If I’m perfectly honest, YouTube videos were a large part of my decision to do Media. In fact, I would go as far as to say that they were the reason I went with this course over something music or design related. From vlogs to short films to skits, I love what YouTube can offer as a platform and became unrelentingly obsessed with a number of major YouTubers throughout high school. I began making my own YouTube videos when I was around sixteen, and I had a music channel which I shared, and another channel which I kept somewhat secret which included my first attempts to imitate what my favourite online creators were producing. This meant very poorly written, unentertaining vlogs, and a book full of scripts for skits and short films that never got made, mostly due to the fact that I was too scared to tell anyone that this was even a hobby of mine, let alone ask for help in getting a crew together. Most of what went up came down within a week, and even when I was proud of my work I was afraid of what others would think, particularly my friends at school.
In the end I deleted my channel, only to set up another a few months later. I uploaded quite a few videos to this new channel and left them public for nearly six months; in fact the videos are still up, but they are currently hidden from the public (I wanted to go into university without the added stress of people judging me based on my YouTube persona, which to be fair, is quite amateurish and dorky).
Now, however, I don’t see that as a problem. The people I have met at uni are so supportive and like-minded, I have began toying with the idea of starting it all up again. Of course, I am aware that today the shear amount of people who use the platform make it near impossible to gain a following or to even get views, but it’s something I’ve always been interested in and hence see it as something worth perhaps following up on (again), if for nothing more than practise and experience.
Until then though, I thought – being a passion of mine – I could write some entries on some of my own, personal favourite content creators. It could be helpful in deciding on what I want my own style to be, and what kind of content I want to create. Perhaps I’ll write on a different YouTuber every week?
All I know for now is that the next YouTube related post I write will most certainly be about my absolute favourite YouTube commentator and red-haired God: Benjamin Cook.
