#Shortform Video

[garvescope]

The Anatomy of a Viral Indie Film Post on TikTok

When an indie film goes viral on TikTok, it usually isn’t because of A-list actors, big-budget effects, or flashy trailers. It’s because the filmmaker or marketing team found a way to distill the emotional core, unique premise, or raw authenticity of the project into a 15–60 second format that hits viewers right in the gut—or funny bone. TikTok doesn’t care how much your film cost. It cares…

[mikehasfleas]

Life hack for people with short attention spans:

WATCH DUMB VIDEO ESSAYS!!

I am so goddamn serious. If you have a short attention span, the best thing I've found to help with that is video essays. Please bear with me on this post, or read the tldr:

My attention span was, and still is, totally fucked from my years on the internet and my adhd. I would spend hours on tiktok, instagram reels, yotube shorts, etc, and could barely sit through a TV show episode without opening pintrest to get even more mental stimulation.

But fast-forward to mid-fall last year, where I got really into video essays. Started out with 5 minute "storytime stickmen" videos, then 10 minute explanations of game lore bits, then 15 minute videos on punk subculture stuff, etc, and even though I was still using pintrest and reels relentlessly outside of that, after a little while, I realized that I had stopped pulling out my phone mid-video. The videos were actually grabbing and KEEPING my attention, even if I had little to no prior interest in the subject.

And by now, I've finished multiple 2.5 hour long videos on totally random stuff like the characterization of king candy, the making of a now lost-media tinkerbell movie, weird random stuff in fnaf security breach, etc. Now I actually SEEK OUT these longer videos, and even find myself getting involuntarily disappointed when a video essay I'm watching cuts out at 20 minutes! I actually enjoy sitting through long videos now!

And sure, I don't always watch them in one sitting, but if anything that's even better! I can come back to a video I was in the middle of and STILL keep my attention on it!

This is all to say, you can't just cold-turkey your way out of the instant-dopamine-rush of shortform content. It's just not gonna work. But if you do it gradually, you will likely find yourself getting actually INTERESTED in just the act of watching a longer video. And maybe by extension, you'll find yourself being more engaged in things like your classes because you're already GOOD at being engaged with lectures on random stuff, which will likely make you want to find MORE of that class content (the coursework) because you're used to the information being given for even longer periods of time than the classes are.

Now, this won't work for every type of content, and it obviously won't completely fix your attention span. Hell, I'm still addicted to plenty of online shortform content. But it is undeniably helpful to have even just one facet of your attention span be over an hour.

TLDR (since this IS a post directed at people with short attention spans); I used to have a detrimentally short-as-fuck attention span, but I basically exposure-therapy'd myself into enjoying long videos, and it did WONDERS for my attention span. I want to help you do the same.

So please, for the good of your brain,

WATCH DUMB VIDEO ESSAYS!!!

[paintpanic]

(original video)

[firebloodmayhemred]

am I right fellas

[here-there-be-drag0ns]

...why is there a video tab on tumblr mobile.

[if-you-built-yourself-a-myth]

RIP Armand you would have loved TikTok

[sockfizz]

PROS OF WATCHING LOTS OF COSPLAY VIDEOS: You get to see a lot of cool outfits and see how people work about character design using real life materials !!

(NOT-SO) CONS OF WATCHING LOTS OF COSPLAY VIDEOS: People cosplay your f/o and you need to be normal lest you freak everyone (ESPECIALLY THE COSPLAYER) out

[jonathansknife]

Mina is definitely a tumblr girl but I do think she would do numbers on tiktok. Unfortunately

[live-from-flaturn]

... Don't ask how long this took me.

Just enjoy it and leave me validation in the tags/replies. Pretty please.

[misterradio]

facebook (meta) and tiktok (bytedance) and youtube (google) and everyone else who prioritizes shortform video content i think owes one million dollars to each autistic person for damages due to people watching a bunch of rapid-fire unfunny videos out loud in public

[labgrownmeat]

algorithms know i love cats at this point so of course why wouldn't I love to see some dickhead throwing sliced cheese at his cats face? definitely something your cat finds fun and not annoying at best and frightening at worst.

[iwantedtosavetheworld]

kurt: if i ever divorced courtney it would be totally amicable because we both dealt with shit from our own parents not being together growing up

everyone (plugging their ears): lalalala she had him murdered

[kitakami-kid]

for some reason I can see Kieran saying to Drayton "I just love the British,Drayton cheerios you tosser" I know you are gonna get the reference

nope, i don't get the reference sorry 😔 if it's a tiktok meme, i haven't seen it bc i don't use tiktok

[omgrandomwords]

the voices are back and they are telling me to redownload tik tok

[skulandcrossbones]

with the proliferation of shortform video content, i'm always curious to see what the breakdown is between consumer vs creator

[juststarsandthemoon]

Happy to see americans and chinese folks getting along on rednote, I'm european and I feel like a proud parent