So, in case you didn’t know, YouTube has a smorgasbord of enjoyable delights. I shared a special YouTube site earlier at http://fun.evanweppler.com/2011/10/24/fun-youtube-nonsense/, but here are some cool YouTube items you might like.
1. Mashups- These actually existed before Glee (Yes! No joke!). Some of these are clever and some are terrible. I have two favorite mashers– Norwegian Recycling and DJ Earworm. Norwegian Recycling has mashed together some very diverse songs. DJ Earworm releases a special mashup annually of the top songs of the year. Here are two of their best pieces:
2. AutoTune- Oh, AutoTune. You are the voice of our generation. Or, you at least smooth out the voices of our generation. You’re kind of annoying, like that mosquito that just won’t go away, but you also make some things so much better. As in AutoTune the News and the Gregory Bros. Here are a couple of their bests:
3. Supercuts- These come from the hands of people that work for hours, laboring on their laptops, watching hours and hours of footage… They really are like hand-woven rugs, with little bits from here and there making a masterpiece of video awesomeness.
4. Lip Dubs- Hit record on the video camera. Play some music. Sing along. Take the footage, lose the audio, and dub it over with your music track. And you have a lib dub. Or you can make it a hundred times harder, like the students at Shorewood High School did, and do it all BACKWARDS. Just… just watch.
5. Interactives- YouTube is more than just a place to sit back and watch and share the occasional comment. With its structure, you can do a whole lot more, such as make videos interactive or even play games. The Fine Bros, famous for their Kids React series, have done great work in this area.
(Warning, you should probably just go to fully YouTube to play this game right.)
6. Literal Music Videos- Have you ever watched a music video and asked “What in the world is happening before me?” Others have also pondered this question, but turned their questions into fantastic videos which edit the lyrics of songs to better fit the action of the music video.
7. Sweded Movies- If you saw the movie Be Kind, Rewind, you know about sweding- if not, it’s okay, it’s a pretty easy concept. People record footage with cheap cameras, cheap effects, and kind of bad acting. People remake a shortened version of a big time movie for the odd pleasure and humor of a sweded film. You can do it yourself!
8. Music- Now, I’m not talking about Vevo, which involves ads and slow-loading videos. Skip around using the official YouTube channels of bands and artists, and use YouTube as your own iTunes, Pandora, or Spotify. Search for music by adding the word “lyrics” if you want to specify your results. Get an account and start a playlist of all your favorite music!
9. Full Concerts, TV Shows, and Movies- Seriously, there is ALOT on YouTube now. Some of it is on there for good, and some is on there because the entertainment companies haven’t gotten them pulled yet. So enjoy while you can! Search for your favorite content and sit back and watch. And don’t follow links to other sites for “Full Episodes” because they rarely easily work. And just make sure you are watching one person’s stream of uploads (Part 1, Part 2, etc) and don’t accidentally skip to another person’s uploads.
10. Fireplace- If you want a cozy night around the fire with your special companion, fire up the logs and enjoy these videos.
Hope you enjoy YouTube even more!