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Author:
Erin Condron
Erin is a screenplay writer - the development of her DANNY: Stories I Know By Heart has been funded by the Irish Film Board, and she is an administrator - she has served as administrator for the WIF/GM Alliance for a year and a half.
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VIRAL VIDEO NIGHT IN HOLLYWOODViral videos fly around the internet at top speed, generally finding a home on YouTube, SuperDeluxe (superdeluxe.com), Viral Video Chart (viralvideochart.com), MySpace the list goes on and on. Anyone with a camera and a little wherewithal could be the next “star” -- a title usually bestowed upon those whose videos are seen the most. When so many stars are born, one wonders how the universe doesn’t implode.
Well, Brandon Burkhart and his partner Randall Mills are out there sorting through the videos and lending them a dash of dignity. Burkhart is the co-creator, programmer and main brain behind Viral Video Night, an evening of videos pre-YouTube. It’s at the iO West Theater in Hollywood on the first Sunday of every month. Though the show is fairly new (it began in October of 2007) Brandon has revamped the show over the last few months and it has enjoyed a considerable rise in attendance, mostly thanks to Brandon’s skills as a promoter. Brandon’s attitude is one similar to that of the filmmakers: If you don’t do it yourself, then it just doesn’t get done. Advertising primarily through social networking sites, anyone on Brandon’s list is presented with a cavalcade of text messages, MySpace bulletins, emails, and Facebook hugs in the days leading up to the event. His goal is to form a community where filmmakers can see each other’s work, make connections with each other and feel as though they’re part of a film festival. It’s working.
The structure of the show is simple enough. Broken into three acts, Brandon showcases videos that are 8 to 10 minutes in length. In between acts, he engages the audience in movie trivia, handing out DVDs to the winners. Over the course of one hour, the audience is treated to ten videos, mostly sketch comedy. In fact, 90 percent of the videos submitted to Burkhart and Mills are comedy videos. “It’s a genre that seems to best fit the format,” Brandon thinks. And at eleven o’clock on a Sunday night, after an accommodating bar and a couple of cheap beers, the audience seems to want to have a laugh rather than watch two or ten dramatic videos. Besides, the exhibitors and a great deal of the audience for that matter, are mostly actor-comedians with a long history in sketch theater: Matt Manser, who took second place along with his colleagues Shawn Carlow and Paul Malewitz for their video The Inventors, is a stand-up comedian who’s written and performed for the United Citizen’s Brigade, among others. Bob and Byrne are a comedy duo that took third place for their video Albino Poo. Bob has worked with the Second Studio Theater in Hollywood and Byrne has appeared on numerous network television programs. (myspace.com/bobandbyrnecomedy)
There is a method behind the madness. First, these videos are premieres. “There’s a real consideration to the programming,” says Burkhart. “I wanted to show people something that they wouldn’t necessarily come across on their own. On YouTube there’s an opportunity to put in a random comment and there’s a ticker that lets you know how many people have watched it. That’s easy. It’s important to me that the video I’m going to show is a premiere.”
Secondly, as for other submission criteria, it isn’t necessarily a free-for-all. Brandon is choosy. “There has to be some kind of production value to what I choose – eight or ten minutes of something that isn’t thought out is going to be difficult to watch. And if the content is tipping the scale at ten minutes or more, in my experience, more times than not they’re without any reason and I’ll see that the material is becoming redundant. And sometimes the videos go out of their way to be ‘edgy.’ The audience isn’t stupid – they’ll pick up on it right away and in the end it makes the filmmaker look like he’s trying too hard. People are fickle and they know better. So I try to keep those criteria in mind when I’m programming the event.”
The majority of the submissions, Brandon admits, come from men. So what about the women? “To tell you the truth, the interesting thing about the women who submit their videos to us is that the material is very sexualized; the content is driven by sex or it at least deals with a facet of it.” Case in point is Jennifer Lynn Wilson, whose video, A Ladies Guide to Breakups, deals specifically with masturbation. Jennifer herself is the sole character in the video, a tongue-in-cheek visual blog where she explains in some depth about her experience masturbating in a kitchen sink. It’s something that could be easily dismissed at first look, but it’s undeniably frank, intelligent, and yes, side-splittingly funny. So funny, in fact, that it took first prize for the month.
And though the evening comes off as somewhat homespun, it isn’t without intention. After all, the spirit of a viral video is fast and sometimes outrageous. You’re not seeing Goddard or Scorcese and the overall vibe of the night is definitely anti-stuff. You know well in advance what you’ve signed up for, and indeed what you have signed up for is an hour of belly laughs, emceed by Mr. Burkhart while Randall plays the role of a hilariously-timed trombone player. There’s even a house band led by comedian and saxophone player Asterios Kokkinos. “I didn’t want to recreate the experience of someone sitting at home watching videos on his computer. I go out of the way to make it an experience for people – to make it a show.” Not only has he succeeded grandly, there’s also a subtle wink to every decision Brandon has made. Think of it as attending a midnight showing hosted by Lew Zealand from the Muppets, but instead of fish being thrown at the audience, Brandon throws popcorn. And one is left to wonder if perhaps Brandon would throw fish into the audience if he thought he could get more people in the seats for the good of the show.
And for the people out there who think a viral video is just a flight of fancy, there are things to gain from putting yourself out there. Jennifer Lynn Wilson booked a national commercial from the show.
Viral Video night happens the first Sunday of each month, at 11pm at the iO West Theater in Hollywood, located at 6366 Hollywood Blvd (between Cahuenga and Ivar). The next show is coming May 4. The show is free and the drinks are cheap. Visit www.myspace.com/viralvideonight for submission guidelines.
Jennifer’s video and more of her work can be seen at www.projectpilot.tv
Brandon Burkhart makes videos for Studio Fred and you can see them at www.studiofred.com.
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