine. This naturally suggests that through this concept of remediated cinematic content, anyone can become a filmmaker, as almost everyone has access to a phone with a camera and platforms like YouTube or Vimeo.

One interesting example of this remediated cinematic content is the YouTube creator, Casey Neistat. Whilst beginning his career in the film industry, it wasn’t until his YouTube channel that he found proper success, recording short satirical yet thought-provoking films about life in New York that would garner mainstream attention. He used traditional cinematic techniques on a small budget, with small cameras, creating short videos that would gain millions of views. He now sits sat over 12 million subscribers, showing that the way in which we consume cinema has changed drastically. It could be seen that YouTube itself is the cinematic assemblage, as Casetti (2015) suggests, it represents the new way in which we engage with content, whilst maintaining many of the aspects that cinema held as an audiovisual assemblage.

Casetti, Francesco, “Assemblage” in: The Lumière  Galaxy: Seven Key Words for the Cinema to Come. 60-82. Columbia University Press, 2015

Neistat, Casey, Bike Lanes. YouTube Video, 3:04, June 8, 2011 YouTube.com/watch?v=bzE-IMaegzQ

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