Vine, Instagram Videos, and those who use them...

I would not call myself a skilled user or devout follower of the increasingly popular video app Vine. I  signed up through my twitter account in April 2013 and just uploaded my first video about a month ago. However, I like to think of myself as being social media savvy. My claim to fame is, "I had a Facebook account back when it was only for students from specific colleges, so...(that obviously makes me an expert)". And I've commonly been the one to explain new social media trends to the general public, like the receptionist at my doctor's office and my 70 year old father.

This year I was awarded the title of Social Media Specialist for the YouTube channel DAILY FIBER FILMS. My personal addiction to Instagram finally found a productive source! So I have felt somewhat responsible to investigate this new wave of social media in the form of short videos. Also, because I've shot, edited, and developed more than a few short films or sketches myself. I know a thing or two about jump cuts!

My first observation while viewing these new videos, as well as attempting to make my own, is how challenging it really is to have to shoot your video all at once with no option of editing and trimming in post. In my bi-monthly vlog Fiber Fridays, Kyla Garcia and I typically shoot five to 73 times more footage than we need, then I splice and chop and trim and slow-mo the heck out of it to make it into the thing of beauty that it is. Therefore, the general consensus on these videos is "We're all still figuring it out" (Meanwhile some Vine users are blowing my mind with their ingenuity- see below). My favorite was two weeks ago when Instagram released their video option. Vine gives you six seconds, which I read was extremely intentional for being the most effective time and best way to be creative while still keeping attention. Instagram thought they'd one up Vine by making it a 15 second long video option. This may have been a mistake.

Because there were millions of Instagram users already, Facebook thought, "If they can take a picture, they can take a video". High hopes. At least with Vine, only those desiring to actually attempt making interesting or entertaining videos were the ones to sign up and create an account. On Instagram, this 15 second allowance just fell into their laps. Lots of awkward cuts, and an infinite list of strange background noises: major wind crackling, coughing, cars honking, clearing of the throat, and my favorite- snippets of conversations going on by those in the group unaware that actual video footage of their private family gathering was being recorded. Here's a long shot of the backyard party where seemingly nothing is happening, followed by the back of a dog walking away, an air shot of the food spread, wrapping up with a selfie of the DP sipping his Coors. Movie magic! Even on Instagram's "Popular Page", which I think has now switched to the title "Explore" to alleviate any popularity contests, there have been one or two videos included in the pictures. Nothing too fancy from what I have seen so far. They really are still figuring it all out.

Maybe its just me, but now I've pretty much tried to scroll as fast as possible over the Instagram videos in my feed so the daunting automatic play won't start and I can view those sweet filtered stills like I came there to do.

But in the land of Vine, unknowns/those who aren't huge celebrities are KILLING IT in my opinion. Some well known comedians are doing justice - Will Sasso, Simon Rex. But the profiles of some well known funny people whom I was most excited to check out were very underwhelming. I don't really care to watch the silent footage of you flying over the country, poor quality concert clips, or your favorite scene from The Simpsons. Step it up, I say! Marcus Johns & Rudy Mansuco are two of my favorites so far. They are wildly popular on Vine due to the fact that they've made really good stuff on Vine. Then there are some of my friends and acquaintances who are rocking it out whether through clever or humor- Courtney Carini @sixsecondsmirks, Four Clowns Theatre Company @FourClowns, Manon Mathews @manonmathews, Barak Hardley @barakhardley, Alex Fanuele @alexfanuele,  Zachary Steel @zachsteel, & Adam Carpenter @adamcarpenter. If you have a Vine account- look those kids up! *If you're a friend reading this and I haven't discovered your sweet Vines yet, please let me know!

I'm still experimenting myself, but am pretty proud of my latest Vine titled "My booty on Mad Men". It really is multiple clips of my actual booty on the hit show. Gots to pay the bills!!

I bask in the rare times when something is new to our technologically advanced society and we'll get to look back one day on how silly our first few Vines were. Just like when we reminisce about Myspace days, when Facebook didn't have "likes", and oh yeah that decade and a half of my life I spent without Internet...