They’re funny, they’re clever… we talk with Zach King about his six-second loop films which started as fun film making and have now gone commercial
What led you to directing Vines?
I started creating Vines six months ago just for fun. I didn’t know that it would turn into a full time job, I just wanted to share cool videos with my friends.
One thing that I think lead it to growing faster was I posted one video a day for the first month, just to see if I could challenge myself in that way. Turns out, it worked. I’ve found that being consistent in your content is one of the big secrets to online success for filmmakers.
Is it a particular way of thinking – what is the creative process of coming up with Vine ideas, do you sketch out your ideas, carry a notebook full of ideas …?
It’s funny you ask because I do keep a notebook with me at all times, whether it’s in my phone or a physical sketch pad I keep next to my bed. I write down any ideas that come to me, because you never know when you’ll pull them back out of the pages and actually turn it into a real video. I also am very forgetful, so once I jot an idea down, it frees my mind to continue on with whatever I was doing before.
Do you have a regular team you collaborate with?
I have a regular team of people I collaborate with, my videos wouldn’t be possible without them. I have my good buddies and my sister that help me in the creative process. Filmmaking is such a collaborative process, I can hardly make a Vine by myself, let alone a YouTube video. So the sooner you can learn to collaborate with people and find your own creative team, the sooner I think you will be successful.
And please tell us your top tips for creating Vines.
Just try tons of different video ideas until you find a genre that you enjoy making and an audience enjoys consuming. Stay niche. I do Special Effects Vines, and I only do special effects Vines because I’ve built my audience around that niche. Being inconsistent with the type of content I am producing would quickly ruin my audience. Don’t underestimate the power of niche.
See more of Zach’s work here
