The Vlogger Interviews: Lane Fournerat

Just what is vlogging, anyway?   

Ask a random selection of vloggers why they vlog, and you’ll get five different answers.  To some, it’s an opportunity to be an entrepreneur, to another a chance to make friends, or bring people together for a cause – or simply a means of pure self-expression. 

Ask those same vloggers how they vlog, and the road map becomes even more complicated.    The art of creating online video isn’t simply creating a video and posting it.   Vlogging is also an interactive art.  The vlogger, in a very real way, creates a direct connection to his or her audience. 

"The Vlogger Interviews" is a series of vlogs and blogs exploring the definition of vlogging – from the vlogger's perspective.

Lane Fournerat  of Lafayette, Louisiana has a whole family of YouTube channels – in TV terms, LaneVid is the vlogging equivelent of a variety show; TheFunnyRats (a play on his last name) is his reality show, co-starring his wife and baby girl.  Other channels feature his other interests – drumming, mobile apps – even video game walkthroughs.

“It’s me.  That’s the best way that I can describe it.  If you like what I like, then you’ll like what you see.”

According to Lane, The job of a vlogger isn’t simply to create content, but also “to build a core group of people who will really stand behind you and really appreciate what you’re doing for them, which is entertaining them everyday.”  His core audience becomes the vlogger’s friends and supporters.  The comments on a video aren’t just about feedback – they’re about true interaction.

Lane graduated from college with a  degree in the performing arts.  His dream, like so many others before him, was to become an iconic filmmaker, “I wanted to make my “Feature Length Film” - THE film I was going to be known by.”  Like so many others before him, though – it didn’t work out that way.  He discovered something better:  YouTube.

Jackass Videos, Bernie Madoff and Online Integrity

In a response to my recent blog, "Six Reasons Why Every Film Student Should Have a YouTube Channel," an educator responded with concerns about the integrity of the content that some content creators might choose to produce.  What kind of content has integrity?  What kind of content is worthwhile?  That's a difficult question, and varies depending upon age, culture and interests.  

If a YouTuber creates a Jackass knock-off that earns him tens of thousands of subscribers, does that content possess a specific standard of integrity for his audience?  If another creates an immensely popular channel promoting conspiracy theories and the illusion of journalistic values, can his follower's simple belief in his integrity actually define his integrity?

Art, as the saying goes, is in the eye of the beholder.  Integrity, defined by Meriam-Webster.com as "firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values," is also distinctly subjective - varying between cultures, societies, neighborhoods - and even small groups of friends. 

At one time, Bernie Madoff was perceived as a man of great integrity:  A trustworthy, honest man with impeccable credentials who might be trusted with one's life savings. He formed and maintained an illusion for decades, stealing billions from investors in the pursuit of personal gain.  Violating the trust of virtually everyone, he proved himself to be a man without integrity of any definition.

Likewise, the YouTuber who creates (willingly or through ignorance) an illusion of journalistic integrity amidst suggestions of dark conspiracies is deceiving his followers with declarations of "evidence" where there is none, or of "experts" who are not whose own integrity would be questionable.  As Bernie Madoff deceived his clients, this content creator may be using and manipulating his audience strictly for personal gain, and has no qualms or even concerns about the accuracy of his content.

On the other hand, if the YouTuber creating a Jackass knockoff promises to entertain his audience with a certain type and quality of entertainment with each episode - and delivers on his promise - he might be said to have more integrity than the conspiracy theorist.  His audience's trust isn't mis-placed - they're obtaining what they seek.

But does the Jackass YouTuber really have integrity?  Isn't he, instead, promoting violence?  Isn't he contributing to the destruction of moral, ethical and artistic values across media by helping to popularize mindless entertainment?  After all, we're talking about thirteen year-olds throwing themselves into walls and jumping into thorny bushes. 

Does every film student - or content creator - need to be a moral crusader, create family friendly content, and ignore shallow celebrity culture?   As diverse individuals, the answer is no.  As prospective media professionals, however - it's imperative to understand and develop a sense of integrity to both content and career. 

THEN make some cool Jackass videos!

What's your opinion?

Six Reasons Why Every Film Student Should Have a YouTube Channel

1. The opportunity to create content for an audience - and receive direct feedback from that audience. Viewers can provide their feedback by "thumbing up" a video, leaving comments, and adding the video to their list of favorites. In addition, YouTube provides a service called "Insight" to every channel and every video, allowing the channel owner to analyze how their audiences are responding on a wide range of categories, including age, location, attention (how long people actually watch each video), and more. 
2. The opportunity to network , learn- and collaborate - with a wide range of like-minded content creators from around the world. Artists of all types can work together with an ease never before possible 
3. The chance to develop, early on, a track record as a filmmaker / content creator. Many YouTubers, without any training, have used their channels to generate real world content creation jobs. The channel, in effect, becomes a living, breathing, constantly changing demo reel with real-world endorsements from an engaged audience. 
4. With commitment to a YouTube channel, the filmmaker will need to develop content on a regular basis - not only keeping the "creative juices flowing," and developing his or her craft, but developing the creative discipline critical to success. 
5. The chance to develop the public speaking skills that are critical for any director - to be able to talk confidently to an audience with ease. Though vlogs are typically created alone, they're distributed publicly. Vloggers who host their own channels are also building extemporaneous speaking skills as well.  
6. Building and evenutally monteizing a YouTube channel offers the chance to develop valuable real-world entrepreneurial skills that successful filmmakers need.  The possibility of becoming a YouTube partner (and sharing in advertising revenue), is only one avenue through which an individual can financially benefit from their channel. Building an audience also provides the opportunity to create independent partnerships with advertisers and engage in additional opportunities such as product placement.

Your feedback is encouraged!

Blogcritics Documentary Review: "The Boy Mir"

Image Used by Permission

(Check out my interview with Phil Grabsky, director of "The Boy Mir")

This review originally posted on Blogcritics.org


The Boy Mir – Ten Years in Afghanistan, a feature documentary now making the rounds at film festivals worldwide, offers an intimate perspective of daily life in Afghanistan rarely seen by western audiences. Over a period of a decade, British filmmaker Phil Grabsky returned repeatedly to this war-ravaged country to visit Mir, a young boy living with his family in remote villages far – but not untouched – by the battles raging throughout the country.

Only eight years old when we first meet him, Mir grows into a young man, with hopes and dreams of a better for himself and his family. His family, at times, is literally dirt poor –living in mountain dug-outs high above the plain, struggling daily to survive. He understands that school is the key to his future, but his attendance is spotty and inconsistent – he must tend to his family’s livestock more and more, as his father is in failing health and is less able to perform the arduous work necessary for the family to survive.

Mir’s life will seem surprisingly familiar to the western audience. Material desires – for bikes and motorbikes – will dominate his thoughts for a time, and as he grows older and the family’s life marginally improves, he dominates use of the family’s new cell phone with calls to girls in distant towns. As he grows, he also develops an awareness of his situation, his future, and what he must to succeed beyond his family’s bare existence.

National and international politics are distant here – but never out of mind. They’ve fled to the remote mountain settlement because of the incursion of the Taliban; they return to when the Taliban are on the run. These are simple people struggling to survive in a world hopelessly beyond their control. They’re not religious zealots, or freedom fighters. Like most people around the world, they only want to live their lives in peace.


Knowledge of the Americans and British are mostly anecdotal in this remote enclave. During one tribal meeting, an attendee struggles to understand the relationship between the two allied nations, asking if the U.K. is part of the U.S. (he's corrected by wiser villagers).   When several American troops in a pair of military vehicles tentatively visit the town, villagers are gracious, but puzzled by the visit, and the peculiar gifts they’re given by the American soldiers.

The Boy Mir – Ten Years in Afghanistan is actually a follow-up to Grabsky’s award-winning film, The Boy Who Plays on the Buddhas of Bamiyan, featuring Mir and his family when they lived in the shadow of what once were gigantic and ancient statues of Buddha, blown to rubble during the Taliban’s reign.

Mir – the boy and the film - has an abundance of energy and hope for his future – though the road ahead is still unclear. For anyone struggling to truly understand the people of Afghanistan, this film provides an exceptional and moving introduction.