Twitter: How to create the perfect Vine
Have you heard about Vine? Twitter’s new 6-second videos?
People are using it to:
Capture celebrities
Report on news
And get jobs
The short nature of the Vines has led to some creative endeavors, including panoramic views of beautiful locations, stop-motion animation and, of course, cat videos. To master the medium, we talked to some expert users.
1) Understand the app
To make the perfect Vine, you’re going to need to play around with it. Dawn Siff, who posted what is believed to be the first job resume on Vine (see it here), filmed non-serious subjects like baking heart-shaped cookies for Valentine’s Day before she made her viral 6-second video.
Two things she quickly noticed were that she had to film it on her own device for it to publish on her account and, more importantly, each video had to be published right after it was filmed. This meant there was no saving each take so she could compare it to another version she made later.
“There’s no draft queue,” she said. “There are all of these limitations I suspect will be tweaked later on Vine.” Once she figured it out, her Vine went national, seen and covered as far away as Australia, resulting in job interviews.
Make a quality product
If you want to have a quality video featuring yourself, ask a buddy.
“If you are trying to film yourself, you really need to have somebody else shooting it for you,” Siff emphasized.
Jenni Radosevich from I Spy DIY, who shot some notable Vines during New York Fashion Week, pointed out that you should be aware of the sounds around you.
“Play a song in the background without words if you want a soundtrack so it does not sound choppy when making cuts,” she suggested.
Both women emphasized that lighting is key. Siff experimented with different lightings and iPhone camera lenses before coming up with the final look of her resume.
Show off your personal style
Radosevich believes that you should show of your personality with your Vines.
“People don’t often get to see a fun/silly side of you from pictures on your blog, so show them how personable you can be,” she said.
One way to do that is to give people a look at your surroundings if you are in an interesting place. Radosevich suggested that short snippets of what’s going on can be much more intriguing that a few snapshots. (I made one myself, starring an action figure that looks like my boyfriend)
Another idea Radosevich is toying with is showing the process of making something. Since her blog is dedicated to DIY projects, she’s going to show a snippet of the process on her Vine video and then link to her website so people can find out about the steps in more detail.
For Siff, she decided she wanted future employers to know why she was qualified and wanted to show that she was an early adapter of new technology. Being a radio producer for many years, she was used to telling complex stories in a shorter form so being able to condense her resume into six seconds came naturally.
“I don’t think what I did was earth shattering,” she said. “I just think I did it really quickly.”
