YouTube has become a platform that launches new minds and ideas; it has the power to create the biggest names in filmmaking, music, art, and design. However, a new group of individuals is taking the video sharing platform by storm, making it entirely their own.
I have the pleasure of introducing you to New Age Creators, the brainchild of a 19-year old English filmmaker called Orin Willis. He has been producing creative little videos every week on YouTube for the past two years, on the channel OrinsEyes, and has gathered an audience of over 8,000 from all across the world. But now, he's looking to take the next step and is going to need the help of some fellow creators...
"Creation is a process that can be fun alone and is sometimes necessary, but it's a whole different ball game with others. That's why I started New Age Creators; a new collaboration channel that will push us filmmakers to the max."
The aforementioned filmmakers that will be joining him on this journey hail from all across the world: Ana Marta, Chase Madsen, Jorge Fernandez, and Jake Lofven.
As five creators from Portugal, New Zealand, Spain, and Australia, they bask in their imaginations on a daily basis and produce some rather incredible content.
"It's a dream come true to work with these guys. I've been watching all of their videos for years now and to finally be creating with them is an awesome feeling."
In the world of YouTube, collaboration channels seem to be a thing of the past, with Our 2nd Life's (O2L) departure from the Internet slamming the collaborative gates shut. But Orin and his team believe they've got the spark that can reignite the collaborative flame. He explains that they've all already found their filmmaking styles, which has led to the birth of some very exciting ideas.
"This isn't the 'finding yourself' stage for us. It's all about how far we can stretch our creative boundaries. We've talked about making one video between us, where we'll create in our individual styles as well as an umbrella style. Another idea was 5-part stories, where each of us creates a video, which will be part of the story, and the next creator has to create something from where the last creator left off. I've never seen this kind of stuff on YouTube before, so it'll be a challenge for us and will be interesting to see how the YouTube world reacts," he adds, enthusiastically.
But Willis stresses that this isn't an exclusive group of creators, towering among the rest. He explains that everyone is a New Age Creator.
"If you're creating to leave this world better than you found it, in any way, then you're a New Age Creator."
The members of the new collab channel also hope to place an emphasis on the community side of YouTube.
"Too many times do you see creators neglecting, misusing, or manipulating their audience. They're regular human beings, did you know that? They put you on this pedestal and they damn well can take you off of it if they so please. We've seen it done before," Orin explains.
New Age Creators launched on November 2, 2015 and has already gained some excitement, with many dubbing it as "one of the most beautiful channels to ever exist" (ItsElliottandOwen). Weekly videos covering creative and distinct ideas are scattered throughout the channel, but this is clearly just the beginning for these ambitious creators, who hope to shake up the YouTube world and pave a new path for fellow filmmakers.
Here's to the New Age Creators.