Posted on 26th May 2023
Millions of people on TikTok have been joining in a challenge to see how "photogenic" they are using a CapCut template that generates a series of black-and-white freeze frames from a random video they upload.
Have a browse through this box of examples on Buzz from Shooglebox:
The CapCut template has been used by 24 million people and counting, with most videos appearing over the last week.
Many of the big videos are captioned along the lines of "Using a random video on this template to see if I'm photogenic" and soundtracked with this snippet of Taylor Swift's Cardigan from her album Folklore, which has been used in more than 200,000 TikToks. Popular hashtags people are using include #PhotogenicChallenge, which has featured on other trends before, and #VideoAleatorio ("random video").
One of the viral videos on the trend has come from @im.jassy who's got more than 16 million views and 2.4 million likes in a week. Some commenters are saying the freeze frames remind them of singers like Sabrina Carpenter, Miley Cyrus and Lauren Jauregui.
Some people find the trend "humbling" as the freeze frames they're getting aren't what they'd consider "attractive", like @tiffybell who applied the template to a clip of her drinking wine in a restaurant and has "never felt so humbled" (14.5 million views).
Other popular videos on the trend have included @livingwithliza where commenters say "You are SO photogenic" (8.3 million views), @decembrieintai using a video of her blowing out a candle on a cupcake (4.3 million views) and @kateaustin_ testing how photogenic her wedding photos and videos are (4.2 million views).
A couple of brands have started picking up on the trend, including Mercedes-AMG F1 with a clip of British racing driver George Russell "looking good in noir"; and easyJet showing "airside perfection" with a video of one of their orange and white A320 aircrafts.
Although the videos you upload are meant to be random, some people are clearly cheating and posing for photos so they look more photogenic. Influencer Brooke Monk (28.5 million followers) has parodied some of the "fake" videos she's seen, smiling and blowing kisses at the camera and posing with a "peace" sign. She's had 10 million views and 1.6 million likes. A similar parody comes from @kcreietin (3.5 million views).
Spotting TikTok trends
The Photogenic Challenge is just one of the new trends quickly picked up and tracked by our Buzz service, which highlights some of the big talking points emerging on TikTok and social media every day.
Buzz from Shooglebox is used by journalists, creators and brand teams who need to spot and stay on top of the latest trends.
It includes a constantly updated box of cards showing at a glance and linking to viral videos, TikTok trends and other things going big on social media. Buzz customers also get regular updates alerting them to some of the things they might otherwise miss or discover late.
This stack of cards for the TikTok Photogenic Challenge gives you an idea of how Shooglebox works – and how it could help you go from spotting a trend right at the start to tracking its development over time.
If you're interested in signing up or finding out more about Buzz get in touch here.
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