Sophomore bioengineering major Daniel Luu
Daniel Luu, a sophomore bioengineering major, has always loved to make people laugh. With his passion for comedy, Luu found the perfect platform to share his jokes with the world: YouTube. He releases weekly videos on his channel that touch upon a vast range of topics covering video games, relationships and “how to” advice.
“I try to make it as relatable as possible so you feel compelled to share it,” Luu said of his videos. Having people share his work is the best sort of publicity, he said, so he hopes viewers will show their friends the videos they enjoy.
Luu and his childhood friend, Jack Zhu, created the YouTube channel, Squishguin, during middle school. They thought of the name, a combination of “squishy” and “penguin,” after much deliberation. The two wanted to be called something original so their channel would be the first search result on Google.
In eighth grade, Luu and Zhu only made one video before taking a hiatus. However, during his senior year of high school, Luu decided to independently rejoin the YouTube scene. Though Luu still kept the original YouTube account, he made most of the videos on his own.
“YouTube was actually getting really big, so I was like, ‘all right, why don’t I try to get in the game?’” Luu said.
In the beginning, Luu didn’t take the channel very seriously and just viewed it as a leisurely hobby. For most of the videos, he simply talked to the camera and spliced in a few skits.
Now, however, Luu devotes a lot of time to videography work. Though he still views it as a hobby and not a career path, he sincerely enjoys the entire film process and dedicates time to it every week. The videos Luu makes in college show off his more advanced editing skills because they are entirely skit-based. Luu never took any film or cinematography classes, simply improving his skills over the years through practice. Everything he learned is self-taught through experimentation with his camera, watching tutorial videos and playing with the Sony Vegas editing software he uses.
“[Daniel] has a real knack for what to do when filming,” said Ben Tunick, a sophomore bioengineering major. Tunick has helped Luu with his videos multiple times, both on and off the set. “It doesn’t hurt that he’s great at communicating what he wants from everyone participating.”
Many of Luu’s friends and floormates help him with his videos. They serve as actors and sometimes even cinematographers. However, he stays in control of the direction, often setting up shots and then asking somebody to hold the camera and press record.
“It’s a little bit harder because when I do have people that I know can work the camera, I can have more dynamic shots,” Luu said.
However, despite the challenges, Luu still loves working with his floormates and appreciates everybody’s willingness to help.
“The filming experience is always a lot of fun, especially since Dan’s video ideas are hilarious,” said Brett Potter, a sophomore aerospace engineering major. “It usually takes multiple tries to finish a shot because we can’t stop laughing.”
Luu said there is a lot more to being a YouTube star than just uploading videos. He said it requires focus on the little things, such as how to title each video or where to post them, because those marketing tools are what determine if a channel is a hit.
“I feel like that is the hardest part about YouTube,” Luu said. “Everybody says ‘Content, content, content.’ And yeah, content is extremely important, but you also have to know people and get your name out there.”
Although marketing is difficult, Luu is slowly spreading the word and has already accumulated more than a thousand views for many of his videos.
“There are little, small tips and tricks you pick up from other YouTubers that you can just implement in your own channel,” Luu said.
This is true for all aspects of the YouTube community. Luu does not only learn marketing tricks; through watching behind-the-scenes footage and other such videos, Luu has learned a lot of filming and editing tricks as well.
Luu is especially inspired by Asian-American YouTube stars such as Kevjumba, Nigahiga and Wong Fu Productions.
As an Asian-American, Luu said channels like these gave him the courage to try. Because of these channels, Luu viewed being an Asian-American as an advantage and thought it could help differentiate him from other aspiring YouTubers.
Besides making weekly YouTube videos, Luu also participated in the Maryland Filmmakers Club last semester. He made an almost-eight-minute film that incorporated anime elements into a real-world setting.
Luu said that although he enjoyed the casting process and working with the dedicated actors in that club, he still prefers working on his own terms and therefore focuses more on YouTube.
This story has been updated to reflect the misspelling of Jack Zhu’s name in the third paragraph thanks to an error on Squishguin’s blog. We regret the error.
