TikTok is one of the most popular social media platforms in the entire world, and one BYU-Idaho alumnus has taken full advantage and found success on the app.
Steve J. Cline graduated from BYU-Idaho in 2020, and about 2 years ago, started his own TikTok account making short videos about countryballs which are 3D spheres that feature the designs of different flags on each one, such as Italy, Germany, Russia, Brazil, and many more. The countryballs interact with each other by moving and jumping and Cline’s videos feature several topics such as different cuisines and politics from various cultures.
In an interview with BYU-Idaho Radio, Cline talked about what he learned while attending BYU-Idaho and how it has inspired his content on TikTok.
“I took some classes, one was international studies and the other one was about history,” Cline said. “Even though I was an accounting major, I really had a fascination with learning about different countries around the world. Those different classes inspired me to start making content.”
Cline has amassed nearly 180,000 followers on TikTok and has produced 18 videos that have more than one million views.
Despite making short videos that are only around one minute long, there’s a lot of time that goes into the process.
“On average, the actual animation process takes about 3 hours,” Cline said. “The longer portion is the actual rendering process. You have to render the whole video and it has to be pictured frame-to-frame. That takes sometimes 24, sometimes 48 hours.”
Cline talks about the most enriching part of content creation.
“Being able to connect with people from all across the world,” Cline said. “It’s incredible the amount of things I’ve learned from different people from different countries and their cultures. Getting to learn about what excites people and being able to connect all these different worlds and cultures is really cool.”
Cline’s best advice to any aspiring content creators is simple.
“Just go ahead and start,” Cline said. “Just try to start creating content and seeing what connects with viewers. If things don’t work, change it up and try something else.”
For more information, visit LegitzAnimations on TikTok.