As anyone spending any time on the internet in the last 10 years will tell you, formats are becoming shorter and shorter. Although one might say that we peaked in 2014 with Vine demanding users sum up the punchline within six seconds, the general trend across video sharing platforms has become increasingly more succinct and more formatted. If it’s not summed up from the jump, it’s likely to be skipped by ambivalent teens.
But Instagram has decided to put a spoke into the wheels of brevity by embracing (relative) long form filmmaking — with both Small Fries and Send Off coming in at over three minutes in length, complete with actual story arcs, real character development and a trove of Gen Z creators eager to explore the format. A lot is said about fashion trends bound to make their cyclical comebacks (hello, ballet flats), but less is talked about when that same revival happens in the media. The films themselves lean heavily into Gen Z aesthetics — they’re quirky, unfiltered, stylised reality that isn’t all too dissimilar from an episode of HBO’s teen drama Euphoria. Shot on location, in real teen homes in Austin, Texas, Instagram is vying for that side of authenticity it’s often criticised for not having in comparison to platforms like TikTok.
This “Instagram Connections” brand campaign might be Meta’s most bold move yet to re-engage with Gen Z. This time they’re not creating an in-app function that apes something you can find somewhere else (*ahem* Reels), but they’re making short movies that represent the youth experience: FOMO, fitting in, and that unmistakable discomfort of being a teen.
