From remix to video art
In the developing online world of the late 2000s and early 2010s, YouTube Poops were a defining factor of YouTube during this period. It is at this point where they hit their peak popularity, at a time when they consisted merely of simple clip mashups, sentence remixing, and light audial and visual effects. One could argue that the YouTube Poops of this time consisted of a ‘storyline’, if you will, a continuous narrative. According to many, this is what made them funny.
However, over time, as video-editing programs advanced, creators began implementing more effects into their YouTube Poops. This often turned their videos into mere voids of visual warps, distortions and loud noises. The comedic narrative which the YouTube Poops of the early days consisted of were lost.
Of course, there are still YouTube Poops being made, and while many have turned to the visual effects, leaving the comedic narrative element in the dust, some Poopers still insist on creating simpler, more “classic” YouTube Poops, which emphasize traditional comedy and simple effects over the modern effects-heavy style. Haidphone11, now known as Kevin11, is one of those creators.
Kevin said:1
The way I see it, the YouTube Poop community has become a pit of despair, with many of them favoring these heavy glitchy effects with no comedy at all, no funny aspects to them, over the traditional style which had, y’know, actual comedy in it. That’s what I try to do with my videos. While I could go all out and include these heavy glitchy effects, I choose to keep it simple. Just sentence remixing, some loud noises here and there, and that’s it.
I love YTP tennis matches. They’re the main reason why I continue to make YTPs. I make a video, then someone else remixes it, then someone else remixes that remix, then it gets sent back to me and I remix it. Then in the end we play all the videos back and you see how it’s evolved over time. It brings the community closer together, and in a time when the YTP community is more collapsed than ever, it’s good to see and do.
Beginning his YTP career in 2017, Pacboy (then known as Pacboy Poops) started out creating simple-style YouTube Poops, consisting of simple clip mashups, remixes and light effects, which created a comedic narrative. Over time, however, his style evolved into merely glitchy visual effects, which arguably caused the cessation of comedic value (to some, though, it was still funny). Following ups-and-downs in the YTP community, and some copyright issues on YouTube, Pacboy has resorted to making most of his videos private. Now, due to a waning interest in creating YTPs, as well as a busy schedule, Pacboy is uncertain if he will return to creating more works of video art.2
Pacboy believes the primary cause of the YTP community’s downfall involves a lack of understanding by the general public, who often fail to understand the comedic value in YouTube Poops, and reject them, viewing them as a mere fad. This eventually leads to the YouTube Poopers themselves losing interest, and, when mixed with the fact that creating a YTP takes time and effort, and many Poopers simply lack the time to create one, they stop making them altogether. He states:
I think what led to the downfall [of the YTP community] was that, to people who see a YTP once or even twice, they think of it as a “fad”. Much like with everything else, people lose interest over time, people become too busy with other things in life that literally makes them unable to find any time to edit.
I also think that as technology progresses and people start using different software to edit, making more complex videos, editing basically gets redundant, especially with the fact that there are multiple plugins that can already do the same thing. People say get creative, yet it is limited by the specs of your computer and how you render the video. People say try something new, yet everything new really isn’t new. The thing is that there will be a point where nothing is original and/or funny anymore because it has been done before by someone else with the same or different software, even if the general crowd doesn’t know it. People always say to try something new, yet how can you try something new if that new thing has been done before, albeit in a different style or fashion?
Of course, a common factor of decline involves a lack of motivation, and this is true in a wide variety of subjects and activities, including YouTube Pooping.
If the YTP community itself is becoming disinterested in the activity of creating YTPs, the community will surely decline, as it has been in recent years. As mentioned, a variety of factors have contributed to this decline, including an ever-increasing demand for visual effects, which take time to create (and many creators simply lack this time) and become redundant over time, leading to a lack of original ideas. And to many, these effects are simply not funny, eliminating the comedic aspect that the traditional YTPs contain.
Source 2 ↗