LOS ANGELES

In the corner of YouTube star Grace Helbigs bungalow on a hillside in East Los Angeles, a camera sits on a tripod waiting to be turned on.

Its a high-level Canon 60D with a flattering lens, a step up from the built-in webcam of Helbigs Mac that she used for her videos in the early years. When she records here, the lens faces down so that she has to look up at it, like a peephole. She has also shot videos on floors and on couches and standing in hotel elevators. Really, she says, a video can happen anywhere.

On a typically warm, sunny afternoon last week, she sits down at her desk and presses record, then waves her arms around.

Now were in a Grace video! she says in the same lilting, half-asleep tone thats become her hallmark delivery. Yay, videos!

Sometimes Helbig, 28, surprisingly tall and often laughing, uses professional lights to record, but they had been left at her friend and fellow YouTube personality Mamrie Harts place, so she has been shooting in the natural light coming in through her window. She also owns a high-quality microphone but hasnt been using that recently either.

Ive just been using the camera mike, she says. I guess people dont seem to mind.

No, they dont mind. In fact, Helbigs fans predominantly teenagers, mostly girls probably wouldnt care if she recorded her videos on a camcorder from 1986; they just want to hang out with her. She sees herself as an awkward older sister to her fans, she says, one who just wants to tell them about the world, even though she has no idea herself.

In the next six months shell see how far her fans are willing to follow their awkward big sis as she sets out on a variety of new ventures, including a risky split from her longtime Internet home, My Damn Channel, a potential pilot for the E! Network, a book and a film.

Helbig is trying to make the leap from YouTube popularity to international brand a trajectory she admits is a primary goal and shes banking on her young fans to propel her there.

Read more from the original source:

What comes after YouTube stardom? Grace Helbig is figuring it out.