VIDEO SHORTS CULTS ARCHIVE

Reminiscent of the collectors of printed ephemera such as John de Monins Johnson who would collect вЂњeverything which would ordinarily go into the waste basket after use,вЂќ 3 these video traders would build up amateur archives of screen detritus from home movies through to corporate training videos. These collectors would invest (sub-)cultural capital in texts which existed outside legitimate distribution with a particular emphasis on the peripheral and throwaway.

Key to this history is the role of bootleggers and video traders who would swap and trade rare and elusive tapes through fanzines, conventions and mail-order catalogues.

VIDEO SHORTS CULTS ARCHIVE

In this column, therefore, I would like to consider the ways in which contemporary clip culture relates to earlier attempts to collect and archive the ephemeral clip. 1ДЄs Lucas Hilderbrand has observed, YouTube has contributed to a culture of the clip that allows viewers to select the specific moments that they wish to watch (and rewatch) in a вЂњnew temporality of immediate gratification for audiences.вЂќ 2 What the вЂWinnebago ManвЂ™ points to, however, is the ways in which this culture of the clip forms part of a longer history of collecting and re-presenting ephemeral media that is often ignored or forgotten. Years later, in 2006, this cult shifted online when the clip was uploaded to YouTube and subsequently picked up nearly 3 million views. Known as вЂThe Angriest Man in the WorldвЂ™, or more simply as вЂWinnebago ManвЂ™, the clip was initially assembled by the crew in an attempt to get Rebney fired, but was later copied and traded among collectors of VHS ephemera. What he didnвЂ™t know at the time, however, was that his angry tirades in the outtakes from that shoot would later end up as a viral sensation. In 1989, salesman Jack Rebney shot a promotional video for the motor-home manufacturer Winnebago industries.

Video shorts cults