How to Make a Vine go Viral
Through watching an ample amount of Vines and compilations of Vines, I have researched the connections between the best and most popular Vines in comparison to Vines that did not succeed. It can be challenging for a Vines to go viral so I added popular Vines to my study which I considered to be viewed at a minimum of 20,000 times and/or 500,000 loops. The main element that attracts viewers to Vines is the short time commitment of a 6 second clip. This also means that creators of Vines have a short period of time to catch the viewers attention. Through my research I found that the best way to catch the attention of the viewer were using the elements of sound and visual effects. I focused on the most popular, successful uses of both functions individually and the correlation of using both at the same time. Additionally, I examined the attention the media gave to viral Vines and the response by news sources that aided in the publicity process of spreading particular Vines allowing the public to react.
How to Create the Vine
Sound — The key sound elements that I have found in creating a Vine that becomes famous are repetition, odd sounds or talking funny, and surprises in music. All of these elements can be used to capture the readers attention and achieve the goal of them sharing and liking the Vine. Each of these elements can succeed on their own to create a popular Vine. However, most Vines typically are best received if two of these sound functions are used together.
This Vine displays the repetition and funny voice aspects that are mainly used to make Vines popular. After this Vine came out, many people began talking in these voices, imitating the child and repeating them themselves. Funny voices have that capability and are encouraged for creating a popular or famous Vine. Sounds are an easy way to prolong the attention span that the Vine receives because the viewer can continue to imitate it. The main reason people imitate viral Vines and aid in the popularity is because many laughs can continue after you have watched the clip by creating the voices or sounds yourself.
Now, simplifying it and only using one sound aspect works to create a famous Vine as well. This is most commonly found amongst the element of surprise within music. Many people use popular songs to draw people into watching them because they recognize the sound. This ultimately allows them to assume they know what will come next making the change in the song more surprising. It makes it a key element for it to be a song that people know otherwise they already do not know what to expect. This element of surprise encourages viewers to watch it again to better understand what just happened.
Visual Effects— In addition to the elements of sound, visual effects are used in Vines to catch the attention of the viewer and persuade them to share and like it. The most commonly used visual elements I found in popular Vines are quick scene changes, people falling down, and anything with animals or children. Quick scene changes area specialty for Vine. The base model for the program made it easier for you to create these types of videos which separated them from the beginning of Vine. It opened a new door for short videos and now led it to being a key element of popular videos.
In addition to changing scenes quickly, it is better received and shared by the community if it involves falling. There is something in human nature that we enjoy watching others fall, as much as we enjoy watching people successfully complete risky feats. For that reason, falling videos are funny on their own and gain enough views to deem them popular.
In addition, children and animals will always grab our attention due to an overall understanding of their cuteness. They will continue to takeover the internet with their videos. The most watched animals on the internet is cats for the reason that they are easiest to make fun of, yet can still be considered cute without doing anything anything because they are chill creatures. There is no scientific evidence behind this reasoning besides the fact that the majority of people think cats are funny.
There is still a wide range of animals that are being watched on the internet in addition to cats. The most successfully received animal and children videos are of them playing together or different animals becoming friends. Separately, every parent thinks that any Vine of their own children is particularly funny or cute.
Correlation of Sound and Visual Effects — The connection between sound and visual effects add to the probability of it gaining popularity. They are often found hand in hand enhancing their counterpart. This has been exemplified in some of the Vines shown above. It can actually be difficult to find Vines that do not have at least one of these elements used within it. In each video the sound can not exist without the video and visa versa while maintaining the same effect on the audience. It is the usage of both correctly that encourages us to continue to watch the same Vine loop over again.
In addition to the usage of combining sound and visual effects, the caption and title that accompanies the Vine can draw people’s attention and lead them to watching it. The popularity of Vines increased with the ability to share between the different mediums easily. the advancements of social media have also aided in this publicity process.
Attention from Media
When a news sources becomes aware of a Vine, it is a sign that it has gone viral and gained the popularity of the media. The news can continue to aid in the publicity process by releasing articles about the Vine including reactions of the public to it. Different news sources with different readership can expand the extent of viewers to a much larger number. The most recent Vine to go viral was Damn Daniel. This Vine was written about in the Washington Post prior to remixes at the height of its viral epidemic. The article about the Vine increased views and assisted in him appearing on The Ellen Show and receiving a lifetime supply of Vans.
My Experience
After researching how to create a viral Vine, I decided to put my research to the test and create my own. According to the conclusions that I had drawn, it is similar to the development of a specific literary work. There are specific elements in developing a short story or a poem such as a haiku that allow it to be a successful literary work. This progression of what defines each unique literary work parallels that of how Vines are created. The specific requirements are outlined for you such as the length of time similar to that of the amount of syllables in each line of a haiku. The author must utilize common literary elements for the haiku to become famous and the author to be recognized while anyone can write one. A Vine creator must utilize the techniques of sound and visual effects discussed above for the Vine to become famous.
While I attempted to utilize these techniques, an additional element that is seen across all Vines that have gone viral is that they have comedic value. They are a medium that strives on comedy and expanded the creativity of people’s minds to find new ways to make you laugh. There are many common ways to provoke laughter, but creative comedic elements continue to be explored and shared with the world through Vine.
My Vines— I have attempted to create Vines that should go viral based on the elements I have used. However, they will most likely not go viral and I am okay with that.
