"If you don't make videos again, you won't have a chance next year." A self-media friend who has been transformed into a graphic-based self-media person recently told me. Indeed, videos are so popular that many graphic content creators are anxious about how to step into the video circle.
@Huang Jingxiang is a veteran Coser, but also an actor and graphic model, but the public is most familiar with his Coser identity. Speaking of @Huang Jingxiang's Coser road, some accidentally, in the early days of Weibo in 2010, @Huang Jingxiang registered Weibo, out of his liking for Cosplay, he posted the relevant COS of "Ancient Sword Qitan" on Weibo, and got the official response, so that more people knew, @Huang Jingxiang thus began to gradually develop to professional Coser.
Today, @Huang Jingxiang is already a representative figure and top Coser in the field of two dimensions in China, and is also a well-known pan-entertainment artist, Weibo's top ten influential animation big V in 2015 and 2020.
The picture shows "Ao Bing" in Huang Jingxiang's COS animation movie "Nezha's Demon Child Descending"
If 2013 to 2016 is @Huang Jingxiang's fastest growing years, then 2020 is the year of his circle-breaking transformation. In fact, most Cosers are still mainly based on the production of graphic content, and short videos are still far away from them, because videos are completely different from graphics and text, and it is not easy to find a path that suits them. From @Huang Jingxiang's experience, we can see how a graphic blogger should transform to video.
It's advanced, not opposite
The popularity of short videos is obvious to all. According to the QuestMobile China Mobile Internet 2020 Semi-annual Report, short videos continue to become a "black hole in time" to seize user time, with a time share of nearly 20%, becoming the second largest industry after instant messaging.
E-commerce, online education, news, life services, social networks... Short videos dominate almost all Internet applications. The popularity of short videos has made graphic creators feel the pressure of two aspects: one is the diversion of users and fans' attention; the other is the fear of being left behind.
A large part of the reason why some graphic creators can have today's achievements is to catch up with the outlet of the self-media outbreak, and under the outlet, they also "fly" up. The speed of transformation of the Internet industry has always been very fast, from the initial forums, blogs, to today's self-media and short videos, once they can't keep up with the rhythm, they will soon be eliminated by the industry.
After seeing peers gradually march into short videos, the anxiety of graphic creators has become more and more intense. What should I do with short videos? Many graphic creators are exploring the methodology of video creation.
In the past, the main display form of @Huang Jingxiang's works was graphics and text, and this year@Huang Jingxiang took the initiative to try to transform, while maintaining high-quality graphic content output, but also output high-quality video content.
On February 12, 2020, @Huang Jingxiang posted a video length of 5 minutes and 53 seconds on Weibo, with the theme of skin care experience, so that @Huang Jingxiang Did not expect that his video quickly exploded on Weibo, the number of forwards, comments and likes exceeded 1,000, the total number of views of the video reached 374,000 times, @Huang Jingxiang also embarked on the road from graphics to video transformation, and out of control, in 8 months, @ Huang Jingxiang released a total of 34 videos, with a total of 19.4 million views, Each video averaged 560,000 views.
@Huang Jingxiang said that there are two reasons for making videos:
First, personal interests. @Huang Jingxiang After really starting to play Cosplay, he began to try to do content such as videos, and he would make his favorite COS content into the form of videos, such as MVs or small drama content. His own major is acting, and when he was in school, he would learn the skills related to video shooting, so he was very interested in video himself.
Second, the Internet has changed from the graphic era to the video era, everyone is doing the transformation of video, whether it is Coser or network bloggers are doing video transformation, @ Huang Jingxiang believes that he should follow the trend and get out of the comfort zone.
For many graphic creators, the most difficult point of the video is that the graphic text does not need to be modified frequently, and the recording of the video needs to consider many factors comprehensively, and it has been reworked repeatedly: because the speech, tone, expression, etc. will become part of the video content, and the video of just a few tens of seconds may need to be recorded many times, so many people have to give up.
Videos do have more difficulties than graphics. @Huang Jingxiang said: "It is easy to 'roll over' when shooting a video, and sometimes it takes many times to shoot. For example, when shooting makeup, when you encounter dissatisfaction, you will erase it and re-edit it; sometimes after a long time, you find that there is no boot, and you need to remove all the makeup and record it again. When shooting vlogs outside, there may be a lot of people watching from the sidelines, and they may ask what you are doing and whether you are filming. ”
@Huang Jingxiang said that there are two different differences between video and graphics. First of all, the requirements of the video are higher, if you want to do video, Coser dress up makeup, clothing refinement will have higher requirements, the picture can be modified in the later stage for PS, but the video can not, although the later can also be modified, but the video will have stricter requirements for Coser's own professional skills and dress effect.
Second, video requires the expressiveness of the creator. For example, to do a MV with a plot direction or a more aesthetic, you need to enhance your own performance in performance.
Video is hard, but you don't have to go to the sky. @ Huang Jingxiang believes that the most important thing in making videos is to find a style that suits you, and you must show your own advantages, rather than blindly imitating, many funny videos are not suitable for everyone.
Is the video completely different from the graphics? Can't do graphics when you make a video? In fact, many people completely misunderstand the relationship between video and graphics, which is the main reason why some creators feel that making videos is not smooth.
@Huang Jingxiang said: "From my point of view, I think video and graphics are related, for me personally, graphics and videos have a performance nature, but the pictures show a freeze-frame story, and the video needs to be more coherent, and the requirements for Coser itself are higher."
In fact, graphics and videos are not opposites, but an advanced process. The things that the video can show are more intuitive and more faceted, and can show the whole process from scratch, for example, the whole process from plain face to makeup, and some funny content can also be shown through the video. ”
Graphics and videos actually have a lot of similarities, both need professional shooting equipment, if it is to play Cosplay, props, costumes are universal, shooting some deserts, travel and other scenic spots, will also require Coser to go to the same place, so that you can take videos and pictures.
Find the right platform
Not only short video fire, short video platform is also very hot. According to the data of PC6 Android Network, there are as many as 1268 short video software of various types. In the face of a variety of short video platforms, if the creator does not find a suitable platform, play east and west, it is very likely that "the bamboo basket hits the water empty".
Some graphic creators have the habit of "one water source for the world", and the same content is sprinkled all over the network, but the recommendation method of each platform is not the same, which is especially prominent in the video, so it is very important to find the right platform.
"Without Weibo, I wouldn't have the popularity and achievements I have now." Huang Jingxiang said.
@Huang Jingxiang Currently has 2.52 million followers on Weibo, and as far as I can see, Weibo is @Huang Jingxiang the platform with the most followers on many short videos/social networks. @Huang Jingxiang At the beginning, it was also through playing Cosplay on Weibo, and then it was known to more people, and Weibo's star-making ability and video circle-breaking power really have nothing to say.
Find the right way, and you'll do more with less. As the first platform for celebrity incubation and growth, Weibo focuses on supporting head video bloggers this year, and also promotes the transformation of graphic bloggers in video, and @Huang Jingxiang also keeps up with the pace of Weibo.
On the one hand, Weibo will provide content direction suggestions to bloggers such as @Huang Jingxiang, on the other hand, Weibo will also launch various activities with various brands, such as #Dimensional Video Academy#, #Dimensional Microlight Project, etc., to continue to output theme inspiration and resource tilt to creators.
"If you want to really play Weibo well, I think the most important point is the continuous output of works, whether it is video or graphics, the work determines the recognition of fans, only by continuing to create high-quality content, fans will be interested in bloggers and settle down." @Huang Jingxiang said.
The thrust of the platform is important, but the basic features of the platform are what video creators need to pay attention to.
Unlike Jitter, Weibo has a community attribute. It is not only a comprehensive platform containing text, pictures, videos, live broadcasts and other forms of content, but also a cross-field interactive platform with social media fission-like communication characteristics and different interest groups. As the most familiar social platform for young people, Weibo users under the age of 30 account for 80%, and among @Huang Jingxiang's 2.52 million Weibo followers, more than 40% of 18-24 years old fans. This means that playing Weibo is to play with young people and interact with fans in order to precipitate their own social value.
Weibo's community nature allows more people to get together because they like it, not necessarily around someone, but because they like a blogger and become friends or help each other. Weibo's super talk is an important way for @Huang Jingxiang to communicate with fans, @Huang Jingxiang said, "Super talk is like a small nest of mine", he will often go to super talk to post, interact with fans, the current #Huang Jingxiang # super talk reading volume reached 850 million, the cumulative number of fans 423,000.
@Huang Jingxiang said: "Compared with other platforms, the advantage of Weibo is that it has a very mature system, we post videos or graphics on Weibo, the exposure on Weibo is greater, the user base of Weibo itself is relatively large, and Weibo can also precipitate fans, from the perspective of traffic and the value of fans, Weibo is the best." ”
There are many video platforms, for video creators who want to go out of the circle, they should be like @ Huang Jingxiang, to understand the rules and attributes of different platforms, find their own suitable platforms and good expression styles and insist on updating, in order to find their own fan base and form a personal IP.
Persistence and love
@Huang Jingxiang Has been playing in the Coser circle for nearly 10 years, from a small white to a senior figure in the field of Coser today, and the dilemma faced by ordinary people has also appeared in @Huang Jingxiang. At first, Cosplay was just a hobby of @Huang Jingxiang, but now it is one of the very important careers of @Huang Jingxiang, and coupled with the growth of his entry time, he sometimes feels "tired".
The main reason is that "in a certain period of time, it may be difficult to have something that inspires you to create again." When I first started playing Cosplay, I wanted a lot of cos, and I wanted to try the anime and movies that I had watched, and the movies and television that were popular at the time wanted to try it, however, when most of the characters were COS, I might slow down. @Huang Jingxiang said.
However, even in the face of misunderstandings and prejudices from the outside world and the dilemma of creation, @Huang Jingxiang has never given up his love and original intention for Cosplay.
"I will still stick to it, take Cosplay as a very important hobby in life, in the final analysis, I still like it, so I will continue to play COS, maybe in the future, when I am older, my COS will be reduced, but I will still produce works when I see what I like, and I will not care about traffic and the like, just be happy." 」 @Huang Jingxiang said.
In the past, people misunderstood Cosplay very deeply, but now with the rise of subcultures such as anime and quadratics, Cosplay has moved from non-mainstream to mainstream. Cosplay is no longer a "child playing" thing, Cosplay is also very professional, it takes a lot of professional skills to do well, Cosplay has been able to take a better stage.
Cosplay is a process of fulfilling one's inner desires and preferences, which can bring Coser a sense of satisfaction. But with the increase of influence and fans, @Huang Jingxiang These Cosers also hope to bring more high-quality works to fans, and through their own influence, bring positive and healthy impacts to fans, motivate them to overcome difficulties, and guide them to be better themselves.
For now, graphics and texts are still one of the ways for users to obtain information, but a single graphic work can no longer meet the needs of users, especially young people, who have a strong demand for diverse types of works.
Graphic creators need to understand that, first, video is the trend; second, the competition for short videos is also very fierce, and the rough and rotten video content will not have any effect. In the final analysis, it is still necessary to find the right entry point and the right platform for yourself, just like @Huang Jingxiang found the "way to grow" on Weibo. Where the soil is right for you to grow, you go.
"It's never too late to make a video." A media veteran told me.