After perusing several vlog links from the classroom wiki, I was most interested in the Crash Test Kitchen vlog. The creators of the website describe themselves as, “a couple of foodies with a video camera. We're not chefs, and you won't find any of that "here's one we prepared earlier" fakery here - we make mistakes, and the failures get posted along with the success stories. CTK is a podcast and video blog (vlog) rolled into one.” I really liked that they are “real people,” willing to show their audience the mistakes they made, because in my limited experience, cooking is never as easy as the professional chefs make it look.
From the few videos I watched, I would say Crash Test Kitchen’s intended audience is anyone looking for something new to make in the kitchen. Their conversational tone is quite casual; the kitchen is quite average (no fancy-shmancy appliances and gizmos seen on TV cooking shows); and the cooks are dressed in T-shirts and jeans. I felt like they either just got home from work and changed into more comfortable attire to make a favorite dish, or that they were relaxing on a Saturday afternoon, experimenting with a new recipe.
The couple takes the audience through the process step by step, using video (both Windows Media Player and Quick Time versions are available), audio, and text, making the content accessible to audiences who may have limited access to a variety of resources. With the video, the camera gives close-up shots when the cooks go through the ingredients needed, and during key steps in the cooking process, much like the cooking shows on TV. There is simple editing for steps that take longer than the audience needs to watch, but they do not edit out “mistakes,” which I think is even more useful than the TV shows that just show the perfect outcomes. It’s nice to see how they problem-solve through the blunders.
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