I gave my students fair warning. In my journalism and documentary classes, I would teach them my understanding of the classically “correct” way to do things. I also told them I expected them to be creative free agents and do whatever the hell pleased them and/or their employers.
I loathe vertical video. I disallowed it in my classes, unless… One of the lessons I taught was called “feeding the beast.” In short, it means giving a medium what it wants. The anthropomorphizing merely indicates that some types and modes of messages are better sent through particular media. For example, print is more suited for propositional content than video, which prefers emotional content.
Tiktok, and some other social media platforms, prefer vertical video, which I loathe. Did I mention that?
But… You have to feed the beast. I tried Tiktok a few years ago. I stubbornly refused to feed the beast. I was briefly making super-short documentary review videos. Here’s my “best” one at 3,412 views:
@docfilmdirector
See how I refused to play ball 🙂
Then I got pissy and decided to throw in a cat:
@docfilmdirector #filmreview #fyp #documentaryfilm #cat #weekendvibes #tiktokcats #omg
And shortly thereafter I just walked away from it.
I have another idea. And, properly chastised, I’m intending to feed the beast this time.
Keep an eye out. I’m planning to (try to) use Tiktok to bring you along for the ride as I produce a short documentary film — sort of education meets shameless self promotion 😉