How We Remember

I've tried to explain to a few friends what Vine is and they all have the same reaction, "Six seconds? That's it? What can you do with that?". Good question. I think six seconds is freeing because it breaks the expectation we normally have for watching a "short" video. It also occurred to me that our memories, well at least my memories, seem to happen in short chunks; chunks that might just be about six seconds long. When I call up a memory, often times it is a flash of an ordinary moment; walking down the street, waiting in line, a turn of the head and a smile. If I try to remember a long event, it still comes to me in little packets of memory. Vine videos replicate that.

Last weekend, my wife and I were hanging out on the patio listening to the new Steve Earle album and I happen to look straight up and saw some beautiful clouds floating overhead.

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Saturday evening chillin' w @SteveEarle (CD) on the patio. https://t.co/qAiwuDJHc7
— Hal Weaver (@Weaverwerx) June 16, 2013

"The Struggle" - A Vine Stop Motion bit

"The Struggle", a short stop-motion animation starring "Frank" from "Sin City". :)

"The Struggle" a #vine animation. Never give up! Weaverwerx.blogspot.com vine.co/v/bLiaHpvPHQ5
— Hal Weaver (@Weaverwerx) June 7, 2013

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Six Seconds on The Vine

This morning, a friend of mine posted this link;

http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2013/06/animator-ian-padgham-flourishes-within-vines-6-second-limitation/

on a well-used social media web site. I instantly fell in love with these imaginative and lyrical very short, just six-second animations created through a new (to me) app called Vine. I was intrigued enough with the concept of what could be done with six seconds, that I downloaded the app and installed it on my iPod. Here's first attempt;

My #firstpost on Vine. TS Andrea on the way. vine.co/v/bLWulDBxYVn
— Hal Weaver (@Weaverwerx) June 6, 2013

Believe me, I realize it is a very humble start, but what I liked about it was the immediacy of capturing a moment. The six second time limit and lack of customization options strips away the clutter and forces the creator to make something. Even if that "something" is bad or boring, it's over so quick, no harm done. The six second limit also makes the videos more honest in a way. I see that people are willing to share very mundane moments, which for me is where life happens. Most of our lives are made up by those "mundane moments", so what a fine gift to glimpse other folks slices of life and save some of my own.

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