Look at Youtube (Take "Bus Uncle" as example)

1. How many viewers are estimated to have watched the youtube video?

According to Wikipedia, "Bus Uncle" had been edited for fifty odd versions and all of them was uploaded to youtube, totally over seven million people had watched the video in one month. The most popular version is the billingual one which received 2,613,498 views till now.

2. How would you rate the video?

•(a) Is it of high quality in technical terms? Is it interesting aesthetically eg camera angles, use of light, the narrative, and so on?

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The video is of hardly no technial consideration. It was just merely shot by a mobile phone in candid way. The camera angle just came from the seat of the camera man so as to capture the two quarreled guys. No aesthetic concept was used then. The content was just the improvised conversation of the guys. No narration or any storytelling technique was implemented. The appearance of the video had obviously not been processed. It was a raw video. All in all, there is no aesthetic approach to make this video.


(b) Does it raise interesting socio-cultural issues? 

Yes, it does. Bus Uncle dominated the conversation. He told his dissatisfaction thoroughly in virtue of retorting the young man who annoyed him. Also, he demanded a proper solution so that he pestered the young man for such a long time. In some way he demonstrated the complaint of Hong Kong people living under pressure and demanding justice. This is the social issue concerning the video. Besides, Bus Uncle told in a serious manner with an amusing tone. Sometimes he used foul language which people might think interesting in scolding people. In other words, Uncle Bus was performing the popular speaking culture which people find interesting. So this is the reason that the video became so popular. Meanwhile it also reflected the socio-cultural problem which is the easily-provoked hostility of interaction among people due to their suppressed mental lives.

3. Do you think it deserved the attention that it received from the internet community?


I think it deserved. The video shows the naked reality in the society. We are indifferent to recall the potential contradiction within inter-personal relationship and our stressful living style in our daily lives. The video is to recall these stuffs. Besides, the internet is the most casual media to access so that such low-quality video is okay to be placed in here. The audience of the internet are all ordinary people, so that they, of course, identified with Bus Uncle.

4. Do video_sharing sites such as Youtube enhance or worsen creative culture? Comment.


I would like to say video sharing sites enhance creative culture. Because these sites provide a free and convenient platform to people to show their talents. Although most of them may not be professional or just for fun, there are actually a lot of amazing performances on these sites. In order to draw attention they strive to make independent selling points for their films. To some extent, competition is effected to encourage creativity. Not only the academic or professional innovation is favorable, but also the vulgar one.