Who Is the Guy Who Uploads Bon Appetite Videos on Youtube

The quarantines and social distancing mandates that take brought many American cities to a well-nigh standstill have besides completely halted product in the moving picture and television industries. A few intrepid Television shows are experimenting with episodes filmed in quarantine, but for the most part, the entertainment industry is taking a look-and-see approach.

And yet YouTube is full of channels that are still putting out the aforementioned smashing videos equally always. That's relatively easy to do when a aqueduct is predominantly run by one or two people who can collaborate online. Just then there's the instance of Bon Appétit.

Ane of the most popular channels on all of food YouTube, the offshoot of the 54-twelvemonth-quondam food mag has seen its most successful months ever during the coronavirus pandemic, according to Matt Duckor, Condé Nast'southward head of programming, lifestyle, and style. The channel saw 76.7 one thousand thousand views in March, the well-nigh successful month in the channel's history, upwardly 5 percent over Feb.

And though the aqueduct works vi to eight weeks ahead and is nevertheless releasing new videos filmed in its massive Test Kitchen (the setting for nigh of its videos to date), the Bon Appétit team has scrambled to brand videos that reverberate the challenges most American chefs, amateur or professional, are facing right now — videos shot in the homes of the aqueduct's stars. So many of united states of america are cooking from home, clearing out our pantries, and trying to figure out how to navigate occasional shortages in ingredients.

Bringing viewers into the homes of Bon Appétit's editor-chefs could have been a massive flop, considering the endeavor has required all thirteen of the "regulars" to shoot their own video. But creative use of the internet has allowed the channel to keep posting new videos filmed in chefs' personal kitchens since widespread shelter-at-home orders began in mid-March. And many of the channel's most famous video series will move from the Test Kitchen into their stars' homes, with Claire Saffitz'southward hugely pop Gourmet Makes — in which the pastry chef recreates everything from Twinkies to Reese's Peanut Butter Cups — joining the at-dwelling slate in May.

How was Bon Appétit able to exercise that? I asked Duckor about the challenges of shifting to remote production, besides as what it'due south meant to the channel's fans to see inside the homes of Bon Appétit's increasingly popular YouTube personalities.

Our chat has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Matt Duckor (right) speaks at an event in 2019.

Matthew Peyton/Getty Images for BroadwayHD

Emily VanDerWerff

You're a small operation to begin with, simply the production lift on making these at-home videos seems meaning.

Matt Duckor

We received an email on Wednesday, March eleven, advising employees to work from home. We had merely started talking about a contingency plan well-nigh what nosotros would need to do if the role closed that Monday, two days prior. I'grand confident none of us felt like that was going to happen that chop-chop. We thought, nosotros'll exist able to send a cameraperson to somebody'south firm. They can go there. We'll keep the crews really small.

Inside 5 days, it was very clear that we weren't going to be sending any crews anywhere. And so nosotros had these kits that nosotros put together. Anybody has the latest iPhone in the Examination Kitchen, basically, so we knew that the camera was good and consistent. We got them a couple different tripods, and we got them some sound gear, which is the biggest thing that separates cell-phone video from more professional video. We ordered some basic wireless [lavalier microphones] for everybody in the Test Kitchen.

So it became a question of, creatively, what can we do to come across our audition where they're at with our content? The Test Kitchen has become such an iconic location. It's been, evidently, where the majority of our content has been shot but too where our folks interact with each other. So what happens when we have them out of that? Nosotros thought there would exist some intrigue in seeing everybody's home kitchens. I didn't really estimate how of import all that would be to people. The response we've seen has been pretty incredible.

The get-go thing that we wanted to have was a video that could come up out as quickly as possible that had everybody from the Test Kitchen universe in information technology, using the Test Kitchen Talks [format] that we apply on the aqueduct, where nosotros pick a topic and we supercut different people doing the same chore or talking about the aforementioned thing. We knew that we could do that pretty quickly with all 13 people we accept regularly on the channel.

We sent tips to all of them [about filming themselves at dwelling] and so, that following Thursday and Fri, we had our first ii shoots. Every bit production lists go, we had to figure out, well, how do we make this, how practise we produce this? And so we've been using Zoom to have our production teams join [each shoot]. Those first shoots went really, really well. Nosotros were able to shoot videos with all 13 talents.

By that time, everyone had been out of the office for almost two weeks, and more than anything, everyone was just really excited to encounter each other. We had a outset call to walk everybody through things, and information technology was a large Zoom call with all the people from the Exam Kitchen on there, and everyone was simply excited to see each other.

And it'due south the aforementioned thing that people around the country accept been experiencing, and we wanted to accept content that reflected that. The first video, our status-update video, touched the Covid crisis in quarantine more than on-the-nose than anything else nosotros've done. Of course, it's evident in everything nosotros're doing, because everything's at home and produced in a different way. Hopefully it feels more than relatable for people who are also at habitation, but doesn't [likewise] feel like a reminder of the fact that we're all under quarantine in some sort of somber fashion.

Emily VanDerWerff

When you started the Bon Appétit YouTube channel, you lot were turning magazine editors and chefs who weren't previously on photographic camera into onscreen talent. Now you're helping those people understand the tech so they tin can do some of their own production. Obviously, most of us know how to shoot a video on our iPhone, only how did y'all walk everyone through some of the other technical aspects?

Matt Duckor

All the credit goes to our production team. The offset thing was sort of elevating the equipment [from what everyone already had] and the second part, after nosotros [sent the equipment] to them, was showing them how to employ information technology. Then our [directors of photography] hosted a hilarious Zoom with all 13 [people] on there, walking them through how to gear up a microphone and the nuts of framing a shot, stuff similar that.

At that place'southward a bit of a learning curve there. Yes, everyone shoots video on their iPhones casually for Instagram or with their families. Just we started getting questions [from fans] about immediately nearly how were nosotros adapting the Bon Appétit videos for this time. [Viewers were] worrying on social media that there wouldn't be anymore Bon Appétit videos, and how were they going to go through the pandemic without it. So there was some pressure on us to create something that felt like it lived up to, for a lot of our audience, something that's actually important in their daily lives.

That anxiety was also felt by the talent a picayune bit. "Oh my god, we're shooting in our home. We don't have this huge crew effectually u.s.. They're on Zoom. What's information technology going to exist like?" From the very beginning, from the offset shoot we did that first calendar week, everything was actually, really smooth. We tried to arrive equally elementary as possible. We were there with them every step of the way. We weren't trying to prepare complicated shots. We'd frame it up with them on a Zoom call, then it's them existence their amazing, relatable selves in the comfort of their ain home.

It rolls pretty hands. Some of them, yous can tell, are really comfy at home. Brad [Leone] adapted right away to being in his kitchen by himself, just yelling at an iPhone. It's a attestation to how real those guys are on camera. Nosotros environs them with a crew and formats that really drag them, and the Test Kitchen is a really fun setting. But at the end of the day, they're really compelling even in front of an iPhone in their dwelling house kitchen. What's making the content actually work is that [the personality] is nonetheless intact. Nothing's changed there.

Emily VanDerWerff

Have you faced whatever big technical hurdles across simply mailing out the equipment? Were there habitation kitchens that were trickier to shoot in?

Matt Duckor

Uploading the footage to our server was ane affair the first 24-hour interval. We were expecting that upload times may be significant, but, depending on how much we shoot, it takes 16 to 24 hours to upload an entire shoot to our server. Manifestly, all of our editors are working remotely besides. So some of them had full desktop setups at dwelling house, but others were working off a laptop that wasn't ideal. So post-production in the beginning, we had to get a handle on that workflow.

Everyone has a unlike type of kitchen, but nosotros worked with them earlier the first shoot to spotter their homes over Zoom, to actually figure out the best place. When it came time to really practice that first shoot, we had a skilful sense of what we were working with. Going forward, those kitchens aren't changing, and we're really using those same setups for all content that we've been filming since then.

We put out content since we started filming remotely that was shot in the Test Kitchen before all of this happened. We will continue to do so to some caste. But right now, the pendulum is sort of shifting. Last calendar week and before, remote concepts were being sprinkled throughout [the Test Kitchen] stuff. Now we want to exist putting out content that feels really cogitating of where our talent is correct now: at dwelling house, just like everybody else.

We piece of work 6 to 8 weeks out in terms of filming, but nosotros wanted to prioritize content that felt really of the moment and will relate to people and everything they're going through. It was a heavy elevator in the beginning, just now we're getting into a pretty skillful rhythm.

Emily VanDerWerff

The Test Kitchen videos accept a existent air of a workplace one-act, similar The Office or Parks and Recreation. I get the feeling of a whole bunch of people working together, moving between the background and foreground as their "storylines" become more of import. And at present it'southward about like yous're doing episodes where you lot follow those "characters" abode. Has it been weird letting the audition into that larger world?

Matt Duckor

We've talked about filming in the homes of [Test Kitchen talent] before, just never really done it. But just equally the Examination Kitchen is another character in a lot of our videos, people's habitation kitchens have go that. There's been a lot of dissecting [by fans on social media] how people's home kitchens are reflective of their private personalities. Of grade Brad has a chaotic kitchen with l pans on the wall. And Sohla [El-Waylly] has the biggest spice collection of in anybody in the Kitchen.

Our first remote episode of It's Alive is but a great example of how you tin take a show that [is] incredibly iconic and translate it to a new setting in Brad's home. Matt Hunziker, the managing director and editor, who is really the creative genius behind that prove, did a peachy job. We accept the first interaction betwixt people in that episode. Sohla works with Brad to make a grated ginger-garlic paste that Brad uses for some cooking. So that's using Zoom and self-taping on Sohla's cease to bring those two together.

The abode kitchens and the talent's families have emerged equally other characters, not to have the place of anyone in the Test Kitchen or the Test Kitchen itself but to add another dimension to these videos. There'southward real texture to it. And it'due south their homes and it's their individual lives and their personal lives. And they're all willing, I think, to share that. We're all happy to exist able to continue to piece of work and create content from home that is having a deep impact on people.

In the annotate section, and on Instagram and all of our different platforms, we get a lot of actually amazing feedback and testimonials [from fans] on how what we're doing is giving people comfort in a actually weird fourth dimension. Nosotros're happy to exist able to go on that, even if it's in a slightly unlike setting and Brad's kids are running into the room every 10 minutes.

Emily VanDerWerff

Practice you miss not having that Test Kitchen fix to go to?

Matt Duckor

Information technology's an iconic place that binds all of our videos together. I retrieve some of the home kitchens are becoming that, but for years, the Exam Kitchen has been the home of our most successful videos, and it'southward so ingrained in the heed of our audience.

I wouldn't say we lose anything, only it's hard to replace what the Test Kitchen provides, which is a setting that is memorable but that also is a place that facilitates the interaction and collaboration that, I think, makes some of the best Bon Appétit videos really tick. It's hard to replicate that over Zoom.

But it's hard to do anything that nosotros're doing remotely at present, in all of our lives. It's difficult for other industries to work remotely, but people are finding ways to practice that. Aside from videos, the unabridged Test Kitchen squad likewise have to create and exam recipes for the mag, the website, and social media. They're continuing to have to detect a way to do that from habitation. They're collaborating together to work on those things. At the core of information technology, it'southward the reality of who these people are, and their skills and their relationships and friendships with each other. It's no different in video.

Emily VanDerWerff

How accept your video strategies shifted with some of the other Condé Nast YouTube channels? Like the Wired serial, where celebrities answer the nearly-Googled questions about themselves, seems like it would be harder to produce from home.

Matt Duckor

There was some initial concern among everybody, but particularly celebrities, almost, "Well, what do we exercise during this time that doesn't seem tone-deaf and nevertheless work and create things during really sensitive times?" And I think nosotros've seen in the by couple weeks, a lot more celebrities and public figures wanting to collaborate with united states on things.

It's like, "Is it okay to film from our homes, which are often bigger and nicer than a majority of Americans'? Does that feel insensitive?" I can think of that Gal Gadot "Imagine" video, and a few other things where there was, like, a little bit of backlash in the commencement, and I recollect celebrities were like, "Ooh, we'll hang tight for a 2d and see how everything develops. We'll work on fundraising and other charitable things."

And now I call up there's a piddling more willingness to experiment. But then, at other brands, we actually tried to take a page out of Bon Appétit'south playbook, which is to build homegrown talent or rely on experts that we piece of work with. Wired, you mentioned, has a lot of programming that's congenital around experts who are friends with the brands. And those people are still able to work from their homes too.

The glory component [of many Condé Nast video operations] is massive, and we're finding ways to work with celebrities and other public figures correct now. That's moving in the right direction. But we have a lot of other programming that is more than controllable and that isn't based around celebrities' junket opportunities or someone beingness on the cover of a mag.

Emily VanDerWerff

Yous mentioned the question of how to produce content that isn't tone-deaf. How are you tackling that problem? Obviously there's a lot of suffering going on right now, but people don't tune in to Bon Appétit to think about that. How practise you lot walk that line?

Matt Duckor

The start step was acknowledging the reality of where our Test Kitchen is at. They're at home. I retrieve nosotros had plenty [Exam Kitchen] content already filmed that we could've never made an at-home video and the aqueduct wouldn't take gone dark. Merely that didn't feel like the right affair to do. People identify with our Test Kitchen, and they see it every bit an extension of their lives. They're in the kitchen with their friends. We're not going to suddenly do a whole series of videos on coronavirus and an explainer on how to wipe down your food when you get it from the grocery store. That doesn't feel in line with the ethos of our channel and what our brand is about.

Just to miss the opportunity to do something that's reflective of the lives of our chefs, and millions of people around the state and the earth, felt wrong. And everyone wanted to continue working. All of us love what nosotros exercise every unmarried day, and we honey the connection we take with our community particularly.

Nosotros've been cautious on the production side. In the showtime batch of five videos nosotros did, one of them required actual agile cooking. That was an acknowledgement that information technology's slightly hard to get groceries correct at present. In those 5 videos, we didn't want to exercise annihilation that would make huge portions that couldn't exist eaten by one or 2 people who are in the same flat. We don't want to have anything that shows food waste. The cooking video that nosotros did make was how to cook with items from your pantry. Most people are looking at their pantries similar, "Oh, what the hell do I do tonight?" The Test Kitchen pantries may wait a piddling bit different than most people'southward, but at the end of the day, that's still reflective of how a lot of people are thinking of cooking right now.

The response has been amazing. March was the well-nigh viewed and watched month of all fourth dimension on Bon Appétit, and April is pacing to pass that. Anecdotally, the about gratifying matter is to be able to make a change like this and people don't say, "Oh, it'south not [the] Test Kitchen. I don't know, it'south kind of weird. They're in their houses." I was optimistic that the response would be positive, but you don't know until you put it out there. To accept this moving ridge of appreciation come up back was so gratifying for me and for everyone on the team.

I don't know how long this is going to go on for, but I wouldn't be surprised if it makes its way into future programming that we do [post-quarantine]. It has felt like a different layer of the onion for all of these people in our videos. We accept a better understanding of who they are, then I wouldn't be surprised if in the hereafter, it informs the way that we make other things. Only certainly we'll all exist excited to be back in the Test Kitchen whenever the appropriate parties determine that it's the safe move.

Cheque out Bon Appétit'south videos on YouTube .

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Source: https://www.vox.com/culture/2020/4/21/21228555/bon-appetit-test-kitchen-youtube-videos-coronavirus-quarantine