I found watching the videos from the CUT channel to be more difficult than I would have thought. I watch a lot of videos on YouTube during my free time and the types of videos CUT produces are very different from the content I typically enjoy. Scrolling through their recent videos I just found myself growing uncomfortable. Everything felt like it was meant to be edgy and going against the grain and I didn’t want to be part of the video participants’ discomfort. The videos I ended up watching were good overall, a bit emotional, and occasionally funny in a sometimes schadenfreude way.
My idea for a video SCC could produce is to have a number of people who have been randomly divided into groups of two (possibly three) be given a task to complete, such as assembling IKEA furniture, a Lego model, or something similar. The twist is that they are separated by a divider, one of them is given the assembly instructions while the other has to perform the physical labor involved but has not been given any information on what they are assembling.
I believe this could be an interesting experience for those involved and show how different people approach and solve problems differently. By having the participants interact only verbally they will have to be really cognizant of how they communicate.
For participants, I think using as diverse a group as possible would be most interesting. Pairing people of different beliefs, upbringings, ages, genders, disabilities, and more could potentially change the ways the other person in their group interacts with them and vice versa.
I am not sure how many groups you would need to participate in order to have enough footage to make a compelling video. The higher the number of groups the more expensive I could see this project being unless whatever is being assembled is disassembled afterwards (which seems like it would take too much time and effort, especially if you only have a single day of shooting). Potentially around five groups could make for enough diversity and representation among participants and lead to a good range of interactions and outcomes.