I, personally, have recently become enthralled with the world of youtube and the many people who populate the "youtuber" community with their funny videos, upbeat attitudes, and crazy adventures. That's not to say that I didn't previously love youtube, I've watched youtubers for a while now. But when I say enthralled, I mean enthralled, where I have gone to the point of subscribing to so many second channels that I've lost count, just so I can be more involved in the world of the people whose lives I only get short snippets of. And for all of you who know what I'm talking about, I am referring to vlogging.
For those of you who don't know the amazingness of vlogging, it is basically video diaries and many prominent youtube personalities will make daily vlogs or daily videos so that their subscribers can see what they are up to on a daily basis. It's not stalking - it's just dedication. I think. But long story short - it's awesome.
Since I just recently became obsessed with vlogging channels, I haven't had a lot of time to think about the pros and cons of watching/owning a vlogging channel, not that anyone would really care about my opinion on it anyway. But I thought I would share just because I have some very mixed feelings on vlogging.
On the one hand, as a fan, it's so great. I love being able to see what is going on in the life of my favourite youtubers and watch them interact with wherever they live and whomever they see (sometimes they see other youtubers and it's just doubly awesome!) I love feeling like I'm a part of their life somehow and getting to see their daily routines. I watch vlogs for the same reasons that people might watch the behind the scenes of movies or video diaries that bands sometimes make on tour - to get a glimpse of the lives of the people we admire from a more realistic view than the lighted, edited, and made up professional videos they put on Youtube. That's NOT to say I have any problem with the finished youtube videos. Just that sometimes a more realistic view can be refreshing.
So what you should be taking from this is that I'm obsessed and I have no regrets. However, I don't understand vlogging. The person walking down the street and talking to a camera that's arm's length away from their face - I don't get why you, as a youtuber or person would want to partake in that. I feel like generally not only is it a loss of privacy but it would get really annoying if you missed a shot. I worry that if I ever tried vlogging (I mean who doesn't like to think that people might be interested in their every day life?) I would get obsessed with the fact that if I didn't ALWAYS have my camera out I was going to miss a moment. That would suck! I wouldn't want to be that friend who takes out a video camera the moment something interesting happens - and then gripes about the fact that they didn't get it on camera. I feel like that would be stressful to the point where you would have your camera out all the time! Who wants that?
One youtuber I'm going to focus on in general is Alfie Days of PointlessBlog on youtube. He is my favourite vloggers partly because he also sees some of my favourite youtubers on a daily basis, but also because he vlogs every day and I don't get the feeling that he constantly has a camera out. Even though he does. But the thing about Alfie is that how his vlogs go most of the time is he'll show clips from various parts of his day but most of it will be from one or two parts of the day where he's talking to the camera about nothing or everything, just sitting down and having a chat. As a viewer, not only does it feel really personal and special, but it also gives me the impression that while he likes to keep the viewers updated on his life, he's not missing out on actually living his life because he's stuck behind a camera lens.
As someone who finds that the genuinely care about the lives of these people around the world, I love the fact that they allow me to invade their privacy from time to time and creep on their lives even though they really don't have to. I love that but at the same time it does worry me from time to time that these artists are spending all their lives stuck behind a camera or constantly editing every day because they have videos to upload every single day. This is a conflicting view, however, since I know that they already spend so much time making and editing videos for their channel (it's their job!) But sometimes I do feel quite protective and like they might be missing out on something or overly stressed because it does seem like a lot of work.
That being said, I appreciate vlogs so much that I can't even say. Yes, they might take a lot of time to make (and a lot of time to watch!) but they allow me to feel connected to my favourite youtubers in ways that I never had before. I love seeing inside their lives, what they do every day, what they wear, and I know I'm sounding very stalkerish right now but I just can't help it. Vlogging is a gift to mankind.
To wrap up this long blog post that probably could have been sumarized in one paragraph, I love vlogging and I love vloggers. The only aspect of vlogging that makes me question it's practicality is the fact that I worry that my favourite youtubers might be feeling stressed out about not getting everything on camera or will they like this one since I didn't do much today or should I talk to the camera to fill up time or how much time will it take to edit a 15 minute video when I have a main channel video to edit? Run on sentences, anyone? I worry. But I also love vlogs so much that I don't worry too much. Does that make me a terribly conflicted person?
You decide.
Have a Brettastic day!
(Image credit: http://lh5.ggpht.com/-LqQww8LScMk/VA2X6oO1JUI/AAAAAAAAA1w/QMDRmS-2jJs/s1600/tumblr_mnnpw53kUU1rha3vbo1_500.png)