By Faceted Media Staff Writer Caits Fitzpatrick
Imagine a project you would love to fulfill, if you were handed whatever resources you might need.
It doesn’t need to be for any reason other than you want to do it. If I could put together any spectacle, I would round up a group of talented performers and plant them in a highly crowded location and have them break into spontaneous musical numbers and film the results. Kind of like a flash-mob, but more like walking through a scene in a Disney movie. I love musicals, (clearly), and if I were suddenly made to feel like I’d just fallen into a scene from Grease, I would be overwhelmed by joy. Now, I acknowledge that my love for musicals is not shared by all and some people might hate my silly concept. But some will enjoy it, and by sharing my dream, I can inspire and excite others. That power is exactly what the YouTube channel, Field Day, has harnessed.
Field Day is a channel that, each week, features “inspired creators [trying] something new and [creating] their own unique, imaginative, dream video.” Since uploading their first video this past May, they have uploaded fifteen different videos all of which feature different YouTube stars from other channels. In addition, they’ve produced eleven “Behind Field Day” videos, highlighting the behind-the-scenes details of how the various events unfolded. The videos range from “100 Years of Beauty: Aging,” to “World’s First Video Game Paintball,” to “Dancers Prank New York,” and yet they all share one important quality. They all aspire to share something with the rest of their community and the world. Whether that be an innovative idea, a talented performance, an intimate moment shared by people, or even their grandmother’s first trip to VidCon.
While Field Day may seem simple across the surface, it’s creating a community of forward-thinkers. Director Tatia Pilieva chose to make a documentary short for her Field Day, during which she invited a few nuns to spend the day having fun. “Fun Nuns” is only a couple of minutes long, but during it you witness them jumping on a trampoline, discussing misconceptions towards nuns, and even singing a little choreography. It’s beautifully shot and edited, and shares a sweet glimpse into the lives of these women. The concept behind Pilieva’s video was insightful and sentimental, but other Field Day participants choose to get a bit more complicated with their provided resources.
Production group, Dormtainment, chose to create the “World’s First Video Game Paintball,” and if you’re anything like I was when I first read that, you might be confused what those words in that order mean. Here’s what they did: On a real life field, they set up inflatable obstacles for a paintball game. Seems simple so far, right? Well, directly above the field was a drone with a camera, filming the field with a bird’s eye view. The drone was connected via bluetoother to screens on the players helmets. So rather than seeing what was right in front of them, they saw themselves as tiny players in a video game style world. The results were hilarious, but even more fascinating was the ingenuity and creativity they demonstrated by even concocting this idea, let alone figuring out how to execute it.
Finally, not all of the Field Day videos are carefree and whimsical – others draw attention to more heavily weighted subjects. “After the Upload,” made by Kevin Lieber of the channel Vsauce2, discusses the stress experienced after you upload a video to the internet. The anticipation and anxiety while you wait to see the first response. Worrying that it will be terrible and cruel, hoping that it will be maybe even slightly kind. While these may seem like minute problems, during an era where a huge portion of people are making a name for themselves through YouTube, these concerns are real. Lieber handles it in a cute and entertaining way, but he was ultimately just sharing his own fears with his community. Through his sharing, others can relate, and that bond is only strengthened.
When you were a kid and somebody asked you what you wanted to be when you grew up, what was your answer? Mine was a famous singer. Maybe yours was an astronaut or president of the world or a robot-fighting super hero. My point is we all aimed big. You never hear a kid say they want to grow up to be a server in a corporate restaurant, because when we’re honest about what we want, it’s impossible to not shoot for the stars.
Field Day is restoring that idea of dreaming big. They’re developing a community of people who won’t put limits on their ideas anymore. It’s more than just a YouTube channel at this point, it’s becoming a way of life. So get out there and #HaveAFieldDay.