Can Video Blogs be put in to the same category as Documentary? Can Video Blogs be put in to the same category as Documentary?This essay will question if video blogs can be viewed as documentary’s, who the creator of the video blog is, what the viewer is gaining from the video blog, how much of the bloggers real life are we actually being shown and how this might affect documentary as a serious media. It is John Corner who refers to the documentary as the ‘art of the record’ (Corner, cited in Ward, 2005:6) another way of defining documentary is by Winston who sums it up as ‘claiming the real’ (Winston, cited in Ward, 2005:6) what the two mean is that the documentary grants the viewer a insight and information about something real that has happened in the world, this could be a insight in to the human condition, social goings on, class, relationships, sex, where we come from, history, the past, business or a personal story. Documentary is not reality but deals with reality.It is up to the creator of the documentary to represent the world of the film in an unbiased way and to fairy represent the chosen subject matter. However such formats of documentaries such as reality television are partly constructed. While the idea of the documentary is to portray truth, reality television shows such as “Big Brother” twist what reality is, they select a group of people that have never met and put them in a house to live with each other. At first the idea of the show was a clever social experiment however as more series of the show were made the agenda of the contestants and the makers of the show have changed. Contestants now know that when they leave the house that they will be able to make money from magazine deals and television appearances so they create an image for them self that they know will grab attention and one that can sell, however the show has also changed. While the contestants are using the show for their own desires they are also being exploited. Escoffery (2006:7) points out that ‘contestants are seen as falling victim to the manipulative powers of a ruthless fame making machine’ however the contestants know what they are going to be doing while in the show, they know they will have to play the games set by “Big Brother” and are willing to be embarrassed. Like reality television video blogs are constructed and the creator of the video blog decides what does and does not go in to the video blog, they control the reality of which they show much like “Big Brother”.Jenkins (2006:151) explains the term ‘“blog” is short for “web log” a new form of personal and sub cultural expression involving summarizing and linking to other sites’ while the blog is no longer something new to the internet they have certainly changed since 2006. Over the past few years video blogs have become more popular since the raise of the website Youtube. Youtube presents itself as a web space where anyone can upload anything (except anything of an explicit nature). People have the opportunity to upload videos of themselves to express feelings and thoughts on whatever they want. While normally the voice of the everyday person couldn’t be heard Youtube offers a space where everyone’s can have a say and let it be known to the world. Youtube has a number of very popular video bloggers, one of the most popular is a man called Shay Carl, and he uploads daily vlogs (video blogs) with his family and friends and we the audience are carried along as he goes about his daily business. Youtube also allows the viewer to instantly post a message about the video, making it so simple and quick that it’s almost like you’re talking about to shay right away. He also takes the time to talk to the viewer to share thoughts and opinions as he goes on. The different with most popular video bloggers with the normal video blogger that is that some can become partners with Youtube. If a user becomes so popular they can request to become a partner with the site, Youtube will then pay that user depending on the amount of views that user gets. It will also give that option to display small adverts on their videos and at the side of their video. Every time a person clicks on that advert that user will then get paid. The video blogger could then be questioned as to what their intentions were for making the video blog, Shay Carl never adds any adverts in his video but does display his advert next to his video, however he is more likely to gain money from Youtube for the high amount of views he gets for his videos. Using Youtube ShayCarl and his family have become internet celebrities, by broadcasting their life, by being interesting and entertaining they show an insight in to an example of happy American family life.Daniel Boorstin (cited in Turner, 2006:5) defines the celebrity as ‘the celebrity is a person who is well-known for their well-knownness’ The more views Shay Carl gets on his videos the more likely he is to be featured on the main page. Links to his videos are spread across the internet through social networking sites such as Facebook and twitter and so more people watch him and become more aware of him. As of the twenty second of March 2010 Shay Carl has 359,625 subscribers with a total of 96,651,024 views from his videos, this suggests that Shay Carl and his family are granting a real insight which interest people. Max Webber (Redmond and Holmes: 2007:17) suggest that natural leaders have ‘charisma’ he believes it is not something that everyone has but rather more of a physical or spiritual gift. Richard Dyer takes on this ideas and takes it further and describes it as ‘a certain quality of an individual personality by virtue of which he is set apart from ordinary men and treated as endowed with supernatural, superhero or at least superficially exceptional qualities’ (Redmond and Holmes:2007:82) It is debatable if one is born with charisma or if one can learn it, but none the less It is this ‘charisma’ that Shay Carl has that makes him likeable that in end makes people watch his videos. As mentioned before documentaries do not show reality, they deal with it. His audience follows Shay Carl and his family and they feel as they if are his actually friends, he interacts with his viewers and makes them feel as if they are included as part of his special club, he refers to it as an online family. In the introduction to McLuhan's Understanding Media he writes: ‘Today, after more than a century of electric technology, we have extended our central nervous system in a global embrace, abolishing both space and time as far as our planet is concerned’ (1964: p.3) McLuhan writes about the global village, where online different cultures and ideas can be shared where as a time before the internet that connection couldn’t be made. We are now able to talk to people from across the world in a matter of seconds. Shay Carl shares his life with people across the world everyday and is a positive example of American family life. However Rokek (cited in Turner 2006:6) believes that ‘The diminution of direct social relations is addressed by what has been called para-social interactions (that is interactions which occur across a significant social distance – with people ‘we don’t know’, such as those we enjoy the celebrities we watch and admire’ Rokek makes the point that rather that interacting with people around us, including our family and friends we would now rather interact with the life’s of others. He believes that there has been ‘a loss of community as human relation attenuate and fragment under the pressure of contemporary political and social conditions.’ (cited in Turner 2006:6) put simply living one’s own real life can be hard and difficult, but to see someone else enjoy their life and be such a positive influence on others is easier and can be more enjoyable than living one’s own life. Shay Carl and his family appear to have everything they could ever want, a happy, funny growing family, their viewers look on at this and wish to be a part of it. As suggested we are losing our connections and sense of community with our own community and are seeking it elsewhere. By becoming a part of the online extended family the audience member feels like they belong.Shay Carl never refers to his children by their real names, instead calls them Son-tard, Princess-tard and Baby-tard. Although we know his real name and his wife’s real name they refer to themselves as Daddy-tard and Mommy-tard with these fictional names it is like they are acting as a role rather than themselves, turning the ‘ShayTards’ in to a brand name. With this pretend name they are still able to vlog about their real life but are still capable to keep something about them secret and to their self. As mentioned before documentary’s do not show reality they deal with reality. Shay Carl is able to show as much as he wants with his camera and can keep secret what he wants. His video blogs are normally very happy and have not yet shown any serious issues or problems, while the family may just be a happy positive family where nothing has gone wrong with them. It would be interesting to see if something negative happened within the family if they would cover it. Another case study on video bloggers is the user called Charles Trippy. With his fiancé Ali they have been covering their life for over a year. They record their everyday life’s, going out, shopping cooking. All very small everyday normal events. However the purpose the documentary is to make a record an event, be it big or small. They grant us information about a subject, the vlogs from Shay Carl and Charles Trippy grant us insight to everyday normal things, and should not be brushes aside as meaningless, the viewer does learn from their vlogs and should be categorised as documentaries. While not all their vlogs may be true examples of the human condition most of their videos show more realistic human emotion, for example Charles Trippy’s video Surprise Marriage Proposal In Spain! (10.04.09 - Day 157) where he proposes to his girlfriend, the video has 1,333,188 views as of the 23rd of March 2009 and received large positive feedback from youtube users. Presenting us with a representation of reality. Ana Vicente (2008:271) explains that ‘Digital technology cuts the costs of production and post-production processes enormously, enabling low budget filmmaking’. With the use digital technology anyone can now create films, video blogs and documentaries. Not so long ago you would have to be backed by a large film studio to create a film which would grant you a budget. While the quality between a professional film studio camera and a small handy flip cam are vastly different flip cams are still able to shoot in HD and produce quality footage. This now means that anyone can record moments that may not seem important to others on a grand scale but do portray emotional and personal importance. With websites such as youtube it is now possible to upload these videos and share through the global village and connect with others across the world. While video blogs may not affect documentaries shown on television and film financially it will have competition from more film makers who before couldn’t afford to create their film. The internet is slowly becoming major completion for film and television and if it does not converge with it then eventually it could be taken over.

Can Video Blogs be put in to the same category as Documentary?


This essay will question if video blogs can be viewed as documentary’s, who the creator of the video blog is, what the viewer is gaining from the video blog, how much of the bloggers real life are we actually being shown and how this might affect documentary as a serious media. It is John Corner who refers to the documentary as the ‘art of the record’ (Corner, cited in Ward, 2005:6) another way of defining documentary is by Winston who sums it up as ‘claiming the real’ (Winston, cited in Ward, 2005:6) what the two mean is that the documentary grants the viewer a insight and information about something real that has happened in the world, this could be a insight in to the human condition, social goings on, class, relationships, sex, where we come from, history, the past, business or a personal story. Documentary is not reality but deals with reality.

It is up to the creator of the documentary to represent the world of the film in an unbiased way and to fairy represent the chosen subject matter. However such formats of documentaries such as reality television are partly constructed. While the idea of the documentary is to portray truth, reality television shows such as “Big Brother” twist what reality is, they select a group of people that have never met and put them in a house to live with each other. At first the idea of the show was a clever social experiment however as more series of the show were made the agenda of the contestants and the makers of the show have changed. Contestants now know that when they leave the house that they will be able to make money from magazine deals and television appearances so they create an image for them self that they know will grab attention and one that can sell, however the show has also changed. While the contestants are using the show for their own desires they are also being exploited. Escoffery (2006:7) points out that ‘contestants are seen as falling victim to the manipulative powers of a ruthless fame making machine’ however the contestants know what they are going to be doing while in the show, they know they will have to play the games set by “Big Brother” and are willing to be embarrassed. Like reality television video blogs are constructed and the creator of the video blog decides what does and does not go in to the video blog, they control the reality of which they show much like “Big Brother”.

Jenkins (2006:151) explains the term ‘“blog” is short for “web log” a new form of personal and sub cultural expression involving summarizing and linking to other sites’ while the blog is no longer something new to the internet they have certainly changed since 2006. Over the past few years video blogs have become more popular since the raise of the website Youtube. Youtube presents itself as a web space where anyone can upload anything (except anything of an explicit nature). People have the opportunity to upload videos of themselves to express feelings and thoughts on whatever they want. While normally the voice of the everyday person couldn’t be heard Youtube offers a space where everyone’s can have a say and let it be known to the world. Youtube has a number of very popular video bloggers, one of the most popular is a man called Shay Carl, and he uploads daily vlogs (video blogs) with his family and friends and we the audience are carried along as he goes about his daily business. Youtube also allows the viewer to instantly post a message about the video, making it so simple and quick that it’s almost like you’re talking about to shay right away. He also takes the time to talk to the viewer to share thoughts and opinions as he goes on. The different with most popular video bloggers with the normal video blogger that is that some can become partners with Youtube. If a user becomes so popular they can request to become a partner with the site, Youtube will then pay that user depending on the amount of views that user gets. It will also give that option to display small adverts on their videos and at the side of their video. Every time a person clicks on that advert that user will then get paid. The video blogger could then be questioned as to what their intentions were for making the video blog, Shay Carl never adds any adverts in his video but does display his advert next to his video, however he is more likely to gain money from Youtube for the high amount of views he gets for his videos. Using Youtube ShayCarl and his family have become internet celebrities, by broadcasting their life, by being interesting and entertaining they show an insight in to an example of happy American family life.

Daniel Boorstin (cited in Turner, 2006:5) defines the celebrity as ‘the celebrity is a person who is well-known for their well-knownness’ The more views Shay Carl gets on his videos the more likely he is to be featured on the main page. Links to his videos are spread across the internet through social networking sites such as Facebook and twitter and so more people watch him and become more aware of him. As of the twenty second of March 2010 Shay Carl has 359,625 subscribers with a total of 96,651,024 views from his videos, this suggests that Shay Carl and his family are granting a real insight which interest people. Max Webber (Redmond and Holmes: 2007:17) suggest that natural leaders have ‘charisma’ he believes it is not something that everyone has but rather more of a physical or spiritual gift. Richard Dyer takes on this ideas and takes it further and describes it as ‘a certain quality of an individual personality by virtue of which he is set apart from ordinary men and treated as endowed with supernatural, superhero or at least superficially exceptional qualities’ (Redmond and Holmes:2007:82) It is debatable if one is born with charisma or if one can learn it, but none the less It is this ‘charisma’ that Shay Carl has that makes him likeable that in end makes people watch his videos. As mentioned before documentaries do not show reality, they deal with it. His audience follows Shay Carl and his family and they feel as they if are his actually friends, he interacts with his viewers and makes them feel as if they are included as part of his special club, he refers to it as an online family.
In the introduction to McLuhan's Understanding Media he writes: ‘Today, after more than a century of electric technology, we have extended our central nervous system in a global embrace, abolishing both space and time as far as our planet is concerned’ (1964: p.3) McLuhan writes about the global village, where online different cultures and ideas can be shared where as a time before the internet that connection couldn’t be made. We are now able to talk to people from across the world in a matter of seconds. Shay Carl shares his life with people across the world everyday and is a positive example of American family life. However Rokek (cited in Turner 2006:6) believes that ‘The diminution of direct social relations is addressed by what has been called para-social interactions (that is interactions which occur across a significant social distance – with people ‘we don’t know’, such as those we enjoy the celebrities we watch and admire’ Rokek makes the point that rather that interacting with people around us, including our family and friends we would now rather interact with the life’s of others. He believes that there has been ‘a loss of community as human relation attenuate and fragment under the pressure of contemporary political and social conditions.’ (cited in Turner 2006:6) put simply living one’s own real life can be hard and difficult, but to see someone else enjoy their life and be such a positive influence on others is easier and can be more enjoyable than living one’s own life. Shay Carl and his family appear to have everything they could ever want, a happy, funny growing family, their viewers look on at this and wish to be a part of it. As suggested we are losing our connections and sense of community with our own community and are seeking it elsewhere. By becoming a part of the online extended family the audience member feels like they belong.

Shay Carl never refers to his children by their real names, instead calls them Son-tard, Princess-tard and Baby-tard. Although we know his real name and his wife’s real name they refer to themselves as Daddy-tard and Mommy-tard with these fictional names it is like they are acting as a role rather than themselves, turning the ‘ShayTards’ in to a brand name. With this pretend name they are still able to vlog about their real life but are still capable to keep something about them secret and to their self. As mentioned before documentary’s do not show reality they deal with reality. Shay Carl is able to show as much as he wants with his camera and can keep secret what he wants. His video blogs are normally very happy and have not yet shown any serious issues or problems, while the family may just be a happy positive family where nothing has gone wrong with them. It would be interesting to see if something negative happened within the family if they would cover it.

Another case study on video bloggers is the user called Charles Trippy. With his fiancé Ali they have been covering their life for over a year. They record their everyday life’s, going out, shopping cooking. All very small everyday normal events. However the purpose the documentary is to make a record an event, be it big or small. They grant us information about a subject, the vlogs from Shay Carl and Charles Trippy grant us insight to everyday normal things, and should not be brushes aside as meaningless, the viewer does learn from their vlogs and should be categorised as documentaries. While not all their vlogs may be true examples of the human condition most of their videos show more realistic human emotion, for example Charles Trippy’s video Surprise Marriage Proposal In Spain! (10.04.09 - Day 157) where he proposes to his girlfriend, the video has 1,333,188 views as of the 23rd of March 2009 and received large positive feedback from youtube users. Presenting us with a representation of reality.

Ana Vicente (2008:271) explains that ‘Digital technology cuts the costs of production and post-production processes enormously, enabling low budget filmmaking’. With the use digital technology anyone can now create films, video blogs and documentaries. Not so long ago you would have to be backed by a large film studio to create a film which would grant you a budget. While the quality between a professional film studio camera and a small handy flip cam are vastly different flip cams are still able to shoot in HD and produce quality footage. This now means that anyone can record moments that may not seem important to others on a grand scale but do portray emotional and personal importance. With websites such as youtube it is now possible to upload these videos and share through the global village and connect with others across the world. While video blogs may not affect documentaries shown on television and film financially it will have competition from more film makers who before couldn’t afford to create their film. The internet is slowly becoming major completion for film and television and if it does not converge with it then eventually it could be taken over.