In this video entry, I highlight a brief overview of my time spent on the internet from a young age as an aspiring creator, reflect on where I may have stumbled and fell into pitfalls along the way, and discusses future plans moving forward on what sort of online content I hope to create in the future. Online media has always been a significant part of my life, from engaging in it from a young age to forming my own creative aspirations as I got older. Because of this, I only found it fitting to base the subject of my first “vlog” on this topic, as it provides context for my previous work as well as it will continue to be a recurring theme in everything I pursue creatively on this website in the future.
I have always admired the aesthetic of the “casual, sit-down vlog” video format we saw YouTubers in the early days of the platform implement in their content. It felt incredibly personable. Although we’ve made a lot of strides forward in legitimizing independent online media as a mainstream, commercialized concept , I think there is a large margin of people who miss the authenticity of the older days of the platform. This is the style I was attempting to emulate. No major production value, or editing frills… I even decided to leave background music out of this video as an attempt to allow the subject matter of the video speak for itself. As someone who has never made this style of content in the past and has always valued perfectionism (as well as someone who considers themselves to be “behind-the-scenes” talent- seldom liking to be in the spotlight), I felt incredibly vulnerable and out of place creating this video. However, I decided to push back those thoughts and push onward. While the final product is nothing to marvel at, I was ultimately pleased with the end result and believe it to have instilled confidence in me to try out creating more styles of online media I may be unfamiliar with.