Updates - Where is MidnightAGStudios?

Hey guys! So, I haven't really been using my blog very much, but today I decided that instead of making an updates video and posting it on my channel (which I know some people don't appreciate) I would just make a blog post about it and mention it in my feed to avoid saying "um" 25 times in the first minute of the video. Anyway, it's going to be easier to type all my thoughts out than to sit down and piece together a video then upload it.

So, number one. Lack of videos.

Last year when I started making videos I was homeschooled with a four day-per week school schedule. I got Wednesdays off. So I had plenty of time to make videos and do whatever. But now I've made the jump and I'm going full time to a private Christian school. So now I have to maintain an A average in all my classes which means I have to put in a lot of hard work. I'm prepping myself for college here even if I'm still a ways away from needing to think about it. School is taking up a lot of time and energy right now, and I'm still learning how to cope. I'm sure you can all relate. School is stressful :(

Is my schedule looking better in the next few months for making videos? Truth be told, it's probably going to be worse. I have four very major things coming up.

March - Spring play
April - Trip to Lopez Island (in Washington) with my mom over Spring break. We live in Maine, so that means a 6 hour flight across the US.
May - Trip to New York with my Drama class. We're going to go see the Lion King on Broadway.
June - Dance recital. I'm a tap dancer, and I recently started dancing again after a few years of not doing it. I had to learn everything again and more advanced moves than before. Our dance is very fast and a little complicated. My grandmother says that she thinks I would be awesome at Riverdancing eventually, and that's my goal. But Riverdance is very difficult. Seriously, if you don't know what I'm talking about, watch this. The whole thing. It's incredible: River Dance

Think that looks hard? You have no idea. As a tap dancer, I have to count my steps in my head, and there are so many movements happening so quickly in that dance. I have trouble with rhythm circles sometimes, so I have a ways to go XD. Anyway, back to what this post is supposed to be about.

Next is why haven't I been uploading any of the videos I promised to make? (Something Small, Locked In, Chasing Starlight)

Chasing Starlight is something I've been meaning to refilm and still intend to refilm once the weather gets better around here. I want to finish that series. Something Small wasn't a series I felt very into. It's still a possibility, but unlikely. I might just leave it as a trailer without a series to go with it. And Locked In...I want to film it. I want to do it so much. But my basement is a pain to film in. Everything is constantly changing. The stack of bags of pellets for our pellet stove I needed for episode 1 is gone, and the stack that I usually use to put my dolls on is covered in white spraypaint because my dad was painting boards on top of the bags. It's always cold and the lighting is terrible. I might have to change it into an outdoor series over the summer.

And that's pretty much it! The only other thing I'm going to mention is that I *might* do a sequel to The Wrong Way Around. I actually wrote a small song for it that I could use as a themesong. That would be kinda cool. Oh, and thanks for your support with both my home channel and my collab videos on 7SuperStudios. (Wednesdays with Kit). If you haven't heard of the channel, go check it out! All our collabers make awesome, funny videos! :D

Stay awesome!

-Emma

My Story: How I Got Into AG

It all started back in 2007. My mom has a friend whose daughter was into AG and had some dolls. I ended up with a catalogue and I wanted Nicki, the GOTY, pretty badly. Well, wish granted! This is what I saw that Christmas:

Yup! It's Nicki! I played with her a lot, and apparently we played a lot of games like gymnastics because the curls were eventually too difficult to keep nice and neat, so we brushed them out. Now that I'm really using the dolls I'm curling her hair again, but it's not the same because it hadn't been regularly curled for quite a while, and it's harder to keep it looking good.

Anyway, fast forward to 2009. I don't remember if I wanted Julie or not, but I got her for a Christmas present, and I loved her! I actually went through this phase where I was like "Nicki's ugly! I love Julie more!"

Thank goodness that phase is over!

Julie!

In 2010 we got to go to the American Girl Place in New York, and it was great! I ended up getting Julie's ears pierced and I got a couple outfits for the dolls.

Now we're skipping through time to Christmas 2011 when I got Kit! She was an eBay purchase and I found out this year why she's fatter than my other dolls and has larger limbs - she's partially Pre-Mattel. By that I mean we're pretty sure she's from a crossover period from Pre-Mattel to Mattel because she only has some of the things that Pre-Mattel dolls do. The same year I got Kit I got bunk-beds for my dolls, which was a great gift! They can all stack up, and there's four bunks in total.

Until around January of this year, my dolls were sort of just sitting in the closet and I didn't play with them very much. Then I discovered AGTube, and I thought it was so cool! And I had dolls! Soon I started filming using the Camera app on my iPad. My first stopmotion was called "Julie's Amazing Mountain Climb", and it was her climbing up my bunk-bed ladder.

But there was a big problem! I had big ideas, and I didn't have enough dolls to make my series and videos that I wanted to do. So I looked in the catalogue and there she was! She was beautiful, and I really wanted her! The My AG doll with curly red hair and blue eyes. I know what you're thinking. "But Emma, you don't have that doll!" 

Well, you're right. I started going back and forth between Caroline and the My AG. In the end I ordered Caroline, and it was a good decision! (I got her in January.)

Eventually I started using a camera and tripod to film, but I still wasn't able to have all the characters I wanted because of lack of dolls. I know that certain dolls can play multiple parts, but I think you know what I mean. 

I remember saying to my mom "If they had a doll with dark skin, the Sonali face mold, and straight hair, I would buy it!" about a minute later, BOOM! There she was! I was browsing the AG website and I discovered My AG number 47. She had everything that I wanted. And I was determined to get her. In March, I ordered her, and I am so happy with her! She's beautiful, and I would definitely recommend her to anyone who wants to buy her.

My doll, Germany!

Now rewind to November in 2012. I got to be in a play, and in doing so I met someone who also has American Girl dolls! Now she's into making videos and it's pretty cool! Unfortunately, she isn't allowed to have a YouTube channel yet, but someday!

Here we have a group photo of our dolls from before I got Germany.

Sorry about the bad lighting!

Now go from the play to April, 2013. I still didn't have a YouTube channel and I really wanted to share my videos. So on April 2nd, MidnightAGStudios was born! I spent a long time trying to think of a name for my channel because I wanted it to be perfect and not something I would regret later. I eventually settled on MidnightAGStudios, and I don't regret it!

On the same day that I got my channel I posted my first video "The Easter Egg Hunt", and when I went to check on my channel that night before bed this is what I saw: I had a subscriber! I was really surprised, and I know I was lucky. 

And I think that pretty much explains how I got my YouTube channel and how I got my dolls! 

-Emma