Me @the Zoo Exemplifies Internet’s Infiltration of Indie Film

PARK CITY, Utah — From crowd-funding to the visual language of online video, internet culture is slowly but surely seeping into independent film.

Nothing illustrates the web’s growing influence on filmmakers more effectively than Me @the Zoo, a feature-length documentary that premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The movie offers an “all access” look at the life of internet celebrity Chris Crocker, the 24-year-old Tennessee vlogger who — despite a long history as a YouTube personality — is known primarily as the teary young man whose “Leave Britney Alone!” video went viral in 2007. Tackling a subject who’s a prolific DIY filmmaker — and someone who’s perhaps a bit of an internet-enabled oversharer to boot — proved interesting to Me @the Zoo‘s newcomer directors, Valerie Veatch and Chris Moukarbel.

“A challenge that we had coming into this was, ‘How do you make a documentary about someone who’s making a living documentary?’” Moukarbel told Wired.com during an interview at Sundance. “You know, he’s always going to be making videos. He’s always going to be documenting his life, and [our film is just] one little cross-section of that.”

Compiled from hundreds of Crocker’s homemade videos, old-school YouTube clips and the directors’ own footage, Me @the Zoo delivers a compelling look at this expanding era of internet fame — the odd paths people take to achieving it, and the ways it consumes lives much like traditional celebrity.

The film follows Crocker as he rises to online fame (or, as Crocker calls it, being “famous for not being famous”), then traces what Crocker goes through during the fallout after his infamous Britney Spears video — including his stint in Los Angeles for an ill-fated reality show. It also traces Crocker’s family history and takes a look at his mother’s struggles with drug addiction, something that influenced his defense of Spears.

Despite the uniqueness of Crocker’s story, there’s a point at which many people can identify with him. “I see it not just about me,” Crocker said. “Even though it’s my personal story, there’s so many things that hit home, with the drug abuse, and the bullying and stuff. So that’s how I try to look at it.”

Wired.com caught up with Crocker and Me @the Zoo‘s directors at Sundance to talk about the film, which got picked up by HBO Documentary Films and should hit the air this year, and also to discuss internet fame, funding movies through Kickstarter, and YouTube reaction videos finding their way to the big screen.