The Vlogger Interviews: Curt Phillips [OhCurt]

Today's Vlogger Interview features Curt Phillips - OhCurt on YouTube - he's a vlogger with a cinematic sense, and a vlogging veteran with over five years behind him.   In this interview, learn how Curt actually began developing his vlogging style in the 1980's - and the single greatest reason he keeps it up to this day.

If you haven't seen it yet, here's the powerful video by young Jacob Mowry, to whom Curt refers to in this video. This video, though posted months ago, went viral just a couple of weeks ago.  Here's Curt's own response.

Vlogging For the Masses

In Andymooseman's comment on my last blog, "Why Do People Create on YouTube," he categorized himself as a hybrid of the first and third of the categories I mentioned - in short, someone who enjoys creating on YT for the sake of self-expression, but someone, at the same, who is open to exploring social media as an entrepreneurial opportunity.

It occurs to me that there may be a pathway to creating additional (monetary) value in the vlogs that Andy, Kenrg, OhCurt and many others create on a regular basis.  These vlogs are the modern equivalent of the opinion/commentary pages in your local newspaper (and now are as slashed to a bare minimum).  I'm not writing so much about the "Letters to the Editor" section, but the guest columnists that provided a community or individual voice on issues at hand.  These personal perspectives and anecdotes often provided the reader with a distinctly personal and  independent view apart from the "usual suspects" of reporters and paid columnists. 

Of course, guest columnists were never paid - but I still wonder if that concept can be adapted for the social media world.  Blogging, of course, has a robust presence on many news sites, but I would think that guest vlogs might even be a more attractive draw for the casual visitor.  

Guest vlogs on mainstream news and information sites, in turn, might help bring vlogs of this type to a larger (YouTube) subscription base - which in turn provides new opportunities for the vloggers themselves, reviving interest in this particular category, and widening the YouTube universe.

Story. Telling.

I wanted to share with you a recent vlog by OhCurt, one of the vloggers I met during a meet-up in Santa Monica several months ago.  Though Curt's not a video professional, he has a great sense of story.  His recent vlog, "Green," is about his decision to leave Los Angeles in search of greener pastures in Northern California.

Look at the video, and you'll notice classic storytelling.  There's a beginning, a middle and an end in the vlog, even though it's just under three and a half minutes.  First, Curt makes a decision: he needs to leave Los Angeles.  Then, he heads out on the road and ponders the process of making the huge decision to leave his hometown.  Finally, he comes to a conclusion and expresses some peace of mind about the path he's now pursuing.

It's a simple, direct story - a lesson that can be applied in whatever type of video you're creating online, even if it's just a couple of minutes long.