An Internet Existentialism
With this video, I have officially released my tenth submission as a YouTuber. Logically, at this point, I should harness the insight and experience of an award-winning film director, but for some reason, I still feel like a chimp aimlessly screaming at a TV screen. In the course of ten videos, I have at least learned that flinging my feces is mostly unhelpful and unsanitary.
All this to say, I still don’t know what the hell I’m doing, apart from avoiding what’s shit. I’m certainly enjoying creating videos, but I have yet to do something that really separates Solomon Rambling from all of the other amateur rabble. The same can be said of this website, perhaps if to a lesser extent. Over all of these months, I have focused on producing work that an accomplished content creator would generate. My voice and style of writing has weaved their way into my products, yet I’m very much following those who have found success before me.
This week’s GoNNER video provides a perfect example of my copy-cat behavior. I bought GoNNER for the sole purpose of playing it while I recorded. Numerous YouTubers have developed fanbases by simply recording themselves while monologuing over a game they haven’t played yet. These videos constitute our much beloved “Let’s Plays,” and I figured if the pros were making them, I should learn to do so as well. My other videos have followed a similar train of thought: if someone notable made a video around a certain theme or structure, I would mimic them as best as possible.
This behavior is not inherently wrong, not by a long shot. When you learn an art, you don’t forge your style and identity from the outset. Even prodigies begin by learning from others. As you develop your foundational skills, you look to those already established in the field. If you don’t outright copy their work, you are at least unconsciously incorporate aspects of their style into your own. Once you become more familiar with what you’re doing, you begin to craft a distinct product that is your own. That, or you become a fundamentalist who perfects the work of your predecessors.
I’m still a novice, treading the path of those who have paved their success. Regardless of how disgustingly cheesy and cliché that previous sentence is, it’s true. Right now, I don’t feel an urgency to rush my development, even as I near the first anniversary of my website. With my current pace, rambling onscreen has gradually felt more natural, and I can see improvement from my first video to now. Give me a little more time to gestate (and any critiques you have), and I will become a beautiful butterfly/moth/fully-formed fetus someday.