Harun Robert on returning to tv with Disney’s ‘Think about That’, and the challenges in holding at the moment’s youngsters entertained and knowledgeable
When Harun Robert aka Rob made his digital transition in 2014 — along with his YouTube channel, Mad Stuff with Rob — he managed to translate the sturdy fanbase he gained from tv into figures, averaging a number of lakh, even million views for every video.
However a query that adopted Rob like a shadow, regardless of the channel’s regular viewership, was when he would return to tv along with his personal present. He listened to their requests, which has now resulted in an artwork present for Disney Channel titled Think about That.
“It’s a very totally different course of to make content material for digital. It’s a shorter and barely simpler format. However taking pictures for tv is extra elaborate; it’s difficult and rewarding. There’s this rush you get whenever you shoot for TV, which I’ve been lacking,” says Rob, over cellphone from Goa.
Playful studying
The format of Think about That is easy; it’s a do-it-yourself (DIY) present and a terrain he’s accustomed to and mastered over time. He’ll have interaction with youngsters and encourage them to give you designs and craft fashions, introduce ideas and #lifelessons in a non-preachy approach — a la the extremely profitable M.A.D.
Rob, nevertheless, says that it’s unfair to check the present with M.A.D, which laid the muse for his viewers. “This present is exclusive in its personal approach and now we have created DIY initiatives which can be entertaining and interesting,” he says.
Rob shot to fame after internet hosting the favored TV present ‘M.A.D’
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Special Arrangement
The theme of the present is constructed round upcycling, the place artwork would take its form out of discarded supplies and on a regular basis trash. Rob agrees that it’s a idea that has been done-to-death by none apart from himself. However he counters this by drawing a meals analogy. “If you happen to combine two substances, you get a brand new flavour. It’s the identical case with artwork as properly. There’s a lot on the market, even for artwork,” he provides.
The thought is to introduce re-purposing to youngsters, drawing designs and crafts centering round that. “We maintain producing recent trash nowadays. For instance, in my outdated present, I used to make fashions out of floppy disks, which had been changed by CDs. Now, it’s arduous disks,” he says, “As soon as trash adjustments, you give you a special concept and work round that.”
The large image
When Rob was performing his bag of tips in earlier exhibits, he was primarily coping with an viewers (learn: youngsters) within the pre-smartphone and Marvel period. Has the demography of the viewers modified, given the scant consideration span amongst at the moment’s tech-savy youngsters? “They’re probably the most difficult viewers to please,” says Rob, “Tv nonetheless has the attain as a result of it’s a household affair. I’m not simply catering to youngsters however households as properly. Even throughout the lockdown, most households experimented with artwork.”
Their publicity to know-how has solely made the trail simpler to speak with youngsters, says Rob. “We used to like comedian books once we had been youngsters since there was no TV. However at the moment’s youngsters are consuming loads on-line. The medium has modified, however the curiosity remains to be there. My position is to faucet into their curiosity.”
Which is why Rob has launched a particular phase in Think about That, whereby he would take video requests from youngsters. “They will place a design request, or if they’ve a bunch of supplies and are in search of a technique to create one thing, we are able to additionally work round that.”
Greater than a decade into the enterprise, Rob has interacted and engaged with scores of youngsters, a few of whom think about him an imaginary pal. He recounts the one time a boy walked as much as him and mentioned: “Don’t you bear in mind? We had been watching the present collectively…” It took a while for Rob to grasp what the boy meant. “He thought I used to be them by means of TV and was current with him. That’s the type of relationship I share,” he says.
Think about That will première on September 6 on Disney Channel
