How did you author the video you recorded for upload to Instagram?
Before the authoring of this video, I had been on Tiktok frequently. (Yes, I am addicted!) This might have had influenced the creative aspects of editing this video. I had questioned myself: What is the purpose of this video? I wanted to place emphasis on bottle droppers as a beauty product applicator, and how it promotes hygienic use as the applicator does not have to come into contact with skin to be utilised. And so, I wanted to establish a video that would follow the ‘aesthetics of advertising photography’, at the same time tease a part of my lifestyle that would into Instagram’s “first person lifestyle and travel blog” narrative genre that goes along with designed visual content. (Manovich 2016, pp. 112) I wanted the video to represent part of my lifestyle and could not use Instagram’s basic editing features to achieve that. Thus, I took to Tiktok to create this dreamt-like video.
I had my friend over so he could help me with this. I filmed the video from a low angle, having the bottle dropper seeming like its floating mid-air. I instructed him to pull the dropper out of the bottle slowly, zooming in on the dropper as he did this, before pumping out two drops of product. I had zoomed in to highlight the simplicity of using this beauty applicator and give emphasis to the design. Once done, I added a filter to the video that had a sparkle effect. I also increased the presence of purple hues to give it a dreamy like effect and also to bring out the common colour that my other posts had – brown. While brown and purple were not complimentary colours, I felt like it went well next to each other, as it would when the video is uploaded onto my feed.
How did you publish the video you recorded for upload to Instagram?
According to Ward’s video, How to Gain Followers Fast in 2020, the use of specific keywords and hashtags in your posts or Instagram account handle and bio, could allow for the algorithm to sense the type of category the account would fit in and thus, allowing for traffic of a niche audience to flow into postings. That was what I had planned to achieve by using specific hashtags, in hope users with the same interest in beauty products would engage with my posts.
How did you distribute the photo you published on Instagram to other social media services?
As usual, I had distributed my video to Tumblr and Twitter again through the automatic distribution feature in Instagram. To my surprise, my video was viewed 19 times which was a big jump from only previously having single-digit engagements. This might be due to my specific hashtags which drew more specific audiences. Furthermore, I had used Tiktok to edit the video and give it an aesthetic that is largely popular with users in my demographic. I also had made sure to use hashtags that had low competition but high potential reach, allowing more potential for my video to be featured as not many other posts utilise similar hashtags.
As discovered in my last post, Instagram algorithm actually promotes and reinforces of social habits based on similar aesthetic online presentations. In my efforts to enable Instagram to collect more user data based on my profile, I had took up the initiative to explore different posts, leaving likes and comments on some. This might have also been the reason why there was a bigger number of view on this post. I have also realised that since our ability to co-create with Instagram negotiates their potential to enable and constrain specific practices (Khoo et al. 2017, pp. 6), the algorithm that we are dependent on to distribute our posts could also limit as well as encourage our online activity, like how I had to actively explore pages for the algorithm to have an effect on my account.
Here is my Instagram post on Twitter:
Here is my Instagram post on Tumblr:
References
How to Gain Followers Fast in 2020, 2020, streaming video, Aaron Ward, Canada, viewed 29 May 2020, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnJ_xFPoFR0&feature=emb_rel_pause>.
Khoo E, Hight C, Torrens R, Cowie B 2017, ‘Introduction: Software and other Literacies’ in Software Literacy: Education and Beyond, Springer, Singapore, pp.1-12.
Manovich, L. 2016, Instagram and the Contemporary Image, University of San Diego, USA, pp. 24-113.
Week 11: Making Media – Photo
How did you author the photo you recorded for upload to Instagram?
With the Dalgona Coffee trend circulating, I was looking for a presentable mug to showcase my own creation of Dalgona. Instead of the clear Mason Jars that all the hip girls on Tiktok used, I had these glass mugs kept in my cabinets and thought it would be suitable for the job as it highlights the good design we take for granted in our everyday lives – a mug. As I had pointed out in previous blogposts, I was going for a brown coloured theme that would unite all of my visual content on my feed. Keeping this in mind, I set the mug filled with Dalgona Coffee onto a wooden coffee table that I had. Trying to capture a realistic photo – also defined as a photo with ‘clear differentiation between main subject and background for product shots’ (Manovich 2016, pp. 69), I put the setup against a white background and attempted to take a levelled shot of the set up to the best of my abilities.
However, even when I tried my best, I had to go in and edit the image further to meet my standards. As aesthetic photos are usually edited to achieve certain effects that we identify with “realistic photography” (pp. 69), I took it to Snapseed, to alter the symmetry and perspective of the photo with its’ Tilt tool. I was able to do this as I had been editing photos with this app before post on my own personal Instagram account. I did not like using the Instagram feature that afforded this same function, as it zooms in on the image simultaneously, making the quality of the image poorer. After accomplishing the’ asymmetrical composition’ alongside ‘large empty white spaces’ (pp. 96) that achieves the aesthetics of designed photos (pp. 122), I switched back to Instagram to alter the colour compositions in the photo. I decreased the exposure and increased the saturation and contrast of the picture to make it seem more HD. Then I used another external editing software, VSCO to add a grain effect because it was trendy. VSCO was considered to be the ‘standard among sophisticated Instagrammers’ and had 30 million active users in the beginning of 2016, thus, it seemed like I had to use it to make my photo fit in as these other Instagram users would.
How did you publish the photo you recorded for upload to Instagram?
I posted this photo with a longer caption and again, ended it with a question: “Make Dalgona Coffee or just pour in Milo in these minimalistic glass mugs! They’re nice to look at and perfect for when you want to plate your drinks! What are your favourite drinks?” I also stayed true to my theme by mentioning what the product was and where interested users could get it. I added more hashtags that I would normally do (#dalgona #glass #glassmugswag #kmartaus #aesthetic #minimalistic #coffee #tea #gooddesign #yummy) to gain more engagement. Last I checked, it was liked 5 times which was more than any of my other posts.
I also tagged @kmartaus and added in the geo-tag, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. In my previous postings, I had said that these tags would allow for my photograph to be published to users who were not following me. However, after viewing the videos in the Week 10 Lecture, I discovered that engagement levels were dependent on Instagram’s algorithm. And Instagram’s algorithm is dependent on user habits, which my new account has not established yet. With this piece of information, I followed the accounts that were following me, hoping that the algorithm would distribute my photos to users who were similar to me.
How did you distribute the photo you published on Instagram to other social media services?
I distributed the photo to Twitter and Tumblr again through the distribution feature on Instagram. While there has been no increase in followers since the last post, I realised that my photo has more likes that the other postings. While I don’t know how the algorithm works, what I do know is that while hashtags and tags have been seen to distribute out photos to the relevant users in the network, the main distributor is the algorithm. As I had only used the Instagram account for this assignment and not explored content on it, the algorithm might not have enough data on my account to distribute my content to relevant users. And while it is said that Instagram scans visual content as well, the photos and videos that I have been posting fall into no one category altogether, making it difficult for users to engage with my posts.
Here is my Instagram post on Twitter:
Here is my Instagram post on Tumblr:
References
How to Gain Followers Fast in 2020, 2020, streaming video, Aaron Ward, Canada, viewed 29 May 2020, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnJ_xFPoFR0&feature=emb_rel_pause>.
Manovich, L. 2016, Instagram and the Contemporary Image, University of San Diego, USA, pp. 24- 113.
Week 10: Making Media – Video
How did you author the video you recorded for upload to Instagram?
For this week’s video posting, I had already planned to utilise the stop-go video recording feature in Instagram. I had wanted the video to showcase how conveniently sized Estelle & Thild Lip Balms were, deeming it to be a well thought out design. I had set up my tripod to capture the lip balm fitting into my smallest sized purse (as shown in the image below). I was inspired by a Tiktok video that I had come across earlier in the day. As Manovich (2017) had pointed out, our individual Instagram styles ‘are strongly influenced by social, cultural, and aesthetic values of a given location or demographic’ (pp. 26). Given that Tiktok is highly utilised and relevant in my age demographic and location, it is no wonder that I was easily influenced to produce such a video. I had used the same iPhone 8 Plus camera that I had to author this photograph. However, unlike previous times, this time I had to continously stop and start the recording of the video, in-between moving the lip balm towards the pocket of my purse, to obtain the desired effect. I had also realised that utilising the stop-go video recording feature in Instagram was a little laggy. To make the video more interesting, I added background music, encouraging engagement and interaction as users would be more inclined to see through the end of the video.
Since filters for videos were limited, I had completely omitted the process of editing the colour component of the video. However, this was also because I felt like the colours were just right and clear enough to be coherent with my other postings. The brown tone from the wooden table had allowed for all my photos to have a similar colour scheme and thus, bringing out a more consistent and aesthetically pleasing feed. To fit the video into the constraints of Instagram, I had to rotate the video so that it would be viewed in the correct orientation that would then be published onto the app. Additionally, I had picked out a cover image that projected the brown/warm tone that was present in my other postings so that when the video is displayed on my feed, it would still be coherent.
How did you publish the video you recorded for upload to Instagram?
I uploaded the video onto Instagram with the caption, “Lip Balm from @sephora. @estellethild lip balms are conveniently sized and so easy to pack on the go! Look at how easy it fits into this wallet-sized purse! What’s your go-to lip balm?” Again, this was in line with my chosen theme for my Instagram feed as mentioned in the previous blogpost– reviewing products based on its’ designs that could also be easily purchased by other users on the networked site. This time I tagged the relevant parties in the caption, attempting to explore ways in which I could further distribute the image. I had also made sure to end the caption with a question, in accordance to Aaron Ward, a YouTube content creator known for providing insights and current perspectives on the social media platform, Instagram. In his video, How to Gain Followers Fast in 2020, he mentions ending captions with a question would encourage engagement and compel users to spend more time reading the caption, being more likely to leave a like or comment on it because it seems like valuable information that could be helpful to them is being shared. I also followed his directions when drafting the caption – adding white space to split up the text so it’s easier for users to take in.
I also included the 10 hashtags related to my video in the caption (#estellethild #lipbalm #beauty #convenient #product #sephora #stopgo #onthego #melbourne #sephoraaus) in hopes Instagram’s algorithm would push my video to more users that have similar content to mine. I had also tagged Sephora and Estellethild Instagram accounts in the video, in addition to the Sephora Melbourne Central geo-tag. Being specific with the hashtags that I had included would allow for my post to be categorised and funnelled to a group of users who may show interest in it and also be publishing it on the explore page. (Ward, 2020). It could also increase the chances of me ranking in the top posts that will, again, encourage interaction and engagement.
How did you distribute the video you published on Instagram to other social media services?
I had distributed my posts similarly with the previous postings – through the automatic distribution in-app feature on Instagram. However, I had realised that distributing this video to Tumblr was a little different this time. Instagram had allowed for me to post the video onto my Tumblr account, however, the appearance of the posting was a little weird and glitchy. There was an abnormally large space between the video and the caption of the video, making the appearance of the post look rather unpleasant. I’m not sure why it turned out this way but even after countless reuploads, it remained like that. With Twitter, I had realised that instead of the tag @EstelleThild, @theformulablog was tagged instead. I could not fix this small glitch however, I was taken to the same site even though the labels were different.
Here is my Instagram post on Twitter:
Here is my Instagram post on Tumblr:
References
How to Gain Followers Fast in 2020, 2020, streaming video, Aaron Ward, Canada, viewed 29 May 2020, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnJ_xFPoFR0&feature=emb_rel_pause>.
Manovich, L. 2016, Instagram and the Contemporary Image, University of San Diego, USA, pp. 24-52.
Week 10: Making Media – Photo
How did you author the photo you recorded for upload to Instagram?
Keeping in mind the theme that I had established with my previous postings – reviewing products based on its’ designs that could also be easily purchased by other users on the networked site, I went in search for another photo opportunity that could accomplish just that. I thought about what could not only respond to the design quote by Norman but also could allow me to create an ‘aesthetic coherent theme’ (Manovich 2016, pp. 20) to attract more users. I noticed the worn out Rattan Chairs left abandoned in the balcony because it had too many splinters and was not functional as a chair anymore.
I whipped iPhone 8 Plus and took multiple photos with varying angles with the rear-facing camera before deciding on which photos to edit and eventually upload onto Instagram. I had to move my body to get specific angles that could capture the tattered condition of the chair, as well as the splinters that were jutting out of it. Because I took the photo at night, and in the outdoors (as the chair was situated in the balcony), I had to utilise the outdoor lights that made the photo even more saturated and brown than what I would have liked. To combat this, I utilised the in-app editing tools that Instagram afforded to bring down the saturation and intensify the clarity and sharpness of the image. The small adjustments I had made to the photograph was influenced by the urge to ‘develop a particular style’ (pp. 126) for my feed. I was trying to bring out the brown hues so that the images would appear consistent and bring out a more visually aesthetic appearance in my feed.
How did you publish the photo you recorded for upload to Instagram?
Again, I published two photos in one posting as I felt that one photo was not enough to thoroughly showcase the extent of the chair’s wear and tear condition. The caption of the photo reads, “Rattan Chair from Bunnings Warehouse. Don’t know if it is because of the weather or just because the quality of the rattan isn’t too good, but this chair is now a hazard! Splinter alert!🚨” This was my way of describing the chair as being poorly designed with the use of material that could easily pose as a hazard over time. To provide a clean and ideal appearance, I posted hashtags in the form of a comment instead of including them in the caption as usual. As Leaver (2020) had pointed out, putting hashtags in a separate comment ‘allows the user to maintain a cleaner profile, in keeping with the platform’s own promoted aesthetic’ (pp. 74). Hiding my hashtags meant that the unappealing presence of the messy multiple hashtags that I had to use to further distribute my images could be utilised and be aesthetically ideal. I also included a ‘North Melbourne’ geo-location tag, as well as tagged Bunnings’ Instagram account in the post before uploading it onto Instagram. This way, my personal theme goal – to allow users to easily purchase these products, could be easily done by notifying them of the store that I had made my purchase.
What I had done different in this post was to upload it at a popular timing where most users would be active on the Instagram app. According to Later, a software curated for planning and scheduling Instagram posts effectively, the most popular time to post on Instagram on a Thursday (which was when I had planned to post) in order to gain more engagement would be at 1pm and 3pm (EST). Unfortunately, this was proven not to be true as I had no likes or comments in the first few hours of my publishing. However, I do realise that these “popular timings” might defer geographically. Additionally, since my account is a relatively new one, there is barely any data for Instagram’s algorithm to categorise and distribute my content to the specific users.
How did you distribute the photo you published on Instagram to other social media services?
I utilised more hashtags to distribute my image this time. The hashtags ‘#rattanchair‘, ‘#rattan‘, ‘#wearandtear‘, ‘#dangerous‘, ‘#hazard‘, ‘#uncomfortable‘, ‘#designfail‘ were all relevant to my post and how I wanted it to be portrayed. The use of these hashtags should allow for Instagram’s algorithm to decide what topic my posts should be categorised in, displaying it to users who may show interest in it or who also have been publishing similar content. Furthermore, with the use of the ‘North Melbourne’ geo-location tag, users who search for the geotag or exhibit user habits that relate to this geotag will be able to view my photograph. I had also remembered to distribute the photo through 2 the social media platforms – Tumblr and Twitter.
Because I was already an existing user of Twitter and had used my own personal Twitter account to distribute this image, I had more engagements on Twitter than Instagram. However, Tumblr was still new to me and I did not get any traffic or engagement on my postings. I realised that my inexperience with Tumblr and how this assignment made me utilise the social networking site definitely had an influence on how well I could communicate through my posts on the service – I had no idea about the culture surrounding Tumblr and thus, had no motivation or desire to adjust the content to garner more comments or likes.
Here is my Instagram post on Twitter:
Here is my Instagram post on Tumblr:
References
Leaver, T., Highfield, T., Abidin, C., 2020. Instagram: Visual Social Media Cultures. Digital Media and Society, United Kingdom, pp. 39-74.
Loren, T. 2020, The Best Time to Post on Instagram in 2020 According to 12 Million Posts, viewed on 26 May 2020, <https://later.com/blog/best-time-to-post-on-instagram/amp/>
Manovich, L. 2016, Instagram and the Contemporary Image, University of San Diego, USA.
Week 9: Making Media – Video
How did you author the video you recorded for upload to Instagram?
For my second Instagram post this week, I wanted to stick with the same concept that was delivered with the photo previously posted – a short and simple review in regards to the design and functionality of my necklace display stand. I had recently agreed to look after a friend’s cat and had a problem with how it’s litter box always reeked of a foul unpleasant odour. So, I had gone and purchased another cat litter box to solve the issue. I wanted to flaunt my newest investment and hence, decided on making it the subject of the video. And in a way, it was my take on capturing everyday life through the camera lens on my phone (Manovich 2016, p. 12).
I wanted my video to be taken in one smooth motion to give off a sleek effect, forgoing the use of the stop-go video recording feature in Instagram. Instead, I whipped out my iPhone 8 Plus and recorded the video with its camera function. To accurately capture the product’s well thought out design, I utilised the rear-facing camera and panned the iPhone around the newly purchased cat litter box, throughly documenting its’ many features from different angles – from the mesh step that prevents excess cat litter from spilling out, to the handle and filter on the top of its’ structure that allows for easy carrying and the diminishing of unpleasant odour. Additionally, I made sure to shoot from a wide angle to also highlight one downside of the product – it was unfortunately, bulky.
Before putting the video up onto the Instagram app via the camera roll upload feature, I went ahead and censored parts of the video as my cat had defecated right before I started filming and it was not a lovely sight. To do this, I had to export the video onto my MacBook Pro and utilise a video editing software called Final Cut Pro. I put a censor effect on selected areas of the video before transferring the newly edited video back into my iPhone, via the Airdrop feature that Apple products afforded. Then I continued to edit the video on my iPhone to fit into Instagram’s aesthetic. Although there was no longer a ‘1×1 square’ constraint on the media that could be uploaded onto Instagram, I found that it was still not possible to upload my video with its’ original dimensions so, I had to crop the height of the video with the iPhone’s image crop feature.
Subsequently, I made use of some of Instagram’s in-app functions to mute, trim the length and chose a cover photo that would be used as a preview of the video on my feed. This allowed for me to keep the appearance of my feed coherent and in line with my ‘product review’ theme, whereby the image of product itself should appear in each individual posting uploaded onto my feed. I felt like the colours in the video was too saturated, but I could not alter it as I was restricted to only being able to select from a set of filters in the app that did not allow for customisable settings.
How did you publish video you recorded for upload to Instagram?
After authoring the video, I uploaded it onto Instagram with the caption, “Cat Litter Box from Kmart Australia. From the mesh step located at its’ entrance to prevent excess cat litter from spilling out, right to the well thought out covered structure with a built-in filter that eliminates the spread of odour, this litter box is definitely a steal! (If you could overlook it’s bulky size of course 🥴)” This was in line with my chosen theme for my Instagram feed as mentioned in the previous blogpost– reviewing products based on its’ designs that could also be easily purchased by other users on the networked site.
This time I included the use of multiple hashtags in the caption (#cats #catlover #litterbox #catsofinstagram #kmartaus #kmartaustralia #gooddesign #gooddesignisgoodbusiness) as a way of ‘sharing and communicating my social experience’ (Leaver & Highfield 2018) with the products listed in my post. Following that, I went ahead and tagged Kmart Australia Instagram account as well as used the Melbourne city geotag, indicating where I had bought the product at that time of publishing.
How did you distribute video you published on Instagram to other social media services?
As I had previously mentioned, this time I was able to further distribute the video through the use of multiple hashtags in my caption. In my previous blogpost, I said that I wanted to gradually utilise hashtags over time, to experiment with the reach the post could potentially get. True enough, with hashtags, my video had already gotten 2 likes within a mere few seconds upon posting. It was liked by people who were not following me but might be looking through one of the hashtags’ relevant posts. This is reflective of how numerous hashtags are deemed to serve a structural role in terms of being searchable and annotative on Instagram (Leaver 2020, p. 26) and thus, useful in garnering more likes and views. By adding the Melbourne geotag during publication, I am also able to distribute my post to Instagram users who are not following me, but may be following the geotag or browsing through the posts there.
Additionally, with the automatic distribution in-app feature made available on Instagram, I was able to seamlessly distribute my video to other social platforms at the time publication, without going through the hassle of logging into separate social media accounts. Similar to when I had posted an image instead of a video, the posts translated across from Instagram to Twitter and Tumblr without any problems.
My Instagram post distributed on Twitter:
My Instagram post distributed on Tumblr:
References
Leaver, T. 2020, Instagram: Visual Social Media Cultures, Digital Media and Society, United Kingdom. pp. 39-74
Manovich, L. 2016, Instagram and the Contemporary Image, University of San Diego, USA, pp. 12
Week 9: Making Media – Photo
How did you author the photo you recorded for upload to Instagram?
Having been in quarantine for the past weeks, for this week’s photo, I tried looking around the house for examples of good and bad designs prevalent in my everyday life. That’s when my necklace display stand caught my attention. It stood there, on my bedside table, alongside another accessory display unit that contained multi-coloured earrings dangling from their hooks. With sunlight shining through the windows and casting sparkles on my necklaces, I thought it’d be a perfect photo opportunity and in a way, it was like a ‘hidden camera’ (Leaver 2020, p. 153) into my life. I felt like it fit well with the question prompt and would be a great example of a good design as it was indeed fitting to my needs, so well that I hadn’t quite thought about its’ design aspect prior to this blogpost.
To get better lighting, I changed the position of the necklace display stand by taking it out onto the balcony and placing it on top of the outdoor AC unit, allowing an adequate amount of sunlight to shine onto the stand, just enough to make it look appealing (in my eyes at least). Since it was the first photo that I would be personally authoring, publishing and distributing on Instagram, I wanted to try utilising all the built-in functions that the app afforded. In order to capture this photograph I initially used the camera made available on the Instagram app. However, I quickly grew frustrated with it as it was really difficult to be only allowed to take one photograph at a time as I preferred choosing the ‘perfect shot’ from multiple photographs taken. So, I switched to the rear-facing camera on my iPhone 8 Plus, took multiple photos and then, took my time in deciding the best photo to eventually upload onto Instagram. During this selection process, I felt that one picture was not enough to fully showcase the simplicity of the display stand and thus, decided upon uploading two photos instead of just one, having the other photo taken from a different angle to show off its’ design.
I didn’t like the appearance of the holes and letterings on the outdoor AC unit as well as the outdoor plugged that were all inevitably captured in the final photographs that I had chosen. With all the affordances that Instagram had, it also had it’s constraints – I could not edit out the unwanted blemishes on the app itself. Thus, I took to another editing software called FaceTune to remove all the unwanted details in the photograph with a Vanish tool.
Subsequently, I switched back to the Instagram app and made more adjustments to the already edited photograph by cropping it to a suitable grid to ensure the photograph was perfect and edited accordingly to fit the Instagram square preview that would appear on my feed. After that was done, I still thought the photographed looked a little dull and cold despite trying to get the best lighting. With the intention of wanting to create a brighter and warmer image, I increased the brightness slightly to make the the image appear more livelier and also increased the warmth of the image that altered the tone of the overall photograph, giving it a mellow tone.
How did you publish the photo you recorded for upload to Instagram?
I published the two photographs on Instagram as a single post. It was my first upload on my brand new account that had merely one follower. The caption of the photos read “Necklace Display Stand from IKEA. Does the job perfectly – displays multiple necklaces beautifully with the ease of taking them off and putting them back on the rack.” I also included an ‘IKEA Singapore’ geo-location tag, as well as tagged their Instagram account in the post before uploading it onto my feed to provide information on where I had bought the product from. I also wanted this to be the theme for my Instagram feed – reviewing products based on its’ designs that could also be easily purchased by other users on the networked site. Since I had personally shot these photographs, I could ’emulate more personal Instagram aesthetics’ and promote/demote these products by giving the viewers a sense of ‘being in the moment’, ‘promoting aspirational dreams related to the product. (Manovich 2016, pp. 135)
However, wanting to be able to see the gradual changes in the way I publish media in the following weeks, I decided to omit the use of hashtags in this post as I wanted to experiment with the number of users the photograph could reach.
How did you distribute the photo you published on Instagram to other social media services?
To distribute this photograph I used the ‘IKEA Singapore’ geotag, as well as tagged their Instagram account in the post, allowing the images to be seen by users on Instagram who searches for the geotag. In other words, even users who are not following me would be able to engage with my posts. I also distributed my image to Tumblr and Twitter through the Instagram app, encouraging even more traffic on my post by sharing its’ affiliated links on different networking sites. The use of Instagram, Tumblr and Twitter was fairly easy for me. Since I was already an existing user of Twitter, the postings across platforms were seamless. Even though I am totally new to Tumblr and had to create a brand new account prior to this, the straightforward sharing function on Instagram made it effortless for my photographs to be shared on Tumblr as well.
Despite my social media accounts used for this assignment being relatively new with no followers, I am excited to see how these numbers will grow with my different approaches to uploading content in the following weeks.
My Instagram post distributed on Twitter:
My Instagram post distributed on Tumblr:
References
Leaver, T. 2020, Instagram: Visual Social Media Cultures, Digital Media and Society, United Kingdom. pp. 153
Manovich, L. 2016, Instagram and the Contemporary Image, University of San Diego, USA, pp. 135
Week 8: Networked Video – Ashley (@bestdressed)
Who is the practitioner and when were they practicing?
The practitioner I have chosen is a YouTube content creator, Ashley, who is better known as her YouTube channel handle, Bestdressed. Ashley curates content mainly revolving around fashion. According to an interview with her by TubeFilter (2019), it was thrifting that had spur her on to create a YouTube channel in 2016 – a one-woman production team making a range of weekly content, from vlogs (she calls them “chatty” videos) to videos about the essentials of fashion to often tongue-in-cheek how-to’s about a variety of subjects. On the fashion side, Ashley’s casual reselling of thrifted items became her business, bestdressedstore.com. For the past few years, Ashley balanced both full-time pursuits with attending the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), from which she graduated from in 2019, with a degree in film, TV, and digital media.
In January 2020, Ashley started uploading shorter video content onto her Instagram account, also known as IGTV posts. She currently has a total of 14 IGTVs garnering close to 6 million views.
What is the title of the photo you have chosen to analyse (can you provide a link)?
I have chosen an IGTV from her Instagram page title ‘What New Yorkers are wearing (ep.3)’. It is part of her own IGTV series called ‘What New Yorkers are wearing’.
With the video you are examining, when was it produced?
The video was produced in 2020 and is a video showcasing what individuals in New York were wearing; essentially New Yorkers’ fashion. The short 3 minute film consists of short interviews filmed by Jenn Roberts, asking random individuals on the street about the outfits that their wearing, their fashion inspirations and how they out together their style. The video is shot vertically for the format of Instagram, and due to the nature of it being a mini-vlog with subtitles and cut scenes, the video would have been completely edited in post-production. The caption reads ‘filmed a while ago! also please check out @karenbritchick and @lexie who have made many episodes of ‘what new yorkers are wearing’ videos before!’, highlighting that she was inspired by other content creators when producing this short video. The caption also mentions that she personally had edited and produced the video.
How was the video authored?
This video is initially filmed on a Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark II as mentioned in all of Ashley’s videos. In post production, these short snippets are edited together with the use of an editing software – Final Cut Pro. Despite not documenting the video content herself, Ashley did author the short video to conform to Instagram. The film is shot vertically, in line with the nature of Instagram’s vertical postings. Ashley uses tags in the caption to credit Jenn Roberts for filming the video.
The claim that the emergence of the iPhone allowed videos to be uploaded more efficiently, straight from a device onto networks, and thus, a more accessible and mobile form of video (Halpern and Humphreys 2014, p.1) is contradicted by Ashley’s practice of editing her videos offline in an editing software.
How was the video published?
The video was published on Ashley’s Instagram account (@best.dressed) on 29 March 2020, as well as being published on Jenn Roberts’ Instagram page (@shop_jenn). She did tease the video in her Instagram stories prior to the release of the IGTV. This video in particular, is the 3rd episode of 4-part (and counting) series called ‘What New Yorkers are wearing’ on her IGTV page. This would potentially mean that her audience was already waiting on this video to be uploaded as a continuation to what she had previously posted.
Having a full-time job as a YouTuber, it is interesting to note that uploading videos to Instagram gave Ashley the opportunity to generate profit from it as interested endorsers or sponsors that come across her video could possibly want to invest in her videos due to her wide reach. (Ashley has 1.2 million followers on Instagram!) This is very different to the times of analogue video where only televsision film corporations could decide what was shown on TV or in the cinema, investing in a video only if it is deemed to generate a profit margin. Uploading content on online platforms such as Instagram and Youtube is a great example of how media content is now not limited to just its ability to generate profit, like in the olden days, but rather is seen as a channel where creative ideas can be expressed and can be engaged with by the consumers.
How was the video distributed?
The video has been distributed across two online platforms – Instagram and Facebook, and thus should have reached a much larger audience as compared to just distributing it on one channel.
The use of the tag ‘NYC Streetstyle’ (that is unfortunately, only visible in Instagram app) distributes the video to more Instagram users who may not already be following Ashley. Repostings of the video, that was inspired by “@karenbritchick and @lexie who have made many episodes of ‘what new yorkers are wearing’ videos before”, allows for re-distributions by fans of not just Ashley, but Karen and Lexie as well. It is also now widely accessible to anyone with a smartphone or computer via a simple Google search.
References
- Halpern, M & Humpreys, L 2014, ‘iPhoneography as an emergent art world’, New Media Society, vol. 18, no. 1, pp.62-81.
- Hale, J., 2019. Youtube Millionaires: Ashley (Aka ‘Bestdressed’) Teaches The Internet How To Do Fashion With A Combo Of “Uncensored Personality” And Expertly Crafted Videos – Tubefilter, viewed on 3 May 2020, <https://www.tubefilter.com/2019/05/02/youtube-millionaires-ashley-aka-bestdressed/>
Week 7: Networked Photography – Joan Kim
Who is the practitioner and when were they practicing?
Joan Kim is a Korean-American YouTube personality living in South Korea, who specialises in making videos on Korean skincare beauty products, as well as documenting her own travels around the world. According to her Instagram page, Kim has been practicing photography since 2011, only at an amateur level, mainly personally recording activities in her life. However, it was only in 2015 the she had decided to take her job as an influencer seriously, curating content that showcases her passion and creative works – mainly revolving around beauty tutorials, travelogues and fashion. For the past 5 years, she has been utilising Instagram to share her works whilst gaining 244 thousand Instagram followers.
What is the title of the photo you have chosen to analyse (can you provide a link)?
The photo I have chosen is titled, ‘Candid Shots‘
View this post on Instagram
With the photo you are examining, when was it produced?
‘Candid Shots’ was posted to Instagram by Kim on the 29th of December 2019, but presumably was produced some time before, because the photo was taken on a DSLR by another Instagram content creator, Jiwon Yun, on one of their days out. Judging from the high-quality bokeh effect and colour grading, it is likely that the photo was edited with an editing software even before it was posted. With networked photography, there is no doubt this post production process is made much more efficient and simple (Palmer, 2014, p.253), however, with Instagram as a medium, it creates an environment where popular profiles such as Joan, can create posting schedules ahead of time for a more planned and curated feed that their followers can consistently interact with, maintaining high traffic that popular accounts have.
How was the photo authored?
This photo was taken on a DSLR camera before it was posted on Kim’s Instagram page. It is clear that an editing software is being used to augment the aesthetic of the photograph. While there is no consistent theme in her Instagram gallery, it is notable that her pictures are mostly sharpened and colour graded, enhancing its’ quality. It is also interesting to note that while Kim does post photographs that she personally takes, this photo in particular was taken by another person. This kind of authoring is thus, a little different.
Instead of the usual perspective that authorship is being in control of one’s own image, authoring in this case provides another point of view. Authorship in an online space can be a decentralised way of producing. While Kim is using someone else’s work, her way of authoring could be in the way she curates her photograph postings – how she edits and captions her photographs in line with her public image, as well as performing an interest in the fashion culture, something she is known for. This way she can still reflect her personal style as an author, even though she did not personally take the photo, highlighting the importance of curated aesthetic on Instagram, which exists to make and distribute aesthetic and unusual images (Palmer, 2014, p.245).
How was the photo published?
While Kim uses a DSLR camera to shoot her photos for quality purposes, ironically, she publishes them on Instagram through her smart phone. This is also highlighted in Halpern and Humphreys (2014, p.7) paper that mentions “easy publishing of photos as one of the things that made the iPhone a “revolutionary” tool for photography.”
Her early content from 2011 can be seen to have a strikingly difference when to compared to her latest postings. The mundane, original built-in Instagram filters used in earlier documents of her life sheds light on her amateur photography and editing skills. Her photographs have transitioned through phases; from the rough, standard Instagram filters snapped on an iPhone, to the over contrasted images. She then shifted towards softer filters that were intensely brightened and paired with white borders, before transitioning into higher quality photographs that were taken on DSLR and with a more distinct aesthetic.
These transitions provide an insight into the process that online publishers go through to understand how to build a following based on current time audiences, particularly on Instagram. Kim’s account is a great example of this:
1. Kim’s first posts, using built-in Instagram filters and borders to capture her everyday activities.
2. Kim’s later posts, still relying on some of Instagram’s filters and borders, but incorporating consistent colour in her posts, giving off a more coherent and uniformed theme.
3. Lastly, Kim’s current feed! Higher quality photographs with personalised editing process, utilising her own unique filters in post production.
How was the photo distributed?
This photo was distributed to her 244 thousand followers through Instagram, an online platform that utilises algorithms. Kim distributes her photo to a much larger audience who may have not been following her through tagging fashion brands (Gentle Monster, Prada and Stylenanda Korea) whose clothing she is wearing in that photo. Additionally, she also has a location tag (Almost Home Cafe by Epigram) that publishes her photo in a group gallery that showcases other photographs taken and that location.
While Kim did not utilise hashtags in this photo, it is important to note that Instagram does have the hashtag function that can allow for her photo to reach a wider audience. A YouTube personality like Kim can also distribute her content through sponsored ads which can reach a huge audience. Instagram ads can be tailored to target specific groups based on their many traits like age, gender and interests, depending on the amount invested by the distributor. Official brands that have been collaborated with can also further distribute her photographs by reposting it on their own Instagram pages to promote the products in use.
References
- Halpern, M & Humpreys, L 2014, ‘iPhoneography as an emergent art world’, New Media Society, vol. 18, no. 1, pp.62-81.
- Palmer, 2014, ‘Mobile Photography’, in G Goggin and L Hjorth (eds), The Routledge Companion to Mobile Media, 1st edition, Routledge, Abingdon, UK, pp. 244-254.
Week 6: Analogue Video – Nam June Paik
Imperfection is part of his art, and that’s the sophistication, a perfectly functioning robot is not as sophisticated as one that malfunctions randomly. – Ken Hakuta about his uncle, Nam June Paik. (‘My Uncle Nam June Paik’, 2019)
Who is the practitioner and when were they practicing?
The practitioner is a Korean American artist who pioneered the use of televisual electronic media in art, Nam June Paik (1932-2006).
Paik sought new modes of artistic expression and cultural exchange in his music, performances, and media works. He recognized the TV as more than a content delivery mechanism in works, creating numerous robots composed of television sets, producing a synthesizer that allowed him and others to manipulate electronic imagery in real-time, and even made the first video collages with found imagery.
According to Guggenheim (2012), Paik’s first exhibition, entitled Exposition of Music – Electronic Television, in 1963 at Galerie Parnass at Wuppertal, launched his transition from composer and performance artist to the inventor of a new art form: an engagement with the material site of television as an instrument. He was known to have been in practice even up till the early 2000s, one of his last pieces ‘Global Groove’ being created in 2004, just two years before his death.
What is the title of the photo you have chosen to analyse (can you provide a link)?
I have chosen to analyse the video art titled Electronic Superhighway: Continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii, an installation created in 1995.
With the video you are examining, when was it produced?
Electronic Superhighway: Continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii was created in 1995.
How was the video authored?
Paik named this video installation as Electronic Superhighway to express his vision for the future. He envisioned that in the future communication would be boundary-less due to advanced technology. It is interesting to note that what Paik envisaged has now been manifested through the internet. It illustrates how he interpreted a diverse nation through media technology.
Ryan T. R. (2018) had described this installation to be “constructed with 336 televisions, 50 DVD players, 3750 feet of cable, and 575 feet of multicoloured neon tubing. Placing over 300 TV screens into the overall formation of a map of the United States outlined in coloured neon lights, the installation is roughly forty feet long and fifteen feet high.” The work is a monumental record of the physical and also cultural contours of America: within each state, the screens display video clips that resonate with that state’s unique popular mythology. For example, Iowa (where each presidential election cycle begins) plays old news footage of various candidates, while Kansas presents the Wizard of Oz. It seems like the different colours resonate with how individual states in America still have distinct identities and cultures, even in today’s information age. Paik also compares the use of highways to transport people and goods with the use of technology to spread ideas – a foreshadow to a practice that is very prominent in today’s modern era.
Furthermore, Paik augmented the flashing images “seen as though from a passing car” with audio clips from The Wizard of Oz, Oklahoma, and other screen gems, suggesting that America has always been influenced by film and television.
How was the video published and distributed?
Analogue video and television is highly reliant on physical objects in our world (Lister et al, 2009, p. 19), such as cables, aerials, television monitors, a constant power supply and so on. The idea of Electronic Superhighway was executed through a fifty-one channel video installation at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
There has been no recreations of the this instillation. However, this instillation is continuously being preserved and serves educational purposes to students, even being included in the AP Art History syllabus as a notable and respectable form of artwork and art expression.
Currently, this installation is easily accessible via online platforms such as Youtube or even a simple Google search.
References
- Guggenheim. 2012. Arup Barua, Stress, 2012. viewed on 30 April 2020, <https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/artist/nam-june-paik>
- Lister, M, Dovey, J, Giddings, S, Grant, I & Kelly, K 2009, New Media: A Critical Introduction, Routledge, New York.
- Nam June Paik, Electronic Superhighway (1995). Multimedia
- Public Delivery (February 2020), Nam June Paik’s Legendary Electronic Superhighway, viewed on 30 April 2020, <https://publicdelivery.org/nam-june-paik-electronic-superhighway/#What_is_Nam_June_Paik’s_Electronic_Superhighway>
- Ryan T. R. (2018) Nam June Paik, Electronic Superhighway: Continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii (Article) | Khan Academy, viewed on 28 April 2020 <https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/global-contemporary-apah/20th-century-apah/a/paik-electronic-superhighway>
Week 5: Analogue Photography – Henri Cartier Bresson
For me the camera is a sketchbook, an instrument of intuition and spontaneity, the master of the instant which, in visual terms, questions and decides simultaneously. (The Decisive Moment, Cartier Bresson, 2007)
Who is the practitioner and when were they practicing?
The practitioner is French photographer Henri Cartier Bresson (1908-2004).
While he developed a strong fascination with painting early on, particularly with Surrealism, it was only in 1932, after spending a year in the Ivory Coast, he discovered the Leica – his camera of choice after that moment – and began a life-long passion for photography.
What is the title of the photo you have chosen to analyse (can you provide a link)?
The photo I have chosen to analyse is titled Dessau.
With the photo you are examining, when was it produced?
This picture was taken in April 1945, in Germany. But it was only printed in 1946.
How was the photo authored?
This photo was taken with a Leica camera with a 50mm lens, his most preferred camera for his craft. A Leica camera was considered to be unobtrusive, lightweight, small and quiet. This way, photography could become more fluid, informal, intimate: the technology no longer got in the way of telling the story (Naughton, 2014), following quite well with Cartier-Bresson’s philosophy of the ‘decisive moment’.
This photo was taken as part of his task to make a documentary film about French prisoners of war and refugees. This picture shows the interrogation of a Gestapo informer in front of a crowd. While the cameraman filmed the unfolding events, Cartier-Bresson photographed still images of the scene with his Leica from a slightly lower viewpoint.
It it interesting to note how this image embodies Cartier-Bresson’s concept of the ‘decisive moment’, releasing the shutter at the moment his instincts told him the scene before him was in perfect balance and thus, perfectly capturing this one moment which foreshadows the fate of the informer. Their contrasting expressions symbolise the feelings of people on the winning and losing sides in a long and devastating war: the triumphant anger of people finally liberated from the tyranny of Nazi control and the humiliation of the German defeat. According to Clark (2011), subsequent pictures in the sequence give some indication of the informer’s fate, but it’s the first image that captures, in one fleeting moment, everything that needs to be said about the situation.
Cartier-Bresson wrote that his aim was to ‘preserve life in the act of living’, and added: ‘Above all, I craved to seize the whole essence, in the confines of one single photograph, of some situation that was in the process of unrolling itself before my eyes.’ (Clark 2011) And that’s exactly what he achieves in this image.
How was the photo published?
Lister et al (2009) define ‘analogue’ as the “…processes in which one set of physical properties can be stored in another ‘analogous’ physical form. The latter is then subjected to technological and cultural coding that allows the original properties to be, as it were, reconstituted for the audience”.
In analogue practice, photographs cannot be shared, viewed or seen without it being developed. Hence, publication, in this case, is about creating the physical object and manifesting that into a medium, which is this case, was a gelatin sliver print.
Gelatin silver print mediums are usually developed in dark rooms, lit with red light so that you can see what you’re doing without destroying the film. In the dark room, the film moves through trays of developer, stop bath and fixer. This creates a film negative, which can have light shined through it in order to cast the photo onto light sensitive paper which creates a positive print, often hung up to dry with pegs. (Woodford, 2018).
How was the photo distributed?
This photo was first published on pages 33-34 of his book, ‘Images a la Sauvette’, also known as ‘The Decisive Moment’. Subsequently, it was included in the first post-war exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) and also in the slim catalogue accompanying the show. The photograph has also appeared in almost all subsequent retrospective monographs, the most prominent being Cartier-Bresson’s large interim collection of photographs published in 1979 by Delpire under the simple title, Henri Cartier-Bresson photographe. This photo was also showcase in several galleries and exhibitions worldwide, including “Henri Cartier-Bresson: A Decisive Collection”, Beetles and Huxley, London, 2015 and at the New York Museum of Modern Art.
In recent times, this photograph has been digitally published on Magnum Photos Website, a cooperative picture agency that Henri Cartier-Bresson had co-founded. It is also easily accessible with a simple Google search.
References
- Clark, D 2011, DESSAU 1945 (Informer) – Henri Cartier-Bresson- Amateur Photographer, viewed 30 April 2020, <https://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/iconic-images/dessau-1945-informer-henri-cartier-bresson-iconic-photograph-15527>
- Lister, M et al 2009, New Media: A Critical Introduction, Routledge, New York, p.17
- Magnum Photos, n.d, Henri Cartier-Bresson (Photographer Profile), viewed 30 April 2020, <https://www.magnumphotos.com/photographer/henri-cartier-bresson/>
- Met Museum, n.d, viewed 30 April 2020, <https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/265211>
- Naughton, J 2014, Why I Love My Leica, The Guardian, viewed 28 April 2020, <https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/aug/24/why-i-love-my-leica-john-naughton-photography-camera-technology-cartier-bresson>
- Woodford, C 2018, Film Cameras and 35mm Photography, Explain That Stuff, viewed 28 April 2020,<https://www.explainthatstuff.com/how-film-cameras-work.html>