Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Bearing Witness to Something Completely New

Okay, first of all, if you happened to stumble on to this site and don't know anything about lonelygirl15 or this whole YouTube.com story, STOP!! DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER! Go watch the videos. I believe his is the first one:

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...Okay? Okay.

Have you ever had that realization that strikes you, takes your breath away, makes you step back and realize you have just bared witness to something BIG?--I mean something that's completely new, revolutionary, a huge moment in pop culture?

...I know to some it sounds too cliché--typical words used heard over and over describing The Beatles first appearance on Sullivan, or maybe those watching the Wright brothers fly that fairs plane, the moon landing, whatever...

So for those who can't relate to the emotion above, the I ask you this: Have you found yourself in that moment where you realize you've been "had" by a really good prank? --I mean, a prank so elaborate and believable that you were totally engulfed, and even though made out to be the victim, you have nothing but RESPECT for those who orchestrated such a task? ...I'm talking about a really, really good one... one that just hits you, but you can do nothing but applaud in amazement...

Between the two points above, somewhere lies lonelygirl15 on www.youtube.com.

Though I'm sure already old news to the internet elite, I personally only got into the mix recently due a post on the http://www.clubsi.com/ forums. Something along the lines of "WTF! this teeny bopper crap is number 1 on YouTube?!" with a link to "House Arrest"

(I mean, this was yesterday (10/12/06?). At this point, though unbeknownst to me at the time, news about the producers “owning up” to the fake had already broken out.)

Anyway, so I click the link and watch the video… First impression?--The chick is pretty hot, and it was interesting enough (and short enough) to hold my attention span that I decided to watch another… then another… Hey, Daniel’s got responses too? Let’s watch one or two of his… then before you knew it, I went back to find the first one to start watching them in order! I couldn’t get enough!

The “story” and the mystery of Bree just sucks you in! I mean, you have this girl who’s nerdy-cute (ah, high-school memories!), actually pretty entertaining, has no real friends, was home-schooled, has a guy-friend that’s a complete tool but not afraid to speak his mind on the web, seems confined to her room, “vloggs” without her parents knowing about it, is Stephen Hawkings smart, yet is involved in some super-funky-who-knows-what religion? --Tell me more!!

And of course, back on the "reality" side, you start asking yourself questions that were hitting everyone when they were first watching the videos... At first you're impressed that she's such a good speaker (and decent at video editing mind you) . Then you say, "wait, does a chick this hot, really not have any friends?" ..."how is it she's never 'been to a party' but knows Nelly's "Grills" and other pop music?" ... "Is Daniel holding the camera at this point?... he sure films here a lot as she dances through flowers and dives into the water in a one piece..." "Does that camera have really good picture and sound quality?" .... but this just makes the whole thing even more intriguing. Especially as you learn other people in the you tube community asking the very same questions.

Is this real? …I have a friend who is in kind of weird religion…maybe this is real. (Damn, maybe my friend has a hot sister like this…) They do seem pretty natural, I mean, for internet geeks at least I guess… Maybe as hot as she is, being home-schooled and knowing so much about science she really doesn’t have any friends… she is pretty dorky at some points… really dorky…

All of the questions make it that much more intriguing. And hey, the eyes see what they want to see.

Then you find out the truth. Yes--yes, this is fake. This was a production company (of some sort) with a made up storyline. Bree is an actor. I’ve been had. (Yet I knew it!) but I was had. Damn, LOTS of people were had… Youtubers out there are actually up in arms… Wow…good one.

Even if you don’t like the story of lonelygirl15 (or are pissed that it’s fake/people were mislead/she was boring anyway/whatever) you can’t help but be impressed by the concept.

GENIUS.

Simply genius. This is BIG!--this is a totally new media in which to tell a story, to merchandize, to involve and create a community… Amazing. Weather fans or skeptics, this thing blew UP! It made news headlines around the world… crazy. We have never seen anything like this before. What marketing campaign today could generate so much interest for so little money??

The only recent thing I can even think to compare it to, is the movie, The Blair Witch Project. Time and time again, I have friends coming up to me telling me how much that movie “sucked!”… “It wasn’t even scary!”

Dude… do you realize this movie had no script? Do you realize the “actors” were told to just go out into the woods to a certain checkpoint, where they would receive individual envelopes with some minimal instruction and directions to the next checkpoint--all while keeping the cameras rolling? Like, “throw the map into the river. And when she confronts you about it, get in her face and defend your actions.” ...Do you know the actors were clueless as to most of it?--the producers actually hid out in the woods at night making weird noises and stuff outside their tent! The reactions were real! They were scared as sh!t…

--It’s the CONCEPT man! They took improv, mixed in some genuine human interaction, let fate take it’s course, and made a MOVIE out of that!

“Oh… that’s kind of cool… still wasn’t scary though…”

The concept and phenomena that is lonelygirl15 on youtube is what I love… I mean, they won. It drew me in. I wanna know what happens next. If this was an episode of Dawson’s Creek or some garbage, would I even care about Bree’s religion? No.

What does happen next? Not just in the story between Bree, Daniel, and her strict parents, but how about what’s next for the production company? Generating this much hype and popularity… how do you capitalize? What comes next??

There’s rumors about a full length movie to tell the continued story of Bree and Daniel, picking up I’m sure after some big internet “cliff-hanger”… who knows it could be good.

What I’d like to see, is the documentary--filmed as they were creating all of this. Did they know how big this would get? Were they shocked at every new subscription or vlog-reply they would get from fans on you tube? Was it a stretch for the actor to play “nerdy-strange-Bree”? Did she have to hide from the main public eye in her real life? Are all her friends sworn to secrecy (there is about people being under non-disclosure agreements and such)? How big is this production company and how much was spent? What’s next??

For now though, all we can do is stay tuned and wait.

posted by MixDrynx @ 8:54 PM

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