Performing YouTube: Exploring the techniques of the vlogger and their potential in live performance

这个实践即研究博士旨在从表演的角度分析YouTube视频日志，并利用研究结果为现场表演的创作提供信息。YouTube上充满了表演的例子，但视频日志特别有趣，因为它们是互联网的直接产物，只存在于数字世界。后数字理论提出，数字与物理的二分法在分析或概念化性能方面不再有用（Cramer 2015和Causey 2016），而数字的表现（视频日志）在物理世界中的表现将有可能更具实践和理论上的生产力。由于YouTube是一个相当新的媒体平台，所以从性能角度来看，很少有人写关于它的文章也就不足为奇了。安迪·拉文德（2016）开始研究YouTube上不同类型的视频，YouTube用户采用的不同角色，以及有助于YouTube上表现的其他元素；但这一领域的学术研究与实践存在一定的差距。YouTube是世界上访问量第二大的网站（Alexa， 2017年），我们似乎有必要更密切地探索视频日志形式作为一种表演模式和现场表演的背景。这两种形式的交叉可能会产生新的技术来创造现场表演，也为视频日志作为一种形式的批判性反思提供了空间。在对精选的YouTube视频进行全面回顾后，我想确定所使用的技术和策略，然后将其应用于现场当代表演实践。我们的目的不是将视频记录工作转化为舞台，而是看看当我们使用这些数字技术来创造现场表演时，当这种数字形式（视频记录）开始以物理形式表现为现场表演的一部分时，会发生什么。

This Practice-as-Research PhD aims to analyse YouTube vlogs from a performance perspective and use the findings to inform the creation of live performance. YouTube is filled with examples of performance, but vlogs are specifically of interest as they are a direct product of the internet, and only exist in the digital world. Postdigital theory proposes that the binaries of digital vs. physical are no longer useful in analysing or conceptualising performance (Cramer 2015 and Causey 2016), whereas the manifestation of a digital from (vlogging), in the physical world would has the potential to be more practically and theoretically productive. With YouTube being a fairly recent media platform, it is not surprising that little has been written on it from a performance perspective. Andy Lavender (2016) has made a start by looking at different types of video on YouTube, different personas adopted by YouTubers, and other elements which contribute to performance on YouTube; but there is a gap of scholarship and practice in this area. YouTube is the second most visited website in the world (Alexa, 2017) and it seems imperative that we explore vlogging forms more closely as a mode of performance and in the context of live performance. The intersection of these two forms could result in new techniques for creating live performance and also allow space for critical reflection on vlogging as a form. After undertaking a comprehensive review of a selection of YouTube vlogs, I want to identify the techniques and strategies used, and then apply them to live contemporary performance practice. The aim is not to translate the vlogging work to the stage, but rather see what happens when we use these digital techniques to create live performance and when this digital form (vlogging) begins to manifest physically as part of a live performance encounter.