<p>You knew it was good, but who knew it was this good?</p><p>Jeremiah McDonald's video "A Conversation With My 12 Year Old Self: 20th Anniversary Edition" picked up an additional 4-million views over the weekend.</p></div></div><div class="float" style="clear:both;height:1px;line-height:1px;"><img src="/images/pixel.gif" height="1" width="1" alt="" /></div><div id="mod-ctr-lt-in-top" class="mod-latarticlesadcpc mod-adcpc with-fourth-cpc"><script type="text/javascript"> var adSkipCounter = 0; </script> <script type="text/javascript"> //<![CDATA[ var loc = window.location.href + ""; var float = ""; google_hints = "video bit anniversary video older video shooting video video tape";google_ad_client="pub-0227802054925200"; google_ad_output="js"; google_ad_channel="5212128158,6138855783,8321278795,8261105409"; google_ad_type="text"; google_image_size="300x250"; google_safe="high"; google_feedback="on"; google_max_num_ads="2"; google_skip="" + adSkipCounter + ""; google_adtest="off"; google_page_url=document.URL; function google_ad_request_done(ads) { if (ads.length == 0) { return; } // If no ads are returned then dont build the ad block if (ads[0].bidtype == "CPC") { adSkipCounter += ads.length; } // Increment ad skip counter when cpc google_ad_request_done_internal(ads, "", "", "true", "medium_rectangle", "", "", "pgtp=article&pi=34&ci=32605704&cat=arts+%26+entertainment&pe_id=32605704&tv=ap-LA12-G02&rna=pub-0227802054925200&rn=g&rnrci=5212128158&rnrcn=CMI-A-002&rncci=6138855783&rnccn=CMI-A-009&rnpci=&rnpcn=&rntci=&rntcn=&rnlci=8261105409&rnlcn=8261105409&rnp=c&rt=cpc&paidClick=1&placement_id=ctr-lt-in-top", "", "", "", "", "", "ap-LA12-G02", "Los Angeles Times Articles"); } //]]></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/google_ad_request.js.php"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"></script></div><div id="mod-a-body-after-first-para" class="mod-latarticlesarticletextwithadcpc mod-latarticlesarticletext mod-articletext"><p>The video, which as of Monday afternoon has been viewed more than 5 million times, features a 32-year-old McDonald having a conversation with his 12-year-old self.</p><p>It is funny and well-edited, but what makes it so special is that the young man playing 12-year-old McDonald is actually 12-year-old McDonald.</p><p>(You may wish you too had had the foresight at 12 to make a video tape of your preteen self talking to your imaginary older self, but then again, do you really want to be reminded of your preteen self? Probably not.)</p><p>So, how did 12-year-old McDonald get the idea to shoot the video?</p><p>"I was just playing with the camera as I normally did," 32-year-old McDonald said in an email to the Los Angeles Times. "I was inspired by a video I'd attempted to make at age 10, where I attempted to have a conversation with an image of myself on TV."</p><p>"Two years later, I realized I could use this footage to have a conversation with myself two years in the past, which inspired the idea of shooting video to be used in the future," he said.</p><p>McDonald has revisited this footage before, once when he was 13, and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rSs80_DKKs">again</a> when he was 26. That version, titled "Brush With the Past," is available on YouTube, but it's not nearly as well done as the 20th anniversary edition.</p><p>"Not bad, editing <span>could be better. i think you should wait around 5 and a half years and give it another shot," wrote a commenter named Waybeem on the older video on Sunday. </span></p><p>McDonald said he has been working on the 20th anniversary video bit by bit over a period of weeks, starting with the opening montage, and then figuring out exactly how he was going to use the old footage.</p><p>"I was reshooting my 32-year-old footage until about last Sunday," he said. "How it went viral is largely a mystery to me. I uploaded it, posted it on Facebook, then went to work. To my knowledge it started to catch on when it was tweeted by my friend somegreybloke, and went from there."</p><p><strong>ALSO:</strong></p><p><a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-talking-to-12-year-old-self-video-20120706,0,6662407.story">32-year-old man talks to his 12-year-old self, on YouTube</a></p><p><a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-nexus-7-review-20120706,0,3168793.story">Review: Google Nexus 7 hits the 7-inch tablet sweet-spot</a></p><p><a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-enormous-video-game-ebay-20120709,0,6539757.story">How much would you pay for every video game ever made? Try $1.2 million?</a></p><p>Follow Deborah Netburn on <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/DeborahNetburn">Twitter</a> or <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/109675776633752908527/posts">Google+</a></p></div><div id="mod-a-body-after-first-para-ad-cpc" class="mod-adcpc"> <script type="text/javascript"> //<![CDATA[ var loc = window.location.href + ""; var float = ""; google_hints = "video bit anniversary video older video shooting video video tape";google_ad_client="pub-0227802054925200"; google_ad_output="js"; google_ad_channel="5212128158,6138855783,9488961041,8261105409"; google_ad_type="text"; google_image_size="600x125"; google_safe="high"; google_feedback="on"; google_max_num_ads="2"; google_skip="" + adSkipCounter + ""; google_adtest="off"; google_page_url=document.URL; function google_ad_request_done(ads) { if (ads.length == 0) { return; } // If no ads are returned then dont build the ad block if (ads[0].bidtype == "CPC") { adSkipCounter += ads.length; } // Increment ad skip counter when cpc google_ad_request_done_internal(ads, "", "", "true", "wide_rectangle", "", "", "pgtp=article&pi=34&ci=32605704&cat=arts+%26+entertainment&pe_id=32605704&tv=ap-LA12-G02&rna=pub-0227802054925200&rn=g&rnrci=5212128158&rnrcn=CMI-A-002&rncci=6138855783&rnccn=CMI-A-009&rnpci=&rnpcn=&rntci=&rntcn=&rnlci=8261105409&rnlcn=8261105409&rnp=c&rt=cpc&paidClick=1&placement_id=a-body-after-first-para-ad-cpc", "", "", "", "", "", "ap-LA12-G02", "Los Angeles Times Articles"); 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