Photo courtesy of Christine Erickson
Story by Ryan S. Staséll
Six seconds. Six seconds to make or break it, to tell a story, convey a message, or captivate viewers your viewers. But what can you possibly take away from six seconds of video? Well—according to the massive following of Twitter’s latest mobile app: Vine–a whole lot.
What is Vine?
Vine is a mobile app, owned and operated by the social networking giant: Twitter. The app allows users to post and share six-second snippets of film for users to post and share among the 40 million users that use the video software, via Digital Trends.
“Vine functions more as a stripped-down peek into someone’s world. The setting is usually: coming home after a party—and it’s kind of fun to live vicariously through that energy,” claims 5secondfilms.com via Reddit during a June 2013 AMA [Ask Me Anything].
When comparing Vine’s new and easily digestible format of video viewing to more conventional means of video sharing—mainly film—one cannot help but wonder what is the allure behind this app? Why is it so successful? What is the appeal?
I didn’t know either. But I do now.
“Happenings”
A myriad of videos exist on Vine, ranging from cats wearing bread on their heads to social commentary evaluating the merit of conventional journalism in the face of new digital mediums. Other videos depict feeding giraffes carrots, cats admiring an art gallery, role-players jousting with homemade spears, and cats…again…more cats doing things that human’s do.
Keep in mind—six seconds.
Photo Courtesy of shopblueplanet.blogspot.com
Some themes are heavy. Some themes are nonexistent. To say that each video contains merit is—not quite right. For the sake of accuracy, you can’t label these videos as stories, messages, or content—but rather, “happenings.”
Each happening is different than the next. Vine conveniently breaks down the videos into categories: Comedy, Experimental, Scary, Cats/Dogs, Family, Fashion, Food, etc.
But how do these videos hold up against 120-minute feature films? Has our attention waned so that we trade the movie-going experience, for brief 6-second glimpses?
Vine does streamline the process of viewing. As the slow, painful death of traditional media continues, film does appear to share the same fate.
Is film as good as dead?
Vine Minus One
Turns out, the film world has been Vine-ing since Viners first Vined (spell check just had a heart attack). Almost as if anticipating the rise of Vine, filmmakers created a new form of film before the rise of Vine. What is the form you may ask?
The five second film.
What Vine does in six seconds, the five-second film does in—well—five.
On June 3rd of 2013, Vine released an Android version of its app. The day after, during a Reddit AMA [ask me anything]to announce a new feature film, 5secondfilm.com creators had this to say in regards to the threat of vine, “Vine is still very different from us. Beyond that, we think what it [Vine] enables its users to do is pretty cool….I imagine 5SF and Vine will continue to coexist without the world exploding.”
Writer/Filmmaker Sam Broustein over at PolicyMic suggested otherwise—that the two couldn’t possibly coexist. Right after the AMA, Sam raised the question: “Is it a coincidence that 5-Second Films decided to stir hype for their new film now?” [Following the release of Vine’s Android App].
“It may be an admission of defeat…”
What about traditional film? Remember the good ol’ movie going experience? I’m sure if 5-second films cannot stand against Vine, maybe 120-minute movies can.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
With box office revenue on the decline and ticket prices as a record high, feature films and the movie-going experience are taking a hit.
The Hollywood Reporter recently interviewed John Fithian, NATO President [National Association of Theater Owners], who states that box-office revenue is down 12%. He blames a lot of the decline on the choice of movies. Many films are re-hashings of recycled plots—a trend that moviegoers are tired of.
“I can’t tell you how many times I watch a film, and can predict how it is going to end after the first twenty minutes,” says Ann Marie, producer at Nickel a Day Films in Naperville, Ill.
How many times have you seen the guy, fall for the girl, but it doesn’t quite work out. It can’t possible work out between the pair. But it does. And they end up together and the credits roll.
Or the action movie: the one with the robots, and the explosions! You cannot forget the grizzled action hero who destroys the bad guys once and for all. (Hopefully. If not, there is the sequel next summer).
How about the underdog story: the one about the guy who cannot quite get it together but ditches his lack of confidence right before the big game/fight/race/etc.
Need I go on?
We have seen it all.
Now what if we could trade the traditional format of film, for random “happenings” that keep us surprised and entertained?
Best of all, Vine’s free.
So long as ticket price continue to rise, and audience volume continues to fall, Vine’s presence will grow as traditional film descends into obscurity.
Prequel to the Sequel’s Sequel 2’s Prequel
Not all plots are recycled. Some continue the tale of the grizzled war hero. These continuations are called sequels. Sequels give moviegoers something familiar. Some film viewers are afraid to spend $20 on the 3-D, IMAX, Ultraviolet experience when the concept is new. Unless the title is hash-tagged all over Twitter, people will trade a new experience for Saw VIII.
The most current domestic film flop in recent memory was this summer’s Pacific Rim, Guillerimo Del Toro’s blockbuster depicting a war between humanity and giant robots. A film which grossed only $100 of it’s $400 million gross in America. Many American’s were apprehensive of a concept so unfamiliar to them.
“I saw it [Pacific Rim] one of the first few days it came out; there was only ten of us in the theater,” says self-proclaimed film critic, Nicholas Goode. “It did a lot better in China—I guess they have more people who like monsters fighting robots.”
“It’s the predictability–the studio system is caught between giving us new ideas and pandering to the people that want to see Iron Man 5,” says Ann Marie.
But if people prefer something predictable, why is Vine so popular? Vine is anything but predictable—its success is based in unpredictability.
Turns out, Vine’s demographic has a taste for the unexpected.
Millennial Mania
Vine is a smartphone exclusive; a desktop equivalent does not exist. The lack of desktop support creates some barriers of entry—mainly to older individuals who do not use smartphones.
Though little demographical data exists for Vine users—it is clear who is using this product the most. I had to intensively investigate who is using the app—after 20 painstaking minutes of “Best Of” compilations on YouTube—I now consider myself an expert. Watch the video yourself (link below). We get a sense of the demographics using this product; 14 – 25 year old males and females—some more sophisticated than others.
In other words, Millenials.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTGAuCKDac0
For those that have smartphones, Vine is fairly accessible; the app is free. Accounts are free. And there is no limit to how many videos you can make. Anyone with Wi-Fi can Vine.
To some, Vine can be confusing. Immediately, this can turn away older people from using Vine. Where do they go? The movies.
According to the MPAA’s website, only 37% of moviegoers are under the age of 25—Vine’s primary demographic. The remaining 63% remains off-Vine.
There’s a very good reason for the divide between young Vine users and older moviegoers. Statistics show that Millennials have dramatically less attention span than other generations of people—according to PC Magazine in 2013.
So 6 seconds is perfect.
Not too long—it’s a busy social networking world. Tweets to Twitter, pictures to Instagram, and wall posts to Facebook.
While Millenials remain wired to the Internet, older folks will always have the comfort of the familiar movie theater waiting for them, week-after-week with many different offerings—some more familiar and more predictable than others.
Either way, there is something out there for all of us to watch.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some cats to bread.
