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Human beings are a powerful species. Though obviously flawed like all things in the Universe, we have come a long way towards building a society that could be construed as being free and interdependent with one another the whole world over. Ever since the advent of film and TV technology we have used the video medium to entertain, inform, and to simply watch ourselves, reflecting upon different aspects of our collective existence. Then there’s the Internet. The Internet has been the latest and greatest added boon to our gradual evolutionary process. With this tool we as a planet have demolished imagined boundaries and shared information and communicated without discrimination. Now take human beings, video, and the Internet and put them together. What do you get? You get the next step forward in an exciting journey towards self-realisation and awareness. Videoblogs (online video journals), independent Internet movies, short films, animation, online TV, News, and music clips are changing the way we interact with the world around us.

After ‘Googleing’ the word ‘videoblog’ the other day I was thrown into a dimension of reality that I had no idea existed. This is a revolution. The first link out of millions that came up was http://www.vidblogs.com/. Here my journey into the minds of Internet-Video-Making-Humans began, and it began with a bang. Now to get the full effect of this awesome new reality it is best that you do have a Broadband Internet connection. This is so the video footage can download quickly enough, meaning that you can watch several recordings in succession. The first videoblog I checked out was called ‘Andy Carvin’s Waste of Bandwidth’ and the journal entry I witnessed was at http://www.andycarvin.com/archives/2006/05/a_day_of_outrage.html. This kind of videoblog exemplifies the social power that can be generated through this new medium. In this case we’re talking political power. Videoblogs like this one are giving both a voice and a face to the average human on Earth. Anyone can now get hold of a video camera, a web site, and an opinion, and share it with the rest of us. There’s just so much depth and style that can be integrated into the video-making process, and therefore the message that you share becomes so much more than just a stranger yelling from the top of a soapbox.

Check out this simple videoblog: http://annieee.blogspot.com/. Here is an average girl who simply wants to share what she considers her ‘nerdy’ life with other people. There aren’t any serious opinions or ideas, just a window into a fellow person’s reality. When you think about this when compared to the age of Shakespeare where it was almost a non-occurrence for people to even visit the nearest village (the next village was a ‘world’ away) you may see how far human consciousness, awareness, and interconnection has evolved. Look at these links on her site: http://33whitehall.video.blip.tv/uploadedFiles/Annieee-puppies712.mov
http://ia300034.us.archive.org/2/items/new_jeans/050325jeans.mov
http://ia300008.us.archive.org/0/items/pizza_1/050427pizza.mov
Seeing some girl playing with puppies, trying on new blue jeans, or making a frozen pizza may not seem like anything great to you, but just sit and think about it for a second. She’s sharing her individual life experience with anyone and everyone in the world. People in Russia, China, Australia, (Annie is in the USA) can see how she lives, thinks, and behaves. People aren’t worried about sharing their life’s experiences with each other, like in the days of privacy and secrecy where people hid their diaries under the bed only to be read after that person was grown up or long forgotten. Times have changed. Humanity is coming together.

If you looked at the links above you would have seen the girl’s videoblog was called ‘Annieisms is it?’ Within her website she has a written blog (journal), still photos (which are linked to www.Flickr.com where she has whole albums for people to see), and the videos. The cool thing about her videos as seen in her pizza-making ‘episode’ (Isn’t life just a series of episodes?) is the ‘movie’-type of direction that can be integrated into the experience. She has music, superimposed text, and can speed-up or slow-down the playback of the ‘show’. It makes for an interesting and original viewing of someone’s life.

Annie had a link on her site to http://freevlog.org/ which has a tutorial that teaches you how to create your own videoblog and then become part of a community of ‘vloggers’. After going here I followed the yellow brick link trail visiting as much video on the Internet as I could handle. At www.human-dog.com I found another small community of vlogging addicts each with a ‘show’ of their own. www.americanking.org is an example of a show that could become a series if it gets the funding. It looks like it will because the tidbit I watched was quite funny indeed. www.havemoneywillblog.com is a site that asks viewers for contributions for future film episodes with the analogy that it’s just like going to the movies at a corporation-owned theatre, except you are giving an opportunity to ‘small people’ productions. Here’s an example of a day in the life of Sarah’s Corner: http://www.human-dog.com/sara/videos/HD-SC-052406.mov one of the group’s members. She definitely comes from a weird place. Actually, from many of the videos online you kind of get the paradoxical feeling that it mightn’t always be a good thing giving people free-reign with video cameras! If you are into watching funny stuff there is no shortage. This show called ‘Kicked in the Nuts’ http://www.channel101.com/shows/view.php?media_id=7 could be about the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen.

Then there’s the world of animation with very basic films like http://www.addictingclips.com/Clip.aspx?key=CD377573656E0C9E (Robo Tron): a story about two young boys who save the world from Satan and evil aliens with the help of a God who sounds like a Jamaican Rastafarian, as well as awesome ones like the series ‘Ninjai: The Little Ninja’ http://www.atomfilms.com/content/ninjai/index.html. This one blew me away and I couldn’t help watching all 12 chapters. The art and music are phenomenal, though the violence can be quite intense. In the end they create a perfect balance…you really have to check this one out if only for the beautiful background pictures.

Whether you’re interested in sharing your point of view, hearing others’, watching or making films of all genres, TV, music clips, or animation, or watching weird and funny people (even meeting them!), the sphere of Internet video is now the place to be. We are all now being given the chance to create stories both fictional and real for our human family to experience. This is the generation of having a voice, and of having an outlet and means to share your individual creative spirit with the world. The obstacles are shrinking. Excuses are no longer valid. We have the keys in our hands. Let’s relate our selves with each other. Let’s learn and laugh from each other’s creations. It’s time for the ‘little people’ to become the majority of voices that are heard. Let me tell you, I’d rather know your story than see the million-dollar sit-com that’s been showing repeats for a decade.