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File:Lg15.jpg
lonelygirl15 in one of her video blogs.

lonelygirl15 is a fictional vlog that came to international attention via YouTube, a popular video sharing website. The central character is a YouTube user of the same name, although she is commonly known as Bree. This article refers to both the character and the series interchangeably.

Originally thought to be real, the character achieved massive popularity with her series of videos. But viewers began to question the reality of the videos, and the character was soon exposed as fictitious, being played by New Zealand actress Jessica Rose[1][2]. The series was created by Ramesh Flinders, a screenwriter and film-maker from Marin County, California, and Miles Beckett, a surgical residency dropout-turned-film-maker.[3] The series was developed under the working title The Children of Anchor Cove [1].

Theme and plot

The central themes of their video blogs are:

  • Unrequited love/romantic confusion - Bree is unsure of how to react when Daniel confesses that he 'likes her'.
  • Rebellion against parenting - Bree is homeschooled by parents who she implies are also strictly religious.
  • Forbidden experimentation - her parents are apparently unaware of her video blogs.

As the plot has advanced, the above themes have been reinforced with increasing frequency. Bree turns increasingly from the guidance of her parents to that of Daniel. It is not clear yet whether Daniel is intended as the hero or villain of the piece, only that Bree is questioning her parents' authority because of him. In episodes in early September 2006, Bree disregards her parents' instruction forbidding her to go to a party Daniel has invited her to—her first act of open disobedience to parental authority, she tells us. We learn later (in a video called "House Arrest") that she has climbed down a tree adjacent to her window, gone to the party, was discovered upon her return by her father, and is confined to the house for the next two weeks.[4] This event is speculated to be a defining one in the series plot, because she vows that she will stop listening to parental dictates she doesn't agree with—she will in fact sneak out again the next day to meet Daniel and her new friends—and she celebrates this fact by decorating a lemon with a generic male face and the label "Dad" and then proceeds to squeeze it into a juicer.[4] At the same time, however, she reassures us that she still intends to go through with the mysterious "religious ceremony" her father has had her preparing for—that she still stands by her beliefs.[4]

There are also other recurring motifs in the videos. For example, the phrase "Proving Science Wrong" is repeated on many occasions. Early on, the phrase seems to only refer to Bree's spirited science experiments with Daniel, but it also ties into the general air of mysticism, experimentation and rebellion raised by the rest of the story.

In the vlog entry "Swimming," Bree asks Daniel "what ever happened to Cassie?" It is revealed that Cassie is a girl who was in Daniel's class that Bree also knew. Fans also speculate that the character will appear at some point, since a second female character was listed in the project's initial casting call.


On September 12, 2006, a series of haunting YouTube videos under the username cassieiswatching started appearing as a possible tie-in or spin-off to the lonelygirl15 storyline, although "The Creators" of lonelygirl15 recently distanced themselves from cassieiswatching via a post on the lonelygirl15 official forum. While the official forum does have its own section for discussing the character of Cassie, "The Creators" post clearly states that "Cassieiswatching is an independent fan creation."

In the same post, "The Creators" also promise "to incorporate more ARG elements into LG15." This confirms the long held suspicion that lonelygirl15 is part of an Alternate Reality Game.

For more information, see "Future Speculation" (below).

Trivia

  • lonelygirl15 has various signature items/props that appear in its episodes. Recurring props include a pink feather boa, a safari hat, a stuffed turtle named Owen, a teddy bear named Thor, and her beloved puppet Purple Monkey.
  • Some of her activities point to occultic involvement: In the August 18, 2006 posting she describes a bizarre incident in which her father brings her out into the countryside in the middle of the night. The events Bree describes happening on that are similar to those of a druidic agricultural ritual. Similarly, in the September 3, 2006 entry, she discusses being chosen to participate in a strange and secretive religious ceremony that will require her to memorize passages, learn special exercises, and go on a diet. In several videos Bree talks about how she is "preparing" for a ceremony important to her religion.
  • There are references to the occultic philosophy of Thelema. During the "House Arrest"[4] video, Bree says "So, from now on, if they're (her parents) not gonna say yes, and it's something that I wanna do..."(she trails off at this point). Also, on the lonelygirl15.com website, the greek letters θέλημα ("Thelema") appear at the bottom of the page, along with three unicursal hexagrams on the header bar, and the phrase "Site design by Darbyite Design" at the bottom.
  • Bree has a picture of the occultist Aleister Crowley above a candle and a shrine in her bedroom.
  • Daniel's username, Danielbeast is also suggestive of the biblical Daniel's apocalyptic vision of four beasts.
  • As of September 9, 2006, lonelygirl15.com has served the series from Revver, a service that allows video creators to make money from their videos by having ads automatically inserted after their videos. When the creators came forward on September 13, 2006, Revver was publicized [2] as the official home of lonelygirl15. However, videos have continued to be posted on YouTube as well.

Revelations of fictionality

Initial speculation

File:Breeshrine.jpg
Daniel attempting to light a candle underneath a picture of Aleister Crowley.

Due to alleged inconsistencies in the "blogs", questions were raised as to lonelygirl15's authenticity.[5][6] Some commentators suggested that lonelygirl15 may be part of a teaser campaign for a TV show, film, or brand, in development[7], or that it might be an Alternate reality game.[8]

Some of the points made were:

  • The website lonelygirl15.com, supposedly created by a fan, was registered in May 2006, a week or two prior to Bree actually uploading her first video.[9]
  • Bree has had several fights with Daniel, the boy in the video that supposedly does the video editing, on webcam. However, he still edits the videos and leaves the fights on video to be posted on YouTube. It should be noted that Bree has claimed to edit those particular videos, but it is still unlikely a girl who just endured real fights with her only friend would upload those fights to YouTube.[9]
  • The only mention of specific YouTube users occurred in the first postings. Thereafter, the only responses to user comments were generic and vague, e.g.: "Some of you guys were asking about ..." This theory was shown to be incorrect, or at least incorrect in reference to the episode "Bree the Cookie Monster", which cites certain comments.[9]
  • A US federal trademark 78957059, for the term lonelygirl15 was filed on August 22, 2006, stating that it had been used in interstate commerce since May 24 2006 [10]

Media reports of fictionality

The first significant break regarding the authenticity of lonelygirl15 was reported in an article dated September 8, 2006, wherein the Los Angeles Times reported that on August 29, 2006, three lonelygirl15 fans 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 ("CAA"), a powerful Hollywood talent agency based in Beverly Hills. According to the article, the three conspiracy theorists who set up the sting operation were Shaina Wedmedyk, an 18-year-old Oberlin College freshman; Chris Patterson, a 36-year old software engineer from Tulsa, Okla, and a 23-year old law student in Pennsylvania who declined to be identified by name.[11]

In that same Los Angeles Times article, a CAA spokesman said that he "could neither confirm nor deny" that CAA is representing whoever is behind lonelygirl15. All other agencies contacted by the Los Angeles Times, however, denied any involvement.[11]

On September 12, 2006, the New York Times confirmed that the filmmakers are represented by CAA and that CAA was one of several locations used by Flinders and Steinfeld to send emails from lonelygirl15 accounts.[3] On September 13th, 2006, the creators of lonelygirl15 gave their first media interview to the Los Angeles Times. In that interview, Greg Goodfried, a 27-year-old lawyer and one of three partners involved in the production, conceded that the CAA connection was established in early August 2006. A spokesman for CAA also acknowledged that the talent agency officially represents the lonelygirl15 filmmakers.[12]

File:Jessica2.jpg
A professional headshot of actress Jessica Rose.

On September 12, the website Top Of The Tube, which carries news and reviews of YouTube videos, published a video identifying Bree as a woman called Jessica Rose on the basis of photographs found on the photo hosting site Photobucket.[13][14]

According to Top Of The Tube, Jessica Rose is an "aspiring actress" from New Zealand who currently lives in Los Angeles.[13] This would be consistent with minor speech idiosyncrasies, such as in her video "Should I or Shouldn't I?" saying, "I've never been to a party before," in which "been" is pronounced like "bean," not "bin," as in standard American speech.[15] Similarly, her video "Schoolwork in Summer" includes non-American pronunciations of homeschooled, schoolwork, cannibals, Roman empire, eaten, Antarctica and continent.[16] In the video "Mysteries of My Past... REVEALED!"[17], Bree said that she had lived on a commune in New Zealand. It would thus be plausible for her accent to be influenced by New Zealand pronunciation.

Also on September 12, the website Silicon Valley Watcher published an "exclusive" article, "The identity of LonelyGirl15"[18], likewise naming Jessica Rose as the actress portraying Bree. The article added that Jessica Rose was nineteen years old and from Mount Maunganui in the North Island. [18]

Later the same day, Silicon Valley Watcher published two follow-ups, "The Hunt for LonelyGirl15: Life in a blogger household..."[19] and "How the secret identity of LonelyGirl15 was found", explaining how Matthew Foremski, son of publisher Tom Foremski, had pursued a blog posting about Jessica Rose's MySpace page (http://www.myspace.com/jeessss426) and used Google's cache to recover deleted pages and images, as well as setting up his own online forum "to see what additional information he could flush out, and to see how the online community reacted to the news".[20] They also claim that other websites which identified Jessica Rose as Bree took their information from Silicon Valley Watcher without acknowledging it as the source.[20]

However, at least one group of fans had independently discovered Bree's true identity earlier that same night, and many decried the Foremskis for taking complete credit for unmasking Bree when actually it was just the culmination of a long-running investigation to which many "Breespotters" submitted clues they found. One poster named Ennovi on a lonelygirl15 message board run by Alissa Brooke [2] had already reported the finding at 1.41 AM on September 12, the Silicon Valley Watcher reported the finding afterward.

Later on September 12, the website Blogger's Blog produced evidence that the actress' name might actually be "Jessica Lee Rose".[21] They base this theory mainly on a deleted page, cached by Google, from the website of Clyne Management[22], a New Zealand talent agency. The name "Jessica Lee Rose" also matches a message left on another MySpace profile by Jeessss426 (the MySpace account associated with the actress). The cached page where these messages were found had an image of Aleister Crowley in the background. Speculation on these points is now unnecessary as the actress herself indicated that her name was "Jessica Lee Rose" during her appearance on the Jay Leno Show, which is linked elsewhere in this entry.

Admissions by creators

New York Times reporter Virginia Heffernan expanded on the series of revelations on September 12th out with an article which confirmed Jessica Rose's identity, and revealed the identities of her "co-conspirators", Ramesh Flinders, a screenwriter and filmmaker from Marin County, Calif., and Miles Beckett, a doctor-turned-filmmaker. According to Heffernan, speculation that a professional studio was used for the filming is incorrect — Bree's bedroom scenes were in fact filmed in Mr. Flinders’ very own bedroom using nothing more than a Logitech QuickCam, a Web camera that retails for about $150. Software engineer Grant Steinfeld was also involved in this project, as a photographer. Amanda Solomon Goodfried, an assistant at Creative Artists Agency, assisted in their efforts to hide their identities, and a lawyer — Ms. Goodfried's father-in-law, Kenneth Goodfried — handled various legal matters. The personnel involved worked under an NDA (Non-disclosure agreement) according to Grant Steinfield. Steinfield has verified most of this information to the Times, and provided photographs he took on set of Ms. Rose as proof.[3]

The three main "creators" gave an interview to the Los Angeles Times, which appeared even later in the day on September 12.[12] Besides Mr. Beckett and Mr. Flinders, already revealed, the third major partner was revealed as Greg Goodfried, who presumably is related to Amanda and Kenneth Goodfried, although he states that the CAA connection came "through a friend who works at the agency."[12] Associated Press published an interview with Jessica Rose on September 14 in which she described how she had become involved in the project and stated that she would continue working on it.[23] In addition to the Associated Press interview, she also appeared on MTV News on September 14th (alongside Ramesh Flinders), speaking in her New Zealand accent.

On September 13, the site Top of the Tube began circulating the trailer for Jessica Rose's first film Dearly Beloved directed by Leah Salvesen in which she starred as a distressed bride-to-be.[24]

On the evening of Thursday, September 14th, Jessica Rose.[25][26] made a surprise appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. During her brief appearance she stated her name, where she was from, her actual age, and that she was not lonely anymore. Following her last remark, Tucker Carlson came out on stage and music was cued. The two began dancing together until the commercial break.

The actor behind Danielbeast is named Yousef Abu-Taleb. He was discussed by name by Ramesh Flinders and Jessica Rose during their September 14 MTV News appearance. Photos of Abu-Taleb from outside of the lonelygirl15 project have started to appear, and were compiled on YouTube into a video scrapbook called "Danielbeast Exposed".

Future speculation

Since the fictitious nature of lonelygirl15 has been revealed, the storyline continues to develop via new videos posted to both YouTube and Revver. The continuation of the series fulfills the promise that the authors made in a New York Times article, stating that they will continue the story of lonelygirl15 and Danielbeast despite the public's awareness that the blog is fictional.[27]

The forums on the official lonelygirl15 website were also updated to include a separate section for the discussion of a character named "Cassie." Members of the forum have also uncovered a casting page for "The Children of Anchor Cove," which Jessica Rose revealed to be the project's working title when she first auditioned for the part (mentioned to both CBS News and Fox News in interviews). This casting page for The Children of Anchor Cove lists three roles, two of which appear to be Daniel and Bree. This has led to speculation that the third character (a female) is indeed Cassie and that her role has also been cast.

"Cassie" was mentioned in lonelygirl15's vlog "Swimming," where Bree asks Daniel about a girl named "Cassie" who was in Daniel's class, with Bree wondering "what ever happened to Cassie?"

A video spin-off, mentioned by NYT reporter Virginia Heffernan, has appeared on YouTube under the name cassieiswatching[28]. When first mentioned in the New York Times [29], it was teased as a potential offshoot arising from a dispute between the series' creators. The next day, the New York Times added more details [27], revealing cassieiswatching as the spin-off's name, yet referring to it is a "renegade lonelygirl-spinoff, which has some attenuated ties to the original."

To date, cassieiswatching has posted two videos on YouTube, both incorporating newly shot footage slickly cut together with previously seen lonelygirl15 footage. Each video starts with quick cuts of the location and frames from Bree's vlog entry shot at the same location. A female voice, assumed to be Cassie, whispers "I was there." The first video showed a bag being dropped into the reservoir where Bree and Daniel were seen swimming in the vlog entry "Swimming." Similarly, the videos end with the same voice whispering "come get it" as the camera focuses on a specific spot (in this case, where the bag was dropped). Each video is also accompanied by a link to a map, which reveals directions to the real world locations where the footage was shot. An inquisitive viewer ventured out to the location of the first video, and his response video chronicled his journey to the spot, which revealed that a package was indeed left at the scene, and that it contained further clues regarding Cassie's disappearance. He finds a box encased in several layers of protective outer wrapping, including a zip-lock bag (presumably to keep the contents from getting wet). But those layers failed, and a water-logged wooden box with strange symbols too small to make out is discovered. Inside the box is a single tarot card -- "Judgement" (sic).

While the character of Cassie may indeed appear at some point, a forum post from "The Creators" on the official lonelygirl15 website stated , "Cassieiswatching is an independent fan creation." Earlier forum posts from admins hinted that the cassieiswatching videos might ultimately be considered canon (hence their own section on the forums). However, on September 17, 2006, the second cassieiswatching vlog was posted, featuring quick flashes of photos from the Sharon Tate murder scene, and a map to clues left in La Cienaga Park in Beverly Hills. Many viewers immediately commented on its distinctively dark tone and its unsettling imagery. Hours later, "The Creators" posted their message on the lonelygirl15 website, clearly distancing lonelygirl15 from any of the related cassieiswatching videos, stating that the "subject matter is darker than we would like." For more information, see cassieiswatching.

However, the same forum post from "The Creators" also promised: "We have plans to incorporate more ARG elements into LG15 so we are excited to see such a vigorous investigative response to cassieiswatching." This confirms that future installments of lonelygirl15 will incorporate elements of an Alternate Reality Game, although it is unclear whether or not the character of Cassie has been cast by lonelygirl15's creators, and whether or not the character will ever appear in the series.

References

  1. ^ Jessica Rose at IMDb - except this link goes a make-up artist named Jessica Rose (one of 6 Jessica Rose's on IMDb)
  2. ^ http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&q=jessica_rose_actingHS.jpg&sa=N&tab=wi
  3. ^ a b c Heffernan, Virginia and Zeller, Tom (2006-09-12). "'Lonely Girl' (and Friends) Just Wanted Movie Deal". New York Times. Retrieved 2006-09-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ a b c Lonelygirl15 (2006-09-10). House Arrest (YouTube video blog).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference gohepcat was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Krazymalicous (YouTube user) (2006). LONELYGIRL15 IS A FAKE (YouTube video blog).
  7. ^ Sternbergh, Adam (2006-08-28). "Hey There, Lonelygirl". New York Magazine. Retrieved 2006-09-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ Cook, Lee (2006-09-29). "LonelyGirl15". Alternate Reality Gaming Network. Retrieved 2006-09-13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ a b c Flemming, Brian (2006-08-21). "Lonelygirl15 jumps the shark". Retrieved 2006-09-13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. ^ Trademark Application
  11. ^ a b Rushfield, Richard and Hoffman, Claire (2006-09-08). "Mystery Fuels Huge Popularity of Web's Lonelygirl15". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2006-09-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  12. ^ a b c Rushfield, Richard and Hoffman, Claire (2006-09-13). "Lonelygirl15 Is Brainchild of 3 Filmmakers". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2006-09-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference TopoftheTube was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ mgpapas (2006-09-12). Lonelygirl15 a.k.a. Bree a.k.a. Jessica Rose Exposed (YouTube video).
  15. ^ Lonelygirl15 (2006-09-08). Should I Or Shouldn't I? (YouTube video blog).
  16. ^ Lonelygirl15 (2006-07-21). School Work in Summer... BLECHH!!! (YouTube video blog).
  17. ^ Cite error: The named reference Mysteries was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  18. ^ a b Foremski, Matt and Foremski, Tom (2006-09-12). "SVW Exclusive: The identity of LonelyGirl15". Silicon Valley Watcher. Retrieved 2006-09-13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  19. ^ Foremski, Tom (2006-09-12). "The Hunt for LonelyGirl15: Life in a blogger household . . ". Silicon Valley Watcher. Retrieved 2006-09-13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  20. ^ a b Foremski, Tom (2006-09-12). "How the secret identity of LonelyGirl15 was found". Silicon Valley Watcher. Retrieved 2006-09-13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  21. ^ "Jessica-Lee Rose (Lonelygirl15) Appeared in KFC Commercial and Short Film". Blogger's Blog. 2006-09-12. Retrieved 2006-09-13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  22. ^ Cite error: The named reference Googlearchive was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  23. ^ "Sudden fame amazes 'Lonelygirl15' star". Associated Press. Retrieved 2006-09-15.
  24. ^ "Exclusive: lonelygirl15 a.k.a. Jessica Rose in Dearly Beloved trailer". Top of the Tube. 2006-09-13. Retrieved 2006-09-13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  25. ^ Jessica Rose at IMDb
  26. ^ http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&q=jessica_rose_actingHS.jpg&sa=N&tab=wi
  27. ^ a b Heffernan, Virginia (2006-09-12). "Applause for lonelygirl15, and DVD Extras". Screens. New York Times. Retrieved 2006-09-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  28. ^ Cassieiswatching (2006-09-12). cassieiswatching (YouTube video blog).
  29. ^ Heffernan, Virginia (2006-09-11). "Dulce". Screens. New York Times. Retrieved 2006-09-17. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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