Video content seems to be changing. There is a noticeable shift away from ‘glossy’ big budget slick looking videos and a move to more Lo fi authentic content. The rise of TikTok with its short form Lo Fi videos is leading the charge as well as video production platforms like Shoutout.social that is championing honesty and storytelling over ‘pretty pictures’. This shift may adversely impact the popularity and photography style on Instagram, the current queen of glossy.
The rise of the YouTuber was based on an audience’s desire to watch relatable content, that felt more ‘home-made’ and honest. This even caused a shift away from TV for millennials with YouTubers becoming the new aspirational celebrities.
The shift from glossy to Low Fi is a well-trodden path and was seen in the music industry also. This cycle is normally based around shifts in technology. The rise of high production value and electronic dance music in the 80’s was a reaction to the affordable digital technology becoming available at the time and the shift towards singer songwriters like Oasis with their raw production styles in the 90’s was a reaction to glossy 80’s.
We are now seeing the same thing happening with video. When Canon launched the affordable 5d DSLR camera with video capabilities and the ability to use cinema style lenses; suddenly everyone was producing content that looked ‘blurry background’ filmic. Slow motion and affordable drones followed, and we were in a world of slow, smooth and glossy.
Now, a recent TikTok trend is to slow the music down, film yourself dancing, then speed it up making everything look twitchy and jagged and the hyper flattering filters are being replaced by filters that make you look miserable or distorted. The age of authenticity is most definitely here, and glossy video content is starting to feel a bit out-of-date and ‘salesy’ Anyone on TikTok will tell you they swipe past glossy content in a nanosecond because it’s probably an advert.
Perhaps It’s time for your corporate communication to embrace the current trend of non-glossy and start to produce your own Lo Fi content on a smartphone. This is a great time for video content as it’s cheap to produce and anyone can do it. Embrace the Low Fi and get filming.
