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MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2020
Asian rapper
Rich Brian is
proving he belongs
in hip-hop
Page 16
With everything that’s going
on globally, everyone is inding
different ways to cope with having
to stay at home.
As I scroll through my social
media feed, I have seen a huge
increase in people uploading
entertaining short videos they’ve
made via TikTok - a social media app
that allows people to make short
videos. Curious about it, I took the
opportunity to seek out a number
of people who have become avid
users of the application.
TikTok has been gaining a lot of
traction from its users globally over
the recent years, and with a mission
to inspire creativity and bring joy in
those watching or making ‘TikToks’,
the application has become one of
the leading destinations for short-
form mobile video.
When you irst go onto the
application, you can watch videos
made by people from all over the
Izah Azahari
The joy of ‘TikTok’
world, and people in Brunei are far
from being left behind in exploring
their own creativity making funny
yet inspiring videos that can spark
a huge following - one of whom is
my fellow
Borneo Bulletin
reporter,
Wani Roslan.
Previously known as ‘Musica.
ly’, Wani started using the app in
2016 prior to merging to TikTok
in 2018, having found out about it
through Facebook. She became
instantly attracted to it, but only
began making short videos of her
own in 2018.
“I saw many creative short
videos, mostly done by Asians from
Korea, Japan and China. Some were
hilarious while others were more
on the creative side. These led me
to try and create my own video.”
She began with ones that were lip-
syncing, and that got her inspired
to create more videos that involved
action, transitions and dancing.
“Oncepeopledive into theworld
of TikTok they would be amazed
with the content that TikTok users -
better known as ‘TikTokers’, have.”
Wani said the plus side of
TikTok is the ability to watch videos
by other users around the world
without having to follow them,
and because it contains an array
of sounds, visual effects, music,
unique camera features and an ease
of editing, it adds to the appeal and
offers more possibilities for users to
show their creativity.
With the current situation of
having to stay at home or self-
isolate, although there are different
ways for people to cope, Wani said
some might use the app to keep
them occupied, which has helped
her. “I believe that the app has
enabled me to share my passion
and creative expression through
videos, and sometimes I like
including my husband and children
as well for the fun of it.”
Meanwhile, local Radio DJ,
Professional Magician and Fitness
Trainer Nadzri Harif said that he’s
seen TikTok all over social media
for a while now, adding that it was
daunting for himat irst to sign up to
yet another social media platform.
However, he said that the fun in
seeing different challenges people
do with different editing tricks and
styles became a great experience
for him. “I’ve been using the app for
about one or two months.” Nadzri
said to prepare oneself to jump
deep into the rabbit hole as TikTok
specialises in bite-sized chunks of
entertainment hat. It is easy to get
lost in through endless scrolling.
“I am guilty of just watching video
after video,” said Nadzri. “Upon
joining, I was shocked to see how
many Bruneians were on it and how
creative they were!”
While you can shoot, edit, add
ilters and effects as well as texts,
Nadzri said the videos can be as
simple or as complicated as a
person wants, as there are also a lot
of users who specialise in teaching
how to shoot and edit certain styles
and effects. Amidst the current
outbreak and answering the call to
stay at home, the Radio DJ came up
with the two-part ‘Nadzri’s Guide to
Keeping Busy While Staying Home’
on his Instagram where he gives
different ideas on how to cope
while being stuck at home.
Among these ideas was
recording a TikTok, and as some get
a few thousand views for videos, the
response have been varied. “I shot
one with two of my cats - Murphy
and Fluffy, and it’s gone crazy. It’s
close to reaching one million views
on the platform!” Nadzri exclaimed.
“I’ve recently shown my 58-year-
old mom some videos, and there
is a plan to record videos with her,
my sister Tasya, and my wife Tati, in
the future.”
Nadzri thinks that, just like
any other social media platform,
TikTok can exercise creativity as he
believes no one should be worried
about sharing their ideas into
the world.
“I’m also a irm believer of
experimentation. Try out TikTok
and who knows what skills you
might unlock, or who you end up
inspiring,” he added. Also part of
the TikTok world is a user who goes
by Ameish8 on the application
and irst saw people posting their
videos on Instagram, where she
found a number of them to be funny
and entertaining and decided to
download the app for the fun of it.
“My daughter watched it
with me too and I guess she was
inspired as she told me she wanted
to do TikTok videos as well,” said
Ameish8. “I thought it would be a
fun activity for us.”
With all the videos on the
application, Ameish8 said it helps to
pass the time and also highlighted
the aspect of losing track of time
when you watch videos or when
you make plenty of skits and decide
which best to upload. “I can say
that it’s a great distraction.”
Continue to Page 14
Avid local TikTok users speak of the platform, where more and more people from Brunei Darussalam are uploading their
creative short-form videos.