A TikTok Exquisite Corpse
November 9, 2019 8:29 AM Subscribe
OK... broomers?
posted by tonycpsu at 8:52 AM on November 9, 2019 [35 favorites]
posted by tonycpsu at 8:52 AM on November 9, 2019 [35 favorites]
TikTok - app that lets users post short video clips, and respond to clips with your own clip (called a duet).
Exquisite Corpse - writing game where each participant adds a fragment to a story, e.g.
P1 Once upon a time
P2 there was an old man who lived in the swamp
P3 he farmed alligators for a living
etc.
Sooo.
The video furthest to the right is the original, of some kid lipsynching, trying to be handsome for the camera.
Someone saw that video, said to themselves, look at this jerk, his hair is like a broom. I shall mock him, by posting myself imitating him, but substituting a broom to represent his ridiculous hairstyle, and post it as a Duet response to his original, knowing it will appear to the left of the original.
Then someone else saw that response, said, haha, a clever mockery! I shall add to it my own Duet video to the left, where I am holding up the broom for the person to my right, making it appear we are all working together.
Add more and more contributions, each being tacked on to the left of the previous response.
As the number and style of the additions increase, the additive humor of the joke increases.
posted by bartleby at 9:07 AM on November 9, 2019 [38 favorites]
Exquisite Corpse - writing game where each participant adds a fragment to a story, e.g.
P1 Once upon a time
P2 there was an old man who lived in the swamp
P3 he farmed alligators for a living
etc.
Sooo.
The video furthest to the right is the original, of some kid lipsynching, trying to be handsome for the camera.
Someone saw that video, said to themselves, look at this jerk, his hair is like a broom. I shall mock him, by posting myself imitating him, but substituting a broom to represent his ridiculous hairstyle, and post it as a Duet response to his original, knowing it will appear to the left of the original.
Then someone else saw that response, said, haha, a clever mockery! I shall add to it my own Duet video to the left, where I am holding up the broom for the person to my right, making it appear we are all working together.
Add more and more contributions, each being tacked on to the left of the previous response.
As the number and style of the additions increase, the additive humor of the joke increases.
posted by bartleby at 9:07 AM on November 9, 2019 [38 favorites]
I like it. But how do they get the item held up to align so precisely with that in the previous video? I'm thinking of both the height and the angle, both of which seem uncannily spot-on in every case.
posted by Paul Slade at 9:16 AM on November 9, 2019
posted by Paul Slade at 9:16 AM on November 9, 2019
Finally we find something that bartleby is willing to do!
posted by moonmilk at 9:17 AM on November 9, 2019 [11 favorites]
posted by moonmilk at 9:17 AM on November 9, 2019 [11 favorites]
Bartleby, thank you, sincerely. I have seen this thing posted like four times since yesterday, always met with a peel of virtual guffaws and zero explanation. Now I get it! It's funny! I guffaw as well! [/okay Xer]
posted by soren_lorensen at 9:19 AM on November 9, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by soren_lorensen at 9:19 AM on November 9, 2019 [5 favorites]
This is great!
posted by LobsterMitten at 9:30 AM on November 9, 2019
posted by LobsterMitten at 9:30 AM on November 9, 2019
the kids are alright
posted by rube goldberg at 9:32 AM on November 9, 2019 [9 favorites]
posted by rube goldberg at 9:32 AM on November 9, 2019 [9 favorites]
This made my day. The air mattress cracked me up. It's just so unwieldy.
posted by Kris10_b at 9:35 AM on November 9, 2019
posted by Kris10_b at 9:35 AM on November 9, 2019
No sweat. The thread the other day about The Olds and their opinions of These Kids Today and their music? I'm not a music person, but when someone described TikTok as "funny Vine videos, but every user is in high school", I dove in.
There are plenty of inside jokes, and meta-jokes about inside jokes, etc that you won't get right away. But if we're judging by humor, The Kids are definitely All Right.
I am too Old to even risk installing the app and posting something humiliating, so I stick to curated compilation videos. Two favorite channels are 'Succculent' and 'Papa CRINGE' on YouTube, if you want to watch tennagers be funny for each other.
posted by bartleby at 9:46 AM on November 9, 2019 [4 favorites]
There are plenty of inside jokes, and meta-jokes about inside jokes, etc that you won't get right away. But if we're judging by humor, The Kids are definitely All Right.
I am too Old to even risk installing the app and posting something humiliating, so I stick to curated compilation videos. Two favorite channels are 'Succculent' and 'Papa CRINGE' on YouTube, if you want to watch tennagers be funny for each other.
posted by bartleby at 9:46 AM on November 9, 2019 [4 favorites]
But how do they get the item held up to align so precisely with that in the previous video?
They have a clear film on their phone that's sort of like a whiteboard. They watch the original and put markings on it for where things enter/exit the frame. Then, the person holding the camera lines it up with the person performing when they shoot.
posted by dobbs at 10:10 AM on November 9, 2019 [13 favorites]
They have a clear film on their phone that's sort of like a whiteboard. They watch the original and put markings on it for where things enter/exit the frame. Then, the person holding the camera lines it up with the person performing when they shoot.
posted by dobbs at 10:10 AM on November 9, 2019 [13 favorites]
Thank you, dobbs. Even now that I know that, I'm slightly awestruck by the fact that they manage to do it so well.
posted by Paul Slade at 10:34 AM on November 9, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Paul Slade at 10:34 AM on November 9, 2019 [1 favorite]
(I'm sure the app also has gridlines that can be turned off/on, but don't know how fine they are.)
posted by dobbs at 10:55 AM on November 9, 2019
posted by dobbs at 10:55 AM on November 9, 2019
TikTok has a great video creation experience. It’s actually very easy.
posted by jeffamaphone at 10:59 AM on November 9, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by jeffamaphone at 10:59 AM on November 9, 2019 [1 favorite]
As the number and style of the additions increase, the additive humor of the joke increases.
Citation needed
(kidding, that was very entertaining)
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:21 AM on November 9, 2019
Citation needed
(kidding, that was very entertaining)
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:21 AM on November 9, 2019
Hahaha that was awesome and I was cackling and giggling at all the new items.
posted by aka burlap at 11:56 AM on November 9, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by aka burlap at 11:56 AM on November 9, 2019 [2 favorites]
The combination of mockery, collaboration and creativity feels very zeitgeisty.
posted by Jellybean_Slybun at 12:39 PM on November 9, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by Jellybean_Slybun at 12:39 PM on November 9, 2019 [4 favorites]
Oh very much yes that is my perception of TikTok. There's a very, um, 'iteration, call and response' thing that forms the core of TikTok humor, and 21st century meme humor in general.
Like this bit, which is many people doing something with the same seven seconds of Lizzo's song Boys.
First, someone has to establish a trope. Then everyone else chips in with their own variation. Then sometimes a metatrope about the variations gets started etc.
posted by bartleby at 12:54 PM on November 9, 2019 [5 favorites]
Like this bit, which is many people doing something with the same seven seconds of Lizzo's song Boys.
First, someone has to establish a trope. Then everyone else chips in with their own variation. Then sometimes a metatrope about the variations gets started etc.
posted by bartleby at 12:54 PM on November 9, 2019 [5 favorites]
This was awesome and I could have watched about 100 more of them. And by the vacuum cleaner it starts really feeling like most of them thought they would absolutely be the last one, because srsly, who else could be watching with a raft handy?
posted by Mchelly at 4:04 PM on November 9, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by Mchelly at 4:04 PM on November 9, 2019 [5 favorites]
I really enjoyed seeing how people shifted the connecting idea over the course of the video, from lightly mocking close imitation with the first broom as hair, to less close duplication with the second broom, then joking about the broom as a broom, to using a vacuum cleaner instead of a broom, to then going off the map to chairs and other objects based on how they fit the frame. It's fun play with association/connection from people just playing with different cues.
posted by gusottertrout at 5:11 PM on November 9, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by gusottertrout at 5:11 PM on November 9, 2019 [6 favorites]
I was kind of hoping that the last guy would've been the same guy as the previous guy, holding up the same guy posteriorly who was previously the guy anteriorly on his head.
posted by xigxag at 7:43 PM on November 9, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by xigxag at 7:43 PM on November 9, 2019 [4 favorites]
I like first dude's floppy hair. It's cute. But the escalation of objects in the subsequent videos is delightful as well.
posted by Kitty Stardust at 8:03 AM on November 10, 2019
posted by Kitty Stardust at 8:03 AM on November 10, 2019
bartleby: someone described TikTok as "funny Vine videos, but every user is in high school"
Indeed, though I would say it is even more specific than that. I would say that the archetypal TikTok-ers are specifically the theater kids. Yes, there are now of course many different sub-cultures and factions present on Tik Tok, but I would say it really was that early core of theatre kids and their wild self-confidence, love of showmanship, and (relative) immunity from teenage embarassment that put Tik Tok onto YouTubers' radar (and thence unto cringe compliations).
posted by mhum at 11:04 AM on November 11, 2019
Indeed, though I would say it is even more specific than that. I would say that the archetypal TikTok-ers are specifically the theater kids. Yes, there are now of course many different sub-cultures and factions present on Tik Tok, but I would say it really was that early core of theatre kids and their wild self-confidence, love of showmanship, and (relative) immunity from teenage embarassment that put Tik Tok onto YouTubers' radar (and thence unto cringe compliations).
posted by mhum at 11:04 AM on November 11, 2019
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posted by soren_lorensen at 8:43 AM on November 9, 2019 [6 favorites]