Monday, August 16, 2010

BACK-TO-BUSINESS MONDAY: Vlogging

WRITE ON CON was my first experience with vlogging.  With the help of my tech-savvy fifteen-year-old and the amazing founders of the conference, it was really quite fun. 

Here's what I learned from my first foray into "film"...

1. I don't have many places in my house with good light, minimal kiddie-artwork on the walls, and enough quiet to videotape for four minutes without catching boy yells in the background.

2. To make a reasonably good point in just a few minutes took me MANY hours of script-writing, multiple practice sessions with the kitchen timer, and an embarassing number of takes.

3. Someone should have told me about that hair sticking out behind my right ear before I'd finished all the edits and noticed (at last) myself.

Here's what I wonder...

1. Do you enjoy watching VLOGs?

2. When, what kind and why do you watch vlogs?

3. Have you ever made a vlog and/or what do you vlog about?

8 comments:

Izzy G. said...

1. Vlogs can be fun to watch because you get to the kick back and just listen, and often humor in vlogs can be better than humor in text. So yes, I love watching vlogs.

2. Umm... I watched them during WriteOnCon. And... I think that was it. The thing about vlogs is that my headphones don't work, and (I'm a high school student) my dad works at home for something like 25 hours a day (which involves being on the phone a lot), so I have limited opportunities to actually watch vlogs. In this sense, text is way easier for me, even if vlogs are more fun.

3. Nope.

storyqueen said...

Your vlog was great. I really enjoyed it.

I like to see vlogs sometimes, but if I am in a hurry, I won't click on them, since I can usually read far faster than watch a vlog. (But I love seeing the people behind the words, you know....there just isn't time on many days.)

Interesting topic.

Shelley

Tahereh said...

hehe thanks for your vlog! it was a great addition to the conference :D

i think it's often hard to pull off a vlog successfully if you don't have a target goal in mind. i've seen some people vlog just for the sake of vlogging, and it often goes off on a random tangent, and can be hard to follow. the professional vlogs (or purposely entertaining vlogs!) are a lot easier to digest.

:D

Kimberley Griffiths Little said...

I thought you had one of the best vlogs of the conference! Didn't notice the sticking out hair at all! ;-)

Stasia said...

Thanks for your comments, Izzy, Shelley, Tahereh & Kimberley. Must admit that I, like Shelley, often just don't feel like I've got the time to watch vlogs. That said, I enjoyed them at WriteOnCon and, along with Tahereh, feel that they are most useful and appealing when they are well-purposed. Also, thanks for not noticing my bad hair, Kimberley :) - Stasia

Dawn Simon said...

I enjoy vlogs, but I usually like them to be short (it depends who it is and what they're saying, but I'm being general). If I watch one, it's a writer or other industry professional I'd like to hear opinions from, like someone whose blog I'd visit. I think a vlog is extra fun because I get to hear the person's voice and see them move rather than just see a picture. I'd like the topic to be something that interests me--or for it to be funny. I love funny. I often don't click on vlogs because of the time issue.

Yay for the archives! I'll have to look yours up! I saw Suzanne Young's, and it was great!

Molly Hall said...

I agree with Dawn (what a shocker!) I think vlogs are fun as a once-in-a-while adjunct to regular blogging. I like to see a writer's "essence" and hear them talk. But it's true: brevity is the soul of vlog excellence.

Stasia said...

Thanks for your thoughts, Molly & Dawn. Enjoying my vicarious trip to SCBWI via your blogs :) - Stasia