For the Three of You Living Under a Rock

Casey Neistat is one of the single most transformative YouTubers to grace our Chromecasts since the internet was a twinkle in Al Gore’s eye. It actually feels awkward for me to try and explain who Casey is because that knowledge feels like it should be ubiquitous – but I realize it isn’t. So here’s the crash course:

Casey is a filmmaker who first gained notoriety for calling Apple out on their irreplaceable iPod batteries – he had an HBO show with his brother produced in his now trademark homemade movie style – and would have another explosive internet hit with a video he produced for Nike (below) that makes me want to jump on a plane every time I think of it.

There are many others, but these are the standard highlights.

 

Critical Mass

What transformed Casey from a dot on the map into one of those little squares that gets its very own bold outline was his daily vlog. Casey uploaded a video almost every day for 18 months – and not just of him sitting around talking to the camera. He made 10min movies about his life every day and, in doing so, changed the world.

Maybe not the entire world, but mine and millions of others. Out of all that life-changing-explosive YouTube gold, here are ten things that I learned from Casey while he strove to provide us with the most epic ride any vlogger has ever taken us on.

Lessons I Learned from Casey Neistat:



ONE - VLOGGING CAN BE MORE

If there was one thing I learned from Casey it was that a vlog does not have to be limited by format. I vlogged when I lived in France and again from the Congo, but I never dreamed of applying any filmmaking skills to the endeavor. The most I ever did was change backdrops, whether I filmed myself in front of the Eiffel Tower or on the top deck of my ship.

When Theo (of Theodopholis Thursdays) sent me a link to Casey’s vlog, my mind was immediately blown. I have since strived to imitate and steal every last bit of Casey’s hard work that I can.

TWO – IT’S ABOUT THE WORK

Perhaps this is as much a function of growing up as anything, but Casey helped me appreciate the long road to success. From the outside, if you’re just jumping on board in the middle of the vlog, Casey can appear like an overnight success. He’s not. He’s been making films for decades and had his fair share of struggle along the way.

Focus on the work for its own sake and let come what may.

THREE – HAVE FUN SHARE FUN

On a more personal note, I’ve had a rough few years running and 2016 topped them off with a bang. I don’t just look up to Casey for his skill or work ethic; one of the biggest gifts Casey Neistat gave me was that somehow, every day, he always found a way to encourage me in the midst of my misery. I wasn’t just inspired, I was often lifted out of the holes into which I’d fallen or allowed myself to slide. He had fun in the midst of his successes and that zeal for life was contagious.

It revitalized dreams I was allowing to die.

FOUR – POSITIVITY ISN’T BLANK

Casey collided with someone on his boosted board once and, unfortunately, managed not to film the incident. He recreated it in all of its adrenaline-pumping and frustration-inducing glory with paper and a giant marker. He was honest with how infuriating the situation was (like the time Australian security lifted his boosted board off him in the airport). And he was still, somehow, his positive self. I have a hard time taking anyone suffering from perpetual positivity as sincere, but Casey was instructive in how to be both honest and uplifting at the same time.

FIVE – IT’S NOT A SELFIE STICK

I bought a gorillapod pretty much as soon as I realized what Casey was doing with his DSLR. I had little ones for my phone, but the concept of using a big one to get in front of a real camera had never even struck me as a possibility. When you see two dozen people doing the exact same thing over the next week, you have Casey to thank. I’m not sure if he had the idea first, but to the one who popularizes goes the spoils!

There are innovative ways to abuse your gear and make it work for you in ways you never thought possible. Casey sticks bits of wood to his camera to protect his audio jack and has no fear of jerry-rigging just about anything to get a shot. Those risks pay off (and sometimes backfire for our entertainment).

SIX – WOO THEM TO THE BEAT

If you make videos, you know just how tricky finding good music can be without violating copyright laws. Casey burned a path through the treacherous landscape of the discovery process and left signposts along the way. If it wasn’t for Casey, I never would have thought to dig through SoundCloud and Band Camp to find great music and reach out to the artists directly for permission to use them. Simple, but I guess I’m lazier than I’d like to admit.

There’s a lot of great music out there if you’re willing to look, and the right song makes all the difference.

SEVEN – YOU CAN DO IT

Like I said, I’m no stranger to vlogging, but the idea of making a video every day was daunting to say the least, especially while traveling. It was something I’d wanted to do for a long time, but after my foray into Vlog Every Day in April while living in Paris, I knew what a nightmare it could be. Back then I didn’t have enough to say – but something in Casey’s approach helped me realize that I did, in fact, have plenty. Again, this could just be a function of growing up.

Then I was a groomsman in three wedding ceremonies over two days three time zones apart and managed to keep uploading; I now know for a fact that I can get it done. Just don’t expect me to keep track of my pants in the process.

EIGHT – SUPPORT YOUR COMMUNITY

Casey takes time to support the people that support him. While I don’t expect that he should ever read this, I would not be surprised in the least to find out he had, simply because he seeks this stuff out and props it up. I have been shocked and impressed by how far out of his way Casey will go to pump the people following him and push them towards success of their own. So often creatives are jealous with the attention they’ve earned to the exclusion of others – Casey has no qualms sharing his success with others.

I hope I can behave similarly should I ever be granted a fraction of the attention.

NINE – TO ERR IS GOLDEN

It’s really easy to be embarrassed about our mistakes and to try and gloss over them. The magic of editing provides any filmmaker with ample opportunity to cover up any and all mistakes. Casey highlights his own and laughs along with us. Something I’ve finally come to appreciate about art is that it’s the mistakes and imperfections that truly draw us in.

They say to err is human, so don’t remove too much humanity from your work.

TEN – IT’S OK TO QUIT

I often say that Casey’s work gave me permission to do _________ (fill in the blank). Seeing him take particular risks or experiment with certain techniques has often led me to think “Oh, awesome. He got away with it, I wonder if I can too?” I’ve been pushed and challenged by Casey as much as I’ve been inspired by him. I’m also pretty stubborn and (if you can judge by the 2,000+ photos I’ve posted in my photo/day effort) it’s easy to see that I have a hard time quitting once I’ve started.

Casey gave me so much through his vlog. He inspired me to try and take on his style, to play with storytelling daily, and to struggle through the hard bits because there was satisfaction to be had should I make it through. He encouraged me daily, brought a smile to my lips when all I had was that flat-faced emoji, and put life back into dreams I was tempted to let slide into the bin.

When I say that vlogging saved my life, I often mean that Casey saved my life.

PERMISSION TO LAND

In the end, Casey gave me permission to quit when the time is right. I don’t expect my vlog to go anywhere in the sense that I might become a YouTube sensation. I do expect it to bring me a greater sense of discipline, a better understanding of story structure, and a honed set of tools I can turn towards greater projects in the future. When the time comes to move on (assuming I decide to quit after daily vlogging for a year), I know I can quit in style.

Unless I get hit by a bus. Then you’ll have to deal with whatever I uploaded that morning as my final contribution.

Thanks Casey. I learned a lot from you and can’t wait to see what new lessons you have in store.

Thank You Too!

And thanks to those of you who follow my vlog, too. Your support and encouragement are more help to me than you may ever know.

If you’d like to follow along with my daily adventures (or nonventures if I’m sitting in Spokane) then click here to subscribe on YouTube. I’ll be heading to San Francisco this month in hopes of landing a visa to move back to Paris, and then things will get interesting. Also baguettes. Lots of baguettes.

Did you watch Casey’s vlog? What did you take away from it?

Click on my handsome, smoky face to check out my YouTube channel, or click here to see the highlight reel of my vlog so far.