In case you weren’t aware, there’s more to YouTube than cat videos, makeup tutorials, and amateur stand-up. Since its inception in early 2005, YouTube has become a ubiquitous tool for content creation, communication, and cultural dissemination. YouTube stars can rake in millions through ad revenue and offering a oh-so-tappable market for connecting young millennials with consumer products. Every year, conventions around the world are held to sing the praises of YouTubers and their work (with the biggest held in California). In short, YouTube is loud, it’s proud, and it’s here to stay.
Toronto is about to be reminded of that fact with the third-annual Buffer Festival, a showcase of the best that YouTube has to offer from around the world. On from October 23-25, the event features 90-minute-or-so screenings and a free red carpet outside Roy Thomson Hall on opening night. Tickets are $20, and the 12 category showcases include fashion and beauty, gaming and animation, comedy vloggers, and musicians and music videos. There are over 80 featured creators to schmooze and talk all things ‘Tube with, and you can even sign up for free “meetups” with the YouTubers if you’re one of the first 100 people to buy a ticket for that particular screening.
New this year is the free and open to the public Creator Day, and you can apply until 11:59 tonight to be one of the 160 people admitted to take part in this day of workshops for up-and-coming YouTubers looking to learn how to improve their video skills, expand their audience, and build a bigger brand.
We got the inside scoop from Buffer Festival founder (and YouTuber) Corey Vidal and music YouTubing superstar Andrew Huang (you’ve definitely seen his “99 Balloons” cover), on the cultural relevance of YouTube and Buffer Festival itself.
“I started Buffer Festival because while there are already other popular YouTube events across the world, they were all conventions and not focusing specifically on video,” Corey Vidal told us over email. “As a lover of film and a fellow filmmaker, I wanted to be able to premiere my films in a theatre. That initial feeling of wanting to show films in a theatre and knowing that other YouTubers must feel the same made me want to start a festival for YouTubers, by YouTubers.”
When asked, “Why Youtube,” Huang answers:
“I stumbled into YouTube, but I’m now pretty much in love with it. It makes sense with this day and age to share what you’re passionate about as well as what you’ve created to reach the people who will connect with it. A few years ago, YouTube was more community oriented, but it’s moving towards a commercial presence. Now, rather than one big community it’s tons of smaller communities…Saying YouTube now is like saying “movies”. It’s a massive platform with so much opportunity.”
YouTube has come a long way in the last decade, and shows no sign of stopping. We asked Vidal and Huang to weigh in on how the phenomenon that is YouTube will grow and evolve.
“At this point, I wouldn’t even say it’s fair to call YouTube a phenomenon,” Vidal says. “All entertainment is digital, or is moving in that direction. The statistics that YouTube provides year over year are incredible, and currently there are over 400 hours being uploaded every minute. YouTube isn’t meant to replace film or television, but it’s different and drawing a different audience and that’s okay. I’m not sure where YouTube is going from here, but I know it will continue to grow.”
So, does the number of views or subscribers affect the likelihood of a video being chosen for Buffer Festival?
“Buffer Festival selects videos to premiere by first thinking ‘Is this a video that can work in a theatre up on the big screen?’ ” Vidal says. “Number of views or subscribers doesn’t sway us when we’re selecting who to feature at Buffer Festival. There is certainly a lot of YouTube content out there that gets a lot of views that isn’t the right fit for Buffer Festival. We’re pretty steadfast and proud of that because it’s not a matter of showing the most popular content, but more specifically looking for great quality videos that are done justice in a theatre. While views may not influence our choices, we love having popular creators at Buffer Festival because it gets the attendees excited.”
With so many creators to choose from, the three YouTubers that Vidal is most excited to showcase this year are OnlyLeigh, spoken word artist Suli Breaks (who will be premiering a video at this year’s Gala Premiere that made Vidal’s team “tear up”) and The Sorry Girls.
For Vidal, Buffer Festival represents “the launching point for a lot of the highest quality content on YouTube.” As a YouTube creator, Huang appreciates the focus that Buffer Festival gives not only to the creators, but the work itself.
“Buffer Festival is really unique among YouTube conventions happening all around the world because it is focused on the work and the creators of the work. A lot of other YouTube conventions are great but seem to focus more prevalently on the creator. Buffer Festival is great for really being passionate about showcasing what is being created, the new content, as well as wanting to do innovative things with YouTubers.”
As for YouTube, it offers more than just entertainment: it can offer a legitimate means of connection. “There are so many people creating and so many people watching, it’s a new way of connecting,” Huang says.
Related Link: Top 10 Toronto events: October Edition
What will you be checking out at Buffer Film Festival? Let Vv Magazine know in the comments below, or tweet us @ViewtheVibe.