International Women’s Day is about female voices and in 2024 vlogging has made it easier than ever for women to share their experiences.
In the shifting climate of entertainment there has been a massive trend towards user-generated digestible short-form content – put simply, I mean vlogs. Every social media platform has its own variant whether it’s YouTube Shorts, Facebook Stories or simply TikTok videos but they all provide the same thing: short personal slices of people’s lives. It would be easy to dismiss this medium, after all, it isn’t anything new and vlogs have been around since the early days of YouTube, but in 2024 this kind of content has become king (or queen).
Barbie might have been 2023’s biggest movie and an empowering rally for female filmmakers, but not everyone has the same resources as Greta Gerwig. In fact, probably only Greta Gerwig has the resources to make a deeply ambitious blockbuster about feminism, but she’s not the only woman with a story. So, what about everyone else?
That’s what makes vlogs such an attractive option for creators who don’t have the support of a studio but do have a smartphone, even if it's a budget phone.
Recognising this, Infinix launched its Vlog Awards in 2023 specifically to support young creative talent. Infinix collaborated with film industry professionals to award the best of young vloggers out there and received an astounding 42,603 submissions, and even more interestingly, over 70% of submissions were from women. Here, I’ll highlight submissions which demonstrate how far the medium has come as a form of expression and how women are using vlogs to elevate their voices.
01. Shradha Devkota – I feel like my body is in first gear
Selected as the winner in her category, Shradha’s vlog is an emotive abstract vlog, which pushes the expectations of stories that can be told with a vertical screen. Based in London, Shradha is a Nepali contemporary artist and, photographer and illustrator who pours her life into the short vlog. Described as, “poetic visual storytelling” by BAFTA and Oscar-nominated filmmaker Mark Gill, her video is an excellent example of a woman turning their relatable experiences into art. Content like this can create an important space for women to discuss and exchange their experiences which is what makes it so crucial.
02. Margarita Galandina – The eyewinker
So much of what makes a vlog captivating is the creative choices of the vlogger – Margarita’s unnerving experimental style of filmmaking stays with the viewer long after the vlog is finished. Having won in the ‘What I Loved’ category of the contest, Margarita’s vlog offers a compilation of evocative but jarring imagery matched with a lilting subtle soundtrack. Her vlog cultivates a strange melancholic atmosphere that unique to her work.
Also based in London, Margarita is a Siberian-born multidisciplinary artist who shows that even though vlogs may not have big studio budgets, talented filmmakers can use them to achieve the same emotional depth as any movie.
03. dosen_milenial – Terima kaskh semesta
As enriching as self-reflective content can be, many women online also just want somewhere to watch content that’s fun, accessible, and cheerful. dosen_milenial was an honourable mention in the contest and is a great example of a vlogger with a lot of charm who makes digestible short-form content. Their vlog gives a snapshot of their life and is filmed naturalistically. Positive representations of young life like this are essential for younger female audiences, who tend to spend most of their time online.
Why are vlogs empowering women?
As the above submissions show, the real reason vlogs are empowering women is because they give them full creative control. Viewers know that when they watch a vlogger express themselves it’s an unfiltered window into that person’s perspective. That authenticity is crucial to why female viewers love vlogs by other women and why in 2024 vlogging may be the artistic medium which elevates diverse voices more than any other.
In this amazing journey of 92 days, the campaign’s hashtag #Capture your own story achieved a global viewership of 402 million, and a total of 299 million video views. The contest showed that distance and background aren’t boundaries for Gen Z in making meaningful connections as their online lives can have such a global reach. And Infinix plans to continue our support for young creators, especially those from underrepresented regions.
To get started with vlogging, see our vlogging kit guide and the best video editing apps.
