Our Future Content Creators: Vine Users
I have a profound respect for users of Vine. Their use of "editing" - which are usually clever video cuts - and conforming to the six-second rules are interesting. Longer form artists can take cues from the works being presented in Vine.
Exhibit A: When you're about to die...
Vine user Mondel Bamboo here has created a funny video that toys with a couple of tropes tropes found in horror film. The first trope being called into play by this video is "the black character dies first." Interestingly enough the black character also appears to be queer, or at the very least non-gender confirming.
The next trope the video plays with is horror films' reliance on soundtrack. "(T)he background music is (Emoji: Fire, Fire, Fire)." Bamboo is using non-diegetic music and breaking that fourth wall in a comical fashion. If horror film characters heard the music the audience hears they'd know they're in danger. In this instance, the character finds the music "hot" and both he and the killer decide to dance to it.
Exhibit B: (Emogi: Poop, poop, poop, poop...)...
Vine Users are often times not afraid of playing multiple roles in their Vines. In this instance Jaxx Garcia is giving herself, possibly emulating a friend, some advice and tosses her a roll of toilet paper.
"What's this for?" asked the confused Garcia to herself.
It leads up to a pun. "To wipe yourself," she replies. Zoom into her face. "Because you're a piece of shit." And then we cut to Garcia dancing with toilet paper over some club music, celebrating her zinger.
With this video a critic must go beyond the simple joke. Is this an allegory of self-hatred? When Vine Users play different roles are they playing different parts of their own psyche and acting out the internal monologues within their heads?
Exhibit C: how i feel when i wear glasses...
Out of the three Vines I chose the most technically impressive one is AlliCattt's "how i feel when i wear glasses vs how i feel without them." The video features an impressive nine cuts, several of which are different angles.
AlliCattt is able to produce a narrative from her premise: A girl is ostracized when she wears glasses and then finds confidence when she removes them only to discover that there are now new obstacles in the way.
The video serves as a powerful allegory to our desires for better lives without the expectation of consequences.
#Vine #MondelBamboo #JaxxGarcia #AlliCattt #filmtropes #narrative #videoart