Roosterteeth started as 6 guys playing halo and has emerged as an internet multi media juggernaut that can succeed in almost all forms of media. Machinima (Red vs Blue), live action (Lazer team, shorts), Lets Plays (Achievement hunter, Funhaus), animation (RWBY, XRay and Vav), Podcasts (The RT Podcast, The Patch) and even game development, they have done it all in the online scene. An article following their moves from bedroom machinimators to multimedia giants could find some interesting parallels to other online companies (Rocket Jump, Machinima) or even some larger companies.
Two places that would be notable to focus upon are the Let's Plays for Minecraft and GTA. – JDJankowski9 years ago
Look at the influence some famous vloggers have had on culture (i.e. Casey Neistat). What is the appeal of this form of sharing? Where should the line between real life and the web be drawn?
I think vlogging is something that gives a very personal window into someone's life. It is, in this aspect, similar to blogging, except that blogging is generally more controlled in terms of what is produced and shared, and vlogging can be more candid. It also of course has the addition of images and sound. Although reading someone's writing can be a very personal experience, there is nothing quite like hearing their actual voice and seeing their facial expressions and body language, all things that we have access to in vlogging. That gives it the potential to be highly relatable in more day-to-day ways than in deep ways that the meditation and careful writing of blogs is. In short, it can make audiences feel like they are right there, just listening to a close friend talk to them and share things with them. As far as the line between life and web realities, that of course ultimately comes down to the person creating the content. It also depends on subject of the vlogs, whether someone sticks to one general topic (such as music, painting, a career, etc.) or vlogs about literally anything and everything going on in their real life. It is not so much a question of where "should" the line be drawn, but whether or not it is drawn, where it is drawn, and how all of that ultimately affects the producer and the audience. Hope those are some helpful ideas! – carp0009 years ago
There is something to be said for the appeal of vlogging in the first place, especially of people whose job is vlogging. YouTubers are incredibly popular--why? Is it the idea of an average person filming their normal, everyday life? Is there a sense of vicariousness in watching a vlogger's life? What is it about this "personal window," as the previous person stated, that makes vloggers so popular? They become so popular they become sort of celebrities, gaining fans, inspiring people, and even making money doing so. It's a cool topic with a lot of potential. – hesylvester9 years ago
Vlogging is a one-sided relationship between the vlogger and the viewer. These days, it seems, there is a surge in the number of youth, the primary audience of vlogs, who are depressed, insecure, and unconfident about themselves. They seek friends in the real world and are unable to have meaningful relationships in their lives. As a result, they turn to vlogs. They experience being in another person’s life without the difficulty of a real friendship. This is the unconscious allure of watching a vlog. The relationship is dependent on the vlogger not having any actual or substantial contact with the viewer. If this were to happen, the allure would be gone and the vlogger would no longer have the magic that made the viewer enjoy the vlogger in the first place. Real relationships do not have this allure, the allure of a friend that does not fight with you, that is funny, does not criticize you, etc. Young people feel a bond with these far-away strangers that they cannot feel with regular people. – GeorgeStirling9 years ago
Team Starkid is a University of Michigan based theater troupe that specializes in parody musicals that they later record and post to the popular website YouTube.com. Though the characters are usually portrayed by people of the same gender as the characters, occasionally the actors within the troupe "gender bend" characters. Gender bending is the portrayal of a character in a gender that is not one's own or that of the character. Lauren Lopez is a woman who has played characters such as Draco Malfoy, an ex-military sergeant, and a young boy in some of their productions. Joe Walker is a man who played Dolores Umbridge in one of their productions. Lopez' portrayals are often seen as more realistic whereas Walker's were intended to be comical because of his gender. Why is a woman allowed to realistically play men and yet a man playing a woman is considered a running gag? Consider gender roles, gender rules and coded norms in the Team Starkid comedy dynamic.
I completely agree with your questions and concerns here. I've often found that when men try to portray women, unless under very particular circumstances, it is intentionally done in a humorous manner, and it is received as humor, as well, by the audience. In some instances, I have seen men portray a female role with tactfulness, respect, and a sense of authenticity--like Dustin Hoffman in "Tootsie"--by otherwise, very rarely. I myself have explored trying to portray a female character accurately, through voice and movement, and in a way that does not simplify the visage of a woman to cliches or stereotypes, unless the character itself is more flamboyant and such. But I think the main reason why men portraying women is approached and received in a comical way is because many people are still not comfortable seeing men of any sort embrace their feminine sides, whether they be gay or straight. And when it is embraced openly, it's usually regarding a male's portrayal of a decidedly drag-queen styled female character, with a very load, boisterous, or colorful personality, and thus it still becomes something to either laugh at or laugh with. But when it comes to subtlety, or grace, or even commanding authority as a female character, either men just don't do it very much, or it has yet to be part of many productions. In terms of what I would prefer, if I ever find myself performing as a female character (one of my passions is acting and voice impersonation), I would put an enormous amount of effort into capturing the distinct elements of what makes a woman sound like a woman, but then also approach the character herself as something aside from the fact that she is female, unless her character is defined in some capacity by those qualities. I think one has to open up, let down their guards, and be mindful of all their feelings, before they can either portray, or appreciate a female character, as a man. – Jonathan Leiter9 years ago
I personally have never heard of Team Starkid before. But considering how open this topic really is, you might consider broadening the scope to include other examples of the double-standard in media. – Jonathan Leiter9 years ago
I happen to love Team Starkid and have noticed what you're talking about. The cross gender roles, I think, tend to be less for gags, and more for character interpretation. Like with Lopez's portrayal of Malfoy in A Very Potter Music or Commissioner Gordon in Holy Musical B@tman! versus Walker's version of Umbridge. I actually think Walker was cast because of his previous ability to turn a thoroughly villainous character such as Voldemort, and not only redeem him, but cheer for his happy ending. But this is an interesting investigation question to be pursued given the theatrical nature of the performances, which is where this should fall. – artemis8229 years ago
I would suggest that when talking about gender bending in Team Starkid productions, one explores the use of camp as an aesthetic. – Cmandra9 years ago
In the past few weeks there has been running episodes of Bob Ross' "The Joy of Painting" on the typical gaming site "Twitch." This site is usually used to live-stream games but started streaming these episodes on Bob Ross' birthday. It pulled in 5.6 million viewers, which struck me as very odd. My boyfriend is a huge gamer and told me about this since I am an art student. I watched a few episodes and it was interesting to see how the episodes were reacted to, both in the views and comments. Even though the content was different, the comments were still very erratic and reactive. These two things don't seem to have a correlation to me and I'd be interested to see some research and analysis on this topic.
Twitch chat frequenters are just a bunch of "memers" at heart, not only is Bob calming to even non-painters, but heck did he ever provide them a lot of memes! Kappaross – Slaidey9 years ago
We've all seen those feel-good viral video's of people finding someone in need and through various means helping to turn their life around. These stories gained popularity and were quickly spread across the web, inspiring others to do the same. I find myself wondering if the people who publicize these processes are really doing it from the kindness of their heart, or merely to gain popularity via social media. If social media didn't exist would the same people perform random acts of kindness without ever seeking accreditation? Is it truly kindness, or just trending?
I feel for the most part, people who do the kinds of things on Youtube generally want to help other people. If they just wanted to get popular on the internet, there are a billion other ways they could do it. With that said, you bring up an interesting point in would these nice people go to these extremes to be nice to other people if it was not for youtube? It may not be to gain more viewers, but instead to show how being kind brings out the best in other people. – Aaron Hatch9 years ago
Another thing to think about: Does it matter? An act that helps someone still helps someone regardless of the intention. Forced community service still helps people, etc. So maybe it's a good thing anyway?
– Tatijana9 years ago
This is an interesting topic. In all honesty, I find that it's really hard to judge the intentions of the people performing the acts of kindness. How will we ever know what was going through their heads? It might be difficult to plot out an article that isn't too opinionated. However, it's still an intriguing topic, so maybe someone would be able to find a way to make this idea work. I'm looking forward to seeing if and what someone will do with this topic! – Dominic Sceski9 years ago
In 2014, there was a viral trend called RAKnominations (Random Acts of Kindness), in which a person would record themselves doing a nice deed for someone and then nominate a few others to do the same. On the topic of YouTubers doing nice things for others, you can also explore people doing kind things just because they're nominated. Would they still do it without the nomination? (Although that all depends on the person.) – YsabelGo9 years ago
The Project 4 Awesome is a wonderful YouTube based fundraiser that happens every year. People create videos about their favorite charities and people donate. It connects the YouTube community as well as give back. This shoes YouTube can be a place for compassion and giving. – mramsden2529 years ago
Since the release of the "smart phone" in 2007, politicians have had to learn to utilize social media to reach their constituents. As such, campaign videos are now uploaded onto social media sites with the hopes that they will "go viral" and drum up support for that candidate or party. What has been (or will be) the impact of this new form of media for political campaigns today? Is that impact discernible yet or is it too soon to tell? Analyze the relationship between online campaign videos and political campaigns.
I can vouch that a LOT of my friends post MULTIPLE campaign videos or campaign type articles multiple times of day on fb. I don't know how to quantify their impact, but I can't imagine its insignificant. – Tatijana9 years ago
I would suggest exploring the 2012 presidential election as the most recent completed presidential election with lots of information on demographics and how social media impacted those demographics. – Cmandra9 years ago
Look at the boom of Abridged series over the internet. Describe how they became popular, what mediums they have expanded to and what makes a good quality abridged series with examples.
There are many websites trying to give tips and tricks on how to make a viral video, but is there really a formula? What are the first few 'viral videos' known on the Internet? What type of content goes viral, and what lengths do people take to make their video have 'viral content'?
Mentioning White and Black Hat SEO techniques are probably worth adding to the discussion. – Jordan9 years ago
One thing people might do is focus on YouTube, because it's the biggest video-sharing platform on the internet today. Viral videos could be found on eBaum's World, Newgrounds, and albinoblacksheep. It may also serve to make a distinction between viral and popular. Channels/users that regularly get a large amount of hits are hard to go viral since their footprint is always that big. On the same token, people should look at viral users such as Fred/Lucas Cruikshank, people that are one-man teams that took off at the beginning of YouTube. – John9 years ago
