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Tubagus 'TB' Putera: Making his mark on Vine
The short-video sharing service Vine might not yet have penetrated the countryâs social-media market as other applications like Path or Instagram have, but with a number of inventive Indonesians beginning to upload their creative works to the platform, it is slowly gaining momentum
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The short-video sharing service Vine might not yet have penetrated the country's social-media market as other applications like Path or Instagram have, but with a number of inventive Indonesians beginning to upload their creative works to the platform, it is slowly gaining momentum.
Tubagus Putera, otherwise known simply as TB, is one of Indonesia's biggest Vine-focused videographers. Although he only has a little over 2,000 followers on Vine (compared to international Vine stars such as Zach King's 2 million followers, for instance), that has more to do with Vine's popularity in the country than the quality of TB's videos.
Taking into account how fast paced Indonesian digital trends grow, it should not be long before TB's 33,000-plus Instagram followers will follow him into his preferred new medium.
Utilizing Vine's unique format, TB has created a healthy number of humorous, entertaining short videos that mostly use clever editing to provide visual illusions that are part magic, part special effects.
Vine lets its users create six-second videos that loop endlessly, increasing in popularity the more people view it. Its creative nature stems from how the app only records videos when the screen is touched, therefore giving users ability to create stop-motion-styled effects.
Using Vine, TB has created videos where he seemingly pulls soda drinks out of thin air, jumps into a live concert inside his computer screen, crushes his smartphone with his bare hands or transports onto his bed simply by typing 'home' on his computer.
While these effects may not look like much when compared to the computer generated effects of blockbuster movies, their homely, amateur video feel provides a hyper contrast with the impossible feats being shot.
'I'm just someone who uses my spare time to create,' says TB.
Currently working in the creative industry, TB says that his mind is always working out new video tricks. TB attracted followers when one of his videos was featured in the popular humor website 9Gag.
'I've been using social media for years. It's a way for me to express anything creative. Instagram and Vine are just some of these creative mediums.'
According to TB, much of the future of entertainment lies with short-form videos, such as what Vine and Instagram offer.
'Short video content is heading toward a bright future. These days, almost everyone owns as phone with a good-enough camera, and mediums such as Vine and Instagram make it easier for people to express themselves through video.
'People are getting too lazy to watch longer videos ' it uses too much of your Internet quota and takes time,' he laughs. 'With Instagram or Vine, anyone can become famous in six to 15 seconds ' with the proper content of course.'
'With Vine, you only have six seconds ' so you have to make sure every one of those seconds count.'
The time it takes to make his videos ranges from minutes to hours, he said.
TB and a few of his Vine-worshiping comrades are also a part of a community dubbed Indovines, which holds gathering at least once a month. This, according to him, is a sign that the medium is slowly but surely gaining momentum as the next big thing here, as is the increasing international profile of Indonesian Vine talents such as the NYC-based designer Pinot.
According to TB, the most popular videos on Vine ' and by default, his most looped videos ' are ones that arouse viewers' curiosity ' 'as in, how did he do that?' says TB.
'A lot of people have asked me 'What kind of video editing software did you use?' And truthfully, I only use [the default] Vine [effects].'
Those kinds of videos are thus looped over and over again as viewers try to figure out how it was done, increasing the number of hits and marking it a popular video on the Vine list, ostensibly raising its creators' profile.
TB tags his video with the popular hashtag #vinemagic, which attracts viewers home and abroad. He dreams to one day live off of his Vine videos, as many abroad ' including Pinot ' have been able to do.
For further details, check out instagram.com/tbputera/ or vine.co/tubagustubitru
