It's been two weeks since the launch of The YouTube Screening Room, and that can only mean one thing: a fresh batch of short films for your viewing pleasure.

For those of you who missed the initial announcement, The YouTube Screening Room is our new platform to help top films from around the world find the audiences they deserve. So far, hundreds of thousands of YouTubers have checked out the films, and thousands more have left comments.



We hope you'll enjoy the second round of films as much as you enjoyed the first. "The Clap," from the UK, tells the comic story of a music aficionado who finds a unique way to celebrate his favorite performer. "The Big Empty," from the US, stars Selma Blair as a young woman searching for a cure to her inner ache. "I Met the Walrus," from Canada, is the beautiful animated tale of a 14-year-old Beatle fan's real-life encounter with John Lennon. Finally, "School of Life," from the UK, follows a schoolboy as he learns life's most important lesson.



Stay tuned for our third round of films, debuting in two weeks on July 18.

Finally, for those of you interested in being featured in the YouTube Screening Room, email ytscreeningroom@youtube.com.

Happy viewing,

YouTube Film

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Our friends over at Google Mobile have started a new YouTube channel called Mobile Tricks. They want to know what you can do with your cell phone, and start you off with a guy who's a bit obsessed with them. Look familiar? You might have seen him before in a unitard.



They're asking for all kinds of tricks, from the useful to the completely ridiculous, and they can be with or without Google Mobile products. To submit a video, start and end it with these slides, and submit it to their channel page. They're putting the best submissions in their playlists and blogging about their favorites, and we put one of our favorites on the YouTube home page over the weekend – holotext messaging.

For further inspiration, here's a video about how to save America with your phone (thanks to davestonedesign) and the WillItBlend guys doing what they do best.





Now show us what you’ve got!

The YouTube Team

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Here on YouTube, there's no shortage of odes to 20th century cartoonist Rube Goldberg. If you're not familiar, Goldberg penned a comic series starring the eccentric Professor Lucifer Gorgonzola Butts -- who created elaborate contraptions to perform simple tasks in roundabout ways.

Well, the Goldberg followers on YouTube have that concept down to a T -- and, better yet, they offer complete explanations of how they built their devices and what to expect once things get set in motion. This week's Trendspotting Tuesday showcases those budding inventors whose complicated "machines" do everything from putting dog food in a bowl to pouring a glass of beer to constructing a hamburger. There's also the Rube classics, like the Star Wars edition from RebrnEmpwrd and an office supply version from morebeefplease. Check out the full playlist here and on our home page:



Come back next Tuesday for another edition of Trendspotting Tuesday, where we highlight the amazing things people are doing on the site.

Cheers,
The YouTube Team

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The time has arrived for our next Guru Challenge, the ongoing programming initiative in which we ask a prominent or up-and-coming expert in their field to challenge you, the YouTube community, to use your creativity to new ends.

This month, it's all about using your talents in an eco-conscious way. Michelle Kaufmann, a YouTube architect with a passion for green design, wants to see what you can create with items you would normally throw away:



So come on, gurus and non-gurus alike! Show Michelle (and us) your innovative ideas and we'll feature some of the best ones in our HowTo & Style section and possibly also on the home page. Put your creative self out there and you just might inspire the YouTube community to do the same.

Our last Guru Challenge featured the ZooYork crew asking about your viral marketing ideas – in light of their own stickers-on-cockroaches-campaign - and you responded with videos that showed you finding interesting places to place your art, fun ways you incorporated your friends and family in your videos, and poking a little fun at the concept itself.



Long live DIY,
Sadia H.
YouTube HowTo & Style

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We're excited to once again announce the expansion of the YouTube Partner Program. By joining the program, popular users in France and Germany -- like new partners AericWinter and FabTheGap -- will now be able to generate revenue from ads that run next to their videos, and receive the same promotional benefits afforded to YouTube's other professional content partners.

Now in eight countries, the Partner Program showcases the global diversity of the YouTube community, reflecting our commitment to helping users around the world find an outlet for their creativity and pursue opportunities online no matter where they live.

So, if you've built a significant audience on YouTube -- whether running a cooking series in Bordeaux or talking football in Hamburg -- we encourage you to apply now.

The YouTube Team

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What do you get when you mix a ditty about testicular cancer with a group of citizens foraging for fruit on the streets of Los Angeles? A pretty sweet trend on YouTube. You're probably well acquainted with the average activist -- the demonstrator, the lobbyist, the boycotter, the PSA-junkie...In this week's Trendspotting Tuesday, we're pleased to introduce you to a whole different kind of activist animal -- the unconventional activist -- whose creativity knows no limits when it comes to raising awareness about their pet issue.



You may have already encountered a few unconventional activists on YouTube, like the Swiss contingent who froze their butts off (literally) while taking an environmental stand or this fella whose penchant for recycling outweighs his need for mobility:



In today's feature, you'll witness a colorful display of outrage as an Italian man sends thousands of plastic balls down the Spanish Steps to protest lack of garbage collection and discover a man who chose to live like a chicken to show how cruel humans can be. And you might just learn how to do the "Gas Can Shuffle," the latest dance craze that's sweeping the nation in an attempt to make gas more affordable:



If this brief paddle in the civic participation pool isn't enough for you, keep checking the Nonprofits & Activism category for more examples of inspiring social change, of both the wacky and traditional variety.

Cheers,
The YouTube Team

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The new features included in our most recent site update are geared toward a more personalized experience for you. Check out the details...

NEW PERSONALIZED HOMEPAGE

Our goal is to give a simple answer to the question, "What should I watch today?" with a personalized, customizable homepage that makes it easy to find the videos and people that you care about. After reviewing results from our beta test and feedback from the community, we're happy to now release the new personalized homepage to all logged-in users. Since launching the beta version in February, data has shown an increase in the number of users visiting the homepage, the frequency of visits, and the number of subscriptions users make over time. So, this optimized version of the homepage not only means a customizable experience for you, but more exposure for your cool videos and channels on YouTube (Note: if you are logged out or do not have an account you won't be able see the personalized homepage).

IMPROVED EMAIL NOTIFICATIONS

The email messages you receive from YouTube have been updated with a new layout. In addition to a streamlined design and many wording changes, any comments or messages are now included directly within the body of the email, saving you time.

We're eager to hear your feedback, so please let us know what you think of this latest round of improvements.

The YouTube Team

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YouTube is in the middle of a creature invasion, courtesy of our creative community of video gamers and "Spore", the much-anticipated new game from Will Wright , the creator of The Sims. Countless new species of lovable aliens have popped up all over the site, and you don't have to be an expert gamer to get in on the action. You can download the Spore Creature Creator for free, create your own alien, make in-game movies and upload them to your YouTube account directly from the Creature Creator. Then you're ready to share your unique vision with your friends and fellow "Spore" enthusiasts. Once you've got the hang of things, you can even enter the Ultimate Spore Creature Creator Dance Off for the chance to have your creature's dance moves voted on by the community as well as a trip to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC.

Whether you're an outspoken vlogger or a camera-shy YouTube user who prefers to leave comments, uploading your own unique life-form is an exciting new way to express your creative vision and get more out of your YouTube experience. Since EA launched the Creature Creator on June 17, we've seen literally thousands of eye-popping uploaded life-forms, including oddball creations from Tay Zonday and the legendary Stan Lee, a man who knows a thing or two about dreaming up new characters. And as you check out this video player packed with "Spore" goodness, don't forget that your own contribution to the great "Spore" invasion is only a download -- and upload -- away.



Happy creating,
Felicia W.
YouTube Entertainment

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Today, we're pleased to announce the launch of the YouTube Screening Room, a platform for films from around the world to find the audiences they deserve.

Every year, tens of thousands of films are produced, but many of them never get a chance to be seen by a wide audience. Until now.

The YouTube Screening Room will connect films and audiences in the world's largest theater, not only providing filmmakers with a much-needed showcase, but also helping you find new high-quality content every two weeks.

While some of these films have played at film festivals around the world, others will be showing to a wide audience for the first time.

Our debut shorts include an Academy Award nominee from the United States, an Academy Award winner from Norway, the world's first animated opera from Sweden, and a poignant short from indie favorites Miguel Arteta and Miranda July, also from the United States.



In the next few months, you'll see films from the UK, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Australia, Austria, France, Kenya and more. Every Screening Room film is displayed in our High Quality player, and has been posted with the filmmaker's involvement. So be sure to rate, share and leave comments. This is your chance to not only watch great films from all corners of the globe, but also to converse with the filmmakers behind them.

And if you're a filmmaker interested in playing in the YouTube Screening Room, send an email about your film to ytscreeningroom@youtube.com. We look forward to hearing from you!

The future of film on YouTube starts now,

Sara P.
YouTube Film

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Calling all film aficionados! Earlier this spring, director Zack Snyder (Dawn of the Dead, 300) asked a favor of the YouTube community. His request? To create a slew of fake "Veidt Enterprises" commercials for his upcoming movie, Watchmen.



Using visual assets available online, hundreds of talented YouTubers heeded the call. Now, 40 finalists are competing for an unprecedented opportunity: a shot at being used in the actual feature film. That's right -- your voting will help determine which of these filmmakers make the jump from your YouTube player straight into a major motion picture.

Voting ends this Friday, June 20, so get out those ballots and help your fellow 'Tubers make their big screen debut.

Happy viewing,
Sara P.
YouTube Film

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