Honest to Blog

posted February 20, 2008

by Gloria Yu of Campanile

Nestled in the heart of Silicon Valley, Palo Alto and its residents are surrounded by an inevitable atmosphere of technology that supports new forms of entertainment and expedient ways of communication. Technology has gone so far as to sweep through the Palo Alto High School campus with its most recent trend, Web logging (blogging) and video logging (vlogging).

Blogging is the art of a personalized Web page, much in the form of an online journal, with frequent entry posts. Similarly, vlogging is when a user blogs, but articulates his or her ideas through videos instead of text. Both have become Internet phenomena and are popular searches on YouTube and Facebook.

Paly junior Tess Bellomo began vlogging two years ago and became interested in the hobby of vlogging through experimentation. By simply carrying a camera with her and taking short, random video clips of friends and family, and later putting those clips together and editing them, Bellomo entered the world of video logs.

"My brother and I used to constantly make movies with ourselves or our toys as the actors," Bellomo said. "Then we'd add a soundtrack, edit it and show it to our parents."

Vlogging gives Bellomo a sense of pride because she creates a masterpiece out of something as ordinary as home videos.

"I love always being able to have memories on film," Bellomo said. "It makes me feel very safe. I like the idea that one day in 30 years I will be able to watch some video of my friends being crazy and dancing around and get joy out of that."

Bellomo sees vlogging as a way to explore and expand the creative mind. While Bellomo creates vlogs for her creative self, sophomore Evan Hahn vlogs and blogs for his own enjoyment.

According to Hahn, he originally began vlogging for fame. He started vlogging two years ago and hopes to obtain a job in the film industry when he is older, even though he said vlogging is just a hobby. While vlogging may come more naturally for others, vloggers like Hahn sometimes have to make a few adjustments to become accustomed with the process of vlogging when first starting out.

"My videos were mostly improvised," Hahn said. "I usually plan what I'm going to talk about, but I don't really know exactly what I'm going to say. I turn on the camera and talk a bit, and then I do it again after I've figured out more exactly what I'm going to say. I usually have several takes before I get exactly what I want."

Hahn's interest in video production set off a spark of interest that has today become his vlogging obsession.

"I make videos to get better at it so that 10 years from now, I might be making something that's actually worth watching," Hahn said. "At the moment, most of my videos are a waste of time."

Hahn, who vlogs under the alias "Wheresthebrain," hopes to inform and entertain his audience with his vlogs. He posts videos on Youtube and Facebook, and even has his own Web site, www.wheresthebrain.com.

"Usually, I won't talk about my personal life in my vlogs, because I think that's boring," Hahn said. "It'll be me singing dumb songs and making farting noises."

Like those of many other vloggers, Hahn's audience consists of random groups of people.

"It always surprises me when I see who is watching," Hahn said. "Sometimes there are people I know in real life that watch, and I had no idea that username was them. And of course, I have some creepers. That's not surprising."

Hahn, who uses Apple's iMovie and Final Cut Express, makes vlogs concerning a variety of topics including religion, politics and subjects of peer interest, such as his recent video entitled "Check Out Ma Grillz," in which he raps about his new braces. Hahn also takes requests from users who submit comments on his videos.

"Some people tell me to do random stuff like eat a bag of chips," Hahn said. "The feedback I receive is usually positive, but the negative stuff is much more worthwhile to read."

As well as making videos addressing specific, usually random issues, Hahn also performs as the star in music videos. Hahn currently has 225 uploaded videos on his most active account, www.youtube.com/wheresthebrain, 80 uploaded videos on his own Web site and 16 on another Web page. All these videos not only serve as a way to consume his free time, but are also used as encouragement for others to enter the world of vlogging.

"I know I've inspired a few people to make [their own] videos," Hahn said. "But for the most part, it's inspired the masses to waste even more time in front of their computers, which is something I'm glad to have done. That makes world domination so much easier."

Paly class of 2009 student Jessica Cruz, who now attends Foothill Middle College, was influenced to vlog by watching other people's videos. She began vlogging in early Jan. 2008 after putting up random clips of her friends on Facebook. Cruz later went on to voice her own opinions in self-starring vlogs.

"I started watching people on YouTube who were vlogging and I thought that they were really entertaining, even if they were just rambling about absolutely nothing," Cruz said. "They were just fun to watch, so I decided to start vlogging too."

Cruz sees vlogging as an outlet to express her feelings. Cruz said she simply has too much on her mind and has a tendency to speak her opinions whether or not people listen to them. For this, she is thankful to have her vlog.

"It's just straight out fun, and if there's random stuff on my mind, I can let it out and have a lot of people hear me," Cruz said.

The Internet is a very resourceful place for vloggers like Cruz to post their videos. With many avid viewers and opinionated commentary to her videos, vlogging helped Cruz become more confident in front of the camera and more comfortable with expressing her opinions.

"It's a really fulfilling experience because you get to let people from all around the world know what's going on in your head by just one click," Cruz said. "Hopefully I'll still be vlogging when I'm older. It would be nice to see the progress I've made because right now its awkward talking to a camera since I'm so new at it. But in the near future I can definitely see myself vlogging, maybe even about a specific topic that I suddenly feel strongly about. You never know."

While vlogging is becoming more popular, bloggers are still active and opinionated. Junior Ashley Lamb began blogging last year and feels that it overrides vlogging because of the notorious Lonelygirl15, an acclaimed home schooled 16-year-old girl named Bree, and the scam she caused last year "sucked," Lamb said.

The videos created by Lonelygirl15 were part of a project conducted by three people in Los Angeles who were merely intrigued by the blossoming online community of video blogging. The group's interest in the online community inspired them to create the fictional teenager Bree just to see what would happen.

Scams like this are only part of the reason why Lamb chooses to blog. Lamb blogs using the Facebook Notes application, which allows users to tag their audience; namely, specific friends who she thinks should read the blog.

Lamb first began by reading other peoples' blogs, saw their therapeutic value and thought to try it out for herself. Much like vlogging became an outlet for Cruz, blogging developed into a form of expression for Lamb.

"Blogging really helps me vent, although I do disclaim that not all of the things I write about are non-fictional," Lamb said.

In her blog, Lamb writes mainly about love in the form of poetry and monologue. Her blogs touch on the serene, discreet, blindly beautiful aspects of the teenage years.

"I talk about the insecurity and the stress that comes with liking or loving someone," Lamb said. "Everyone else writes about politics and the environment, so I need to find a new track."

Even though blogging currently serves as a passive outlet for Lamb, she aspires to continue writing blogs.

"I sort of want to go somewhere with my writing but I have to prioritize," Lamb said. "I just wished more people would comment on them."

Hahn argues that vlogging surpasses blogging on many levels. One of which is that vlogging creates a visual for the viewer. According to Hahn, it is a combination of all subtleties; pictures, acting, writing, music and editing are all needed.

"If you screw up any of those, the whole video is shot," Hahn said. "But if you do it well, it's more impressive and amazing than any other kinds of art. In short, you can't hear farting noises with just words."

Many people blog and vlog back and forth, throwing positive and negative comments at each other. While technology takes reign on people of all ages, blogging and vlogging are popular trends with adolescents and will only continue to spread. Even Paly's Student Council has a blog, which can be found at http://palyasb.blogspot.com

"It's addictive," Hahn said. "I remember there was an article awhile back in the The Campanile about drug dealing, but what you should be much more worried about is video blogging," Hahn said.