lonelygirl15

=lonelygirl15=

Bree, also known as her screen name [|lonelygirl15], became famous through her video blogs on YouTube. The vlogs posted by [|lonelygirl15] centralize around a few main themes. The storyline included her romantic confusion with her friend Daniel (known as screen name [|Danielbeast]), her rebellion against her parents and her strict religion. Her videos were subscribed to and watched by millions of viewers.

After a series of videos, YouTubers became suspicious of the growing number of inconsistencies that spawn throughout each video blog. The main contradiction that came forth was that the [|lonelygirl15.com] website, a site supposedly made by a fan, was created two weeks before lonelygirl15 posted her first video on YouTube. Also, lonelygirl15 claimed that Daniel did all of her video editing. However, when they get into fights, the editing in her videos remained consistent. Also, with vast amount of users, YouTubers were suspicious as to why no one recognized lonelygirl15. Furthermore, emails sent from lonelygirl15’s account were tracked and traced to the offices of Creative Artist Agency. In addition, lonelygirl15 never made any specific replies to fan's comments - they were all generic comments.

Eventually, the writers posted on the lonelygirl15.com website forums that lonelygirl15 (Bree) was indeed a fictional storyline. lonelygirl15 is really an aspiring actress from New Zealand named Jessica Rose. Her friend, Danielbeast is an actor named Yousef Abu-Taleb. The writers, both filmmakers, are Ramesh Flinders, Greg Goodfried and Miles Beckett. Flinderse, Goodfried and Beckett stated in USA Today that "they never intended to stage a hoax or trick people into believing their characters were real" (USA Today). Their intentions are to tell a story - "A story that could only be told using the medium of video blogs and the distribution power of the Internet. A story that is interactive and constantly evolving with the audience. (CBS News)" Furthermore, the creators, Flinderse, Goodfried and Beckett believe that "With [the fans] help we believe we are witnessing the birth of a new art form" (The Tech Chronicles).

The confession, however, has not hurt their fanbase. In fact, "the number of people subscribing to the Lonelygirl15 channel on YouTube has skyrocketed" (USA Today).

After the truth was exposed, Jessica Rose and Youself Abu-Taleb both confessed to being fake. They continue to create vlogs on YouTube. The storyline, however, have become more complex. More characters have been introduced and the settings include other scenes outside her bedroom.

Recently, lonelygirl15 posts have ended with an advertisement. As well, lonelygirl15 was recently nominated for an award on the VH1's big in 2006 award show for big web hit in 2006 and won. Her video just demonstrates that anybody can become popular with the means that is the Internet. She wanted to become famous when she started and now she's as big as any celebrity (name wise). She is now on a number of promotion circuits as she's become for her videos and character performance.

Bibliography: Foremski, Matt and Tom Foremski. "LonelyGirl15 an actress from Middle Earth." The Tech Chronicles. Accessed on Nov 11 2006. Online at <[|http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=19&entry_id=8820>.]

Gentile, Gary. "Creators confess to Lonelygirl15 mystery." USA Today. Sept 9 2006. Accessed on Nov 11 2006. Online at <[|http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2006-09-13-lonelygirl15-confession_x.htm>.]

McNamara, Melissa. "Lonelygirl15: An Online Star Is Born." CSB News. Sept 13 2006. Acessed on Nov 11 2006. Online at <[|http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/09/11/blogophile/main1999184.shtml>.]

Image Source: Cox, Jennifer. "Lonelygirl15 Confessions." The National Ledger. 2004-2006. Accessed on Nov. 08 2006. Online at <[|http://www.nationalledger.com/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi?archive=4&num=8435>.]