Introduce your video work in relation to responding to the conceptual brief and the guidelines on form.
This week’s task was very different from what we have been doing over the past few weeks. The shift from producing videos to photographs, specifically ‘Carousel format’ based photos was a new and exciting challenge that I was intrigued to create.
For my carousel, I went through my photo gallery on my iPhone and looked through all the favourite places which I used to go to in Melbourne before COVID started. Being stuck at home, the thought of going to such places like NGV or Hosier Lane has become unfamiliar to me; what feels like an old memory that is “collecting dust” in my album.
The guideline for week 6 was to produce a sequential design into our work, and figure out how it can create a story/narrative. I wanted to narrate a story of what a perfect way of finding space and time for contemplation that was ‘beyond my everyday life’ as of late would be. The arrangement of the photos was made deliberately to produce a chronological timeline of the day. It was starting the day off admiring the contrast of art between Hosier Lane and NGV, followed by having frozen slushies and riding the historic scenic railway at Luna Park. And wrapping the day up relaxing and finding inner peace at the State Library and the beautiful atmospheric botanical gardens.
In addition, I also produced a video/slideshow version of the carousel photos (as seen below). I used the Ken Burns effect to create the motion of moving the pictures from left to right. I also paired it with a soft-jazz type of backing track with the ambience of soft chatter. This helped portray the liveliness of Melbourne and their heavily-influenced cafe culture as many cafes play jazz music around Melbourne; a subtle ode to Melbournians of the times where we could go out.
What did you learn from the authoring and publishing process?
For the authoring process, I did not have much knowledge about creating stories using the carousel feature. The closest to me using Instagram’s carousel feature was posting random videos and photos on my Private Instagram account (Finsta Account). I relied on a YouTube video by Shmoxd as he provided an in-depth instructional video on how to create a sequential carousel photo.
I used Adobe Photoshop to create the canvas (20480 x 2048 pixels) and manually created a guide layout to see where each photo ends. I also applied the ‘Snap To Guides’ feature to make it easier for when I add the images onto the canvas. I began dragging and dropping all the photos I intended to use next to each other, and slowly began rearranging and resizing them to my desired place.
An aspect which I took inspiration from his video was incorporating different photos into each other (refer to 4:02 mark of the video). I applied it to the image of the framed artwork, and the picture of my girlfriend at Luna Park.
After that, I cropped each photo using the snap-to guide feature to accurately crop the photo to the intended Instagram size (1080 x 1080). Since I only used 7 slides, I only had to crop 7 instead of 10.
In terms of the publishing process, I did not learn anything relatively new. I did the same process of adding my geo-location, credited the music used to its rightful owner (for the video), and added hashtags relevant to the post.
What went well?
The most notable thing that went well was the access to the photos. I am glad that I had enough scenery shots of each location to use, rather than images that had other people in it or even myself, i.e. group photos. My vision was to have the carousel photos ‘scenery-heavy’. This was because I wanted to make it relatable to everyone rather than just for myself. I believe producing content that can be relatable to people has a higher engagement and reach in terms of appearing on the “explore” page of Instagram.
I was also relatively comfortable with using Adobe Photoshop as I had a bit of experience prior to this course. I felt quite confident producing this piece because I also mapped out what I wanted to have on paper; brief drawing board of what/where I wanted the images to be laid out.
What did not go well?
One thing which did not go well was the alignment of the framed artwork between slides 2 & 3. Although on Photoshop, I did not see anything wrong with it; I only noticed the misalignment a couple of hours after I had uploaded the piece.
What could you do better?
The next time I produce Carousel based work, I would want to have a more focused theme. Without the constraints of travelling around Melbourne to take photos, I would love to incorporate a carousel with similar colour schemes and location; to give off a better aesthetic as seen by examples from Shmoxd’s Instagram.
Respond to the studio prompt question ‘How do the affordances of Instagram affect the way video content is authored?‘ What insights can you add in response to this question?
The affordance that Instagram’s carousel feature offers creators is the freedom for creativity. This affordance allows content creators to upload both photos and videos (10 maximum) in one single post.
This affects the way creators would want to upload their content, and forces them to think more about what story or purpose they want to narrate in the carousel post, as well as find creative ways to make the post more interactive for their audience. Due to the limitations of only a maximum of 10 slides, creators have to carefully and thoughtfully select which photos/videos would attract its audiences most, and which of them would have a lasting impact on its audience. Posts using the carousel feature further helps to intensify the engagement of its audience by 2% and offers a higher opportunity for its audiences to interact with the post (Web Desk, 2020).
From my experience, I notice that I engage more with image-based carousel posts than the video-based carousel. I believe it is because of the feeling of independently swiping to see the sequential design of the post allows me to have more control and interactivity with the post. Nonetheless, the video-based carousel posts are also as engaging to an extent; we can swipe ourselves, but the videos might not sequentially flow with each other.
Reference List
Shmoxd 2019, Creative Instagram Carousel Tutorial, YouTube, 25 August, viewed 26 August 2020,
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvSICN03N6E&t=268s>
Web Desk, 2020, ‘5 Reasons Why Instagram Are a Secret Weapon For Brand Loyalty and Engagement’, Digital Information World, 11 August, viewed 27 August 2020,