Edit culture has recently emerged into mainstream culture after the rise of TikTok and short-form content during COVID-19. The mixture of sounds, visuals, music and the artistry of the creator has created a new form of visual media.
In 2013, the launch of one app changed the course of recent pop culture. Vine was launched in the era when new, innovative social media apps were quickly gaining popularity. What made Vine different than YouTube, though, was the six-second time limit, which pushed creators to create short-form content that could grab the attention of the viewers.
Vine was not just an app; it was a cultural phenomenon. It created thousands of memorable clips that even a decade later, are still remembered and quoted by people who were not even old enough to have the chance to experience what the app had to offer.
However, Vine did not last forever. In 2015, Vine’s biggest creators realized that other apps like YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat offered ways to monetize while Vine did not. Many large creators advocated for Vine to monetize their videos; however Vine did not meet the requests. Consequently, many creators started to leave the app. Then, in October 2016, Vine was officially bought by Twitter, and in January 2017, Vine officially shut down.
After the fall of Vine, people were yearning for the short-form content they loved, and soon, they landed on Musical.ly. Musical.ly was centered around making dance videos with music that could be used on the app. However, Musical.ly could not fill the void that Vine left in people’s hearts.
Musical.ly was significant, but it still had shortcomings and was eventually bought by ByteDance to be rebranded to TikTok in August 2018. However, Musical.ly introduced the concept of putting a sound over a video. This, along with short-form content, was the second crucial feature to form edit culture.
With COVID-19 and the major rise of TikTok during this period, we saw the change from trends based on music sounds to more unique forms and new genres of what people could watch on TikTok. Community members would combine dialogue, music, clips and effects together to create a short video that is supposed to create a sense of awe. These edits can range from idolizing characters or celebrities to thought-provoking and inspirational edits centered around TV or movies.
“People are losing their attention spans, and edits are a way to reduce movies, TV shows and other pop culture phenomena to their simplest form,” said senior Quiniska Thompson. “By allowing only the best parts of media to shine, it draws people in who otherwise wouldn’t make time to watch.” This factor of edit culture pointed out by Thompson is what has drawn in the mainstream audience that now enjoys edit culture, but at the same time could also be contributing to the idealization of short-form media.
Not everyone can sit down and make an edit. If the right things are not conveyed, a creator’s edit can fall flat, “Emotions; emotions make people drawn into short-form video content. If an editor can convey emotions to their viewers, it makes it all the more appealing to watch and absorb the message that they would like to convey,” said senior Ella Hauber. Editing is not as easy as it looks, and many TikTok editors report that it takes them hours or even days to create edits.
When done successfully, an edit should do a few things, “A good edit makes you feel as though you are in the content that you are watching. An editor that makes you want to be the character in the edit that you are viewing is an editor that knows how to draw you in,” said senior Malea Johnson.
TikTok editing is unique to the environment it evolved in. Editing can be used to hook and evoke a lasting reaction of choice for the viewer. It strengthens the bonds with online communities, and it can express thoughts and feelings that otherwise may never be heard and seen beyond the bounds of a gallery.
While edit culture started from the legacy of short-form content, it provokes thoughts and feelings like all good art should.
