A Q&A with some MHS seniors who make and share videos on the online video platform, YouTube.

Deep Run Ohio

Member(s): Cooper Hoffmeyer (interviewed), Michael Robinson, Vishal Shah, Samuel Sherwood, Devin Haas, Chase Rogers

What first got you interested in creating a YouTube channel?

“I think Vishal Shah was the one who came up with the idea, and we realized that we all liked having one-why not give it a shot ourselves.”

Where did your name come from?

“We initially thought it was the location where Michael’s grandfather grew up in the 1920s. We found out later that the grandfather never actually lived in Deep Run, Ohio, but his grandmother may have.”

When did you start your channel?

“We started our channel in March of our sophomore year. We’re all seniors now. We have 8 videos out, and we upload a new video about every 2 months depending upon how we’re feeling and what our schedules are like.”

What type of content do you post?

“Our latest video is Donald Trump Runs for Pope, so we tried to make it topical with our signature level of ridiculousness.”

Which video was your favorite to film?

“My favorite video was Suburban Amish. I wrote it myself. It’s about Amish People living in West County. I play Leverne, the evil gardener next door, and Michael plays Ezekiel, the main character. It’s the daily life of the struggle of the Amish suburban life.”

What is your channel’s most viewed video?

“[The most viewed video] was been My 1993 Oldsmobile, which is a rap song about my dad’s old car, which was actually taken to the dump in the middle of filming, so we had to do the rest in Sam’s 2015 Elantra.”

What are your goals for the channel’s future?

“We’d like to keep making videos when we go into college, even though we may end up separate. We’ll figure out a way to do that, and we’d like to get a base of fans that aren’t necessarily just from our school.”

Jenjenraspberry

Member(s): Jen Barry

What first got you interested in creating a YouTube channel?

“It was mainly for the memories. I usually find myself watching back old videos like the ones I take during show choir season or theatre shows, just so I can look back on those memories and the good times. Especially if I’m feeling really stressed at school or something.”

How often do you post to your channel?

“It’s fairly sporadic but I try to do it pretty often like if I haven’t had  something really vlog worthy I’ll do a cover of a song and then when I have show choir competitions or musical I’ll do a video every week.”

What does your Youtube channel consist of?

“It’s mainly vlogs, but every now and then I’ll post a music cover or a get ready with me or a makeup tutorial.”

Which video was your favorite to film?

“My favorite videos are usually the ones I do with show choir because it’s all of my friends, and we’re just singing on the bus or getting ready in homeroom. I can remember the adrenaline and happiness and togetherness I’m feeling in those moments.”

What is the message you’re trying to send with your videos?

“Just to have fun. Don’t get lost in what your goals are and what you want for the future. Just take in where you are now.”

If you could be any famous YouTuber, who would you be?

“I really love Lacy Green because she works on spreading positivity and education through her channel.”

Sara Winkler

Member(s): Sara Winkler

What inspired you to make your channel?

“I’ve always loved watching YouTube videos, and it was something I was really into, but I didn’t know what to make content about. So once I found my voice, that was when I made my channel.”

What made you decide to make the type of videos you make?
“I basically got a blood clot last winter and went to the hospital for two days and it was really impactful. To have people be so nice and so kind during that hard time, and to see how it brightened my attitude and how my perspective changed because of them, I realized kindness is so easy for literally anyone. I kind of wanted to help people learn the lesson I learned and I wanted to help people become their best selves and to be more confident in who they are because once we are kind to ourselves it is easier to be kind to others.”

What’s the process behind filming a video like?

“It’s very long. So if it’s a travel video, I have to take videos throughout the vacation which is fun and not hard. But if I’m filming a sit down video then I have to get my camera out, get everything set up and then film a video. Editing the video takes a really long time because I’m a perfectionist and want it to be done exactly how I want it to be so that takes a couple of days.”

Goals for this channel?
“I want to keep it as true to myself and as genuine as possible, I don’t really care about how many subscribers I get or views I make as long as it’s helping other people and it’s a video I’m really proud of — that’s what I want to make sure I stick to.”

Famous YouTuber who inspires you?

“Probably Michelle Reed or Summer McKeen. Michelle Reed has a channel that I kind of want my channel to be like. She has a mix of entertaining videos and self-help lifestyle videos. And Summer is really funny but also genuine, and that’s why I look up to her.”

Matt Howard

Member(s): Matt Howard

What first got you interested in creating a YouTube channel?

“I just got interested because I saw other people doing the same thing, where they would share their music and share their artistic abilities with their community and the world. And I was thinking, “Hey I want to try to do the same thing.”

What type of content do you post?

“I do a lot of covers, and I just started writing songs last month.”

What is the process behind filming a typical video?

“Oh my gosh– the process. I’ll spend a day on one video. I’ll film like 15 or 20 takes on my video. It’s funny because I’ll actually try to get people to come into my room when I’m making a new cover of a song and watch me because if I’m not performing for somebody in the room, I think too much in this mindset of, “Oh, there’s a camera, I can refilm, I don’t have to give it my all this time.”

Which video was your favorite to film?

“I guess the first video I posted, because that was exciting to get my stuff out there. That one has almost 1000 views- 950 or something like that. The style of that song just resonates with a large audience, sometime I do specific songs that are more modern and older people don’t like them as much but the song that I did for my first video, “Brand New” by Ben Rector, that’s the song that I’ve just gotten great feedback on. A lot of people like it- ranging from ages 13 to 80 years old.”

What are the messages behind your videos?

“I feel like music is a powerful medium that we can use to get across messages to the world, and so when I’m doing my music, I want to send positive message and really influence people’s lives and make a positive impact on their lives. For me specifically, I’m an entertainer, so I feel like entertainment can redirect our thoughts for a while, and something special like that can take away the problems of this world for a few minutes.”

What are your goals for the channel’s future?

“It would be cool to get a lot of subscribers and make money on YouTube, but I think the biggest thing that I want the YouTube channel for is to archive what I do, so that people can watch it and hopefully get me discovered.”