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  • WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 13 2006 6:00 PM

The Lonelygirl15 YouTube Project: Conniving Creators Come Clean

Submitted by Scopitone

Edited by Rahodeb

Tags: youtube, Lonelygirl15, teens, incredible mystery

An internet venture and incredible mystery that went on for months has finally come to an end. Or at least reached a new stage in its development. Three savvy young men from southern California managed to dupe thousands of lonely men around the world with their “Lonelygirl15” YouTube creation.

The creators behind the Internet video mystery teen Lonelygirl15 want their fans to know they are not a front for a big Hollywood studio marketing some upcoming film.
Instead, the three friends began the adventures of the doe-eyed, 16-year-old home-schooled Bree as an experiment in storytelling that they intend to continue on their own Web site that was launched Tuesday.
Bree's inventors went public after fans of the two- to three-minute videos began questioning her existence and expressing disappointment that the seemingly genuine video diaries were a hoax.



The cunning creators identified themselves to The Associated Press as Miles Beckett, 28, of Woodland Hills, Calif.; Mesh Flinders, 26, of Petaluma, Calif., and Greg Goodfried, 27, of Los Angeles. The three figured that they could exploit the publics creepy desires by giving birth to a show that incorporated elements of mega hit “Lost”, voyeurism, Nancy Drew levels of mystery, and the unending desire to watch young women do anything. No matter how mundane. Though, after having watched a couple episodes it seems that many people were thankfully peering into the faux life of this young lady for the sake of entertainment.

"We're fans of this medium," Goodfried said. "It represents a shift from the content being in control of the big corporations to power being in the hands of the little guy who has a Webcam."
"We are the little guys," Beckett said.
The revelation that Bree was fake initially angered fans on YouTube, who suspected Lonelygirl15 was a slick Hollywood attempt to advertise some upcoming movie or TV show.
But since the creators revealed its fictitious nature last week, the number of people subscribing to the Lonelygirl15 channel on YouTube has skyrocketed.



The savvy Sean picked up on this story a while back and I really do wish the creators had pulled off something hilariously shocking before being exposed. They mention that the number of people subscribing to their show has skyrocketed but I really can’t see those numbers sustaining themselves after the newly curious fans have left. Here’s hoping to some explosive cliffhanger ending to this season involving the “Lonelygirl15” and her forbidden love “Danielbeast” rebelling against their overly religious parents…in a hail of gunfire!

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Cassiel

Cassiel

Aurora, CO
September 2004

SEP 13, 2006 06:15 PM



"We're fans of this medium," Goodfried said. "It represents a shift from the content being in control of the big corporations to power being in the hands of the little guy who has a Webcam."
"We are the little guys," Beckett said.



the little guy with the webcam, huh....that are going to produce shit that amuses them and their friends

i find it cool that more people can become filmmakers, because of cheaper technology and such, but that also means that the place will be flooded with shit films...that, and guys like Tarantino and Rodriguez and the other hip maverick indie filmmakers

filmmaking should be left in the hands of people who know what they're doing.

KtheTwentyThird

KtheTwentyThird

Ypsilanti, MI
March 2005

SEP 13, 2006 06:23 PM

Cassiel said:

filmmaking should be left in the hands of people who know what they're doing.



Agreed. God only knows what sort of calamity could occur if we give the common man an artistic outlet.

CountVertigo

CountVertigo

Ann Arbor, MI
June 2005

SEP 13, 2006 06:57 PM

Cassiel said:
filmmaking should be left in the hands of people who know what they're doing.



Right. Like Michael Bay, Joe Eszterhas & George Lucas.

Moron.

cgilbe1

cgilbe1

Cambridge, MA
OLD SKOOL

SEP 13, 2006 06:58 PM

so, wait...you're actually arguing that we place creative faith in the same industry that green-lighted "kangaroo jack"?

Posh

Posh

SUICIDEGIRL

California, USA

SEP 13, 2006 07:08 PM

Cassiel said:
filmmaking should be left in the hands of people who know what they're doing.



Are you serious?

PointBlank

PointBlank

New York, NY
November 2004

SEP 13, 2006 07:14 PM

Cassiel said:


"We're fans of this medium," Goodfried said. "It represents a shift from the content being in control of the big corporations to power being in the hands of the little guy who has a Webcam."
"We are the little guys," Beckett said.



the little guy with the webcam, huh....that are going to produce shit that amuses them and their friends

i.


And tens of thousands of other people, apparently.

I'd really like to figure out what your point is here...

Westley

Westley

Vatican City
April 2004

SEP 13, 2006 07:29 PM

Cassiel said:
filmmaking should be left in the hands of people who know what they're doing.



Agreed. Bye bye, studios.

wenis

wenis

San Francisco, CA
July 2006

SEP 13, 2006 07:54 PM

Cassiel said:


"We're fans of this medium," Goodfried said. "It represents a shift from the content being in control of the big corporations to power being in the hands of the little guy who has a Webcam."
"We are the little guys," Beckett said.



the little guy with the webcam, huh....that are going to produce shit that amuses them and their friends

i find it cool that more people can become filmmakers, because of cheaper technology and such, but that also means that the place will be flooded with shit films...that, and guys like Tarantino and Rodriguez and the other hip maverick indie filmmakers

filmmaking should be left in the hands of people who know what they're doing.




wait what?
are you saying taratino and rodriguez are in the same category as said "shit films"?

i really hope your not..or i have lost faith in the world..or at least in random people on the internet.

Cassiel

Cassiel

Aurora, CO
September 2004

SEP 13, 2006 07:58 PM

what i'm saying is that, yeah, big-time studios/distro companies (and small sometimes) can give us shit films and are unfair sometimes (but their films can make money), but the studios have a better sporting chance at making a halfway decent film that'll get released than some prick with a one-chip MiniDV camera can do with his skateboarding buddies...besides, the big studios have imprints beneath them that cater to indie films (Fox Searchlight, Sony Classics, etc.) and I think that those are a good sign

i guess it boils down to my view on art in general, and how it relates to people *shrug*

and my Tarantino/Rodriguez comment refers to the fact that since these guys and their type appeared on the scene, scores of (bad) imitations have popped up, and have saturated the market, imo. I mean, since their films first appeared, how many films have been made with drugs deals gone bad, gangsters, ultra-violence, a high "hip" quotient, etc...I'm not saying that these guys invented all that, but they sure as hell gave it a resurgence

i just think that there needs to be a sea change in terms of story and character, the meanings and philiosophical debates behind films...there needs to be more art in them...style over technique please.

stluv1

stluv1

Minneapolis, MN
December 2002

SEP 13, 2006 08:02 PM

Viva the revolution you mothers!!

Posh

Posh

SUICIDEGIRL

California, USA

SEP 13, 2006 08:10 PM

Cassiel said:
what i'm saying is that, yeah, big-time studios/distro companies (and small sometimes) can give us shit films (but they can make money), but these guys have a better sporting chance at making a halfway decent film that'll get released than some prick with a one-chip MiniDV camera can do with his skateboarding buddies

i guess it boils down to my view on art in general, and how it relates to people *shrug*



Where in the hell are you coming from? How about we stick to the topic at hand, or relate your oddball points to said subjects. Did you even watch any of these videos? Clearly, they are made decently enough, and they aren't trying to make some huge movie to be released to the public. There's no one skateboarding.

This was an interesting experiment. Look at how many people got interested, and started following the lives of Lonelygirl15 and Danielbeast. I'm reminded of the footage featured in Pattern Recognition. People were obsessed at figuring out the mystery. Groups and groups of people came together to decipher clues. About Lonelygirl15! This is a great display of what kind of innovative filmmaking comes from the little guys.

Fuck the big studios. No ones talking about making money here.

Westley

Westley

Vatican City
April 2004

SEP 13, 2006 08:16 PM

I don't think it is in the best interest of people, or art, at all, to limit the opportunities people have for expression.

The aspects of filmmaking that a well equipped set yields have little to do with art or filmmaking skill. Anything that opens up the avenues of distribution and production to the little guy that is almost completely sealed off by the artless, soulless Josh Weinstein's of the world is good for art, expression and filmmaking. Some people just want a chance to speak & be heard, not make Die Hard 8.

Yes, I said Josh Weinstein.


Cassiel

Cassiel

Aurora, CO
September 2004

SEP 13, 2006 08:40 PM

Posh, I think that your comments are valid, and yes, I may have gone off the path with my later comment (as I sometimes do) but I do feel that my initial comment was relevant to the topic.

As for said topic...if people got (emotionally) involved in the story, then hey, that's great...all stories should be like that...as for the production values, I and others can debate that, but not here...the same goes for the point(s) the creators wanted to get across

i think that it's just that I have been taught/trained/conditioned against this kind of 'film-making'...i don't like it...i shun it because on the whole, it has produced low-quality work...now if that's a flaw on my part, then i have a flaw, and people (here) can ridicule me for that, and I'm fine with it...though I truly feel that my stance is perfectly valid and is shared by many others

*steps off soapbox*

Posh

Posh

SUICIDEGIRL

California, USA

SEP 13, 2006 08:43 PM

It's kind of a sad stance. I have absolutely no person involvement in the story. Prior to late last night, I'd never seen one of these videos. It just seems pretty closeminded to boycott an entire genre because you somehow thing indie filmmakers without millions of dollars and special effects shouldn't make movies. I'm just saying ...

Oh, and also, this series of clips isn't a movie, and I don't think it should be compared to the massively huge movie houses out there. It's an entirely different format, and should be viewed as such.

pumpkinheart

pumpkinheart

Ottawa, ON
September 2005

SEP 13, 2006 08:47 PM

There's been shit films since film was invented. Shit films are part of the moviegoing experience. Shit films are also the future so-called "cult movies" that .003% of the population think are oh-so-cool. I'd bet a lot of those who got annoyed by the whole Lonelygirl15 saga are the same people who can't stand getting fooled by card tricks, or try to heckle stand-up comics (trust me: if you were as funny as you think you are, you'd be on stage ahead of them). That's missing the point of the whole show. It's just a show.

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