Checking in on Vine

July 22, 2013
by Ruthie
Animation / Favorites / Inspiration

Above: still from Khoa Phan’s Vine, The magic water faucet

— Khoa (@khoaphan) May 23, 2013

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The Vine app has come a very long way since I first wrote about it in March.  People are now “Vine famous” many with a few hundred thousand followers and a few with even a million. Most of the popular Viners seem to be the ones who use it for comedy; a short film with an unexpected punchline. People are remaking one another’s Vines, having video conversations, and even getting together in various cities to make a bunch of Vines together. Businesses are starting to hire Viners to promote their products and the Tribeca Film Festival writes regularly about their favorite Vines.Something refreshing about the app is that there is no editing tool; either post it or scrap it and start over. There is something more organic about trying to get it all in one take. Overall, being on Vine is a very positive place where creative minds can experiment and come together to appreciate interesting work.

My favorite Vines are still the animation ones. After doing the usual Vines of hangouts with friends and infuriating subway platform moments, I’ve finally started to try to do a few stop motion animations of my own. I’m loving it. But I haven’t got it down well at all yet. I need to understand the movements of each character and make them more distinct. I need to get a better quality tripod that doesn’t spin and wiggle. I need to find a story line compelling enough to animate but short enough to make sense in the confines of 6 seconds. As a novice I still just want to make all my objects spin around in circles!

@pinot is still my favorite. I don’t know how he can put out so many Vines of varying techniques and all high quality. I also love his deliberate references to vintage technology. @yelldesign has moved on from his magically animated fruit and vegetables to more experimental items that are clean, professional and amazing to watch. @creeepycrawler does very thoughtful pieces, often using cut up or folded pages to make his characters. @khoapan is a master in cut paper works and often lets us in on a bit of the process as well (@pinot does too).
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@MeaganCignoli does a myriad of Vines often dealing with colors and fashion. They are gorgeous to watch. I would love to be in her studio and see how she makes one. This might be an old one but it is still my favorite of hers; I think it’s the touch of whimsy.

What Viners do you love? And please, any suggestions for a decent Iphone tripod?

*BONUS for Super Mario Bros fans. Check out Hunter Harrison’s pieces featured here.

The Author

@ruthielafond