Today Good Mythical Morning released its new format, and like most things on the Internet, its fanbase was anything but silent about the changes. This always seemed rather paradoxical to me, that such a supposedly-progressive medium like the Internet would be so negative about any type of change. However, in the spirit of the roar-angry-fanbase, I figured I could throw my hat into the ring and review the changes as well and address some of the most negative comments.
1) Lighting Change
Most of the comments seem to note how the crew needs to "fix their lighting". However, I think that the audience doesn't realise how GMM's previous lighting was a standard "YouTube" set up and this new arrangement is more professional. In a few wide-shots of the set, you could see a few Chinas suspended over the desk along with a bounce in front of Rhett and Link to create soft, if not flat, lighting with a slightly cooler colour temperature. And since their set was much smaller, this lighting made sense. With a new, larger set the same set-up wouldn't work because there is more space they need to illuminate.
The most obvious addition this old lighting arrangement wouldn't have been able to accommodate is their larger desk. Although the camera distorted the image, any wide shot of the old GMM desk that Rhett and Link sit at shows how small it really is - along with any time they tried to fit guests between themselves around the desk. Any more people than Rhett and Link (even just one person), and the frame instantly became crowded, or parts of people would be blocked by those in the foreground. Therefore, their lighting is actually fine (it illuminates everything and still maintains the "soft lighting" people favour for television talk shows and YouTube videos).
What I think most people are commenting on is actually the change in cameras and colouring. The video seems less saturated and the whites seem slightly off. If anything this seems to be because they upgraded their cameras to professional grade equipment. This is obvious from the fact that you can now watch the episodes in 4k (2160p) resolution (2x the amount of the standard "HD" on YouTube of 1080p) along with the fact that the image seems more like the RAW footage of uncoloured images of cameras from RED and ARRI than because of a mere "lighting problem". Therefore, my best guess would be that they didn't properly white balance their camera before filming, and tried to correct the image in post-production. However, I think that they might have over-corrected and accidentally gave the entire image that slightly yellow look. This is all a simple enough fix, and not enough to warrant the large amount of complaints the Mythical Beasts lodged against the GMM crew.
Side Note: You can also tell its the colouring because Link's eyes are a bit too blue in the episode
2) Editing Change
This complaint seemed more legitimate to me. The pacing of the episode as a whole, but also as individual components, seemed to be off. The first episode, because it was the closest one to the old GMM format, particularly felt too fast-paced in its 10-minute length. This is due, I believe, to what many also observed - the quick cuts between multiple angles of Rhett and Link. There were too many OTS and close-ups of Rhett and Link interspersed with their traditional two-shots and close-ups of the various food items, etc. Like many of the Mythical Beasts, I believe a lot of their comedy comes from seeing the two react to each other, and by having too many one-shots a lot of the punchlines lost their effectiveness since you had to wait for a cut to see the reaction of the other. In essence, it felt like a new editor who was excited to have more options to edit to and from, but was unable to keep the original pacing of the tried comedic format.
Again, I think this is just a kink that they will work out over time. The break-neck pace was a little disorienting and the cuts every few seconds were distracting, but I still like the overall concept for what Rhett and Link were trying to do. The concept of doing "bite-sized" sketches and episodes harkens back to their roots as "commercial kings", music video directors, sketch comedians, and general projects before their GMM talk-show. Additionally, trying to keep the video lengths shorter is smart because potential new Mythical Beasts who are "just checking out" their content won't want to stick around for 20+ minutes. However, "5 minutes or less" is similar to the Vlogbrother philosophy of keeping their (normal) videos "4 minutes or less" due to the attention span of Internet content consumers.
In short, my main solution would be to fix the editing by allowing time for the audience to breath in between jokes, like how the original episodes left the viewer time to process what Rhett or Link would say, and to cut less between the "fancy new" camera angle options.
3) Professional Change
This one was one I thought was just silly. People seemed to dislike the fact that GMM felt too scripted or professional - that it felt like a television talk show rather than "original YouTube content". This is just ridiculous. It definitely does feel more scripted, but if you think that their previous content wasn't scripted, you obviously don't understand how YouTube shows are made. This isn't meant to be a "diss" so much as a statement of fact.
All professional YouTubers have a team of people that make their videos happen - a writing team, stylists, editors, etc. all come together to make it happen and GMM is no different. In expanding their show's format with their increased viewership and budget is just part of the natural progression of successful film-making. Granted, this new format seems like it doesn't leave as much room for improvisation as their previous videos, but that's also not the end of the world.
If you're looking for the "old GMM" (in which it is actually a just a talk show in which Rhett and Link talk about a topic for the entire episode rather than play games, etc.) it actually still exists in their podcast "Ear Biscuits" in which Rhett and Link essentially talk about anything and everything - unscripted and unedited - for an hour or more.
Again, this new GMM isn't a "new, sleek, shiny, professional" version of Rhett and Link - rather, it's the natural outcome of two professional "Internetainers" who have been in the industry for over a decade (practically ancient masters in YouTube terms). Rhett and Link have done everything from making feature films, commercials, promotional videos, television shows, YouTube videos, podcasts, stage shows, writing blogs and books, and everything in between. GMM is their "breakthrough" success which took them years to get to before the first episode ever aired, and years since before it was a "viral breakthrough". And as such, I think that Rhett and Link should be allowed to continue to challenge what the format should be and how they want to create it - perhaps this "new" GMM was what they always wanted the show to be if they had more money. Or perhaps it's just a new avenue to keep their own interests fresh and alive in their own project. Whatever it is, this complaint seems to be the least grounded in any sort of substance.
So my final verdict?
I, like many Mythical Beasts, was at first jarred and disappointed by the new change in format. It felt more "quality than quantity" and not as "funny" as previous episodes. However, after taking the time to consider the new format, and rewatching it after taking the time to process, it really isn't life-changingly horrible. It's not irredeemable or horrendous. As previously stated, it seems to be a format change that they will eventually work out to be just as funny and polished as their other episodes.
Sure, it's not the "same GMM" as before, but as an artist myself I want my future-audience to grow and change with me as much as I want to grow and change as an artist. As such, I think that I owe it to Rhett and Link, as a fellow film-maker, to "stick with them" through these changes to see where they take the show. If I just "abandoned ship" as soon as there was a change, it would be a disservice to the hard work they and the crew put into the new GMM and to myself as an audience memeber.
I loved their new book (see my previous review) and I've loved the changes they've made to the show over the years (as a relatively new Mythical Beast), and I anticipate that I'll love these guys in their future projects (whether GMM or otherwise) because they've got what it takes to have longevity in an industry that loves to latch on to "15-seconds of fame teeny-bopper" nonsense rather than sustainable careers of professional adults (even if they throw up on camera for a living).
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