Board members of Creator Crew talk about their new club
Students use YouTube for a variety of reasons: listening to specific songs they’re in the mood for, watching new music videos and even getting help with studies through services such as Khan Academy. Another predominant use of YouTube is watching vlogs. “Vlog” is a portmanteau of “video” and “blog,” and there are a variety of them. Second-year neurobiology, physiology and behavior major Josh Moy shared what he believes the main goal of vlogging is.
“There are many different types of vlogs: lifestyle vlogs, cinematic vlogs, inspirational vlogs and so on,” Moy said. “However, they all come to a similar idea: telling [or] sharing a story.”
Moy is the head of the “Creator” department of Creator Crew, a new club that is open to students interested in filmmaking. Moy describes it as an organization that consists of video production and workshops for newer members. The club is organized into three departments: create, workshops and socials. So far, the focus of the board has predominantly been setting up the club.
Moy first got into vlogging by watching Casey Neistat on YouTube. There were different parts of Neistat’s vlogs that seemed effortless, but by paying close attention, Moy discovered that they really required significant planning. This realization made Moy evaluate how he perceived his own life.
“The fact that [Neistat] made videos everyday made me think about how unique my life is, even if I saw it as boring,” Moy said. “Vlogging gave me the chance to look at my life through a different lens and let me share my life and create so many memories with friends.”
Third-year civil engineering major Stefenie Berzamina is responsible for social media for the club, and she sees vlogging as a great creative outlet. She loves sharing new experiences, especially while travelling, but she has faced challenges with the process.
“Vlogging is actually really hard,” Berzamina said. “You need the confidence to put a camera in your face in public and talk to it. I really struggled with the talking part. Editing is hard too. It takes a long time to make sure your video is just the way you want it.”
Second-year communication major Tiffany Yang shares that same sentiment. Yang is the socials coordinator, and she started vlogging after her senior year of high school when she was looking for something to fill her time. Yang had always enjoyed watching videos on YouTube, and when her family took a trip to Taiwan, she decided she would vlog it on her iPhone. She says that being a vlogger has pushed her to step out of her comfort zone.
“I get weird stares from people, but I’m used to it now,” Yang said, “[Vlogging] also forces me to do something interesting in my life. I love the other creators in Creator Crew, hella good vibes and people.”
The social aspect is something that Moy also values, along with vlog production. Alongside the people that he spends time with, he has found himself further motivated to produce.
“My favorite part of vlogging is being able to capture memories and create a fun, memorable video,” Moy said. “My favorite part of Creator Crew is meeting other creators with a similar interest in YouTube. There are not a lot of people I know who are interested in filmmaking, much less cameras in general, so it was cool to meet other creators, which pushed me to create more videos.”
Berzamina, Moy and Yang all talked about their favorite vlogs they have produced — for Berzamina, it was her time in the Philippines, For Moy, it was a blindfolded photography challenge with a friend and for Yang, it was the vlogs she produced with her friends at UC Davis.
“To make the video more interesting, we had to come up with different ways to film each other,” Moy said. “I had to […] keep the viewer interested so they could continue to watch. Besides that, it was really fun to collaborate with other people with similar interests.”
For these board members, vlogging doesn’t require a significant amount of planning. Generally when the idea strikes, they just film. Berzamina uses her iPhone, whereas Moy uses a Sony a5100 camera and a tripod and Yang uses a Canon T3i Rebel or her iPhone.
“Anyone can [vlog], and you don’t need a camera for it,” Yang said, “I was just a girl who binge-watched YouTube videos and had an iPhone.”
Written by: Anjini Venugopal — features@theaggie.org
