by Canadian Elle Mills may be one of the country’s most successful YouTubers (ElleOfTheMills), but after a successful career online, she transitioned into writing and directing with the short film premiering ANSWER, available on Creator+.
“On the set of ANSWEReverything changed for me,” Mills said. Yahoo Canada. “I think it was an amazing experience and made me realize what I want to do for the rest of my life.”
“I think I’ve realized that I’d rather tell stories that don’t come at the cost of my privacy and create that wall. It’s more creatively fulfilling to find ways to tell my points of view through characters and other storylines… I’m 24, but somehow, with YouTube, I I feel so old. But with the realization, it makes me feel young again and I feel like I have my whole life ahead of me.
ANSWER introduces us to Sam, played by Anthony Rosenthal, who discovered a video of his mom, Casey, during his senior year of high school and the summer before college. Switching to an early 2000s style home video, Casey, played by Ciara Riley Wilson, documented her summer project of building a treehouse, while her boyfriend Jackson (Corey Fogelmanis) is often at work. But the video also shows the beginning of Casey’s connection and budding romance with neighbor Hayden (Ava Capri).
“I liked the idea of this found footage story because…home videos are such a huge part of my history, in terms of filmmaking, because I started on YouTube,” Mills said. “I grew up loving 2000s teen movies and romance movies, so I think it was like fulfilling my childhood dream of seeing a queer 2000s teen romance.”
The short has that satisfying nostalgic vibe, while brilliantly displaying the innocence of the very beginning of teenage love and connection in this heartwarming and sweet queer story.
“If I had seen a character like Hayden when I was in high school, that would have meant a lot to me,” Mills said. “What was important to me, in telling the queer story, was tapping into that innocence.”
For ANSWERMills also drew on his own experience with family units shifting and changing due to divorce, which led to the decision to tell this story through the perspective of a child looking at a part of his or her children’s lives. parents he had never heard of.
“Almost every adult relationship in my life has ended in divorce,” Mills said. “It’s like this wish fulfillment… that true love exists.”
“I think for me it was more this childish look at love. That was kind of the goal. Love is messy, love is complicated, but that’s why I wanted it to be from that kid’s perspective, because I think it would lean into the innocence of that, the storyline, without being too cheesy and cheesy.
“I had to almost hit rock bottom to be able to go in that direction”
Elle Mills is establishing herself as a unique voice in the film world after earning a reputation for having brilliantly cinematic YouTube video concepts.
Notably, Mills received particular attention for several of her more personal videos on YouTube, such as her exit video, but she was also one of the first YouTubers to post videos honestly revealing the pressures of having this career, which which led her to take a step forward. back from the platform.
Just this week, Mills released a video titled “What Ever Happened to Elle Mills?” on Youtube. As the New Radicals hit “You Get What You Give” plays in the video, Mills takes us through her path to YouTube success, being part of a world she fantasized about being part of as a child, while acknowledging this, this success has led to “serious anxiety”.
“It was very confusing to me that the only thing that made me so happy was also why I was so depressed,” Mills said in a voiceover in the video.
“I don’t want to be the product anymore.”
While going through an admirable personal journey to get to her current place of creation, Mills also recognizes that she wouldn’t be the filmmaker she is today without her years of YouTube experience.
“There’s a lot of tough stuff that I’ve had to go through in my YouTube career, and publicly, that I think now, after thinking about it and starting this new chapter, I would do it again,” Mills said. “I think it made me grow as a person and set limits for me.”
“Even if the consequences are zero, there are a lot of things in my personal life that I feel like my career on YouTube has caused. It has shaped my perspective on things…Everything that happened being on YouTube made me who I am today and I’m a completely different person from where I started… I had to almost hit rock bottom to be able to go in that direction.
ANSWER is not just an entertaining watch for ElleOfTheMills fans. While it’s great to watch Mills grow and evolve, this short establishes that his creative voice is strong, unique, and something we want to see more of in the future.
REPLY is available exclusively on Creator+ on November 10
#REPLY #YouTube #star #Elle #Mills #nails #2000s #nostalgia #steps #camera #directorial #debut
