Who is the practitioner (what is their name?) and when were they practicing?

The chosen practitioner for this week is Casey Neistat, an American based Youtuber, filmmaker, vlogger and entrepreneur. I’ve decided to focus on Neistat this week as he always goes against the grain and this is evidently shown through his videos. Neistat first gained widespread popularity in 2003 with this three minute film titled ‘Ipod’s Dirty Secret’; a video exposing Apple for not having a battery replacement program in place for their products. Since then, he is famously known as one of the rare few YouTube personalities that openly expresses how he feels about mainstream issues and brands and executes said thoughts in the most innovative ways. 

What is the title of the video you have chosen to analyse?

The video is entitled ‘Make it Count’. The active-wear brand Nike approached Casey Neistat to promote their FuelBand fitness tracker and showcase what it means to #MakeitCount. Neistat took a completely unorthodox route in promoting the product by utilising the budget for this campaign to travel to as many places as possible until the given budget runs out.

With the video you are examining when was it produced (date)?

The video was first published onto his YouTube channel on 9 April 2012.

How was the video authored?

The video was shot with a Canon EOS 80D DSLR; a common choice of camera for vlogging. The video contained an array of sharp cut scenes of Neistat and his friend/editor Max Joseph trotting around the globe to reinforce the slogan of Making Things Count. At the beginning of the video, Neistat nonchalantly points at the Nike slogan branded on the FuelBand fitness tracker he was paid to promote (this being the only creative element Nike had control over) (Fast Company, 2018). He provides a brief written explanation to provide context to the video. To accompany the travel shots, Neistat weaves famous motivational quotes and embeds it within shots to add to the overall aesthetic. The video encompasses a mixture of traditional vlog footage with Neistat talking directly to the camera in addition with artistic shots of different locations around the world. Neistat deliberately cut scenes of him running across the screen in different countries and combined it to produce a seamless video like so:

“My vision for it was forget about what Nike is, forget about sneakers, forget everything; what does ‘make it count’ mean to me? And what it means to me is take a huge chance.” – Casey Neistat on his #MakeItCount video. (Fast Company, 2018)

How was the video published?

The video was first published to Neistat’s YouTube channel, where it has been viewed over 28 million times by individuals across the globe. It has sparked over 12 thousand comments with encourages the YouTube community to discuss and comment on the video.

How was the video distributed?

After the initial distribution on his YouTube channel, the video was then redistributed and promoted through news articles, social media shares and overall word of mouth referrals through the websphere.

This is a common trend with modern day videos as “Online video has been transformed from an expensive to distribute media-form to one which can be networked, shared, downloaded and re-used with ease” (Berry, 2018). In addition to this, Neistat often captures screen grabs of his YouTube videos to provide teasers for his Instagram platform. The affordances of Instagram allows him to reach a wider audience that he may not necessarily reach solely through his YouTube channel. It also allows fans of his work to keep up to date with his day to day life through his Instagram stories and updates. All in all, Neistat videos allows fans a personal look into his life as “video has become every person’s point of view” (Sherman).

References

• Berry, Trine Bjorkmann. ‘Situating Videoblogging’. Videoblogging before YouTube, Institute of Network Cultures, 2018, pp. 9–22, http://networkcultures.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Videoblogging-Before-YouTube-web.pdf.
• Sherman, Tom. “Vernacular Video.” Video Vortex Reader: Responses to Youtube. Ed. Geert Lovink & Sabine Niederer. Amsterdam: XS4All. 161–68. Print.
• Fast Company. (2018). How Director Casey Neistat Went Rogue With Nike’s New Ad. [online] Available at: https://www.fastcompany.com/1680524/how-director-casey-neistat-went-rogue-with-nikes-new-ad [Accessed 10 Sep. 2018].

Who is the practitioner (what is their name?) and when were they practicing?
Theo Wenner is a New York based fashion photographer who has worked with the likes of Chloe, Rolling Stones, Marc Jacobs, Vogue and many other notable high fashion labels/publications. Wenner is the son of co-founder and publisher of Rolling Stones Magazine, Jann Wenner. Theo began making a name for himself in his early 20’s and has since saw his career as a professional photographer skyrocket with being affiliated with high profile clients. I really like Theo Wenners work because of his overall aesthetic with every image he produces. It provides a very nostalgic vibe. 

What is the title of the video you have chosen to analyse?
There is no given title for this photograph, but this particular chosen shot was amongst a photo series of similar aesthetic of celebrity Kim Kardashian for Vogue Spain.

With the video you are examining when was it produced (date)?
The editorial photo series was produced in August 2015 for the August issue of Vogue Spain.

How was the video authored?
The photo series was deliberately shot and edited in a way that mimicked the simplistic style of legacy photography. This can be seen through the grainy texture, the lack of focus and simplicity of the set in each photograph. With the array of high definition editorial photos plastered across publications, Wenner wanted to stray away from the norm as he “mimic the lo-fi look of cheap film-based cameras such as Lomo or Polaroid” (Palmer, 2014).

How was the video published?
The photo series of Kim Kardashian was first published in the August 2015 issue for Vogue Spain accompanied by a feature about her. The editorial piece circulated around her career, family and status.

“Theo Wenner gave me no direction and wanted to capture me being me. I just landed back from Armenia, pregnant and jetlagged so literally was trying to nap while they were shooting” – Kim Kardashian on the the editorial shoot by Theo Wenner for Vogue Spain

How was the video distributed?
Since its’ initial distribution in Vogue publication, the photo series of Kim Kardashian quickly circulated throughout social media platforms as fans “very rarely catch a glimpse of the real Kim, even on her off-duty days” (Klein and Klein, 2018). Kim Kardashian herself re-distributed some of the photos from the shoot on her Instagram to show her fans. This provides a heavier engagement with the masses as those who don’t consume Vogue can now access the photos. It sparked a lot of positive feedback as Kim was not her usual ‘slammed up’ persona and showed a softer and more natural side of her. 

In addition to this, Theo Wenner frequently distributes his work to the public through his Instagram profile: CLICK HERE 

References

• Klein, A. and Klein, A. (2018). Why Kim Kardashian’s ‘Vogue’ Spain Editorial Is Her Best Ever. [online] Fashionista. Available at: https://fashionista.com/2015/07/kim-kardashian-vogue-spain [Accessed 1 Sep. 2018].
• Palmer, Daniel. ‘Mobile Media Photography’. The Routledge Companion to Mobile Media, edited by Gerard Goggin and Larissa Hjorth, Routledge, 2014, pp. 249–55.
• Winner, Theo. “Kim Kardashian Vogue Shoot”, Vogue Spain, 2015

Who is the practitioner (what is their name?) and when were they practicing?
Nam June Paik was a Korean American artist famously known as one of the first few artists to experiment with video art. Heavily influenced by the Neo-Dada art movement, also known as Fluxus, Paik made his artistic debut in 1963 with his public exhibition entitled ‘Exposition of Music Electronic Television’. Throughout his active years, Paik contributed to the art community with an array of thought provoking and innovative pieces that combined videography and expression of art. He passed away at the age of 73 in 2006.

What is the title of the video you have chosen to analyse?
The title of the video is entitled ‘Global Groove’. It is an electronic collage of sound and images that draws heavy inspiration from the Neo-Dada art movement with all the popular imagery and modern; well considered to be modern materials at the time.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UXwhIQsYXY

“This is a glimpse of a video landscape of tomorrow when you will be able to switch on any TV station on the earth and TV guides will be as fat as the Manhattan telephone book.”

With the video you are examining when was it produced (date)?
Global Groove was produced in the year 1973

How was the video authored?
The video was authored using the Paik/Abe Synthesiser; the first video synthesizer that “allows artist to paint electronic pictures. Paik envisioned it as a video piano at which the artist could play and compose the new music of today” (High, Hocking and Jimenez, 2014). Global Groove provides a stream-of-consciousness style montage that captures the likes of John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Allen Ginsberg and the Living Theatre dancing around amongst colorized beams of light to the song ‘Devil with a Blue Dress On’ by Mitch Ryder. The ironic juxtapositions and often random jump cuts were deliberately left in by Paik as he believed that there was no such thing as mistakes and became a social commentary on the proliferation of broadcast television and content. This directly correlates with Kate Horsfield’s argument about early forms of video art being of “low quality, grainy and shaky footage” which allows a sense of “authenticity that challenged the presumed objectivity of broadcast television” (Horsfield, 2006).

How was the video published?
Global Groove was produced and initially published by TV Lab at WNET/Thirteen. It was a time where creatives were able to “produce alternative media content for communicating countercultural ideas outside the restrictions of mainstream channels” (Horsfield, 2006).

How was the video distributed?
Since the initial distribution, Global Groove has been on display for public viewing throughout several notable museums such as The Museum of Modern Art, The Guggenheim Museum, Mueseo Nacional Centro De Arte and so forth. In addition to this, excerpts of the Global Groove and detailed explanations of the video and concept are made available through YouTube.

References

• High, K., Hocking, S. and Jimenez, M. (2014). The emergence of video processing tools. Bristol, England: Intellect Ltd
• Horsfield, Kate. Busting the Tube: A Brief History of Video Art. Video Data Bank, School of Art Institute of Chicago, 2006, pp. 1–9, http://www.vdb.org/content/busting-tube-brief-history-video-art.
• Paik, Nam June. “Global Groove”, 1963, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UXwhIQsYXY