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In an increasingly popular "underground"
movement by active members of the YouTube video community, a
collaborative plotline has emerged that depicts Google and YouTube
conspiring for media domination. The story, "The GooTube
Conspiracy," began when one YouTube user posted a video claiming he
was kidnapped by YouTube founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen. Other
YouTube creators began submitting unsolicited videos that developed
the conspiracy story. Most of the creators have never worked
together or even met each other.
"We're experimenting with a new narrative
art form," says Kevin Nalty, who plays "Nalts," a character
desperately fleeing from YouTube and Google. "I've been amazed by
how instantly people get engrossed in the storyline and take it in
new directions."
"I launched this series to experiment with
collaboration among the viral video community," said Nalty. "We're
discovering an amazing amount of untapped creativity, and the
plotline is evolving in a fluid, interactive way." Nalty recently
was encouraged by viewers to ditch his car, and take refuge in a
farm house basement until other YouTube viewers tracked and rescued
him.
"This video collaboration is like the
grown-up version of "Choose Your Own Adventure Books" we read as
kids," Nalty says. "Only now we have unlimited space and limitless
number of remote contributors."
"We're never more than two days ahead of
the story," he says. "So someone can comment via text or video
tonight, and change the plotline in less than 24 to 48 hours." In a
recent weekend in Pennsylvania, Nalty joined several other popular
YouTube submitters to develop and shoot the conspiracy plot. The
individuals had never met before but had watched each others
videos.
"Try explaining to your wife that you need
to go on a road trip on Sunday to meet a total stranger, and shoot
a conspiracy video that involves you getting tossed into the back
of a Mini-Cooper," says Nalty, who also plays a neurotic weatherman
for web media startup MediaMoGirl.com.
Nalty had more than 250 short videos
online before beginning the GooTubeConspiracy, and has a blog
(WillVideoForFood.com) that encourages independent video creators
to create, promote and profit from their online videos.
Nalty says online video was originally
about individuals ranting, wiping out or lip synching. Now, he
says, people want "serialized content" and they don't want to
watch passively. "The barriers between viewers and creators are
collapsing." Nalty says. "It used to be innovative that American
Idol allowed viewers to vote. Now people want to participate more
actively in what videos they consume. That's the exciting part of
the collision between television and online video."
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