"While I was Art-making"

This post is about a videoblog post I just watched.
But first let me tell you a story.

For the first year of Videoblogging, it was pretty easy to keep up with every regular videoblog on the web. There was one email list where people connected to each other, gossiped, and argued.
This was where we figured about RSS feeds...with enclosures...and the right compression settings.
We learned how to make video for this 320x280 screen, how much of ourselves we could put out there, and tried to find language to explain what we doing.
So we talked a lot and experimented.

Videoblogging started exploding as big companies like Apple started paying attention.
Podcasters were getting as popular as they could.
Videobloggers started doing amazing things.
Everyone had their own ideas what to do with it.
Andrew Baron started scaring the shit out of commercial TV with Rocketboom by showing that it was possible to get huge audiences with a small financial investment.
Others started just having fun and posting anything that came to mind.
We even started building our own tools(here, here, here, here, here)
The Wild West had begun.
Video on the internet was really here and no one was in control.
No rules.
Nothing to really give guidance as to what would come next.
Anyone could be right.

More email lists sprung up. Everyone's talking and posting videos.
People argued over "what is a videoblog"?
Purists tore apart anything that felt like traditional TV programing. A videoblog had to be personal.
Defenders said that we could do TV better. A videoblog was just a video in a blog.
People explored cool, new formats and styles. Pushing pushing.
Collaboration could thrive.
Evilvlog pissed everyone off.

Money.
Oh, the conversations about how to make money videoblogging.
Ads? Text ads on the page? Ads in the videos? Ads only at the end of videos? Only cool ads from companies I like? Maybe sponsorship? Product placement?
Will accepting money taint a videoblog?
Could you make a really good regular videoblog without being paid?

And all this discussion continues up to this moment.
One of the offshoot Videoblogging lists I'm on is the VlogTheory group.
It's a really great group of people. Small. Lots of brain power.
Long conversations about definitions, possibilities, predictions, visions.
And crap. But I love it all.
Why we talk and write so much about video is funny to me.
I post so few videos now a days...though I write so much.
Yet video is what I love.
I go in cycles because I like my videos to mean something to me.
At times I get so into life that I don't have time to look at it, record it, and reflect.

So I've been watching a lot of other people's videos.
Daniel Liss posted a video tonight to the Vlog Theory list that shows why I love videoblogging.
He demonstrates the difference between theory and practice.
He shows how a videoblog is made in the normal course of a day.
He explores why a videoblog can simultaneously be different from a TV show can borrow the same language.
He also shows himself. This is how we al get smarter.

Just watch it here.

Comments

[Jeff]

Thanks for sharing Jay. Cool video, and interesting dialogue.

[Matt]

"He demonstrates the difference between theory and practice."

He also shows (and this is important) that they're essentially the same thing.

[Matt]

Also, just a point of disagreement, which is that I don't think he borrows the language of television in this post or any of his others. Voiceover isn't endemic to the box. If Daniel borrows from anywhere (and I use the word 'borrows' loosely, because he's a true original) it's video art.

I haven't videoblogged lately either. I want this year's videoblogs to be something else, but I don't know what yet.

[Tanya]

Thank you for pointing Daniel to me. I am new to vlogging. I am trying to find my voice in a sense. At times, I felt that the vlogging community(both from the Yahoo group and the webconference)were defining my attempts as not really vlogging. Daniel has showed that's not true. I will continue to vlog. I wanted to post a comment in Daniel's vlog but keep getting an error. Well, Daniel is an inspiration to those who may not be media savvy but have something to say.

[Tanya]

Thank you for pointing Daniel's blog to me.

I am new to vlogging. At times, via the Yahoo group and the web conferences, I get that other "veteran" vloggers would not consider what I do as vlogging. I am still finding my voice so to speak so no, my videos are not artsy or even that interesting. But they're mine.

Daniel has taught me something tonight. That these vloggers theory is not correct. He is an inspiration to me. I will continue to vlog and have my voice, my thoughts captured. I wanted to post a comment on Daniel's vlog but kept getting errors trying to get in.

I may not be media savvy or artsy but I do have something to say and from now on, I will vlog it.

[Anthony]

Yes, thank you for sharing that Jay. It was beautiful in many ways. I'll have to check out his site when blogger gets back up. I appreciate your thoughts about this topic. They are thought provoking and real. I find I am challenged by them, encouraged by them, and excited by them. Thanks for the reminder that my vlog belongs me the author and that what others say about it or don't say isn't as important as what it means as my personal expression, story, and voice.

[ralph buckley]

Isn't it strange...buried deep into our collective consciousness we have this incessant need to catagorize and keep things in a nice, tidy arrangement...Who said that there had to be a beginning and an end, and a middle, that you could or couldn't do this or that...It's good to know that the 10 commandments of vlogging hasn't been etched into that biblical stone....yet. Vlogging is what you, the personality, says it is...and vlogs are as diverse and interesting as people are...I think that alot of people who are sharing their lives, would'nt be doing so unless this kind of expression made itself accessible...I'm most likely displaying my retarded side, with all of these brilliant vloggers, I'm sure this discovery was made long ago...
Anyways...thank you for sharing this video...it's fascinating to take a look at someone's life through a video camera.

[Will Luers]

"I go in cycles because I like my videos to mean something to me.
At times I get so into life that I don't have time to look at it, record it, and reflect."

yeah. this will become a problem for many vloggers (myself included). how to keep momentum- making something meaningful. is there a creeping need for a new horizon? something more ambitious? something else?

[Bekah]

I loved this video, too. It wasopen and touching and sincere and it reminded me that the zillion conflicting definitions of vlogging are all right and all wrong and in the end don't really matter.

It also reminded me to stop uttering the phrase "Dang! I can't believe I don't have my camera to capture this moment!"

I still got to have the moment. Life is for living, not just for recording and sharing...no matter how fun it is to record and share!

[Michael Tyas]

That was a great revlog!

[XEI]

This was one of the best "What is a Vlog?" vlog that I've ever come across. Not only was the text post a really interesting read, the video was superb. I'm glad Jay is making these very important statements about the "essence" of the act of vlogging. If anyone else knows of further discussion on this topic please email me!