Is Lonelygirl15 a fraud?
From her bedroom, Lonelygirl15 opines on life as a homeschooled 16-year old, exploring her favorite topics in science and her budding relationship with friend and expert video editor Danielbeast. Since Lonelygirl15 began posting videos last month, she's become a YouTube sensation, drawing hundreds of thousands of viewers. Perhaps, as New York Times critic Virginia Heffernan recently wrote, she "perfects the emo girl-in-her-room pose, balancing playful and moody as she muses about her life and times." Heffernan thinks she deserves a show on MTV. Alternatively, plenty find her videos a little too polished, what with professional-appearing lighting and story arcs, not to mention supposedly religious parents OK with her and Danielbeast playing with a Web cam in her bedroom. So just who is Lonelygirl15? A young, uber-talented YouTube auteur? Or a slick fake perpetrated by a network, or even, God forbid, another marketer who heard this viral thing is hot? —Posted by Brian Morrissey |
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Here is some added weirdness to the whole mix. It seems that there is a framed picture of Aleister Crowley (an occultist among other things) on her wall.
Here is the link to the video exposing it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K66l7DRUHBE
Posted by: D. Stone | Aug 11, 2006 3:50:11 PM
of course this is advertising, did it take more than 5 seconds to realize this?
Posted by: | Aug 12, 2006 5:20:31 PM
feels too much like advertising.. but for what i'm not sure. It's way to polished to be real.
Posted by: wendy | Aug 13, 2006 3:34:27 PM
if Aleister Crowley is good enough for Led Zeppelin, he's good enough for Lonely Girl. She gives me the same creepy feeling that Mena Suvari did in American Beauty. And I like it.
Posted by: ad_scribe | Aug 14, 2006 10:43:42 AM
something doesn't ring true about her videos. they seem a little manicured and forced.
Posted by: pmoshay | Aug 14, 2006 12:53:45 PM
It would be so dissapointing to find out in the near future that a huge marketing film is behind all this. Especially when so many people believe is not a fake.
Posted by: YouBoobTube | Aug 14, 2006 1:17:07 PM
Look at 0:19 mark of this video. Think THIS may be the marketer? If not, when did IKEA-esque make it into our vocabulary?
Posted by: TXYankee | Aug 14, 2006 1:33:41 PM
i'm not ready to be 100% skeptical... but if she IS real - and she's all over the internet/news, where are the people claiming to know her? her friends? it seems she's becoming enough a sensation that if she was an average high schooler her friends, school, and parents would know--- and so would we.
Posted by: melissa | Aug 15, 2006 1:50:51 PM
I dont know if she is real or not, but I work in television and making something of this quality is not that impressive and young kids these days certainly have the ability using nothing more than a small digital camera that can capture video ($200) and all the easily pirated software they can steal online, tho more likely just plain imovie. The lighting is nice, but the girl's skin is great and she's prolly got a southern exposure. Seriously that's all it takes. Not to say it's not a fake, everyone I watch I feel differently, please dont tell my friends I watch these too. I'd never here the end of it.
Posted by: knick | Aug 18, 2006 2:08:44 PM
If anything she should do noxema ads
Posted by: knick | Aug 18, 2006 2:09:49 PM
if you work in television mate, sounds like you have a real job. If you had a "real" job, you would think you would be able to spell "hear".
Posted by: | Aug 19, 2006 5:15:18 PM
I work in film.
A $200 digital video camera would hardly produce such saturated and unwavering quality. Take a look at anything else on YT. Theres lots of interlacing issues, pixel drops, etc. I barely notice that in any of the LG15 posts. I mean, I just think its really odd that some sheltered girl with a cheap webcam is able to run anything like that. The editing has its own character, too. And the lighting. No white day glare contrasting with the indoor lighting, nothing. Its all soft, like they're using a flag or mesh.
If its fake, its brilliant, I must admit.
Posted by: Tim | Aug 21, 2006 7:19:15 AM
Who benefits from millions of people going to YouTube to see this show? Who benefits from thousands of responses to a show on YouTube? Who has the ability to guarantee something will be on the most popular list on YouTube? Who desperately needs to prove they have shows that can get big numbers of viewers involved in order to have mainstream advertisers interested in a show on YouTube?
YouTube.com
The best part is if it is successful they can let the show live and “develop” into a professional show, if it’s a flop they quietly let it die. Only YouTube knows for sure who made it.
And by the way, $300 digital video camera and $100 software will make those videos. We do it all the time. And a $6,000 camera can make a really "amateur" looking video, we do that all the time as well. And we get 1,000,000 viewers on the Internet all the time as well.
Posted by: Mark Frazier | Aug 23, 2006 12:51:05 AM
Did you notice Lonelygirl15 has my picture on her wall and that Daniel paid homage to me by lighting candles right in front of my picture? I felt all warm and cozy by such reverence to my image.
Let's just say that she's certainly not a Christian Fundamentalist with my picture prominently displayed on her wall. Not to mention, of course, that she wears tight tank tops, ripped jeans, and has her feet perfectly pedicured and painted for every pedophile on earth to view--if only she were 16. She spends quite a bit of time behind closed doors with Mr. Danielson too, doesn't she? So much for strict parents.
Posted by: AleisterCrowley69 | Aug 24, 2006 3:41:00 AM
Fuck off all of you who think shes fake shes 1 of the nicest person iv ever toked to shes an inocent 16 year old girl teling u about herself and u come on to shit like this and bad mouth her because ur so twisted and dishonest, urselves, tht u cant just apreciate sumthing diferent without it being a scam or some other fuking conspirocy theory! fuk u all
Posted by: an honest person | Aug 24, 2006 8:40:19 PM
Are those eyebrows really construction paper?
Posted by: LooneyBoi | Aug 25, 2006 11:54:54 AM
There's so many proof out there that she is a fake, including the picture of Aleister Crowley, that may reveal her "religion". If she isn't a fake, then why doesn't she make a video answering all of those debates about her being fake? What does she have to hide? She said she was in a play, that means she can act, most likely.
Posted by: | Aug 26, 2006 2:34:26 AM
I think she's a fake but she sure is convincing.
One reason I think she's fake is bc of all the editing she did to her videos while Daniel was away. She's a fast learner for someone who claims to be clueless about computer stuff.. plus she has the same editing style as Daniel.
Another reason is.. she posted a comment recently on YouTube saying:
lonelygirl15 (5 days ago)
The reason I don't have many friends is because I had some problems in public school and Daniel was the only person who was nice to me. So they homeschooled me and Daniel and I stayed friends :)
Before she said in her Mysteries... blahblah video she went to public school in NZ. So either Daniel moved to the US w/ her from NZ or she still lives in NZ.. but supposedly they're in the US.
Posted by: i think shes fake | Aug 26, 2006 3:43:50 AM
think of it this way. mtv wants a new tv show. what better way to advertise than youtube? it's free. and it's easy. anyone who can polish a video to perfection can surely make a video look like a cheap webcam was used to film it. later, mtv will suddenly have a new show about lonelygirl15.. she'll play it off like she was "approached" by mtv. everyone will fall for it. and because everyone is hooked on her (and her "problems"), they'll flock to the tv to continue this little drama... it's genius really. this has mtv reality crap written all over it...
Posted by: who cares | Aug 27, 2006 6:41:20 AM
okay, dad opens the door... let's daniel in... and then closes the door behind him... leaving the two of them alone, in her bedroom. how many father's would do this for their 16 year old daugher? and... the camera just so happened to be pointing the right direction, so as not to show dad's face, just his neatly tucked in shirt (a little too neat)...
and doesn't this girl have windows in her room?... is she really that big a hermit?
watch">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06_mNdOrxkc">watch this
Posted by: | Aug 27, 2006 6:54:15 AM
Her fan site ( the one she registered before she had supposedly made or posted a single vid is http://www.lonelygirl15.com/
The self proclamed 'Unofficial Fan Site' is http://www.lonelygirl15fanclub.com/2006/08/
Hmmm, both proxy's are registered through 'Domains by Proxy, Inc' in Scottsdale, Arizona? Thats interesting, Could it be?
Naaahh, just coincidence ;=)
Posted by: Bravo21 | Aug 28, 2006 5:15:51 PM
Bob's Opinion:
YouTube is creating a frenzy, generating big hit counts, plenty of ad dollars, and beefing up the balance sheet before private or public offering.
Posted by: Bob | Sep 8, 2006 4:32:04 AM
