lonelygirl15
- This article is about the video series. For the character with the same username, see Bree.
lonelygirl15 is a fictional video blog that debuted on YouTube under the guise of a "real" 16-year-old video blogger named Bree. In "lonelygirl15"'s earliest videos, Bree posted video replies to and name-dropped popular YouTubers, which attracted the attention of their fans. Her video blogs eventually became popular in their own right, and attracted a massive following.
Fans ultimately exposed lonelygirl15 as a fictitious character played by New Zealand actress Jessica Lee Rose. The Creators of the series were identified as Miles Beckett, Mesh Flinders, Greg Goodfried, and later, Amanda Goodfried.
Contents
Theme and plot
In the beginning, Bree's videos were similar to those of many other popular vloggers on YouTube, making brief videos out of her bedroom about her life, her best friend, Daniel, and her conflicts with her parents.
Bree was home schooled and lonely. Her only friend, who introduced her to YouTube and video editing, was Daniel, whom she met during a brief stint in public school two years earlier. Daniel's crush on Bree and the strictness of Bree's parents were a part of the tensions behind many of the early videos.
Eventually, it was revealed that Bree was a member of a secretive religion, originally believed to be Thelema, but later recognized as the fictional Hymn of One. Selected to perform a mysterious ceremony, she was, at first, ecstatic by the honor, but soon found herself with many unanswered questions as to the motives of the Deacons who insisted she perform it.
The show gradually abandoned its premise of being a highly-realistic story about a young vlogger, taking the story out of the bedroom and on the run, as Bree and Daniel attempted to escape the Ceremony Bree was being forced into. Finding out that The Hymn of One was nothing more than a front for the Order, a powerful society who want the Trait positive blood of young girls like Bree, propelled them further into a journey full of secret codes, evil henchmen, and dark adventure. Although their path has been littered with treachery and danger, the two were able to find unexpected help in the form of an orphan boy, two very different sisters, and a self proclaimed lab rat. Amid tragedy and manipulation, the teens vowed to continue fighting the Order by assisting the young girls desperately in need of their help. They eventually find themselves traveling across America trying to overthrow their powerful enemy and going forward to meet their shadowy future together.
Notes About the Series
- Although the series was originally posted through Youtube, in September of 2006 the Creators signed a promotional deal with Revver, another popular video sharing website. The first LG15 video seen through Revver was A Change In My Life. In late 2007 the website switched back to using Youtube to broadcast their videos.
- Lonelygirl15 won the VH1 "Big in '06" award for Biggest Download
- The show remains the third most-subscribed channel on YouTube, with over 100,000 subscribers as of November 2007.
Revelations of Fictionality
Initial speculation
Although, her blogs quickly became very popular, viewers grew suspicious that lonelygirl15 was not real and began to wonder if Bree was, in fact, a real person or if the posts were part of a teaser campaign for a television show or an upcoming movie. Others felt that the blog might be part of an alternate reality game.
Fans pointed to small inconsistencies within the videos as evidence that the story might not be genuine.
- The website lonelygirl15.com, supposedly created by a fan named Bukanator, was registered in May 2006, several weeks prior to Bree actually uploading her first video.
- Bree had several fights with Daniel on webcam. It seemed unlikely a girl who just endured real fights with her only friend would upload those fights to YouTube.
- The appearance of Aleister Crowley on Bree's bedroom wall seemed improbable.
- The lighting, along with other cinematic elements, also seemed improbable.
Media reports of Fictionality
- Richard Rushfield of The Los Angeles Times reported in an article dated September 8, 2006, that three lonelygirl15 fans - Shaina Wedmedyk, Chris Patterson, and an anonymous law student (these three fans are known as the Phorum 3) - set up a sting operation using IP address tracking software that showed that e-mails sent from a lonelygirl15 MySpace account were traced to the offices of Creative Artists Agency, a powerful Hollywood talent agency based in Beverly Hills.
- On September 11, 2006, a commenter on the website TMZ.com said that he recognized Bree, and posted a link to her MySpace account. At 1:41 a.m. Sept. 12, members of The Children of Anchor Cove used Google cache to discover that the account belonged to New Zealand actress Jessica Lee Rose. Several other blogs quickly uncovered cached photos of Jessica Lee Rose and took credit for her discovery.<ref name = Applause>Heffernan, Virginia. "Applause for lonelygirl15, and DVD Extras", Screens, New York Times, 2006-09-12. Retrieved on 2006-09-13.</ref>
- Virginia Heffernan of The New York Times, on September 12, confirmed that the Creators of the series are represented by CAA and that CAA was one of several locations used by the Creators of the series to send emails from lonelygirl15 accounts. She identified Miles Beckett and Mesh Flinders as the Creators of the project. One main source for her story was Grant Steinfeld.
- The Los Angeles Times, on September 13th, featured the first interview with the Creators of lonelygirl15, confirming the link between the Creators and the CAA. This story also identified Greg Goodfried as one of the Creators.
