This is the first in a series of behind-the-scenes blogs about the story behind the making of a documentary - in this case, my film, "Life Online," the story of a family in Florida that's uniquely dedicated to the "YouTube" lifestyle.
In today's blog, I share some of my favorite basic techniques in conducting an effective, "authentic" interview.
First:
Be prepared
This doesn't just mean that you should do your research - you need to be technically prepared as well.
Whether you are your own crew, or you have one, two or three people helping you on documentary shoot, it's imperative that you work with individuals that are experienced and/or motivated to prepare camera, sound and lighting as quickly and efficiently as possible. There's always going to be a balance - some would say tension - between setting up a great shot, and engaging your subject as quickly as possible.
Interviewing Neil Parikh, one of the boys featured
in my documentary, "Bollywood Steps"
If you have an individual waiting to be interviewed, and the preparation process is too slow, they start to feel impatient - even rushed - and increasingly nervous. A minor inconvenience becomes a major disruption. Particularly in sensitive situations, this can impact the quality of the interview when it finally occurs.
About this interview:
A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to interview a family in which the mom and three of her sons all had YouTube channels. It was great fun to talk to them, and it's a bit overwhelming to imagine the level of creative energy that must be swirling around that house! I decided to return to this family and do an in-depth interview with one of the boys, 14 year-old "Fur" (why Fur? It's in the interview!) Fur is both a YouTuber and YouTube partner, and an aspiring filmmaker. He's the modern equivalent of the young filmmakers of my generation, with lots better equipment and a much bigger audience. In the days of super-8, our audiences typically consisted of family, friends, and sometimes classmates. Fur has followers around the world.
I've believed for a long time that we're going to see some great films emerging someday from Fur's generation. Unlike any generation before him, Fur not only has the equipment to make a high quality film, but, for the first time, can learn from his audience. There's direct feedback on his videos, or course, but there's also the analytics that YouTube offers, which allow him to see where people are viewing his videos from, their ages, how people are actually finding and viewing his videos. and even whether viewers are staying through and watching each video, and when they stop. By the time he creates for a living, I believe, he'll understand what works and doesn't work with his audience.
The great filmmakers twenty years from now, learning from their earliest experiences on YouTube, may develop a unique instinct to connect with their audiences and create movies that are engaging, suspenseful, heart-wrenching and entertaining.
About This Interview
Adam, a Los Angeles-area resident, discovered vlogging through major YouTube personality iJustine. After a while, he decided that he wanted to try it out, too, and has been working on his own channel, AdamUpNow and its associated channels. His content features gaming, comedy, skits, music videos and collaborations. He's a friend of former Vlogger Interview subject, Andy8b. He's also attended the last two Vidcon YouTube conferences in Los Angeles and Anaheim, and calls the latest event "a life changing experience."
About This Interview:
Boomer (Boomer9168), from New Port Richey, Florida, sums up his YouTube experience in one phrase: "YouTube saved my life." Like many people, he began vlogging (and later, creating skits and collaborations) simply because he liked what he was seeing on other YouTube channels - and it looked fun. With the fun he found creating for a YouTube audience, he also discovered an opportunity to expand and enrich his own social life. In addition to friends around the world, he's also connected in person with local YouTubers in Florida. Online community has helped Boomer recover enthusiasm for life that he thought he's lost.
Today, he says, If he somehow lost access to a camera and couldn't be part of the YouTube community, "I would be heartbroken."
There was a time, not so long ago, when a young entertainer's heart would skip a beat when offered the chance to make the big jump to television - Ryan Abe got an email recently just like that - an agent, perhaps, who asked, "how would you like your own tv show?"
"I guess he expected me to be wowed by it," he says.
He wasn't.
At 21 years old, Ryan is already a successful YouTuber. His channel, ForSkitsAndGiggles, has a subscriber base over 242,000, and his YouTube Partner revenues have made creating online video a full time job. More importantly, Ryan doesn't think of YouTube as simply a stop along the way. It's the place to be.
"A lot of YouTubers have turned down TV shows left and right, because they already have an audience. Why would they send their audience to a show that could be canceled within a week?"
The entertainment industry is slowly awakening to the power of the YouTube community. In his March 15, 2012 Daily Variety "Tech Bytes" column, David Cohen wrote, "The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that YouTube is getting ready to burn down the filmed entertainment business as we know it. In fact, the match has already been struck. We just haven't felt the heat yet." He suggests that the change will be profound; as 78 rpm records popularized the era of the three minute pop song, the three minute YouTube video may very well become dominant form of video entertainment.
Ryan spoke recently with a veteran newscaster, who recalled his experience in the early days of television, and advised him to "just keep doing this, because everyone told me I was an idiot to want to work on television," back when radio was still King.
"It took my dad a long time for him to even accept what I do and he was, I guess, concerned: 'what is my son doing, he's going outside, dressed as a squirrel? What is he doing?' And I always said, 'I think that this might do something, I have an idea it could go in a good direction' " Today, Ryan's dad is convinced that his son was right.
"It's a really nice thing to think about, to be part of something that is technically changing the whole game, entertainment wise - and they're scared," he says of the traditional media industry, "they're really scared. And I think that's a good thing for us."
To use an expression dating back to the early days of radio: stay tuned!
As Al Jolson said in the first "talkie" motion picture in 1927, "You ain't seen nothing yet!"
Austin didn't expect to do anything but record his life with Brittany, and share their adventures with friends. Their channel records their life, but also includes comedy, skits and other creative content - it's a way for the outgoing and upbeat couple to have a good time together - and share it with friends. The audience for TheNiveNulls grew over time, and now includes thousands who enjoy sharing their lives, and anticipate the birth of Austin and Brittany's child, due in June.
One of the emerging themes across a number of the Vlogger Interviews is the understanding by vloggers that they are creating an intimate archive of their lives - in effect, it just may be a very contemporary equivalent of the old-school photo album. Imagine looking through old photo albums and hearing the voices and thoughts and witnessing the experiences of relatives from generations past. Imagine Austin and Brittany's child looking back at the lives of her parents in the months before she was born - and seeing in very real terms, who they were long ago in 2012...
In this Vlogger Interview, I spoke with Josten Dooley [JostenDooley on YouTube], a college student in North Carolina who vlogs every day. Why? Partly, Josten is archiving his life so that he can look back on his personal evolution for years to come. Josten also appreciates that many consider one of the most exciting benefits of Vlogging: The opportunity to get to know people from virtually anywhere in the world - developing diverse friendships that were inconceivable just a decade ago.
Also, discover why traditional television just doesn't have the appeal it once had...
Enjoy the interview!
(click on the YouTube Logo to view this on my channel)
During the Vlogger Interviews, I've had the opportunity to meet vloggers with a wide range of sometimes overlapping motivations. Some vloggers simply to express themselves; others for fame, and others for social interaction. One of the most creative and growing areas in the vlogging community, I feel, is using vlogging as a tool for entrepreneurship. The same basic rule applies across all vlogs: create quality content that respects your audience.
Zennie Abraham (Zennie62 on YouTube), once a Planner for the City of Oakland, began vlogging as a means to supplement his entrepreneurial efforts. Sports Business Simulations, for example, allows students to manage sports teams through an online simulation, creating an environment that would allow a team not only to be successful, but profitable as well. He soon discovered that vlogging itself was something that not only added value to what he was already doing, but could transport him to a host of new opportunities.
Zennie has blogged and vlogged on a wide range of subjects, ranging from sports to entertainment to politics. He was one of the very first blogger-journalists to be allowed to report online at the 2005 NFL draft - the next year, he had a video camera in hand.
His efforts have earned him appearances on CNN, an early YouTube partnership, and a rare close-up understanding of how vlogging has evolved, where it stands today - and how it can grow in the future.
In a few months, seventeen year-old Andrew Brackin will graduate from high school. The London, UK resident will have time to pursue the things he loves - and dive full-time into his ambition to be a web entrepreneur. He's been a part-time entrepreneur for most of his teen years, and has several web-based projects already behind him.
His own journey began when he was just 13, and began vlogging on YouTube - building an audience and making friends across the UK and around the world - and introducing him to the world of entrepreneurship. He could be called, I suppose, a child of social media, with a network and a sensibility that almost certainly will set his generation apart from those before.
Though he's already achieved modest success, he has no illusions about where's he's at - and where he needs to go, "I don't think I'm anywhere near "there" yet - I feel I'm at step one of many, many steps."
One of earliest projects, tunevibez.com [no longer in operation], evolved out of day-long experiment in music streaming, and evolved into a year long experiment. After finding that licensing mainstream artists would be too expensive and complicated, he personally contacted hundreds of independent artists and record labels to secure their permission - and created a 24/7 operation that involved more than a dozen DJ's - all friends he'd made through YouTube and other social media (with BillTVMacon providing an automated voice for the station when DJ's weren't available. Though Tunevibez never made money, "it was great fun," and expanded his community of friends and followers.
Today, he's the co-founder of getdealy.com, a Groupon-like site aimed at a tech-minded audience. It has eighty thousand members worldwide so far, offering discounts on specialized products like font packs, ftp software, and productivity software. It's continued to help raise Andrew's profile, generating media interviews - and even a brief mention in the Wall Street Journal's "Marketwatch" column.
As Andrew moves on, he's already giving back to other young entrepreneurs. He's careful to say he doesn't offer advice - but the benefit of his experience. He encourages other like-minded teens to "break every rule...failure is good. I've failed many times."
He also offers a perspective to other teens that might leave some of his older counterparts scratching their heads. It makes perfect sense, in this author's opinion, if you take into account a teen just beginning to comprehend the possibilities ahead.
"Lots of people talk about business plans, and I just feel like, you know, if you have one set vision, when you write a business plan right at the start of your company, and that's the time when you're company's going to change the most...because you do all this early learning about the market, just naturally, reading about other companies, or contacting your first partners, or customers, you'll learn really big lessons which will change your company and essentially, if you have a business plan, it's very hard to do that, your mind is set.
"So basically, don't be worried, don't be afraid to make mistakes, and if you work on something long enough and hard enough, and listen to the people around you, you will be able to succeed. "
This year, upon graduation from high school, Andrew's ready to take his ambitions to the next level. He intends to come to Silicon Valley and work on an as-yet-undisclosed new project. "I'd like to do something really disruptive," he says. He hopes, of course, to eventually pursue start-up and/or venture capital funding, following the path of so many tech entrepreneurs before him.
After chatting with Andrew, however, I can't help but anticipate how his powerfully connected generation might impact the established tech world, as the Gates and Jobs generation shook up the tech world in the 70's.
In the latest episode of The Vlogger Interviews, I spoke with Erik of ErikTV365, a family vlog based in Dallas, Texas. Erik's made the commitment that he's going to vlog every day for the rest of his life. In the world of YouTube, where gimmicks and imitation sometimes seem like the norm, Erik's channel is a little bit different: it has a purpose.
Erik's a survivor of testicular cancer. He decided to start vlogging during his chemotherapy, when he watched other YouTube family channels, and found that "it boosted my spirits - it help me to realize that there's more than just dwelling on something." He wants his children - and as time went on, his audience - to know that "no matter what obstacles are thrown at them in life, that they can always have a happy day." It's a philosophy he follows on his vlog - and in his life.
Watch the vlog is learn more about how this channel came about, and how Erik maintains his vlogging commitment every day of the year.
This episode of my webseries, "TheVlogger Interviews" features Peter Illagan, known on YouTube at JourneysOfLifeVlogs.
Just who are Vloggers, anyway? Yes, the obvious answer is that they're "video
bloggers," but that's too simple an answer, I think. They're not filmmakers, as we've come
to understand the craft (and anyway, that's a dated term). YouTubers are often called
"content creators," but that's a term that seems awfully bland for
what the site has come to represent.
Peter Ilagan, of the YouTube channel, Journeysoflifevlogs, has
found expression for himself as an artist in a several different forms - as a
sketch artist, as a painter - and as a writer. In fact, he began his YouTube experience after publishing
his book of short stories, Journeys of Life. He saw social media at first as a way to promote his book,
but rapidly discovered that he liked creating videos and posting them online.
"I've come to realize that I like the aspect of making
videos for YouTube social media because it gives me a chance to be more
creative, obviously, and just express my thoughts in a way I never could have
imagined. I mean, I'm a little
more funny in the videos that I expected to be I guess, and I just like the
fact that I can put it together in like a two or three minute video and just
put it out there for people to see and just really enjoy and hopefully
entertain them."
Some might call that a thirst for immediate gratification, but
if you're an artist - you know that there's huge satisfaction in knowing that
you're actually reaching and touching your audience. I asked Peter if he's a writer who vlogs, or a vlogger who
writes. His answer, I think, sums
up the multi-dimesional canvas that, thanks to technology, is at our fingertips
- and makes defining social media-centered artists so hard to define.
"I don't look at myself as a writer who vlogs, or a vlogger
who writes. I look at myself more
as a vlogger who creates, using whatever means I feel is the best way to
express my creativity."
Take a look at Peter's interview here or on my YouTube channel,
and then check out Peter's main channel.
And if you really want the full "Journeys of Life"
experience, here's a secret: make
sure you follow him on Twitter - he's got a wickedly dry sense of humor. And I don't use the word
"wickedly" too often...
Viginia-based Will Massenburg, known on YouTube as CreativeSoulTV is today's Vlogger Interview - my blog and webseries looking at the world of vlogging, from the vloggers themselves.
Will Massenburg is,
indeed, a creative soul. His
Twitter account describes him as "Director/Cartoonist/Geek/Flawed
Genius/Blogger/Tech Enthusiast/Apple Fan/Video Maker/Podcaster/Movie
Lover." By day, he's a
professional graphic artist - by his own description, he's naturally quiet and
reserved. It's almost like Clark Kent and Superman - Superman being his YouTube
personality. Superman was on full display during my recent Vlogger Interview,
as Will greeted me in a full Halloween disguise.
On his YouTube channel, Will is UNreserved, outward, funny, irreverent - and sometimes downright wacky -
he's clearly having a great time.
"Vlogging waas something that I got into that sort of
opened me up, and exposed me to the world, I guess - and here I am!"
"The Vlogger Interviews" is an ongoing series of vlogs and blogs exploring the definition of vlogging – from the vlogger's perspective, If you like this interview, I would appreciate your subscription to http://youtube.com/worldaccordingtorich on YouTube.
2006 is only five years ago, but in the world of YouTube, it's
practically an eternity.
"It was a magical era," says Ken Goldstein, known as
KENRG on YouTube and across the social media landscape - he's one of YouTube's early
vloggers. He was already a
long-time blogger when he first came across the site - in fact, he was looking
for video footage to supplement a blog post, and then discovered that YouTube
offered the video equivelent of what he was already doing. He discovered Renetto, one of YouTube's
earliest "stars," a spritied, outspoken raconteur, among other
things, "and I thought, well, if he can do this, just sitting in front of
a camera and talking to a camera and sharing it, I can certainly give that a
try."
The idea of a social network was still new, then. MySpace was primarily for kids,
Facebook was in it's earliest stages, and Twitter didn't even exist. In you wanted to interact socially
online, YouTube was the best place to be.
"I think one of the most brilliant things that YouTube did
in the early days that helped the community and the art of vlogging...was the
video response...not just that you could comment, but I could comment on your
comment." Through their
videos, directly attached as comments to another's vlogger's video, a video
conversation followed,
"That's really where it stated, and that's the magic of where it
started in 2006, when there was a limited universe of us vlogging back and
forth with each other."
"The Vlogger Interviews" is an ongoing series of vlogs and blogs exploring the definition of vlogging – from the vlogger's perspective, If you like this interview, I would appreciate your subscription to http://youtube.com/worldaccordingtorich on YouTube.
In my latest "Vlogger Interview," I
had the opportunity to chat with Vancouver, Canada-based Josh Rimer.
Josh is both a successful YouTuber (4.4 million views; 9120
subscribers), and, as of earlier this year, a YouTube Marketer.
Huh, what's that?
If you've never heard of the term "YouTube Marketer," that's
probably because the concept really didn't exist until just recently. As YouTube becomes more and more
popular - and vloggers and other YouTubers being to see what they're doing as
potentially a profession, knowing how to actually bring those videos out to an
audience has become something of an art.
"The Vlogger Interviews" is a series of vlogs and blogs exploring the definition of vlogging – from the vlogger's perspective, If you like this interview, I would appreciate your subscription to http://youtube.com/worldaccordingtorich on YouTube. Contact me if you'd like to be considered for the next interview!
As AndyMooseman on YouTube, Hastings, U.K. resident Andy
Gunton has been vlogging since 2006.
He’s seen the online community grow from what was essentially a small
village into online metropolis it is today. Though YouTube is only about six years old, Andy
things of his own videos as “old-fashioned vlogs.”
“I tend to do unedited videos. Sometimes it’s a stream of
consciousness thing. It’s usually
based around some sort of topic…. things I see in the news, or whatever, just
something that springs out of something that might have happened to you, that
type of thing, maybe trying to get people to thing about things a little bit.”
In the past, he’s also done scenic or historical videos,
taking his viewers on guided walks, or sharing a local occasional festival or
event.
Though the public generally doesn’t perceive YouTube as a
social network, Andy recalls that in 2006, it was just about the only game in
town, “In that time, Facebook was
in it’s infancy. There was no such thing as Twitter, so it was the one place
where you could more or less meet up and speak to each other and see each other
as well.”
"The Vlogger Interviews" is a series of vlogs
and blogs exploring the definition of vlogging – from the vlogger's
perspective, If you like this interview, I would appreciate your subscription to http://youtube.com/worldaccordingtorich.blogspot.com on YouTube.
My latest interview features Robert Anton, a musician from
New York City who first ventured online as a means to promote his music, and
discovered a much bigger world.
“I’m a singer, songwriter, performer, music publisher and I
am here on YouTube basically to promote my music – but with that comes a lot of
other things. Now I have four channels on YouTube, and across those platforms I
think what I’m doing is mostly just getting my voice out there. I’m sharing some of my opinions and
some of my life experiences, and interacting with people from all over the
world.”
I first met Robert Anton at Vidcon – the YouTube content
creator’s conference – almost a year and a half ago. In an event filled with over-the-top enthusiasm, he
stood out. I thought that was
because he’d just been notified that he’d been accepted in the YouTube
Partner’s program. It wasn’t
just that. If you watch him
on YouTube, you soon realize that Robert simply projects energy.
(You can read my original review of The Boy Mirhere)
I recently had the opportunity to interview Phil Grabsky, director of The Boy Mir: Ten Years in Afghanistan," a new feature documentary that offers an unusually intimate portrait of a young boy growing up in the remote reaches of Afghanistan over the last decade. From eight to about eighteen, we watch Mir's life unfold with his family, as they struggle to survive, distant but impacted by the battle's for Afghanistan's future. This is actually Grabsky's second feature film about Mir. The award-winning "The Boy Who Plays on the Buddhas of Bamiyan" (2004), followed Mir and his family during a single year as they struggled to survive in the aftermath of Taliban rule, living in the shadow of what had been the tallest sculptures in the world - the Buddhas of Bamiyan - which the Taliban had destroyed to international outrage in 2001.
Photo used by permission
A large part of the appeal of both films is Mir himself - an intelligent, charismatic boy facing daily hardships that force him to often interrupt his schooling to work in the fields to help sustain his family. As he grows into a teenager, his hopes dreams, humor - and even his material wishes (a bike, a motorcycle, a cell phone) will seem familiar to kids and adults the world over.
Grabsky, based in Brighton, U.K., remembers the very event that triggered both Mir films. On July 2nd, 2002, a U.S. aircraft accidentally fired on an Afghan wedding, perhaps reacting to perceving celebratory gunfire as a threat. The attack killed and wounded dozens - and haunted Grabsky, "I thought to myself, alright, step back from that. Imagine your own wedding day, my wedding day, out of the blue sky - they don't even see this plane - out of the blue sky, one minute everyone's dancing and happy, and the next minute people are literally in bits."
"I thought, who are the Afghans? They can't all be terrorists, they can't all be mute women behind burkhas. And I was just interested, and I thought I'lll just go and find out myself."
