Weekend Read: The YouTube Video Awards – The Cream of the Crop?

Authored by Ty Clancey on March 30, 2007 - 2:53pm.

Yesterday my friend Lonny sent me a link to the winners of the 2006 YouTube Video Awards. He'd gotten all riled up over the OK Go music video Here It Goes Again, which had won the award for Most Creative, deservedly. After tersely berating Lonny for not having seen the treadmill dancing viral clip that circled the net seven months ago, I anxiously moved on to the other awards, most eagerly Best Comedy.

I have to admit, while the award winner loaded up in the browser I was getting butterflies in my stomach. As a director and editor of comedy shorts myself, this was assumed to be my most esteemed competition. But two minutes and fourteen seconds later I found myself dazed and affronted. Expletives flowed freely from my fingers as I wrote to Lonny asserting my infuriation over the YouTube community's election of this clip as it's most comedic piece.

It's not just that there was nothing remotely funny about it. As the world's foremost purveyor of the absurd and astonishing, you would think YouTube would hail a more creative endeavor. The plot was tired, the monologue monotonous, and it was shot in a way that led to only one predictable conclusion. I won't get into the production value though because, well, it really doesn't deserve analysis.

But production value isn't what YouTube is about. OK Go's video was shot in a single static take from a handycam on a tripod. Yet a couple months after it debuted on YouTube they found themselves rocking the treadmills on stage at the MTV Video Music Awards - a testament to the power of a good concept executed well and released to the public sharing mechanism.

May the gods strike me down if the Best Comedy recipients ever find themselves near Oscar.

(Notice that I never once gave the name of the Best Comedy winner. It’s not because I'm afraid they'll read this and come after me. It's because they deserve the publicity about as much as the death of a washed-up, gold-digging actress does)

Aahhh...America votes again.

A quick review of the rest of the 2006 YouTube Video Awards:

Best Commentary: I'm not one to enjoy listening to people talk about themselves, especially when they're looking at me through a fisheye computer-mounted camera lens. But TheWineKone had some endearing self-epiphanies in Hotness Prevails/Worst Video Ever, as he battles the heat to reveal his rant of the day (which he never really gets to). Along the way he realizes that not only is he balding, but that, as the title suggests, it is the worst video ever made. I contest though, WineKone, see paragraph 2 and 3.

Best Series: Hands down my favorite - Ask A Ninja. When I saw Ask A Ninja creator Kent Nichols at DMW's Future of Film conference last week- well, actually, at first I didn't see him. When the panel began without him I thought it was a gimmick; that he would appear out of nowhere in true Ninja fashion. My loathe of this thought shattered when he came strolling down the aisle fifteen minutes later in flip-flops and jeans to join the rest of the panel in their Sunday best. Nichols went on to rebuff the panel's moderator, Revver CEO Steven Starr, stating that reliance on external modes of exploiting yourself was a dead-end, and to truly reap the benefits of a high viewer demand, the reins need to remain in your own hands. To drive his point home, Nichols stated that AskANinja.com just closed a seven-figure ad deal. That's why he was wearing flip-flops.

Best Music Video: Terra Naomi may have a beautiful voice and a competent strumming ability, but I couldn't help wanting to reach out and knock the camera over to see if she would mess up.

Most Inspirational: Yes, you feel good watching a Free Hugs Campaign, anyone who doesn't is as cold as Judge Smails. And the editor did a phenomenal job building the story. But goddamn I hate Emo music.

Most Adorable: Dony Permedi clearly shows the most talent of all the winners with Kiwi!. Anyone can go around getting hugs, signing petitions, talking to their webcam or doing whatever it is the Best Comedy recipients thought they did. But creating an animated character with this much authenticity and passion who exchanges one absolute destiny for another, more grim one, while still earning it's moniker as Most Adorable is an amazing feat.

Ty Clancey