On January 20th, tik tok user Dvcree made history.
[sound of video]
ROCCO: I can picture this in my brain.
That’s Margeaux Rocco. She, like many other 22-year-old Tik Tok users, knows this sound like the back of her hand. The 22-second video of actor Pedro Pascal garnered millions of likes and over 30 million total views. It became known as THE edit of all edits, and Tik Tok edits solidified their place in mainstream pop culture.
If you don’t know what an edit is, you’re not alone.
ROCCO: They sound really, really dumb when you explain them, I promise that the impact of them is so much bigger when you actually watch them.
Rocco is a TikTok edit afficianado. She particularly enjoys edits of Succession, Robert Pattinson, and Pedro Pascal. She explains it best.
ROCCO: It’s basically normally a like series of videos of like, a character or a celebrity. Just like cut together like normally to music, and the music really determines the vibe of it all. Like, if it’s to a Taylor Swift song, it’s normally like of a tragic character.
[Clip from a The Last of Us edit]
And then it will be like, kind of sad and emotional, but if it’s to, like a Charli XCX song or like Azaelia Banks–
[Clip from a Pedro Pascal edit]
then it’s just like, fast-paced cutting videos, and it’s supposed to be like sexy and entertaining.
Edits, otherwise known as fancams, have been around for years. These short compilations of beloved characters and celebrities set to music are posted across social media, but TikTok has been the home of some of the biggest hits lately.
This particular Dvcree Pedro Pascal edit has become so popular and inspired so many others that even Pascal himself made fun of edits recently on SNL.
PASCAL: You have made thousands of fancams of me, and I’m not sure what they mean. But I know it has to stop.
SARAH SHERMAN: But we make them because you’re our beloved and you have us in a chokehold.
PASCAL: Okay, don’t say that.
Although they’re not new, few edits have become paragons like Dvcree’s.
ROCCO: If I were to explain it to someone who’s never seen a Tik Tok edit, I feel like the one I would pull up would be – Do you remember that one of Timothée Chalamet from like, a really long time ago? It was from like, the dance scene from Call Me By Your Name.
Only a couple of months after schools closed down in 2020 and phones were about the only way we interacted with each other, a short video of actor Timothée Chalamet dancing to a Melanie Martinez song blew up on Tik Tok. People were recreating it, and the sound alone was enough to conjure the image of 20-year-old Chalamet dancing his heart out.
Now, three years later, another edit has taken the crown of Tik Tok virality.
ROCCO: It feels like a cultural moment that like everyone that gets Tik Tok edits, whether or not they’re a Pedro Pascal fan, was like getting that one. So I think that Pedro one and and then also the like Timothée Chalamet one have like a very specific cultural impact.
But behind the scenes of these enthralling videos are self-taught editors, often ranging from early teens and beyond, who have a passion for a particular piece of media and also have a vision.
Tess McChesney is one of them. They’re an avid fan of Dimension 20, a Dungeons and Dragons show.
MCCHESNEY: I had a spring break and I was like, really into watching the show. And I had seen other people making them on Tik Tok. And since I had like a week off I just like, did it like did that all for a week, and I’ve like sort of done it on and off since then.
McChesney says their videos are typically only 20 seconds long but can take around 10 hours to make.
Still, it’s a rewarding process both in the online friends they’ve made along the way, and in the skills they’ve developed.
MCCHESNEY: I took a public speaking class, like everyone in college does. And my last project was a video, and the fact that I knew how to put a video together like I understood how at least one program worked, it made my life so much easier.
McChesney’s fandom isn’t associated with Pedro Pascal, but even then, they say it’s impacted them.
MCCHESNEY: I don’t think I thought he was attractive at all before I started seeing them. So that’s sort of interesting. They sort of rewire your brain chemistry. I guess it’s like anything else. When you see some see more of something, then you get more interested in it.
For WNUR News, I’m Helen Bradshaw.
