Though you may be getting your daily dose of memes and POVs here, TikTok is much more than just a goofy app to kill the time. These trends and challenges that constantly pop up can actually help to foster a stronger passion for editing and video production.
Despite only being 4 years old, TikTok has had 1 billion all-time downloads and reportedly 800 million active users worldwide, securing its position as one of the most popular apps among teenagers worldwide today. For a better understanding of its rise to the top, get a brief history here, it’s worth getting to know as its popularity and influence only continues to grow.
The platform has users uploading short-form videos that range from viral challenges to educational videos to comedic skits. This makes it especially popular amongst youths, with 41 percent of TikTok users being between ages 16 to 24.
While Instagram may have taught the everyday man about filters, vignette and VSCO, TikTok has made clever editing tricks and organising shots to aesthetic perfection the new trend. With the quality and creativity of TikTok videos increasing rapidly, TikTokers have to stay on their toes if they wish to maintain and grow their following, or even the chance to go viral. This has led to them employing external applications and softwares to help better edit and design their TikToks. TikTok isn’t just a goofy app to help kill our boredom, it also encourages youths to proactively learn more about editing and production, resulting in some truly entertaining trends.
Here are some challenges that have spawned from the creativity of these users and how to create them with some simple editing.
The idea behind this challenge is simple: It starts with the creator dressed in home clothes, in little to no makeup. They then spray down their mirror before wiping it to the rhythm of “Wipe It Down” by BMW Kenny as it plays. As their arm sweeps downwards a different version of them, often glamorous and all dressed up, pops up in the mirror. As their arm sweeps up again they return to their original state, often feigning shock at their alter ego.
According to trend database Know Your Meme, the Wipe It Down challenge originally started with user @rominagafur on April 26, 2020. The challenge was then popularised by comedian Lauren Compton, who substituted the squeaky sounding “The Box” by Roddy Rich, to the now standardised anthem “Wipe It Down”. #WipeItDown has even been redone by some of the most followed creators on the platform and even a few big name celebrities such as Will Smith, who transformed into his beloved character, Agent J from Men in Black, as well as Jason Derulo, who chose to transform his car through some window wiping.
So how is this done? Simple. All it really takes is three clips of yourself. First, the clip of you dressed down, cleaning the mirror and wiping it. Second, the reveal of your glamorous alter ego. And the third clip where you wipe again and show a shocked reaction. The editing features on TikTok allow you to trim and adjust the order of the clips before uploading. So as long as you ensure that you and your camera are in the same spot throughout all three clips, you should have a smooth transition for your Wipe It Down challenge.
Because we have to be our own role models.
Scrolling through #VogueChallenge on TikTok you might notice that there are actually two different challenges under the same hashtag. That’s because a different Vogue challenge was popular on TikTok last year using drag queen Naomi Small’s song “Legs”. As TikTokers lip sync to the lyrics “They tried to put me on the cover of Vogue, but my legs were too long”, they would use camera angles, sometimes even props like dresses or pillows, to hide a second person in the video except for their legs. Oftentimes users would imitate not just having long legs, but also legs of a different gender.
But to be a part of the newer #VogueChallenge, you’ll only need basic editing skills and a few choice photos of yourself to make it look like you on the cover of Vogue.
Firstly, you’re going to need to edit those photos of yourself so it looks more befitting of a magazine cover. This includes overlaying the Vogue logo with a transparent background, easily found on Google and popular editing app, atop your picture. Now upload a video of you dancing along to "Out West" by JACKBOYS & Travis Scott ft. Young Thug, introducing the challenge via captions on the screen before inserting your edited photos. The result should be something like this.
Be careful - This one comes with a flash warning
Out of these three trends, this one is definitely the most complicated. Due to its strobe light effect, it is also sometimes referred to as flash warning transitions. These edits blend real life footage with a secondary clip. The secondary clips are usually anime clips, kpop clips, or whatever the TikToker chooses to imitate. These edits focus on fast transitions between the live footage and secondary clip to the beat of the music - specifically, “Pyro” by Chester Young and Castion. The result should be one smooth motion shared between the characters in the two clips, their actions combining seamlessly despite the changing videos. Take a look.
The journey towards achieving this edit, while not complex, is so tedious and tiresome that most TikTokers choose to employ external software to edit the clip before exporting and uploading it to TikTok.
First and foremost, you need the secondary clip of your choice. Simply go onto Google or Pinterest to download a GIF of someone you look like or wish to imitate. Then record a video of you acting out the same GIF. For the best possible edit, angle yourself the same way as the personality in your secondary edit, and dress as closely to them as you can. You’re then going to import both your video and your secondary clip into the software of your choice. From here it’s straightforward, but tedious. Cut both clips into little segments and alternate them, so that when the video plays, the clips switch between themselves following the beat of the music. To enhance the visual effect, what you can do is experiment with the opacity of the clips when they come in. This will help to create an even more seamless transition.
With the quality and creativity of TikTok videos increasing rapidly, TikTokers have to stay on their toes if they wish to maintain and grow their following, or even the chance to go viral. In this way, TikTok is doing a good job at encouraging youths to pursue knowledge and skills when it comes to editing, training them to have a good eye for quality production at a young age. And this will only be spurred on by TikTok’s efforts to integrate third-party video creation and editing applications, and we’ll be touching on this significant change for companies intending to invest in TikTok as a marketing tool in an upcoming article.
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