YouTube Stars!

ArtieTSMITW, real name Brandon Hardesty (his website), is a 19-year-old man who is in college majoring in film. His love of the cinema is apparent in his YouTube videos, most of which are re-enactments of scenes from well-known Hollywood movies. He plays all the roles, male and female, himself, and uses minimal but effective props. His videos have been viewed thousands of times, he has hundreds of friends, and he has received over 200 comments on his profile - most complimentary. Let's have a look at some of his films.

Re-Enactment: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
This was Brandon's first upload, from March 15th, 2006. He plays the Grandpa Joe and Willy Wonka in this 90 second scene. This video has been viewed over 40 thousand times.


If you can't see the video above, watch it at YouTube.

Re-Enactment: As Good As It Gets
Brandon plays 2 parts again - Jack Nicholson's writer character and his constantly interrupting neighbor. He does a great job portraying Jack! This film has been seen over 18 thousand times. Also see him do Jack in The Shining.


If you can't see the video above, watch it at YouTube.

Re-Enactment: Star Trek: First Contact
This time, Brandon plays Patrick Stewart's Captain Jean-Luc Picard along with the woman he is debating. This one's been viewed over 45 thousand times. If you like this one, watch him do Hannibal and Clarice in Silence of the Lambs.


If you can't see the video above, watch it at YouTube.

You can watch what I think is one of his best re-enactments, from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, right here on this blog.

To get an idea of what Brandon is like and why he makes his videos, watch his non-video-blog film. Another video that speaks to his character is a video of a kid's show starring his Dad that he uploaded for Father's Day. At an age when many people are putting down their parents, he had the courage to honor his Dad on YouTube. I'll end by linking to a brand new video that Brandon posted to demonstrate the kinds of audio effects that are available with Apple's iMovie software. Keep on making these re-enactments, Brandon! I wish you much success in the future!

posted by KennyCrane at 6/27/2006 02:15:00 AM