【Watch Black Panther Online】

NEW YORK -- Logan Paul walked into the Tryp Hotel conference room with a blanket curled around his shoulders and Watch Black Panther Onlinea tripod in his hand.

It was just after 10:15 a.m. and the 21-year-old, known as the ultimate Vine bro, had just flown in from Los Angeles for Comic Con that morning. He didn't realize he had an interview scheduled so early, hence the cozy sweat pants and post-nap tardiness.

"I'm vlogging right now," he said, spinning around the tripod so the camera captured the room in its entirety.

Meanwhile, Peyton List -- who is known for her Disney Channel fame -- sat smiling patiently at the table sipping on her coffee to stay awake after a long flight from Los Angeles.

"Long time no see," List, 18, jokingly to Paul. The duo had just seen each other earlier that week at the 6th Annual Streamy Awards in Beverly Hills.

Already, it's obvious that the duois far more playful than the characters the play in The Thinning, a Legendary Digital Studios feature film which debuts on YouTube Red on Wednesday.

The film, directed and co-written by Michael Gallagher, is set in a dying world where population control is dictated by an aptitude test in high school.

Paul and List play Blake and Laina, two students who discover the test is all smoke and mirrors hiding a larger conspiracy and decide to go against the system to expose it and take it down.

The dystopian movie, which is like The Hunger Games meets Divergent,is complete shift in tone from the normally upbeat content the two actors are known for. The two said that's a large reason for what got them interested in the project in the first place.

"I think it was an adventure for both of us," Paul said. "It was fun exploring a side of me that people haven’t seen before. I’m curious to see how people will receive it."

List, who comes from traditional TV, is also new to the digital space.

"Yeah I'm excited to see what people think, too. It’s so different," she added. "I finished the season of Bunk'd[a Disney show] and switched to this immediately. This was much more fast-paced."

The film, which takes place in Austin, Texas, was shot in Los Angeles over a roughly 18-day period of time.

List said Laina is "the coolest character" she has played to date, making it easier to prepare for the part.

"I really admire how smart and driven she is," List said. "She has so much on her shoulders and so much to take on in her life -- I’ve never really played someone like that."

Paul went all out to transform into Blake, who in the film is an angsty rebel or as Paul describes him: A "passionate badass."

"I prepped pretty hard, I’m not going to lie," Paul said. "I would practice getting serious by spending days just not making jokes --which is really hard for me."

Hard may be an understatement, given that Paul rose to fame for his comedic six-second videos on Vine. He also lives in Hollywood in a building packed with fellow Vine stars, a.k.a. an environment that makes collaborating on comedy videos more convenient.

Paul said he also re-watched all the Hunger Gamesand Divergent installments.

"I would just practice really being Blake," he said. "But it was hard because you get home and your friends make jokes and you're just there, versus being there and participating."

List said during the one month of filming she felt more down than usual.

"It definitely affected me," she said. "When I go home, I usually want to hang out with friends. But while filming this, I would want to just go home and sleep or eat. When we were done I felt this lightness."

Luckily, the on set breaks were filled with eating lots of snacks and pranking one another.

"We'd joke with Logan because all the girls would be snacking on cookies but he couldn't because he'd have to film a shirtless scene right after," List said. The group once hid a giant box of granola bars from Paul because after filming shirtless scenes he would binge eat around 15 at once.

The movie is the latest project from Legendary Digital Studios, which recently released a reboot of Electra Woman & Dyna Girl,starring YouTubers Grace Helbig and Hannah Hart.

Its release comes as YouTube Red celebrates its one year anniversary. The streaming service, which costs $10 a month, began rolling out its originals under MTV alum Susanne Daniels in January.

The video platform is hoping to get its millions of young viewers to pay for more premium content, much of which stars their favorite YouTubers.

But it is also gearing up to compete with other streaming giants -- including Netflix, Amazon and Hulu -- with projects that have big names attached such as a Step Up series executive produced by Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan Tatum.

“We know our audience will be captivated by the film’s suspenseful storytelling and brave characters as they fight for survival,” Daniels, YouTube's Global Head of Original Content, in a statement earlier this year. “The Thinningwill be the first feature length thriller that we are releasing on YouTube Red, and we believe it has all of the elements to be wildly popular with our fans.”

YouTube likely won't reveal exactly how many people stream the film. However, social media buzz, and box office earnings for similar dystopian franchises, indicate there is definitely interest in the project.

"Teens have so much going on in their lives and because they are going through so many firsts, everything seems so dramatic," List said on the popularity of the YA dystopian genre. "And dystopias are so dramatic that it kind of makes your own life seem kind of normal. I think that's why they like this kind of content."

Leading up to the release, Legendary and YouTube held a panel and autograph signing at New York Comic Con where hundreds flocked to take selfies with the actors.

Also as part of the promotion, Paul and List posted the official trailer on their social media accounts.

"The trailer killed on social media," Paul said. "Everyone seems so pumped."