By Julia Oudiz
Online Features Editor
Senior Mia Finney reels in subscribers with her filmmaking skills and produces humorous videos for her YouTube channel, @MiaFinney.
Finney created her YouTube channel in April of 2006. Her channel consists of 513 subscribers and she has produced 41 videos, some of which have received up to 4,000 views, as of Dec. 6. Finney says she initially started her channel because she wanted to inspire people to be creative and unique.
“I [also] started YouTube for fun and to entertain those that I share a connection with through my videos,” Finney said. “I really love doing YouTube videos because it drives me to create new content and try different things with the types of my videos.”
Photos; Mia Finney reels in YouTube subscribers.
The majority of the videos on Finney’s channel fall into the comedy genre. Several of her uploads are parodies and videos that she says she feels enhance the comedy aspect of her channel. She prefers to make comedy videos because she says she enjoys being amusing and entertaining her audience.
“I want people to know that it’s okay to be yourself and to be goofy,” Finney said. “If people can see that and relate to it, it can inspire them to get out of their shell.”
Link: Learn more about how to create a YouTube channel
Finney says she first comes up with an idea for the topic of a video using inspiration from her daily life and other YouTubers. Depending on the type of video that she is making, she then spends approximately two hours filming, using her Cannon 70D camera. After filming, Finney spends about four hours editing the video before uploading it.
“The hardest part about making a video is getting the idea because [the idea] separates a great video from an okay video,” Finney said. “Editing it is my favorite part because I can put together everything I’ve filmed into one big project, and I think that’s really cool.”
Link: Watch Finney’s videos on her YouTube channel
Several Youtubers such as Liza Koshy and Casey Neistat inspire Finney to create videos. Koshy and Neistat influence the ideas that she comes up with. Finney says she incorporates the videos from their channels into her channel in an authentic way.
“Liza Koshy is really funny and entertaining and I strive to be as entertaining as she is,” Finney said. “Casey Neistat is a lifestyle vlogger and I really admire his technical abilities in creating stories and how he records his life.”
Finney uploads short films to her channel as well. She recently uploaded a short film entitled, “I Am Thankful, Are You?” which features different aspects of her life that she is grateful for, such as the music in her life, in a series of clips.
“I’m always open to different types of videos because I can’t just stick to one thing,” Finney said. “If I just do comedy, I’d be losing another part of my viewers.”
Finney says, filming with other people is more entertaining than recording alone. She produces videos with other people in her challenge videos, where she makes up challenges and films them. She has also uploaded a “what are the odds” video with with Senior Isabel Cervantes, where she filmed a series of dares, which reached 630 views, as of Dec. 6.
“Mia always has these witty and entertaining ideas to make others happy through her videos,” Cervantes said. “You can tell how passionate she is about sharing her creative side when you see or hear how much time she spends editing or filming.”
In the future, Finney hopes to have a total of 100,000 subscribers to her channel. In addition, she is planning to upload a new vlog of her life to her channel soon. Her goal is to start uploading weekly on Sundays because she says she thinks that more people watch YouTube on Sunday when they are at home doing homework. She is also planning on applying to several colleges based on film majors, she says.
“If you are thinking about doing YouTube and you don’t know if you should do it, you should do it,” Finney said. “If you are questioning it, you should give it a try and you might like it.”
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