This past week, I have arrived, soundly, at the direction in which I want to take my project. I’ve gathered over ten sources discussing authenticity and performance, and now feel compelled to map this onto vlogs specifically. That is, how do vlogs rely on performance to generate authenticity? Why is authenticity so crucial for these content creators, and what does it bring them? These are questions that have been answered by the various articles I have read. Now, I want to plan my own vlog. Howard Becker’s article, “Art as a Collective Action,” will provide guidance for me when I think about the content. He notes that artists are somewhat constrained when they produce work, because they cannot do, entirely, whatever they want. In order to gain popularity, the artist must use “artistic conventions” that legitimize their work. Vloggers, too, have a set of constraints – today, the vlog has become almost “cookie cutter,” where the most popular vloggers all seem to have a similar style. This not only includes content in the video, but also music, edits, camera angles, etc. Without satisfying these metrics, I believe it would be difficult for a content creator to gain popularity. My goal is to use this idea of artistic conventions, what I think of as “table stakes” for making a vlog, to emulate popular contemporary vloggers as best I can. In this way, I will think about how these artistic conventions are used to generate authenticity and thus generate more viewers and subscribers.
I plan to reserve a camera this coming week and being filming a “week in the life” type of video. As mentioned, I am going to try to identify and reproduce what I see as the most popular conventions. I am not planning anything for this vlog – I will film myself periodically throughout the week and discuss anything relevant that is going on. To me, this is the best way to remain “authentic.” In doing so, I think I will get a better understanding for performance and manufacturing authenticity, which I can then connect to the other questions I’ve generated.
I am excited to get this underway. I have never done anything like this, but I feel that putting myself in the shoes of a content creator will beneficial. To round out the project, I want relate the theories of performance and surveillance to the life of the Millennial. That is, how can we use something like vlogs to understand how these abstract theories relate to our lives? There are many pieces to this project, but I think it is coming together well. Now, I can actually begin creating the project.
Sam,
This is a very interesting project, one that draws on some important sociological theory to generate new ideas about the nature of performance in vlogs and social media more broadly. I will be very curious to see how the recording turns out. I am primarily interested in your engagement of how you find yourself adjusting yourself for the sake of the camera — how will you present yourself in a way that appears authentic? As you gestured in your log for this week, even authenticity must adhere to the conventions of its medium.
I will also be curious as to how you will bring in the sociology into your vlog. Are you doing interludes? Will you provide a companion? You have not discussed much of this in your blog, even though you are relying on quite a bit of sociology to frame your project as an experiment. I think this will require some reflection, for I imagine that, for your vlog to be persuasively legible, you will need to conform the commentary and analysis to the conventions of the craft as well.
This is very exciting. I look forward to reading more about it (and seeing the final product).