Memorabilia can come in many different forms: photographs, home videos, music records, and even stuffed animals. Senior CJ Lawrence uses vlogs on her YouTube channel as a form of memorabilia to look back on as she moves through life.
“I started the channel so that later on in life, I could go back and watch the videos and see all my friends and the memories we have made. I thought it would be cute,” Lawrence said. “Each video is jam-packed with a bunch of different things. It might be a little hard to follow, but it’s a great recap of what I did that month. I would call it a ‘by-month’ channel.’”
Lawrence’s friends have helped her with her channel, not only by giving her ideas and watching the videos, but by frequently appearing in them. Senior Lula Fung, one of Lawrence’s close friends, frequently appears in these videos.
“[Lawrence] started bringing her camera to school everyday, and we had a lot of classes together, so I would be in a lot of the videos,” Fung said. “Our generation is so caught up and influenced by the media. It’s cool to be a part of it. I love being able to look back on the videos, even if they are only from a few months ago. It feels nostalgic to look at.”
Lawrence focuses on making videos about certain events or months in her life. She’s recorded birthday parties, kickbacks, and college tours. According to Lawrence, her favorite event she’s filmed so far has been “Senior Sunrise.”
“I thought [Senior Sunrise] was a really fun memory to record and look at all the footage after. Seeing everyone in our class all together as a community was really cool,” Lawrence said.
Lawrence learned to edit her videos herself on CapCut. According to Lawrence, she took inspiration for her meme-filled vlogs from the famous YouTuber, Quenlin Blackwell.
“[Blackwell] adds a lot of references to TikTok, so I wanted to try to incorporate that into my editing,” Lawrence said. “To make [the videos] my own, I just did TikToks that I would know and I [think are] funny. I have also made [my videos] less chaotic than her vlogs usually are; it’s more laid back.”
According to Lawrence, she used to take about three nights to edit the videos. Despite this, she sets goals to upload more often, which forces her to edit even faster and more often.
“I definitely want to try to upload more often this year; I only have two videos so far. I have a lot of footage that needs to be edited, so hopefully I will be able to post more frequently [in the future],” Lawrence said. “I want to try uploading one video every other week. As long as I dedicate one night after school to it, I can edit a whole entire video. I want to commit to that schedule more.”
While editing is a hard task, the results are worth the time, according to Lawrence. Her videos have inspired her friends to create similar videos.
“After [Lawrence] started making videos, I started making outfit videos with my friends at lunch, which is kind of similar. I would set up a camera, and every day we would do an outfit try-on. I wanted to keep that same memory that she’s doing with her YouTube videos,” Fung said.
Lawrence encourages others, not just her friends, to also create videos and memories in a similar way she has. Her advice to those who want to do the same is to just start filming when you can.
“Try your best to be consistent, and also know when you shouldn’t record and be in the moment. I know a lot of people who don’t like being on camera, so it’s good to get everyone’s consent before you start filming and uploading stuff,” Lawrence said. “I’ve always been into video-taping and vlogging. I even have vlogs from when I was ten. You know how people act like YouTubers when they are younger? I just actually did it.”
