• by P.J. Bednarski , Staff Writer @pjbtweet, December 11, 2012

Everybody started somewhere, and some of them no doubt should have stopped right there. But Tubefilter.com is currently featuring “First Draft Series,” a look back at the first vdeos of the “world’s greatest video stars.”  That is YouTube video stars.

 Those would include Barack Obama—you know him--and Justin Bieber—and you know him---and Jenna Marbles, who hit it big on YouTube with her  “I Hate My F---ing Roommate,” a video about her roommate, I guess, who brought home an anonyymous crying baby, who is driving Jenna Marbles (not her real name) crazy. “Amber alert!” she says. “If you are missing your baby, it’s at my f---ing house.” You had to be there. But not really. Poor baby.

There’s also the first YouTube video of Fred Figglehorn (also not a real name) whose first YouTube video was “Kelly: the Girl with the Bladder Infection.” Although Kelly is clearly Fred, the boy tells us in some detail about his/her problem.

The Marbles and Figglehorn videos should remind all of us that that many videos are not shared because people find them charming. Probably more advertisers should remember that, too

 Figglehorn has gone on to become the star of two Nickelodeon features and has won some Teen Choice Award. In any event, he’s now important enough that he (or someone) has removed “Kelly” from the Tubefilter site, though it’s still available on YouTube.

It should be about here that hyperlinks would helpfully assist you to get to these videos. We’re going to do you all a favor and not do that.

But the feature itself is illuminating because it features written commentary by Frank and Lynn Chindamo, who are experts on making You Tube videso from the comfort of your home, or ward unit. (Frank also teaches Webisode production at USC and Chapman University, according to the site.)

So far, there only a half-dozen or so first YouTube video as part of the “First Draft Series” but the Chindamos add  good nuggets of info for the do-it-yourself  YouTube producer. Most of them are obvious, but important to remember.  Like, pay attention to the quality of the sound and the video.

You’d be surprised… 

You should see the Barack Obama one, though. It’s All-Pro, from 2007, when he was announcing that he was exploring the idea of running. It is the kind of vintage Obama that would make even Grover Norquist agree to a new tax, oh, just this once, what the heck.

Bieber, we learn here, really had quite a voice as an even younger youngster than he still is. His video, however, is poorly shot. The audio is not ideal. It is hard to believe anybody important discovered him based on this.   

The most successful twinning of advice and video is found in “A Look Back at Klaatu 42’s Art of Making Animals Talk,” and wow, timely or what? It’s solid information for the would-be pet videomaker.  The author warns, “Animals may look adorable but a lot of them are jerks to work with.”  And there are a couple of paragraphs detailing  an important piece of information, summed up by the title: “Record Your Voice Over.”

There is a book in this compilation of tips. Or a Jonah Hill movie.

Probably the movie is a better idea.