BY THE EDITORS |
13 Professional Vine Creators Tell Us What They Would Change About Vine
As part of our Vine creators interview series, we asked popular Viners for their suggestions for improving the app. Most of them had a lot to say.
In our Vine creator interview series, Julia Pugachevsky talked to pro-Viners about their inspiration, process, and tips. She also asked them all what they would change about the app - they're the world's foremost civilian experts on Vine, after all. Here's what they said. (You can find these full individual interviews here.)
Keelayjams (Kyle M.F. Williams)
I'd like to have some sort of collaboration dropbox - Like I could do the first half of a Vine and then someone across country could do the last half. I think one Vine with a bunch of different styles from creative users could be great.
I'm always searching for ways to creatively hack the app for my needs. I use the iPhone's built-in AssistiveTouch setting (in the Accessibility menu) as a timer, as a way to force a 6-second long press without actually touching the screen, and as a way to standardize the timing of stop-motion taps. I've jailbroken my phone in order to use a second phone and even a Nintendo Wii controller to serve as a remote control shutter for Vine. I'd love to see some of these little hacky tricks be offered in a simple menu within the app. Stabilization would be nice. And locked-focus without that auto-focus-screen-pulsing-thing happening would be great. That's my list.
I would create a function that can recognize a crashed Vine which will allow you to re-upload it from your phone's camera roll. Also a function that recognizes people's color comments and automatically changes it to a randomized dad joke, for example: "The weather is here, wish you were beautiful."
The creators of the app, Rus, Colin and Dom are software artists. I've never encountered another social media platform that inspires such creativity every day. I really think they care about the content and will help draw eyes to the moving pictures that are most deserving.
I do wish it was easier for people to find other content besides comedy. I wish it was easier to collaborate with people around the world, but uploading videos will be a bigger negative than positive. Honestly, I'll leave it up to them. I'm grateful for my new friends and community and the designers of the app have a lot to do with the strength of that community.
I guess a preview somewhere along the way would be beneficial. There’s nothing quite so nerve-wracking as shooting a 5-hour client Vine in one pass, then hitting the green button and hoping you didn’t bump a light or something. I don’t think it needs any more bells and whistles, its simplicity is really its strength.
As far as the app goes, I think it’s pretty perfect. I don’t see the need to add any more bells and whistles.
I would have a randomizer button. You click the button and it introduces you to somebody you've never heard of. It's just a shuffle for the weirdness of the Vine world.
I wouldn't change anything about Vine; I think Vine is just... fine. ;)
I would add lists in Vine, like on Twitter. I like to follow people because I know they put a lot of work in their Vines. Because I follow a lot of people, sometimes it's difficult to keep the overview.
I'd love the ability to record audio separately and overlay it onto the video loop. To keep in concert with current limitations, the audio needs to be recorded from the device in the same way video is captured, but this feature really could help the entire user base craft more refined Vines. I'd personally use it for narration, voice overs, or to play an audio clip that works in tandem with my stop motion loops. The only way to capture semi-clean audio alongside stop motion is if you happen to be Ian Padgham or have the equipment necessary to slow the audio track down.
Nick Confalone
The development team is incredible. It’s like they change things before I even realized I’d have wanted it changed. They're so hardworking and responsive and listen to their users. I love them. It would be nice to be able to change the title of a post after it’s been posted. I’ve definitely made some mistakes and wished I could go back. But on the other hand, maybe it’s more true to the spirit of Vine that you can’t edit it.
Khoa Phan
I personally think there should be more sections than just Popular Now and Editor's Picks. I'd like there to be more creative and artistic content on Vine. Don't get me wrong, I love all the comedians there; they're truly hilarious. But it just doesn't seem like Vine is that keen on the artsier users. Also, it seems like the Popular Now section is set to a certain algorithm of likes/followers ratio, so it's harder for new fresh content to be noticed. There is so much unseen talent waiting to shine a bit!
Pinot
I would add the ability to lock focus on an object and to select a cover thumbnail picture (rather than the first frame of the video.) I would also love for there to be more of an official homepage for Vine.
Meagan Cignoli
I would create categories rather than just one popular section. Popular Now is a great way to find dedicated content creators and people who are doing cool things. But it's impossible to find artistic Viners because they can't compete with the big comedians on there. If things were categorized it would be great for all kinds of people to shine and show what they are doing on there. I think Vine is great and they have done an amazing job with it. The only reason I would change this is because people need some reason to love a platform. Everyone wants to feel they have the ability to be seen and have some level of exposure. Hash tags help but there are a lot of artistic Viners that no one is able to find right now.