10 Years, 75 references, 18 filmmaking styles.

Journey through YouTube from A-Z. From Animals and Beauty through to Z and ‘My Day at the Zoo’ – the first video ever uploaded to the site. To emphasise creativity on YouTube, we employed 18 animated and live-action styles used by YouTube uploaders, including time lapse, sand art, puppetry, even Minecraft.

We soundtracked the video with Blackalicious’ “Alphabet Aerobics”, which provided auditory cues for the A-Z structure and a driving beat that builds momentum and speed.

Watching the film should feel like using YouTube itself: an audiovisual feast of contrasts, references and memories.

The launch of the film marked the final day in a month-long social campaign.

Throughout the month of May, YouTube’s Spotlight channel hosted day-long takeovers. Each day a new letter was represented on the channel with curated video playlists – including far more videos than we were able to include in the final animation. This activity was mirrored on YouTube’s social channels on Facebook and Twitter, where users were encouraged to suggest their own favourite videos for each letter.

On the 28th of the month, the final video was launched. Creators who had been featured were given custom GIFs of their animated selves to promote, and a YouTube homepage masthead facilitated an initial awareness boost.

Additionally, a web-based trivia game gave users the opportunity to go even deeper into the A-Z of YouTube, test their knowledge, and share results with friends.

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