High anxiety over 6 seconds of video – SCN Encourager 11/14/2013
Remember what Mark Twain said about writing?
I wonder if his famous maxim applies to those six-second videos made with Twitter’s Vine app.
It sure didn’t cross my mind when I wrote about them in yesterday’s Encourager.
But I wish it had.
Because if writing a letter and creating a zippy Vine video are similar in any way, his admonition would’ve been helpful.
Twenty-four hours ago, I made it seem like producing a quick Vine video is as easy as changing the voicemail message on your phone.
Mark Twain never would’ve implied this.
As many communicators know, he penned the words, “I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.”
You can’t miss his point – that a succinct message is more difficult to craft than a longer one.
I’m convinced that Vine videos could also have been the object of his attention.
When I wrote yesterday that inspiring others to create six-second videos in a “school contest” of some kind might be a good idea, I did so believing that churning out a clever Vine videos would be just another “low hanging fruit” activity.
Oops.
I’m finding out that behind every remarkable Vine video, there is a fair amount of thought and planning involved.
Luckily, I remain steadfast in my view that there are always interesting examples out there to be “borrowed.”
And in this notion, I’m not wrong.
Take a look at these Vine videos … all using paper in some way… and no two alike.
They’re amazing.
I still think short videos have great potential in marketing our schools.
It’s just going to take more work than I envisioned.
Rats!
But at least now I know why a different Mark Twain quote is my all-time favorite.
“Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please.”
This maxim I can actually do!
Tom Page, SCN
