After Effects {Trixya}

1. Q&A

"Hi again! Or, if you're new here, hi! My name is Trixie." And that's how I started every video. Yes, I was a Youtuber, I have been for quite a while. I'd gotten a decent following after this time, not that I cared about numbers - I actually didn't. It was more the fact that I created some kind of community, and the thought of maybe having started friendships between people always warmed my heart. I always thought that was one of the most beautiful things that came with being an internetainer - or whatever you call it. It felt the most rewarding, if I'm being honest. Seeing how people could connect over content I created was nothing but motivation for me to keep doing that I love. So, in return, I planned a little Q&A. I didn't talk much about myself in my channel since I usually just tried out and reviewed products, so, I decided to give them the answers they wanted.

"So, as you can see from the title, we're doing a little Q and A. You guys requested it and I didn't see a reason why not so here goes! First question is from Emily," I would put a picture with her username and question below me on the screen as I edit the video. If you could move anywhere in the world, where would it be? "That actually isn't so hard. I'm probably going to say LA, pretty mainstream." I chuckled and went through the questions until I found another one.

"Josh- wait. Joshua. Nice font you got there. Joshua asks, do you live with anyone right now? And my answer is, no. I actually currently live alone in good old Milwaukee. It gets lonely sometimes but that's okay." I smiled and screenshotted some questions. I should've done this before recording but I was known for being casual in my videos and not editing a lot, so I decided to stick with that.

"Person with no display name asks, what motivated you to do YouTube? And this is where it gets kind of personal. I grew up in a very toxic environment. Not my family directly but just overall. I would always keep a video diary, just as a casualty but I eventually started to edit them out of boredom and I actually liked it a lot. I figured maybe I could entertain people with my content. And now I'm here! Barely editing videos, talking to a camera, years later, and enjoying the heck out of it!" I said with a big smile on my face. It was true, I didn't have the happiest or best childhood and keeping a paper diary felt a bit too corny for me. I instead recorded things with my webcam, and as soon as I got somewhat okay editing software, I started editing as a way to keep myself busy.

I couple more questions for answered, some basic ones that I decided were safe to answer. Did I have any pets, if I could spoil my next upcoming video, if I've got any YouTuber friends and that. Nothing special. I did scroll past someone asking me about my sexuality. I wasn't quite sure if I should answer that. I decided against it. If I were to tell them about whatever I was, it wouldn't be now. Maybe in a separate video, or maybe just in a different Q&A.

I answered the last handful of questions and did my outro. I kept my equipment standing - I just turned the lights off, took my camera's memory card and went down to my living room to grab a drink. It was weird to talk about myself that much. Normally I would just say what kind of product I'm trying out and such, or what shop I've done a shopping spree at. Nothing really special. But I did want to bring more variation into my content. Maybe do some of those stupid challenges. Sadly I didn't have anyone to do those challenges with. So I just planned them in my head and that was it. Nothing to be acted on.

I pulled out my laptop, transferred the video from my card and stated editing. I edited some parts out of it - parts where I would just go scroll through my mentions mostly. I edited the screenshots of the questions where they were supposed to be, and added my outro screen. I figured that was it. I kept the bloopers in my videos, I always did. It helped me bring across the most real version of me that I could.

Hours later I found myself uploading the video. It wasn't scheduled like they normally would be but that's because I actually just didn't need to this time. I watched the progress bar and waited impatiently for it to be full. I couldn't wait for all the reactions. Once it was uploaded I tweeted it out and people seemed to love it. I closed my laptop for a moment while a big smile was plastered on my face, and took out my phone instead to go through twitter. Yes, I specifically pulled out my phone to check twitter - I just didn't like the desktop interface of the website. I can't be the only one though, right? Me being me, I just started a poll. How do you prefer to use twitter? [desktop] [mobile]. And let it sit for a while.

I replied to some mentions I got, and one last question - if I was planning on doing another Q&A eventually. I wasn't sure. I wasn't sure if anyone had any more questions that weren't too invasive. So I simply just said "only time will tell." And I left it at that. Not that I didn't want to communicate with anyone - I did. I loved it. But I didn't want to be persuaded into answering more questions before I do a potential part two to my Q&A. I just preferred to actually answer questions properly and not be limited by a character count. Plus, everything seemed a lot more genuine on video. Sure, it can't compare to real life but the ability to hear a voice and see a face on a screen is probably still better than a sometimes poorly composed tweet. 

So, as time passed by, I had continued to post my normal videos. Hauls, reviews and sometimes even look books considering it's summer now and people wanted to see how to style a certain color or style of a clothing item. I felt oddly useful, or helpful when making these kind of videos. I felt like I had a bit of purpose. Ever since I posted my first Q&A two weeks ago, I've gotten a lot more questions on my instagram posts and on my twitter, to which I just told people I will try to answer as small an amount of questions until my next Q&A. It calmed down a little bit after that but surely not entirely.

Fast forward a month from then, I did another one considering it was highly requested. I'd put up a picture on Instagram and asked for people to leave me questions. I let it sit while I set up my microphone, camera and background. I sat down, picked up my phone and looked at the questions coming in. I still decided to not take screenshots of the questions. I aimed to be casual, and I was sticking to that. I pressed record on my camera, waited a moment and did a mic test to see if it was on and started my intro.

"I did one of these about a month and a half ago and there was a high demand of another one, so here I am! This time I will try to answer some more personal questions. So, I'm not sure if this video is tea worthy but you may wanna grab a drink anyway." I pulled up my phone and went through a couple of questions that didn't require an elaborate answer. There was one about my makeup though, touching on why it was so bold.

"I admit this is for screen purposes only, I don't actually don't look like this every day. I just like to kind of still have a visual character when I film, if that makes sense." I wasn't sure how to explain why I did my makeup this way. What I said was truthful nonetheless though. I have my personality, but I liked the idea of linking it to a visual character and that's how this channel was born, or rather what it had evolved into.

I eventually got to the more serious questions, some involving my personal life - if not my love life. I was a bit hesitant about it but decided to answer at least one question, which happened to be about my ex.

"Okay, so. As some of you may know, I used to date someone and about a year ago we split up. We'd dated for about five years total, which is a really long time actually now that I think of it. Especially considering our situation. She's living in Boston, and I'm all the way over here. The distance was the main reason we split up - it made us sad that we could only see each other every 6 months or so. And she eventually got caught up with work so we kind of grew apart." I chuckled nervously. Talking about this actually made me miss her again. "We do keep in touch still, but we havent seen each other since we broke up." I put down my phone and sighed. "I feel like this topic deserves its very own video. I might be able to bring her in but I'm not sure."

I answered a couple more lighthearted questions after that and decided it was good for now.