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33887388 Junpu Cao filmmaking

Leaving behind the closed gateways of broadcast television, the world of digital audiovisual media opens up even more when we consider open platforms. The Best Ever Food Review Show (BEFRS) by Sonny Side is an excellent illustration of how classic genres, which, in this instance, are the global travel-food documentary, have been completely reconfigured by the YouTube space.

We can use the theory of the digital cinematic experience developed by Francesco Casetti as an assemblage to understand this environment. We do not just sit in front of a screen and passively watch a broadcast, whenever we view BEFRS. The experience is an active bundle of the video content, the mobile or desktop device, the algorithmic recommendation sidebar, and the highly active comment section. Sonny is always mindful of this setting, directly notifying the audience and prompting them to respond. This interactive feedback mechanism works remarkably well to incorporate the viewer into the very structure of the platform, turning a passive consumer into an active part of the digital text.

Nonetheless, this digital assemblage must be fueled with enormous effort. YouTubers perform deep-seated creator labor, as Stuart Cunningham and David Craig discuss in their study of social media entertainment. Although BEFRS has an appearance of fun, spontaneous, and culturally immersive, it conceals serious entrepreneurial work. Sonny and his team have to deal with complicated international logistics, cross-cultural research, and improvised digital production. Additionally, they have to continuously streamline headings, data, and hyper-stylized thumbnails to meet the constantly evolving algorithm on YouTube and staff fleeting focus of viewers.

Moreover, according to Cunningham and Craig, creators have to find their way toward their funding and community building. BEFRS maintains its high-production global travel not via a conventional network budget, but instead via a patchwork of platform monetization strategies. Sonny naturally incorporates brand sponsorships right into his cultural browsing, applies YouTube AdSense, sells branded content, making him financially independent without compromising the viewer loyalty.

In conclusion, Best Ever Food Review Show is a lot more than a cooking travelogue. It is the ideal representation of the contemporary YouTube assemblage, in which the intensive work of creators, the workings of the platform, and the direct funding of the audiences meet. These factors combined bring in a completely new and very interactive audiovisual economy, which reinvents the way global cultures are mediated and consumed in the twenty-first century.

References

Casetti, F. (2015). The Lumière galaxy: Seven key words for the cinema to come. Columbia University Press.

Cunningham, S., & Craig, D. (2019). Social media entertainment: The new intersection of Hollywood and Silicon Valley. NYU Press.

Side, S. (Creator). (2015-Present). Best Ever Food Review Show (875) Best Ever Food Review Show – YouTube. YouTube.