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33887388 Junpu Cao filmmaking

Leaving the large video collages of videos on YouTube, new platforms such as Tik Tok pose completely new structural forms on content creators. The hyperkinetic, highly graphic comedy of TikTok creator Adam Waheed presents the ideal study to comprehend how the architecture of a platform determines audiovisual form and social performance. He does not merely upload comedy; he warps his whole creative process to the rigorous and accelerated demands of the application.

In order to deconstruct the content provided by Waheed, we will have to make use of the works of Jean Burgess on Platform Studies. According to Burgess (2021), the affordances, or specific interface and algorithms of an application, actively influence what kind of media gets created on it. The videos by Waheed are not just short films. They are extremely engineered reactions to TikTok, its vertical, endless scroll interface, and algorithm needs of the ‘For You’ page. Waheed employs rapid-fire editing, over-the-top facial expressions, and instant visual cues to ensure that a viewer does not swipe. The affordances of the platform require an audiovisual style that is chaotic and high-energy and the composition of the narrative should be set up within only several seconds. Sound design is pivotal here as well since trending audio posts and aggressive sound effects are overlaid on his physical comedy in a bid to get the most possible out of the algorithmic discovery process.

Moreover, we can analyze the presence of Waheed in terms of the studies of Donna Alvermann, Wynne and Wright that investigate intersectionality and social performance on TikTok. Waheed often uses his Middle Eastern origins and height as the focus of his comedic stories, subverting and playing upon cultural stereotypes. Since the algorithm of Tik Tok promotes content to a large, globalized audience with no local content, Waheed uses physical, highly expressive comedy that crosses all language barriers. His enactment of his intersectional identity is condensed to quick, easily digestible visual punchlines which can immediately be sorted and broadcast to the rest of the world by the algorithm.

Conclusively, this observation of Waheed shows that Tik Tok is not just a neutral hosting site. It is a participative co-creator. His huge success is also due to the fact that he negotiated the platform and all of its affordance perfectly, showing that in new networks, the algorithm and interface are equally powerful as the script.

References

Alvermann, D., Wynne, E., & Wright, W. (2021). Tales from TikTok: Gender and cultural intersectionalities. In Genders, cultures, and literacies (pp. 198-211). Routledge.

Burgess, J. (2021). Platform studies. Creator culture: An introduction to global social media entertainment, 21-38.

Waheed, A. (Creator). (2019-Present). Adam Waheed Adam W (@adamw) | TikTok. TikTok.