My Selfie Video

Guys have a lot to say too. They are amazingly clever, funny and real in often different ways from gals.

For example, take a look at this selfie film made by Elijah Reiss : "A Conversation With My 13 Year-Old Self: 6 Years Later"

Elijah: A Conversation With My 13 Year Old Self

What could be more fascinating or original than conversing with yourself at different stages of your life?

So, even though much of my research, books, play and films center on the emotional and psychological development of women, I include boys, tweens and teens in this breathtaking look at selfies.

Please feel free to send me a link to your Selfie video.

Upload to the web and send me your link. I'll be looking for videos to share via this site and be inviting some of you to be interviewed.

 

 

Interview -Elijah talking to himself when he was younger

1 Tell a little about who you are and what you are doing at this point in your life.

-My name is Elijah Reiss. I am 22 years-old and a 2017 graduate of Rutgers University, having majored in Art History and minored in American Studies. Like many recent graduates, I am currently on the hunt for a professional career. I hope to enter a world that requires and values my liberal arts skills which I worked so hard on in college. I love to write and research history, so I have applied to museums, consulting groups, and universities all over. I hope to be fully employed within a year of graduating, but for now, I am an all-around freelancer. I am currently researching for a number of professors. I am also doing freelance photography whenever I can. I have always loved holding a camera. I am a passionate traveler and explorer too!

2. What gave you the idea of talking to yourself at different points in your life?

-I have always been fascinated with how a person can grow in a certain period of time. I have also always loved to hold the camera, as I previously stated. So, on the morning of the first day of 6th grade, being 11 years-old and starting middle school, I decided to film myself talking briefly about my expectations for the year. I then filmed a video again on the last day of 6th grade, having remembered filming on the first day. I continued the tradition for the first day of 7th grade, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, and continued filming those videos through the end of college. With regard to the “Conversation” video, I filmed myself at age 13 at the beginning of 8th grade with a series of questions intended to be answered at age 18 at the beginning of college. I almost forgot about the video until I found it on an old hard drive, ironically enough, right when I was supposed to respond to the video. My 13 year-old self takes himself way too seriously and my 18 year-old self responded in a sort of self-deprecating, comedic way. The way I acted at 13 was a result of puberty starting and that need to define who you are in a serious manner. I intend on making a response in about a year at age 23 to my 18 year-old self to show what further changes I can detect, appearances and personality combined.

3. What kind or kinds of cameras have you used to do the recordings at what ages?

-With regard to the “Conversation” video, I shot the 13 year-old 2008 footage on a Canon PowerShot S3 IS in 480p (640 x 480) and the 18 year-old 2014 footage on a Canon Rebel T3i in 720p (720 x 480). I decided to downscale the 2014 recording to standard definition to keep the same aspect ratio as I shot in 2008, instead of having the 2014 footage be in widescreen. This way, the videos truly looked like they were going back and forth. The camera qualities are not much different, so they could have been shot at the same time, aside from the fact that the T3i did not come out until 2011. I also shot the videos in the exact same spot in my house to enhance this real effect. It looks as if no time passes, which is what I was going for.

4. What have your parents and/or family thought of your recordings?

-My parents love seeing these videos of myself because they truly capture the essence of my growing up. My 11 year-old self on camera is completely different than my 14 year-old self. So much can happen in those years of puberty. Life changes you and for me in particular, I lost a significant amount of weight between the 2008 video and the 2014 video due to puberty. I along with my family see these videos as personal time capsules. They show who I was at each age and nothing can change them.

5. Are you in touch with others doing similar adventures of the mind?

-I have not been in touch with anyone else who has made these kind of videos, however it appears that my videos have inspired others. I get comments on them all the time. Kids starting middle school or high schools have commented that they are going do film themselves on the first day of school after seeing the video. And others have said they are going to film a video of themselves to be opened in five years with room for responses. I am humbled to see others getting inspired by my work. That is the ultimate compliment.

6. What have you learned going back and forth with yourself?

-Going back and forth with myself, I have learned that as I have gotten older, I have started to take myself less seriously on camera. Puberty really hit me like a truck. I went from being a silly, overweight kid to a serious, self-conscious, and extremely skinny young teenager. But, as time moved by and the effects of adolescence started to wain down, I regained much of my carefreeness on the camera. I wish I could tell my 13 year-old self to just relax. Life is going to work out, and school should not be as stressful as you make it out to be.

7. Has going public on You Tube made a difference for you in your project as others follow you?

-As I said before, my work seems to have inspired others to make these personal life update videos of their own. I have been making videos on YouTube since I was 11, and my dream was always to have a video reach 1,000,000 views. Last week, that dream came true for some strange reason, and the “Conversation” video is steadily rising to 2,000,000. I have no idea how it got so popular, because it has been up for nearly four years with a steady 200,000 views or so until earlier this month. I am not complaining, and I have gained a few thousand subscribers over this. So, I will now most definitely be releasing an updated version at 23. It is funny to think that 1.3 million people have watched me grow up. I think that is what is so strange to me. I feel almost like those child actors who grow up on screen as everyone watches.