Ironically, much of the canon of tha A-G film world that is now studied academically arose from EXACTLY the conditions and ethics that you talk about in your post, except that the A-G world WAS the backyard screenings on sheets reacting against the rarified and/or exclusive film and gallery worlds of the time. Down to the inclusion of lots of diary films and a wholehearted embracing of the concept of "amateur".
(Well, OK, on the WEST coast it was. Or so I'm told ;-).) I worry that if vlogging stays primarily a form where people vlog just for other vloggers and tech folks who are interested in watching it, it won't, in the long run, thrive. The A-G film world is struggling today partly (imo) because it stayed in dialog primarily with itself. Re the "not just art....but personal, newsy, etc etc" - I think some of the best art around is coming from those very vlogs! But again,. context... on the big screen, the context change can be serious (and as has been pointed out, that can be good or bad). Brook -- _______________________________________________________ Brook Hinton film/video/audio art www.brookhinton.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]