Ever since early 2020 one of my best friends has become obsessed with VTubers. Every single morning I would wake up to a max. of 7 and a min. of 2 VTuber related posts in my DM’s. I was pretty neutral on the whole thing at the start, slowly but surely however, my interests were piqued. I started wondering where this whole VTuber fad suddenly came from and why I could not open social media without seeing at least one (1) VTuber.
So, I did what any reasonable human being would do. I turned myself into a VTuber and made a 20 minute video essay about the topic.
*Disclamer!
I forgot to mention it in the video itself, but all my perspectives are given from a western point of view. When I speak of ‘mainstream’ entertainment, I’m alluding to what the west considers mainstream as that is the only perspective I can really speak on.
Listen with headphones for best quality!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xAdyEXR0Pd0gqlfs1hIxRvZ7HuMo-GWH/view?usp=sharing
So, uh, man. That took much, much, much longer than I anticipated. The video also turned out more than twice as long as planned, so, yeah, my bad.
I do hope you enjoyed the video, let me know your thoughts below!
Resources:
I used Clip Studio Paint to draw the VTuber model.
Live2D to animate it.
Motion-rigged it using PrprLive.
Recorded it all using OBS.
And finally edited it all using Filmora.
Bibliography
Bullingham, L & Vasconcelos, A. (2013). ‘The presentation of self in the online world’: Goffman and the study of online identities. Journal of Information Science, 39(1), 101-112.
Lantican, F. (2020, October 29). This New K-Pop Girl Group Has Human and Virtual Members. VICE. Retrieved from https://www.vice.com/en/article/bvxxgd/aespa-kpop-music-girl-group-virtual-sm
Stelter, B. (2020, April 24). YouTube CEO says people are discovering different kinds of videos as the pandemic rages. CNN. Retireved from https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/23/media/youtube-videos-pandemic/index.html
3, 2, 1 GO! VIDEO GAMING IS AT AN ALL-TIME HIGH DURING COVID-19. (2020, 3 July). Retrieved from https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/article/2020/3-2-1-go-video-gaming-is-at-an-all-time-high-during-covid-19/
Yee, N. (2014). The Proteus Paradox : How Online Games and Virtual Worlds Change Us-And How They Don’t.
Wow, I did not know anything about this. Especially the hybrid live performances with a real person on stage, dancing in sync with the virtual models was crazy. Your video is incredibly well made, all the information is interesting, relevant and it is overall well structured and beautifully visualized – I’m super impressed. Your own VTuber is also amazing, I love how the eyes blink out of sync ahah.. I myself am surprised at how normal it feels to have watched a VTuber video, my first instinct would have been that I’d be against it, but turns out that I’m not. I think our online lecturers should consider creating little avatars to narrate their lectures too
Great video, Nina! At first I thought you were trying to speak in sync with your VTuber’s facial expressions and was very lost. It was also the first time I had ever heard about VTubers and found it quite innovative and… normal; it’s not like I had to get used to it. Also cheers on your VTube. I thought you could just “generate” one on a website or something, but you actually drew it yourself. Pretty cool
Thank you for such an entertaining video! I love the visual and your narration is super fun and easy to follow. I myself did not follow any VTubers but follow some virtual fashion models on Instagram. One is this girl called imma and she also her own tiktok. The Virtual Human agency, Aww Inc whose management she is under also has other virtual models as well. And I find it super fascinating as the company tries to make her presence in real-life events as legit as possible. I definitely think that this could be developed further in the long run.
How cool! I love all the effort that you put into this video, you explain this phenomenon really well in it. I hadn’t heard of VTubers before this, only by name. I think I’m still somewhat old-fashioned in my opinion of VTubers, it’s not really content that appeals to me but I find it really fascinating how entertainment is becoming increasingly digital as well, and how disconnected the person behind the content can become from the content itself.