Lifecasting - continued (Going Mobile)

Going Mobile

Another significant aspect of lifecasting the Justin.tv way, the camera can go mobile while still streaming to the Internet. The setup is fairly simple. A standard webcam with audio that is connected to a laptop computer equipped with a wireless transmitter card, such as the Sprint EVDO, is all it takes to hit the road.
When Justine packs up her equipment in her room to hit the road, streaming without interruption, her fans refer to it in the chat room as a “road trip” and you can see the excitement level in the chat rising fast.

Watching the video, the chat room people assume the first person of the camera, “Were going on a road trip!” They began to annotate her every move and comment on the places she is at and the surroundings or other people in view of the camera. This is when the chat room begins to work into frenzy of comical commentary annotating everything seen on camera laced with frequent satire.

Some of the chat room participants are obviously very intelligent individuals from the way they comment to the words they often choose. But their humor is sometimes so hysterical you can’t help but “lol” (laughing out loud in chat talk). Anyone of these comical chat members could qualify as a writer for any of the late show comics––they are that good.

One night the chatters where taken along with Justine in the car with her family who were going to dinner at a restaurant. In the true spirit of iJustine, as she likes to refer to herself on the net, the chat room conversation took the “iMom, iDad”, and even “iGrandma” format as they commented on her family. Justine is probably unaware of how funny the chat room becomes when she is mobile because she is not able to view the chat text and has no idea how hysterical some of her fans can get while describing the activities of her and those around her as seen by the camera.

Watching this take place in the way it does is reminiscent of the Steve Allan show many years ago that, one of the people who formulated today’s late night comedic shows. Occasionally, the NBC studio would place a camera outside the studio, on the street, right at the intersection of Hollywood & Vine while Steve Allan would make hilarious comments about the people the camera saw passing by the camera or waiting at the intersection to cross. This is actually a rebirth of that technique except the entertainers who make the comical comments are the lifecaster‘s fans.

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