A positive representation of family life is cultivated through the use of highly selective editing. For example, no footage of her children throwing tantrums seems to exist, constructing a world where an idealistic version of the family supersedes the reality.
Deliberately low production values construct a sense of authenticity. This is highly conventional of the lifestyle vlog. There is very simple editing used, favouring the use of long take and jump cuts, constructing an authentic mode of address.
Sugg announces that she has forgotten her phone, an act of incompetence that reinforces Sugg’s authenticity.
At one stage, Sugg tries to sneeze in an apparently unscripted and voyeuristic moment. However, by leaving this charming moment, Sugg’s constructs a world where her realistic and relatable life is somehow more perfect because of these flaws.
Sugg’s frequently breaks the fourth wall, not only through her constant direct mode of address, but also through referring to how the video is made. She makes two references to the process of montage, suggesting that she has sole authorship of this experience.
Sugg’s is an auteur, who has complete control of the product. Yet by constructing such a perfect life, Sugg is also the manipulator. She deliberately anchors and limits the different readings that the audience can make of this product.
A hyperreal reconstruction of reality is continually presented in Sugg’s videos. In this video, themes of hyperreality are constructed through the use of editing to select and cherry-pick perfect moments that construct a carefully cultivated ideology of everyday perfection.
Sugg presents a clearly aspirational mode of address for her target audience. This target audience appears to be younger women and young mothers who aspire to this particular lifestyle.
Sugg presents a consistently consumerist ideology. The opening montage situates the audience in an intimate and voyeuristic mode of address. We see Sugg’s preparation for what should be an intimate and thoughtful moment. However, this moment is constructed through consumer products. Chocolate spread, sprinkle eyes, the matching pyjamas, a frying pan, cooking utensils, ingredients, love heart sweets, the house itself, furnishings, table setting, flowers. This montage constructs a consumerist ideological perspective, where intimate moments can be fulfilled through carefully purchasing products. Reinforcing this ideology is the fact that embedded in the description for the YouTube hosted video are a series of hyperlinks, directing the audience to buy these products. This clear example of commodity fetishism has been included in Sugg’s videos since she was 11, where she codified the conventions of the lifestyle vlog.
David Gauntlett argued that we can construct our identities through the consumption of media . Here, Zoella constructs an ideology that she is fashionable, trendy, and yet also down to earth. The target audience aspire to achieve a lifestyle and identity that is similar to Sugg
By constructing her life through consumer products, and encouraging the audience to do the same, Sugg constructs a postmodern identity, that suggests we can achieve a hyperreal and perfect lifestyle through consumption as opposed to authentic action
Minimal editing constructs a media product with visibly low production values. Clear codes and conventions of the lifestyle vlog.
Digitally convergent technologies have not only been used to construct and to distribute this product, but also form the basic for discussion. While walking around the home store Home sense Sugg refers to the music playing in the background, and suggests the video she is filming may have a copyright strike. This assumes a deep and detailed knowledge of digitally convergent media from the target audience
She switches off her car engine to allow the audience to hear her voice better. While this footage would previously be cut out using the logic of old media, here including the mistakes cultivates a strong sense of authenticity for the audience. In short, Zoe Sugg is a friend, a real person.
However Zoe Sugg is not real. Instead, we see a carefully cultivated representation.
A wide angle mid shot shows Sugg playing with her daughter. The use of long take and the positioning allowed through the cinematography constructs a voyeuristic mode of address. The sound is notably more quiet and muffled than before, again constructing a voyeuristic mode of address, that is further reinforced through the hyperreal MES of the child’s bedroom.
Here we see a representation of a perfect and yet relatable family. The unscripted dialogue is often banal and even boring, yet this too helps to align the target audience, and helps cultivate a sense of authenticity.
Sugg directly addresses the camera, in a direct mode of address that breaks the forth wall. However, there was never a fourth wall to break. Sugg’s entire persona is completely based on the connection that exists between her and her viewers
The video reinforces a consumerist ideology, that links back to her very first video . Haul videos provide audiences with an escapist fantasy. However these videos can be criticised, partly through profiting from consumerism, and provides a shallow lifestyle with no depth. The idea of constructing an identity purely through consumer products is highly postmodern, and reflects a completely different society and way of thinking.
By providing such an intimate and voyeuristic look in to Sugg’s life, a postmodern mode of address is constructed, that completely shatters an previous rules and metanarratives. These private and boring moments are now presented as something special, and a new way of living one’s life.
Sugg’s refers to her vlogging as her ‘side hustle’, which suggests a total discontent between the ‘authentic fantasy’ that she is constructing, and the ‘material reality’ of her day to day existence.
“Mooching” - an informal and relatable mode of address. Sugg is a 33 year old woman who often addresses and appeals to a far younger audience. While her style and address have evolved to become more mature, her outlook is still youthful, making an aspirational mode of address for a younger target audience.
