Acting out your life

It may be the case in the real world that showbiz is only for a select few. But in the world of Xiaokaxiu, a lip-syncing video-making app, you can be the star of your own show, if only for a minute.


Xiaokaxiu allows users to act out scenes in their favorite TV shows, using the show’s soundtrack instead of their own voice. The app’s slogan sums up the challenge: “Life is a drama. Only good actors survive it.”


The single-function app is easy to pick up. All you need to do is choose from a list of soundtracks, from the latest TV series like The Journey of Flower and the reality TV program Dad, Where Are We Going?. Then, make sure your face is in the camera frame and hit “Start”.

What Xiaokaxiu provides is exposure for Internet users aspiring to self-expression. “It’s difficult for people to come up with something original on their own. What we did is provide the script so they can easily be a part of the story,” Han Kun, founder of Xiaokaxiu’s parent company Miaopai, told Tencent Tech.


“Xiaokaxiu strikes right at the heart of the ‘self-deprecating’ culture among young people – a culture that advocates pleasing others by excessively making fun of oneself,” one writer commented on TechWeb.com.cn. “The effect of the funny acting then rapidly snowballs through all the sharing and downloading on social media.”


Up to 1.2 million videos are created each day on Xiaokaxiu. But that doesn’t stop the app’s team from planning for the future, in order to avoid sharing the short-lived fame of other “fast food apps”. According to Han, Xiaokaxiu is aiming to be a promotional platform for new TV series, or even a talent scout for potential actors.



Those plans might sound too good to be true, but there are already cases in the US that prove its feasibility. By creating six-second-long looping video clips on the popular app Vine, some users have gone from anonymity to glory. For example, three young men – Cody Johns, Brent Rivera and Greg Davis, Jr. – caught the attention of Coca-Cola after they made videos on Vine for a year. They were offered six-figure salaries to make advertisements for the soft drink company.