Justine Ezarik, better known as iJustine, has been creating content for nearly 18 years. She is one of the only creators I know who was uploading videos to YouTube in 2006 and is still doing so today. So it was a no-brainer to include her in my Full Frame: Creators series where I spend a day with a creator I admire to figure out how they do what they do.
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TechTranscript
00:00She was vlogging before Casey Neistat.
00:02Hi everybody, so I'm hanging out here in the Apple store.
00:04Doing man-on-the-street interviews well before TikTok.
00:06What is your favorite treat?
00:08Probably bread pudding.
00:09I've really never met a bread pudding that I don't love.
00:12And even live streaming before Twitch.
00:15And by the time I started my tech journalism career in 2017,
00:19iJustine was a solidified face in the YouTube tech space.
00:22I mean, Tim Cook says it best.
00:24She needs no introduction because her creativity and her insights
00:28and her passion for technology are extraordinary
00:30and known to everybody in here, I'm sure.
00:33Justine is a creator who has blazed the trail for not just tech creators,
00:36but pretty much any type of creator.
00:38Because at some point or another, she has literally tried it all.
00:41And that has given her the confidence and this sort of
00:44unconscious know-how to endlessly create.
00:48I'm Becca.
00:48This is the last episode of my creator series,
00:51and it is also my last video for The Verge.
00:53And I could not be more honored that it's about a creator
00:56I have watched my entire career.
00:58This is the story of iJustine.
01:03I think...
01:05I think this is mine.
01:06I think this is the one that I bought.
01:10Yeah, so here it is.
01:11This is my first iPhone.
01:13It doesn't turn on anymore.
01:14I'm sure I could probably have somebody replace the battery.
01:17But this is kind of...
01:20I don't want to say where it all started,
01:21but it sort of gave me that motivation and realization
01:24that there was something here.
01:26Knew I had something here.
01:27It's a term that I've heard a lot of creators say.
01:30There seems to be this moment in all of their careers
01:33where a piece of content does really well
01:35and it gives them the confidence to keep going.
01:37And for Justine, it was this video.
01:40I have an iPhone and I had to switch to AT&T.
01:42Okay, that's wonderful.
01:43Well, I got my first AT&T bill.
01:46Right here.
01:48In a box.
01:49It's an incredibly straightforward video
01:51of Justine opening an absurd 300-page bill from AT&T,
01:56when she got her first iPhone.
01:57And at the time, then everyone was making fun of me
01:59for making videos and doing weird stuff
02:01and posting stuff online.
02:03And then finally when this happened
02:06and news outlets were contacting me
02:07and it just blew up all around the world,
02:12that made me feel like something was here
02:15and it kind of gave my family a little bit of hope.
02:17Like, okay, this is actually something.
02:20And since that moment, Justine never really stopped creating.
02:23In fact, something I noticed very early in the day
02:26was that her content-making brain is always on.
02:30Oh, there's actually a TikTok that I wanted to do
02:33with some of these things.
02:34So I might be able to do that as well.
02:36And it's been on for a long time.
02:38She was one of the first people to stream her life 24-7
02:42on Justine TV, which would later become Twitch.
02:44This went on for six straight months
02:45and included some of the first acts
02:47of what we now call stream sniping,
02:49where people would call restaurants she was at
02:51and tell them it was her birthday
02:52or literally show up where she was.
02:55There was a gaming period, cooking videos,
02:57interviews, song parodies, collabs,
03:00and even a time when she unboxed tech
03:02using Google Glass as the second camera.
03:04And I mean, that right there is amazing.
03:06Bring that back.
03:07But throughout all of that, it's her love of technology
03:10that has been both the most successful content she's made
03:13and what she's most personally interested in.
03:15You have so many Apple Pencils.
03:18Okay, so that might be my prized possession.
03:21Wow.
03:22It's like a weird flex.
03:25These days, her channel is mostly focused on consumer tech.
03:28And the day I was hanging out with her
03:30happened to be the day she was picking up
03:31arguably the most talked about piece of tech this year.
03:34Look, there's a Cybertruck behind us!
03:36No way!
03:36They're getting in behind us!
03:38I want to let him know I'm going to get mine right now.
03:44We're going to be cousins!
03:47I'm going to get one right now!
03:49I'm going to pick mine up right now!
03:51Dude, I'm so psyched!
03:54Bye!
03:55Nice to meet you!
03:59I made it weird.
03:59Look how friendly that person was.
04:01I made it super weird.
04:02No way! They were excited.
04:04With her sister and fellow creator Jenna Inso,
04:07we headed to a Tesla dealership in LA
04:09to pick up Justine's Cybertruck,
04:10a relatively controversial car these days.
04:13It's hard because I definitely don't support
04:14everything that Elon supports.
04:18But the tech is really good.
04:22Yeah.
04:23And also just reading the comments
04:24of how much people don't like it.
04:29Make you nervous?
04:31I mean, money is already in their bank account.
04:36And I feel like, you know, at some point,
04:39I mean, I don't know.
04:42I don't know.
04:44Using a Sony a7S Mark IV
04:46with a 24-70mm f2.8 lens,
04:49Justine was filming her Cybertruck pickup
04:51in her vlog style,
04:52meaning that her and her sister
04:54take turns filming Justine's experience.
04:56Let's have a little look, Jess.
04:57Let's see.
04:58Okay, here we go.
05:01You can fit golf clubs or a small body.
05:04The first thing I noticed about their vlogging style
05:06is that there's absolutely no planning
05:08and very little directing.
05:10After well over a decade of doing this together,
05:12they sort of just dance around each other,
05:14never even having to do a second take.
05:17Hey, Jess, what's up?
05:20Don't you touch it!
05:21No, this stays on.
05:23You can't leave that on.
05:24Yes.
05:24You cannot leave this on.
05:25Yes, I can.
05:26You're not going to be able to.
05:27I'm going to take that off once
05:28it doesn't feel like it's going to melt.
05:30I have left the Tesla one on my car
05:33for the past three years.
05:34You cannot leave that on.
05:35Jenna keeps trying to take it off of me,
05:36and I'm like, no, you're absolutely not.
05:38They are incredibly well-practiced
05:40at creating content.
05:41Are you video or are you photo?
05:42Photo.
05:42Instinctively shooting both photos and video.
05:45Okay, video?
05:46Yep.
05:46Ready, go.
05:48Just doing a little test walk around,
05:50just picked it up.
05:50Remembering to screen record
05:52when they were setting things up on their phones.
05:54Do a little screen record here.
05:56And of course, stopping for intrusive noise.
06:05You literally do one take of everything.
06:07Like, I didn't really see you do second takes.
06:10For vlog stuff, there's, yeah,
06:12rarely ever two takes.
06:13But if it's like something scripted and planned
06:15and like an actual review,
06:16I'll definitely do several takes,
06:19especially trying to like memorize specs
06:20and stuff like that.
06:21I'm like, that wasn't right.
06:22I didn't like the delivery, do it again.
06:24But I feel like these kind of follow me around
06:26type kind of little vlogs,
06:29it's, it is what it is.
06:31She's so good at being natural
06:34and giving a genuine response on camera
06:38while also having the YouTube
06:40and content creating smarts
06:42to know how to capture those moments.
06:45And I think that is what has allowed her
06:48to continue to upload YouTube videos
06:51all the way from 2006 to now.
06:53I mean, I don't know a single other person
06:56who has done that.
06:58And she's not just good at doing it for herself either.
07:03She was doing it for me.
07:05For example, our day actually started
07:08at a jujitsu class
07:09and I brought my camera
07:10with the intention of filming it.
07:12But then we got there
07:13and I got so busy living the experience
07:16that I completely forgot about filming it.
07:19But Justine didn't.
07:20At one point, she literally had me in a chokehold
07:22and she said, you should film this.
07:24You could title it,
07:25I Justine put me into a chokehold.
07:27So I did.
07:28I ran over my camera.
07:29I set up a really crappy shot and I filmed it.
07:32And that moment didn't end up
07:33being a large part of my story
07:35but it certainly is a core memory
07:37and it could have been more
07:38provided I would have filmed more, I'm sure.
07:41And then there was this moment a few hours later
07:42when we were watching old videos of hers
07:44and reading the comments.
07:46And I was so enjoying learning
07:48how Justine thinks about commenters
07:50and her first videos
07:51that I wasn't even thinking about the lighting
07:54or the audio, but Justine was.
07:58I mean, she would even instinctively
08:00turn down the audio on her computer
08:02when one of us would begin to speak.
08:04And while I'm sure that a lot of this
08:06is simply learned from doing this for 18 years,
08:08you can see this ability
08:10to both be incredibly authentic
08:12yet capture a moment
08:15in a way that makes sense and looks good
08:18as early as the 300 page bill video.
08:20First AT&T bill, right here.
08:24In a box.
08:26She was simply reacting
08:27and having an emotion about a moment
08:30yet was able to capture it in a way
08:32that also conveyed the feeling.
08:36To be present and authentic
08:38while also capturing a moment
08:40is incredibly hard to do.
08:42Something that I certainly
08:44have struggled a lot with.
08:46And I think it's Justine's superpower.
08:48What's the best thing you can do?
08:54That's a perfect cut.
08:56That is an absolute perfect cut.
09:01No, we didn't think this one through.
09:05I had one last question
09:06for the YouTuber that has yet to quit.
09:09And how long do you think you'll do this?
09:11I think I'll do this
09:12until I don't want to do it anymore.
09:14So that couldn't be tomorrow.
09:16Could be next week.
09:18Could be forever.
09:21Hold on.
09:24Look, sorry.
09:26This time just keeps ticking.
09:28I saved us six minutes, but...
09:3037 minutes late.
09:33With that includes my last video for The Verge.
09:38I want to thank you so much
09:40for supporting me and believing in me.
09:44It has never been lost on me
09:47how lucky I am to get to do this job
09:50and for all of you to want to tune in.
09:57I appreciate you so much, bud.
10:01And I wouldn't be here without you.
10:05I hope you'll stick with me
10:06and I hope I'll see you on the next one.
10:10Okay.