Binge culture isn’t just reserved for Netflix and Hulu. It’s just as easy to go down the YouTube rabbit hole and find yourself watching hours and hours of videos. At least, that’s what our team of twenty-somethings is doing a lot of these days.
During this time of social distancing and working from home, we’ve found ourselves consuming YouTube content like CRAZY, and with 500 hours of content uploaded to YouTube every minute, there’s a lot to watch!
Luckily you don’t have to scour the platform searching for something great to watch. We asked our team for their YouTube channel recommendations – one for professional/creative development and one just for fun (for a nice balance). While this is a great time to brush up on your skills and fuel your creativity, it’s also a time to be entertained, smile and laugh (so we don’t absolutely lose our minds).
So here they are…the YouTube channels helping the BSM team get through quarantine!
JONATHAN’S PICKS
For Fuel: PETER MCKINNON
Peter is a self-taught YouTuber gone big time. His work is incredibly beautiful, and his gear walk-throughs are very thorough and realistic. I get a lot of inspiration from watching his channel. While he’s mainly a photographer, his work and advice translates really well to the film industry. In general, he’s producing what I would call “adventure” or “travel” photography, which can be really uplifting.
For Fun: Film Riot
I have a slight obsession with this channel. I’ve been a fan for 4-5 years now and have watched these guys truly grow into amazing filmmakers. What I love about this channel is that these guys are like me and my team in that they are out there just figuring it out. They don’t have all the fancy gear; they don’t really have much professional training, yet they are producing really high quality and amazing stuff. Plus, they are hilarious. They are generous with their knowledge and do tons for the film community. I really respect that about them!
LUCAS’S PICKS
For Fuel: Corridor Crew
Your days of wondering “how did they do that in ‘Avengers’?” are gone. This group of extremely talented VFX artists is best known for their “VFX Artists React” videos every week that are jaw-dropping and drool-worthy. They simply watch clips of movies and explain how the effects were done, and they’ve probably talked about your favorite movie. They also do reaction videos on stunts with professional stuntmen and some genre-specific ones, like Bollywood VFX. All of those videos are supplemented with loads of extra content that would take a full page for me to explain, but the bottom line is – if you are a video editing nut, like me, or a cinephile, this page will give you days of giggling and expand your mind to understand the kind of work that goes into movie making these days.
For Fun: Unbox Therapy
Start your Christmas shopping early or buy something cool for yourself during these hard times. There’s something about watching a gadget be “unboxed” that IS ACTUALLY therapeutic to me, so maybe the name of the channel isn’t bogus… Anyway, this guy has a ton of playlists for the deep pocket “Mr. Moneybags” out there to $5 stocking stuffers that will impress the family. All the stuff is generally tech related, and even if you aren’t interested in buying these things, it’s interesting to see what’s out there that you never knew. Fair warning though – many of these things have built up in my Amazon cart over the years, so beware.
JESS’S PICKS
For Fuel: Katie Steckly
I can’t remember how I stumbled across Katie’s YouTube channel, but I’m so glad I did! Katie Steckly is a creative digital marketing expert, freelance videographer, and YouTube creator. She teaches other creators her best tips, tricks, and hacks for building an authentic community online. So, basically her channel is every content creator’s dream! She covers everything from social media algorithms to posing for Instagram photos, and anything in between. Katie also has a great personality and is super authentic. I highly recommend following her on Instagram and subscribing to her YouTube channel to step up your content game!
For Fun: The Try Guys
Yeah, I’m one of those people who’s obsessed with the Try Guys… You may be familiar with these guys from their days at Buzzfeed, but they have since escaped and created their own independent YouTube channel and video production company. Keith, Ned, Zach and Eugene are four best friends who “try” different things… hence “The Try Guys.” Their channel has produced such hits as “Without A Recipe,” where the guys try to bake various goods without any guidance or instruction, and “Keith Eats the Menu,” in which he eats literally everything off of fast food menus in one sitting. Not only are their videos hilarious, they also cover important topics including health, sexuality, aging and parenthood. If you learn to love these guys as much as I do, I also highly recommend their podcast “The Try Pod.” Their four unique personalities truly create dynamic and funny interactions that’ll keep you watching their videos for hours on end.
SAM’S PICKS
For Fuel: Lessons from the Screenplay
I guarantee there were more negative tweets about the Game of Thrones series finale than there were positive tweets about the previous seasons’ respective finales combined. It’s easy to hate something and pick out what you didn’t like, but sometimes it can be really hard to pinpoint what exactly worked with a movie or show. You might have favorite scenes that you liked because there was a cool action piece or funny line, but a lot of the time you think about something you like in broader terms saying, “It made me happy” or “It made me sad, but in a good way.”
It can be hard to identify what makes something good, and that’s why I like the YouTube channel “Lessons from the Screenplay.” On this channel, Michael breaks down different screenwriting tricks or qualities that certain screenplays do very well. He breaks down scenes from famous movies and references what was written in the original screenplay. Most of the time he breaks down things that our brain sees and thinks, without us directly recognizing what’s happening. He also does a great job breaking down scenes from a writing technical perspective and highlights easy tricks young screenwriters can do to improve their work (check out the “The Devil Wears Prada” episode for a lesson in opening a script). I highly recommend this channel to anyone who likes movies and specifically writing and wants a full on Masterclass course in screenwriting without paying a subscription fee.
For Fun: First We Feast’s “Hot Ones”
Have you ever wondered how well Margot Robbie or Michael B. Jordan handles hot food? Well you’re in luck because there is an entire YouTube series dedicated to that. “Hot Ones” is the most electric interview-based show on not only Youtube, but TV, podcasts, the Internet, ANYWHERE. “Hot Ones” is the flagship show on the YT channel “First We Feast”. The entire premise of the show is “how well do celebrities handle themselves while eating increasingly hot chicken wings?”
Each week the show features a new celebrity being interviewed while eating 10 chicken wings that progressively get hotter as the questions are asked. It’s amazing. The hotness of the wings breaks down the PR walls these celebrities have built over the years and causes people to act much more casually and candidly than they ever would on The Tonight Show or Good Morning America. The premise itself is phenomenal, but the show wouldn’t be nearly what it is without its incredibly impressive host/creator Sean Evans. Evans is the best interviewer of all time.
If Jesus Christ appeared and said he’d allow only one person in the entire world to interview him, I’d say, “step aside Larry King, Oprah, Barbara Walters, and Howard Stern. Sean Evans is on his way with 10 smokin’ hot chicken wings.” Sean would ask JC the most entertaining and well-researched questions that you’ve never thought to ask, and I guarantee Jesus would say, “How did you even know that? You do your homework, Sean” while he downed milk and wine to fight off the spiciness and dabbed the sweat from his beautiful brow. Sean would answer very humbly, “Thanks Jesus. We do our best. Be careful around your eyes.”
KATELYNN’S PICKS
For Fuel: SonduckFilm
I spend an unusual amount of time watching After Effects tutorials for fun. It’s strange, and I know that. SonduckFilm is where I go to feed my addiction. The channel offers a wide range of tutorials on After Effects, which are helpful for both beginners and advanced users. The tutorials are easy to follow, and you usually end up with a sick motion graphic piece.
For Fun: The Proper People
This channel was actually recommended to me by my dad! It is created by two guys who break into abandoned buildings all over the world. The places they go range anywhere from an old power plant to a mildly terrifying asylum. It’s super easy to get caught up in and strangely relaxing.