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April 24, 2006
The Death of a Video Blogger?
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A childhood photograph of Kevin Krutz, part of a montage from the April 15 video blog allegedly capturing Kevin's death |
I did not know Kevin Krutz personally, nor was I familiar with his vlog, Questions in a World of Blue, until fellow vlogger Michael Sullivan posted it to the videoblogging list earlier today. Kevin was a 26-year-old film student in Philadelphia who used his vlog to share short videos he produced for school. Many of them are dark and disturbing. In one piece, a twisted surgeon performs unnecessary surgery on a model, ruining her looks, but creates an unexpected fashion craze. Another video uses long, unflinching shots a la Martin Scorsese to capture a man violently assaulting a women at a bar. Other videos feature bizarre, though hysterical attempts to produce stop-motion animation with ground meat instead of clay.
The final video installment, entitled The Last Hours, begins with a slate noting that the video was posted "with consent of the Krutz family." The video itself appears to come from a party; you can hear a friend narrating a home video in which he goes into a bathroom to make fun of Kevin, who appears to be throwing up in a toilet. As the video keeps rolling, the videographer and friend come to the horrifying realization that Kevin is in fact dead. There is blood on the bathroom floor, but it is not clear how he died; the implication seems to be that he passed away after massive amounts of drinking. One friend demands the videoographer to put the camera down, so the last moments we see are of Kevin at an angle, the camera resting ackwardly, as they try unsuccessfully to revive him. We then see his limp body dragged off the screen.
Dip to Black, then another slate saying the film was edited by Dom Miksit and posted by Tim Dunn, concluding with a montage of photographs of Kevin's life, as T Rex's "Cosmic Dancer" plays in the background:
I was dancing when I was eight
Is it strange to dance so late
I danced myself into the tomb
Is it strange to dnce so soon
I danced myself into the tomb....
The video is chilling on so many levels, no less so considering the quote posted on his vlog's profile: "Video is a place where all the horror and atrocities you ever dreamed of can be accomplished."
It seems this quote may have been prophetic. However, some vloggers are already speculating that the video is a hoax - a disturbing art project from an artists who relished in disturbing others. Notably, the blog doesn't offer any details of how he died, nor does it supply an address for submitting condolences or donations. I was also surprised that a search for his blog on Technorati or news of his death on Google News yielded zero results.
If the video is a hoax, undoubtedly it will be debated for some time, praised by some for its daring and vilified by others for its inappropriateness. If it isn't a hoax, perhaps with the posting of this video, his family and friends will be able to scare some young person - even just one person - into acting a little more responsibly with their life.
I honestly do not know if it is a hoax. If it is not, my sincerest condolences to Kevin's family for their loss. -andy
UPDATE:
Mystery solved. Kevin isn't dead. But hoax may be too strong a term for it either, depending on your point of view. It seems that the whole thing was a video blogging social experiment to see how the online community would react, and to explore the boundaries of what's acceptable and what's not in the world of vlogging. There's an email to the VIDEOBLOGGING yahoogroup from his video blogging teacher explaining the whole thing:
Kevin is fine and well. Probably tired and overwhelmed since it's the end of the semester, but he's otherwise perfectly fine. I just saw him this afternoon in class.I don't know if he meant the video as a "hoax" -- or a mean trick. I'd
expect it was more of an experiment to see what would happen. It's
definitely in the "vlog dangerously" theme that Stephanie started for
videoblogging week. Perhaps this is over the edge for many of you?? Did
Kevin stretch things too far? And cross some line into something
unacceptable??....Mostly I'm interested in hearing more discussion about whether or not
it was "okay" for him to post such a video. What buttons did he push?
If you are offended or upset or disturbed or frightened or disgusted...
then why? What is it exactly that caused your reaction? If you aren't
any of those things, but have other strong feelings, what is your
reaction? What do you think that's about??
As I noted on the same list before the truth came out, whether or not it was a hoax probably wouldn't change the fact that the video may well indeed lead to a media/blog debate about the cultural boundaries of Web 2.0 in terms of what's acceptable and what's not. Any takers? -andy
Posted by acarvin at April 24, 2006 3:48 PM
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