This week the internet got its first look at the trailer for Marvel's latest multi-noun pile-up Avengers: Infinity War. Within hours of its release, there were thousands of reaction and analysis videos, and after a few hours more, thousands more dissecting it piece by piece, prompting the question of whether this hyper-saturation of fan-made content is a boon to viewers at all, or merely life sapping.
Search for a film's trailer on YouTube and you will likely get videos in which bubbly, lip-ringed Americans scream "Hey guys!", before telling you how awesome they think the half-second glimpse of Thor's forehead was, before insisting that you really should consider building a website with Squarespace.
Within this orbit, professional YouTubers such as Jeremy Jahns, Chris Stuckmann and NostalgiaCritic have amassed more than a million followers each, making them, in effect, some of the most influential movie critics on the planet.
Some of their “trailer reaction” videos actually boast more views than the trailers they reference, meaning that, mathematically speaking, a significant portion of their audience watch the reaction but not the trailers to which the reaction is, um, reacting.
Shift in movie advertising
Of course, this shift in movie advertising has been changing for a while. Just this month we remarked on Thor: Ragnarok's brain-warpingly diverse promotional campaign, which included reconceiving the film as a stage play with James Corden, an interview with Taika Waititi in which the director was instructed to match his host drink for drink, and a deliriously enjoyable video in which Jeff Goldblum ranked people's tattoos of his own face. While a lot of this content was very enjoyable – and, in the case of Goldblum's tattoo reviews, of serious cultural import – it seems a long way from bus stops, Happy Meals and an Aerosmith single.
So perhaps it's not surprising that some YouTube channels are now platforms for movie promotion themselves. Take a show like First We Feast's Hot Ones. Ostensibly a series in which guests eat increasingly spicy chicken wings, it's now a regular stop-off on the promotional merry-go-round.
James Franco, Bryan Cranston, Kevin Hart and Seth Rogen have all promoted projects there this year, perhaps unsurprising considering that American TV's glitzy, late-night chat shows command up to two million viewers each evening. By contrast, seven million people have watched Terry Crews's Hot Ones interview this month alone – no doubt attracted by the fact the hot sauce he was given made him literally hallucinate. You don't get that on the Late Late.
Sophisticated critiques
Aside from body art and burning mouths, there are of course YouTube venues which cater for the chin-stroking cineaste. Channels like Lessons From The Screenplay and Folding Ideas deploy sophisticated critiques to the writing and editing of movies. Meanwhile, Nerdwriter's dissection of Children Of Men, or Every Frame A Painting's video on Jackie Chan's action style, are some of the best film writing of the past decade.
In a sea of channels that may be too loud, brash or smothered in hot sauce for your tastes, YouTubers are showing that quiet, beautifully produced movie criticism also has a home online.
