Fifteen minutes of fame or more? On video sites, it’s easy.

A friend, who will remain anonymous, once said, ‘YouTube is where people who don’t have a life post videos for other people who don’t have a life to watch.’ Was it sour grapes? For YouTube has become a worldwide phenomenon used by professional artists to connect with fans or showcase creations and by budding artists to increase their exposure. Even though it’s arguably more popular in the West, Hong Kongers have also been using the video site to express themselves. bc roamed through YouTube Hong Kong and tracked down a few eye-catching channels that have gathered their creators bevies of fans.

Mishyshow – Cutiemish’s channel
www.youtube.com/user/cutiemish
Don’t cringe at the name just yet! This 20-year-old actress’s channel is currently the second most subscribed one on YouTube Hong Kong. With more than 24,500 subscribers, Cutiemish – whose real name is Michelle Lam – is a celebrity in her own right. She has posted about 40 videos since she first started three years ago. Her videos are sketches she writes, shoots and edits all by herself, using simple video editing software such as iMovie and FinalCut.

Lam tells bc she started her channel out of boredom. ‘I saw my friends starting it, and it looked fun,’ she says. ‘I didn’t expect it to have so many subscribers.’ Her first video was, in fact, nothing out of the ordinary: Lam lip-synchs animatedly to Pokemon’s theme song. Some might even think it nonsensical. However, it was enough to attract viewers and keep them coming back, though Lam understands she cannot please everyone. ‘There are a lot of haters out there who calls me fat and ugly,’ she says. ‘But I don’t take it offensively at all, it’s the internet. I don’t know these people personally.’ Nevertheless, in the spirit of entertaining herself as much as other people, she has created a tongue-in-cheek parody of the hate comments, appropriately titled “I hate cutiemish”.

Through her YouTube exposure, Lam has been considered for a presenter role in a BBC documentary. However, she says she is more interested in acting than presenting. ‘In terms of auditions, directors and producers are attracted to the fact that I have a guaranteed audience of over 24,000,’ she says.

To find out more about Michelle and her videos, visit: www.cutiemish.com

isisip
www.youtube.com/user/isisip
Amy Yip’s channel is ranked the 21st most subscribed channel in Hong Kong. A professional musician, she started the channel in June 2007 following the cue of a world-renowned magician and friend who has been sharing his magic performances on YouTube since 2006. Yip graduated from Berklee College of Music, Boston, USA, one of the best of all contemporary music schools, having been determined to work professionally as a musician since her teens. ‘I had a few compositions and wanted to share my music with others so I wanted to try to start channels on different video sites,’ she explains. Indeed, her music now beams out to the whole world and she has garnered about 2,400 subscribers to videos of her playing both original compositions and covers on the piano. ‘YouTube has helped me to reach a lot of listeners outside of Hong Kong and I am very thankful for that,’ Yip says. ‘When I have something great that people will enjoy, I would be glad to put up more videos.’ Though she admits that creating music is the most time-consuming part of the process. ‘Shooting and editing the video only take a few days.’

Through her channel and website, Yip has also sold CDs and music sheets to people in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, Italy, France, Austria, Netherlands, Serbia and of course, Hong Kong. And the YouTube exposure even led to an offer to write music for a scene in an American film.

To purchase her CDs, visit her blog at www.pianomusicdownload.blogspot.com/

ericayuen
www.youtube.com/user/ericayuen
The beauty guru has almost 2,200 followers who count on her advice for their beauty secrets. Erica Yuen’s channel began when her company, elle.com.hk, asked her to start a blog about beauty tips and tricks. ‘But I thought to myself, how can you share this information only through words?’ she tells bc. ‘With videos, I get to actually demonstrate what I’m talking about. Videos are also more engaging.’ And validating her instincts, a lot of her followers have contacted her to thank her for her efforts. ‘They told me that even though there are a lot of beauty magazines out there, it is very difficult to understand without actually seeing it.’ But she also says that her videos are not limited to beauty: ‘It’s everything that girls are interested in.’ Her YouTube subjects range from makeup lectures to the perfect soles for your feet – and all are unscripted.

‘Scripts make you sound unnatural. I want to sound like I’m just talking to my friend,’ she says. But even if scripting is not a problem, shooting at home still has its challenges. ‘I don’t have proper shooting lighting at home, so I actually have to wait for the perfect natural light when I make my videos,’ Yuen explains. Still, it’s a small price to pay for a YouTube popularity that has led to her opening her own beauty stores. ‘I realized that people trust my judgement on beauty products, so it is a perfect opportunity for me,’ she says.
For more information about Yuen and her beauty expertise, visit her websites: www.ericayuen.com and www.mimingmart.com

jessiecheng852
www.youtube.com/user/jessiecheng852
With attractive features from a mixture of British and Chinese parents, it is no wonder Jessie Cheng has more than 1,500 YouTube followers. But this 19-year-old’s popularity doesn’t depend only on her good looks – she sings, and she sings well. Like Lam, she started her channel purely out of curiosity. ‘I posted a video just to see how people would react to it,’ she says. ‘I was really surprised to see that many people were watching my videos.’ Her covers of today’s popular songs have attracted viewers from around the world, making hers the 46th most subscribed channel on YouTube Hong Kong.

Similar to many other artists on YouTube, Cheng has been offered opportunities to be a professional musician, even from a Christian music production company. ‘I’m not religious, so I don’t think that was appropriate for me,’ she says. ‘And honestly, right now I don’t have the time to be a full-time musician since I’m only starting college.’ Nonetheless, Cheng is definitely a musical force to watch out for. Maybe after college, Jessie?

YouTube has become a platform for people all around the world to share a part of themselves interactively with others. It is a place where ordinary people can get noticed, discovered and become extraordinary. If this is the site where people without a life are posting for others similarly bereft, then all I can say is ‘Hey, how can I get on?’