I'm a political blogger so if I did what was the most marketable all my blog posts would be about name calling people and coming up with catchy nick names for politicians who disagree with me politically. I couldn't do that because I still have a soul.
Terry Rendon www.terryannonline.com --- In videoblogging@yahoogroups.com, "Bill Cammack" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Amongst the "YouTubers" that came to Pixelodeon was Caitlin Hill, aka > TheHill88 <http://flickr.com/photos/ekai/543134602/>. Recently, she > posted a video to YouTube <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KQv4koF1n0> > which was a response to other people's responses to her video called > "Chris Crocker + TV Show = A Load of Crock" > <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYGmO_zCU6Q&NR=1>. > > Now I know Caitlin's one of the YouTubers that's doing a character. > She does mostly goofy "entertainment" skits. If she's acting in these > two videos, I'll tip my hat, because she seems perfectly serious to me. > > There are lots of things I find interesting about these videos, > including the fact that she seems to have a good grasp on the > difference between "laughing at" and "laughing with" and she's > basically putting down the exact same type of videos that she does > herself. She also says that she liked [her work] way more before she > cared what other people thought. At this point, AFAIK, she's in the > YouTube Partner program. Her punchline at the end of the Crocker > video is "Please realize this. Reality TV is like YouTube... Need I > say more?" > > Granted, I don't watch many YouTube "Character" videos, so I have no > idea whether lots of people are saying this, but (again, if we're to > take her seriously, and I've chosen to do that after having watched > both videos) her stance seems to be opposing the stance of "anything > that anybody does is worthwhile to anybody but themselves" and > "anybody who gets sponsored or chosen to do something has been deemed > a quality performer". I find it to be a very progressive and > insightful stance from someone who specializes in deliberately-goofy > videos. Obviously, Caitlin has been exposed to more of "the > industry", and that may be coloring her view of "sit in front of your > webcam" videos. > > I wanted to post this in light of some people mentioning that the > recent conversations in this group have been about money. How do we > get paid? How do we monetize? How do we get sponsored? How do we > grow and maintain an audience? How do we get more hits? How do we > get more distribution? What kinds of ads should we run? > > I agree from my own perspective with what Caitlin had to say about > "caring what people think". That's partially why what was going to be > a personal "battle" with Vergel Evans <http://Lx7.ca> became Vlog > Deathmatch: Video Music Challenge > <http://vlogdeathmatch.blogspot.com/2007/05/bill-cammacks-official-music-video.html>. > I had basically bored myself to death doing videos that conformed to > what the public was consuming or what was being done in the space. I > love that particular video I did with ActionGirl, because it was fun, > she brought fantastic energy to the project, and I was consistently, > progressively creative during the time we shot it and I edited it. > That's more my style and what I got involved with video to do in the > first place. I also really enjoyed the diversity and creativity of > the other 19 entries in the "contest", which I really think of more as > a festival. > > I've also had the *rare* reaction of "Damn... I wish *I* had made that > video" when I see Jay Smooth's creativity in his videoblog "Ill > Doctrine" > <http://www.illdoctrine.com/2007/06/the_ill_doctrine_dipset_anthem.html> > <http://www.illdoctrine.com/2007/07/john_lee_hooker_i_get_money_fr.html>. > > I guess it all comes down to what YOU would do if you weren't > concerned with numbers or viewers or getting sponsored or paying bills > through videoblogging... the exact opposite of what we've been > discussing lately. Maybe you're already doing exactly what you want. > Maybe your videos are already personally satisfying to you. I've > been getting A LOT of satisfaction cutting Scriggity > <http://scriggity.com> with Drew Olanoff @ Shauna. Just last night, > Clintus McGintus told us he was with the program to do Scriggity > epidodes, so it's just getting better and better. :D > > I wonder what the percentage is between people that actually enjoy > what they're doing and people that do their shows specifically to get > hits, sponsorship or attention. If you're not going to do videos that > *you* like or even LOVE, make sure the ROI's worth it. Otherwise, you > might be better off keeping your day job and making videos that are > completely unmarketable, yet personally fulfilling. > > -- > Bill > http://billcammack.com >
