YouTube is my most used app/website. It’s the platform I use to watch like 90% of my content. Between sports, comedy, vlogs, or documentaries – YouTube provides me with entertainment that touches on all aspects of society and culture. And when you’re tired of the Walt Disney’s, the HBO’s, and the other big conglomerates – YouTube provides me an avenue of niche artists creating something good with their own voice that stands out from what is already existent on the web and traditional media. In my mind, there is one YouTuber that stands above the rest, given my personal taste. From reading the title of this blog, yes I am talking about Casey Neistat.
Casey is truly one of a kind. He was already working in traditional media before he hopped onto YouTube. And although he was already doing good work off the platform, you could see that YouTube truly provided him with the venue to make something that he enjoyed, while challenging his skillset and having fun. On the surface, Casey’s genre of videos would be vlogs. However Casey’s vlogs are different. Yes they’re about his exciting day to day life, but they’re also tech videos, travel vlogs, comedic sketches, documentaries, and so much more. Do you see what I’m getting at here? He makes vlogs, just like thousands of other YouTubers – but his vlogs are more than just a video log of his day – there is a creative element to them that speaks to him as a film maker.
It’s not just that, he genuinely lives an interesting life. Whether it be his thirst for new technology, his travel for work, or the fact that he’s in New York City – he is making it so that the audience is not just watching a vlog, the audience is watching a Casey Neistat short film. What other vlogger makes their city/home feel as alive as Casey’s? In the vlogs, NYC is like a living and breathing city. When he’s sifting between traffic on his skateboard, you can feel the vibrancy of the city. When he’s interacting with passerby’s, you can see that the city is dynamic. It literally feels like Casey is the main character of an RPG video game and he’s just hitting x to interact with his surroundings. All while boosting his stats in every which way (knowledge, speed, athleticism, communication, etc…).
But more than anything I love that for Casey, the vlog is a challenge to create better films. I believe in process. I believe that in order to create successful things you need to practice, fail, learn, and adapt. I understand that things don’t occur over night and that they need constant work to become successful. In one of his vlogs he mentions that the daily vlogs were created so that he can find new ways to tell stories better though film. He’s looking for new angles to shoot, new editing styles, more expansive ways of doing a tech review – as he uses the new piece of tech in real life. Just like NYC is living and breathing, these vlogs are also living and breathing. They are dynamic and they show a lot of personality that only a Casey Neistat vlog – nay, short film can. I know I’m not an artist like him, I’m not really an artist at all – but I believe that his philosophy in creating these vlogs, is something that you can carry onto other aspects of life in order to improve and be a better human being.
If you’ve never watched a Casey Neistat vlog, I highly encourage you to. The man is charming and interesting. His life seems like a lot of fun as he does a great job on his short films presenting them as so. I love that the man is so secure of himself and so full of wisdom. He is always interested in learning and telling a good story, which I in my limited 27 years of life, am always down for as well. And the great thing about YouTube is that if you watch one of his videos, the algorithm is only going to introduce you to more and more of his videos. Then you’ll back in a blackhole of Casey short films, just like me. You’re welcome!
