This week Katie and I worked on finishing up our videos. I spent a lot of time editing (stitching clips together, choosing hashtags, making captions, and filling out our page). I started uploading videos and continuing to make content (both memes for ~aesthetic capital~ and theory). In doing this project I’ve learned just how much curation it takes to create an “authentic” looking self. Even for videos that are seen as low effort like lip-syncing to pre-recorded popular audios, there is a lot of effort into recording a high-quality take and then stitching things together well. Though they are short, or perhaps because they are short, TikToks must be edited very tightly in order to keep people engaged and to prevent viewers from getting distracted. How long does a captain need to be on the screen? How high quality do photos need to be? Where does text need to be placed so that it’s easily readable? How much variation can you have between the original meme format and your own content? What should one wear? What’s in the background? What type of lighting? All of these still need to be taken into consideration when making TikToks that are “spontaneous” or “authentic”.
Having put all of our videos so far into one channel, I have concluded that TikTok does not approve of reposted content. Because Katie started making videos on her channel, when I repost them on the @SociologyAtBowdoin account, TikTok does not show the content (Katie’s video about Durkheim currently has 736 views on her account, but 4 on the Bowdoin account). Because videos are made in the app, there is nothing we can do about this other than remake the videos which we do not have time to do. This is a very unfortunate conclusion.
Next steps:
Finish annotated bibliography
Finish making videos
Post everything onto the channel