25.5.06

about: vlogging

the other day I was pretty shocked at how many comments I was getting on my videoblog. Since I submitted a video to freevlog.org, I definitely began to get more visitors to rusted gate but five comments in one morning was pretty amazing. It wasn't until one commetor said, "congratulations to blogger's front page," did I get what had happened. I was the Blog of Note on the Blogger start page, the first one on the list.
On Sunday I was impressed with my 60 hits... Monday and Tuesday I was over 1000 hits each. I received some pretty great comments, others weren't so impressed, which I can completely understand.
Other than boost my internet self-esteem a bit, this little spell of popularity has made me think a lot about this whole thing.

I began videoblogging when I looked over my friend Ashley's shoulder as she was posting a video about getting her tattoo. I had a livejournal a few years back... it became a lazy way of checking in on lost friends from high school and I ditched it.
Video had a different appeal to me, though. I was really into video a while ago but it had gotten stashed away in a box somewhere when I went to college to 'concentrate'. I had been thinking of a way to keep family and friends posted on my life while I was studying abroad in Dublin and video seemed like a fun way to go. I began posting for them. Showing them what they wanted to see, showing what the hell I was up to across the ocean.
In my first videos, I found a key. I suppose it's a key for the way I am and the way I want to be. The soundtrack I chose for my videos was just as important as the scenes I showed. Lots of times I go through life with a song in my head... or when I hear a song... I see myself somewhere else. With a video I can put a soundtrack to it, the soundtrack that's in my head, and people may get a little more about me out of it. Or something like that.
As my semester unfolded, I showed all sorts of things. Travels around Europe, cooking dinner in our apartment, class field trips, new slippers, being sick, my adventures in make-up, my commute to work... I stopped showing, I think. It began to be a more creative endeavor. Though my grandma back in New Jersey loved to see my videos, it stopped being about them.

Now I'm back in the U.S. My life is not going to be nearly as exciting as it has been in the last five months. No more jet-setting, no more international adventures... for a while. So what's the point? Why am I posting a video about painting a wall in my room or a conversation with friends in a bar? I suppose some people post to persuade, to document, to display... maybe I post for all those reasons. Maybe because I've been trying to show the "real joanna" my whole life and the only way I can do it is piece by piece.
I don't like saying "why" I'm posting a video... I'll tell you "what" it is... but you can figure the "why" out for yourself.

I hope this tells you something. Why I'm here. I'm not sure why I was a Blog of Note, an awfully nice compliment that I didn't much deserve if you ask me. But I'm here to create something. I hope the dull location I am right now won't lend to dull videos. As always, any recommendations (the good-natured kind) are always welcome.

I think videblogging is hot stuff that I want to be a part of. I'm incredibly grateful to all the comments I've received the past two days. Just goes to show you the great people who do this whole internet-media-connecting thing.

To many more posts and many more things to say.
-j