Rhett and LInk (center) dance it out on the LA set of the Rewind video. (Expand the gallery to widescreen for larger images.) courtesy YouTube
Rhett and LInk (center) dance it out on the LA set of the Rewind video. (Expand the gallery to widescreen for larger images.)
YouTube star Tyler Oakley gets his makeup done before his turn on set. courtesy YouTube
YouTube star Tyler Oakley gets his makeup done before his turn on set.
Dance troupe Quest Crew nail their moves with Super Selfie. courtesy YouTube
Dance troupe Quest Crew nail their moves with Super Selfie.
YouTube's Nerdy Nummies star Rosanna Pansino. courtesy YouTube
YouTube's Nerdy Nummies star Rosanna Pansino.
Steve Kardynal with the Rewind "button." courtesy YouTube
Steve Kardynal with the Rewind "button."
American Ninja Warrior sensation Kacy Catanzaro films her cameo. courtesy YouTube
American Ninja Warrior sensation Kacy Catanzaro films her cameo.
Jamie Casino, who gained fame for his Super Bowl commercial, on set. courtesy YouTube
Jamie Casino, who gained fame for his Super Bowl commercial, on set.
YouTubers FouseyTube and Stuart Edge on set. courtesy YouTube
YouTubers FouseyTube and Stuart Edge on set.
The Fine Bros. do their Ice Bucket Challenge bit. courtesy YouTube
The Fine Bros. do their Ice Bucket Challenge bit.
Ingrid Nilsen (aka MissGlamorazzi) films her segment. courtesy YouTube
Ingrid Nilsen (aka MissGlamorazzi) films her segment.
The dudes of Smosh on set. courtesy YouTube
The dudes of Smosh on set.
YouTube celebrity Michelle Phan preps her ice bucket. courtesy YouTube
YouTube celebrity Michelle Phan preps her ice bucket.
YouTube celebrity Michelle Phan on set. courtesy YouTube
YouTube celebrity Michelle Phan on set.
Nico Pueringer (left) and Sam Gorski of Corridor Digital. courtesy YouTube
Nico Pueringer (left) and Sam Gorski of Corridor Digital.
A cappella group Pentatonix. courtesy YouTube
A cappella group Pentatonix.
The guys of Corridor Digital film their scene. courtesy YouTube
The guys of Corridor Digital film their scene.
Nico Pueringer (left) and Sam Gorski of Corridor Digital. courtesy YouTube
Nico Pueringer (left) and Sam Gorski of Corridor Digital.
Viral star Action Movie Kid films his scene. courtesy YouTube
Viral star Action Movie Kid films his scene.
Gabe "Super Selfie" Valenciano on the Rewind set. courtesy YouTube
Gabe "Super Selfie" Valenciano on the Rewind set.
Anthony Padilla (left) and Ian Andrew Hecox (right) of comedy duo Smosh. courtesy YouTube
Anthony Padilla (left) and Ian Andrew Hecox (right) of comedy duo Smosh.
The Rewind video even had its own 'spider dog.' courtesy YouTube
The Rewind video even had its own 'spider dog.'
LOS ANGELES—If the whole world lived on YouTube, this would be the most star-studded set in LA. My Drunk Kitchen’ s Hannah Hart is in full costume lining up to hit her mark; vlogger Tyler Oakley is waiting in the wings; the animatronic “Devil Baby” prop is even here. And we’re about to find out if W.C. Fields’ adage “never work with children or animals” is true because the little girl from the “Sadie doesn’t want her brother to grow up” video has to scream on cue.
Action!
Playback of a DJ Earworm mashup of the year’s best songs starts playing, then Hart runs across a fake living room hoisting a YouTube-logoed flag, Devil Baby pops up out of his stroller, and little six-year-old Sadie Miller squeals and shakes her blonde curls without missing a beat. After a couple of takes director Kai Hasson yells, “Cut! Perfect.” Everyone moves on. Sadie’s father Ryan, who previously had worried “she’s not an actress,” beams while looking slightly relieved. If the whole world lived on the Internet, child stars would always deliver and their stage parents would just be happy to be here.
“I think this is her first time in Los Angeles doing stuff, so I told her it’s a terrible place filled with terrible people and that she should become a marine biologist,” Hart jokes sitting near craft services after the shoot. “I mean, everybody else is going to lie to her.”
This, apparently, is how you make a viral video nowadays.
Make no mistake: the “YouTube Rewind” videos are just that. The first one was just a sizzle reel (highlight: the “Bed Intruder Song”) but still got nearly 1.7 million views. The next one, in 2011, was a greenscreen affair starring “Friday” phenom Rebecca Black, and got nearly 6.8 million views. Then came Psy. The 2012 edition was a “Gangnam Style” riff that actually starred the Korean rapper IRL and got almost 150 million views. Last year’s “What’s the Fox Say?” spoof also broke nine digits. There’s a bit of pressure to go bigger and better each time, so YouTube went all out for the 2014 “Rewind” video: Six location shoots in fancy places from LA to Tokyo, some 100 volunteering YouTubers, nine days of principal photography, and five late-night TV hosts went into this year’s clip. It’s no small feat. (Check out a series of behind-the-scenes photos from video production above.)
A concept drawing showing the flow of the Rewind video. courtesy YouTube
“YouTube is truly global, and we tried to create something that really represented that,” says Kevin Allocca, YouTube’s head of trends and culture. “That Rewind video gets watched all over the world, not just the US, obviously, so we’re hoping it resonates internationally.”
Boiling a Whole Year Down to 5 Minutes
And the international places where footage was shot—which spanned Mexico City; Austin, Texas; Missoula, Montana; and Ganei Tiva, Israel—are just part of the flavor. There are also appearances by American Ninja Warrior hero Kacy Catanzaro and YouTube star Gabriel “Super Selfie” Valenciano, and the dance numbers are done on recreated versions of the sets for Katy Perry’s “Dark Horse” and Pharrell’s “Happy.” The clip is littered with some 35 references to things like Jenga Cat, the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, and Lil Jon and DJ Snake’s “Turn Down for What.” (Sadly, Beyoncé released her slumber party of a video for “7/11″ too late to get a nod here.)
Getting all of that into a lean 5:05 took a lot of planning: The flow of how each identifiable moment jumped from one to the next had to be meticulously charted (see illustrations above and below). During the video’s first LA shoot day in October, Zach Blume of Portal A—which works with YouTube to make the Rewind clips—said, “our entire day today will probably yield 50 seconds of video.” In practice, this means watching Super Selfie dance on a set made to mimic Nicki Minaj’s “Anaconda” video to a clip of Taylor Swift saying “This. Sick. Beat.” over and over again. Not that that’s a bad thing—and it’s totally worth it.
“It’s fun for us to make because it’s basically like, ‘What’s the community going to love?'” YouTube product marketing manager Kinzie Kramer says in between takes. “If you’ve been watching YouTube all year and this is your thing and you know the creators and the big songs and videos of the year, it’s fun for you.”
Planning for this year’s Rewind video began in July and has been in a constant state of evolution ever since. (That sample of Swift’s “Shake It Off,” for example, didn’t make the final mix.) Whereas last year’s Ylvis-inspired video went for big explosions and stunts, Blume says, this year they wanted one big seamless walk through the year’s big clips, from Sadie Miller’s viral video to Minaj’s clip. “It was more about the recreation of these environments and the international component and the movement between all the scenes,” he says.
A second concept drawing showing the flow of the Rewind video. courtesy YouTube
Keeping It Under Wraps Until the Big Reveal
And responding to trends on a platform as ever-changing as YouTube means nearly everything about making Rewind is done on the fly. During the shoot in LA, a separate team from Portal A was already cutting together the footage shot a few days before in London. And the star roster is in flux pretty much until the video is done. “Chris Hardwick is in,” Blume says while checking his phone on the LA set. “I just got the email.”
Moreover, many of the stars only find out what they’re doing once they arrive to shoot their scene—and, as Oakley notes, the cast is “sworn to secrecy” about its participation. “I am supposedly a queen,” he says about the role he’s about to shoot, “which is not that much acting for me.” It’s a level of spontaneity that ensures everything about the video remains a surprise until it hits the web.
“The way that Rewind is shot, it’s actually kind of a mystery to us up until we see the video,” says Hart, who also participated in last year’s video. “I have no idea about any of it except for the parts I’m in.”
And honestly, it might be hard to tell everyone what the rest of the team is doing, anyway. With more than 100 stars—ranging from mainstays Rhett & Link to Sir Fedora—it seems impossible to keep everybody looped in on everything. But having a roster that big is kind of the point of Rewind: YouTube is democratic enough that Sadie Miller can be just as popular as Nicki Minaj, and this video is meant to be a manifestation of that.
“We’re at a time when anybody in the world can shape pop culture through platforms like YouTube,” Allocca says. “When you go back and look at the Rewind videos, that becomes clear. We spend a lot of time to create this ultimate video experience.”
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