Month: April 2020

Week 8: Networked Video

vannawongLeave a comment

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

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by JASON (大J) (@hunggy9527) on

Jason Chow – a Hong Kong Youtuber who started his career since 2012, mainly uploading videos related to gaming and video blogging.  He was the first Hong Kong Youtuber who achieved 1 million subscribers. Whilst he owns 234 thousand Instagram followers which he utilises the platform to engage and interact with his fans and audiences by sharing his daily livings or some personal opinions through the platform. Jason signed up to Instagram in 2013 and had his first post and the first video on 17 September 2013 and 13 July 2014 respectively. Recently, it is discovered that there are sponsored ads on his Instagram.

What is the title of the photo or video you have chosen to analyse (can you provide a link?)

View this post on Instagram

早餐。

A post shared by JASON (大J) (@hunggy9527) on

From the enclosed caption of the video, it is identified that he titled the video as ‘Breakfast’ (早餐), yet there is no further description made by him about this ‘breakfast’.

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

The video was published on 21 April 2020 at 8 pm. However, it is certain that he produced the video during the daytime as there was sunlight shown in the video clip, though it could not be proved whether he really filmed the video during breakfast time.

How was the photo or video authored? 

From the style of his published photos and videos on Instagram, it can be conjectured that his video was authored by his phone by just holding it on hand, as the video was shown to be a bit shaky. Comparing the video he authored on Youtube, it was higher quality in terms of the video’s stability, resolution and structure, indeed, the videos were being edited in colour saturation, the transition between footages and some animations were added. These elements could not be discovered in his video clips published on Instagram, which gives proof that this video was simply filmed by his phone camera and published to Instagram during his free time. Also, he mainly exploited Instagram as a tool to share his daily livings to his friends, fans and audiences like normal individuals will do, yet, the video was a record of his life that maybe he suddenly wanted to film his ‘breakfast’. So, this video lasted less than one minute that he did not need to put so many efforts as he did on Youtube. This gives evidence of Jason authored this video with a simple act of holding his phone and press the ‘red’ button to record it.

How was the photo or video published? 

Given that smartphones nowadays made people easy to share a video that does not require them to upload the video to the computers before sharing (Halpern, M. and Humphrey L, 2016 p.7), people could simply press the ‘share’ button through their smartphone gallery or archived from Instagram, they can publish the photo. It can assume that Jason also shares his video through this way as it is the most convenient way to share his daily to his followers.

View this post on Instagram

快高長大啦～

A post shared by JASON (大J) (@hunggy9527) on

Comparing the first video he published to Instagram in 2014, the video at that time was in a lower resolution and it was not so common to use a smartphone to record a video. Therefore, from the reflection of the video, it can be seen that he used a camera instead to film then upload it to the computer and transfer it to his phone and publish. He mentioned on his one of his Instagram posts that he did not use Instagram often, so comparing now he did not need a convenient way nor efficient way to share his livings with his followers. In contrast, the ‘breakfast’ was in a higher resolution and the device he had in the present allows him to publish the video in a more convenient way.

How was the photo or video distributed?

Regarding his large group of followers on Instagram, his followers were able to like, comment and share his video, it allows Jason to engage with his followers. Indeed, the nature of Instagram also allows his video to be found in the ‘search’ page when his video had gained a great exposure, this makes his video could be further distributed on the platform. Also, the comment and share function provide a re-distribution of the video by his followers, making his video to be distributed widely on Instagram. However, there are some limitations, as Jason is a Cantonese Youtuber that he is more active and popular among teenagers (24 years old or below) in Hong Kong, which leads that his video re-distribution by Instagram is only limited in Hong Kong and in a younger age group.

Additionally, Jason employs Instagram as a tool and channel to promote his Youtube video by publishing a short scene from his Youtube video, so as to attract more potential viewers to boost up his views of his Youtube video. With his sizable group of followers, it allows his followers to share the short clip of his Youtube video to their friends and share among the platform, thus to enhance the distribution of the promotion.

Contrastingly, Jason’s Instagram posts were ordinary despite he is a celebrity in Hong Kong, he did not put many edits on every post which was like what normal Instagram users will do. Unlike Agnes from last week’s blog, there both are a celebrity but they have extreme differences in the style of using Instagram. In my opinion, I think this is because both of them have a different purpose in using Instagram:

Jason: use it to instantly share his daily livings and opinions, along with his occupation his full-time Youtuber.

Agnes: for sponsored ads (beauty & fashion), image building through sharing her daily livings, as she is a social influencer that managing social media platforms like Instagram is so crucial to her.

References

Halpern, M. and Humphrey L. 2016, ‘Iphoneography as an emergent art world’. New Media and Society, Vol 18, no. 1, pp. 1-8

Week 7: Networked Photography

vannawongLeave a comment

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

Agnes Wong – a social media influencers from Hong Kong, who is actively on Instagram and Youtube whilst gaining 141 thousand Instagram followers. Most of her distributed photo is about her daily livings, food sharing and product advertising with different cosmetic brands. There is not an accurate date of when she started her career as a social influencer, however, it is certain that she becomes familiar in Hong Kong since 2017 (the debut of his brother – Boris Wong, as a Youtuber), as his brother released videos with the frequent appearances of herself that make herself popular. This is the video which makes Agnes becomes well-known.

What is the title of the photo or video you have chosen to analyse (can you provide a link?) 

The photo published on April 8 2020. She did not title this photo but from the caption and location she enclosed, it can be identified the photo is named as ‘Sunny Slide Up Eggs’. The ‘location’ function is provided by Instagram which is designed for users to show where the photo is located. Yet, Agnes used the function to emphasize the theme of its photo. The action from her, broaden the affordances of how users can use the ‘location’ function before publishing the photo on Instagram.

Translation of the caption: “Recording the first success of frying a sunny side up egg in my life. I was afraid to make the egg burnt so I am always doing scrambled egg. However, it doesn’t, all I have to do is to wait for the egg to be cooked in the pan (sorry I just knew it now), it is fine to not flipping it. I don’t even have to wash the spatula. Okay, end of sharing.”

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

The photo is produced on 8 April 2020. (According to the posting date on Instagram) But presumably was produced sometime before the date it was published as it was shown to be edited before authorising it. Despite, it can be done in a short period of time.

How was the photo or video authored?

It is known that her photography is mostly taken and edited by her own, as she sometimes uploaded Instagram story of how she takes the photo. While some of the photos that include advertising component, it can be speculated that is taken either by his brother or the professional photographer provided by the cooperated brand. Agnes had mentioned she often used Adobe Lightroom and Snapseed to edit her photos (Boris, 2019). She also stated that she often adopts a composition that the object is centralized and in vertical. Meanwhile, for the colour arrangement, she recommended choosing tools that have the same colour tones with the background which could enhance the consistency of the whole photo. In ‘Sunny Slide Up Eggs’, it could see she put those techniques into practice, with the object in the centre, the plate is united with the background colour.

Indeed, from the editing perspective, Agnes was demonstrating how to use Snapseed and Lightroom accordingly to edit the lighting, saturation and colouring of the photo (Boris, 2019). This authorising allows her to create the cohesiveness in her Instagram gallery which makes the visualisation more aesthetic in the photo-centric social media, thus connecting her audiences by this visual experience (Palmer, 2014 p249). Yet, the photo was in vintage style which is trying to mimic the lo-fi look with a high saturation of colours and some granularity noise, which emulated a retro outlook (Palmer, 2014 p249).

How was the photo or video published?

   

Instagram photos recently                 Instagram photos in early (2014)

The photo she first published was dated on 20 May 2014, it was a great contrast when comparing to the posts she has in the present. In contrast, her posts in the past were edited without coherence and we can identify that some of her posts were using the filters by Instagram. Perhaps, some of the photos were authored by her Canon camera, but consider that she publish her photos by her smartphone which is fast and convenient (Halpern & Humphrey, 2016 p.2). In the editing apps (Lightroom & Snapseed) she uses, it can be found that users could directly share the authorised and edited photo through the application and archive them into Instagram. Although it is unknown whether Agnes did something like this, it proves that how convenient could users share their photos to social media sites.

Moreover, Agnes was not confined to what is on Instagram, for example, she would not crop the photo into ‘square’ nor label the location which is really a place in reality. Like what she had done in this post, she labels ‘Sunny Slide Up Eggs’ in the location which is literally not a place. Indeed, this is not limited to this post, also in other posts, she used this method to indicate her theme of the photo she published.

Meanwhile, her change in style is a strong example for other Instagram users or digital photograph authors like me to publish photos in their unique ways. The plethora of apps allow manual manipulation to edit photos or add filters before or afterwards (Halpern & Humphrey, 2016 p.8), hence, users could utilise them to develop their own style and establish their own ‘brand’ in the Instagram gallery. Agnes’ work in integrity and collaboration would definitely be an insight for her audiences to imitate or to reference, yet it also provides her the opportunity to make money by Instagram.

How was the photo or video distributed?

Regarding to the nature of Instagram, the photo was distributed to her 141 thousand followers on the platform. Despite of this, the ‘share’ buttons allow her followers to share her photo to their friends who are not her followers, the act of re-distribution broaden the coverage of the photography. Also, the ‘comment’ function could let her audiences to leave a message on her post to interact with her or to tag their friends to check her post. This act also helps Agnes to approach more users. Other than that, some of her posts were sponsored advertisement that cooperated with various beauty brands, she used different kinds of tags and hashtags in those posts that make her reaching a larger proportion of audiences. With the influences of different brands sponsoring her, it boosts up her popularity.

For other Instagram practitioners, it is recommended to exploit the usage hashtags to optimise the visibility of the posts and reaching more audiences. They could pay to use sponsor ads so as to gain more audiences’ view and tailored to specific audiences ranging from gender and age to interests.

References

Boris 2019, ‘Revealing the scene behind of our IG photo? Sharing the detail and fundamental colour editing skills’, 23 April, Youtube, Hong Kong, viewed on 20 April 2020

Halpern, M. and Humphrey L. 2016, ‘Iphoneography as an emergent art world’. New Media and Society, Vol 18, no. 1, pp. 1-8

Palmer, D. 2014, ‘Mobile Photography’, in G Goggin and L Hjorth (eds), The Routledge Companion to Mobile Media, 1st edition, Routledge, Abingdon, UK, pp. 249-255.

Week 6: Analogue Video

vannawongLeave a comment

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

Nam June Paik (July 20, 1932 – January 29, 2006) was a Korean American artist who was known as the pioneer in video art. He was trained as a classical pianist at an early age to pursue his interest in music, performances and composition. After moving to Germany, he met Joseph Beuys and Wolf Vostell (conceptual artists) who inspired him to work in electronic art and become dedicated to being part of the Neo-Dada movement. The movement was inspired by composer John Cage who use everyday sounds and noises in his experimental music. Under such influences, June Paik engaged in artistic practices and made his debut in 1963 at an exhibition named ‘Exposition of Music-Electronic Television’.

What is the title of the photo or video you have chosen to analyse (can you provide a link?) 

Title: Video Flag Z (1986)

credit to:

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

It is created in 1986.

How was the photo or video authored?

The video was authored by Paik in 1986 using 84 Quasar Televisions in grid form with 6-foot high to create an America flag layout. He created two channels, one to feed all the screens on the left top section in stars while another channel is to feed the rest of the screens in stripes. The stars and the stripes changed constantly like dissolving in and out, spinning and flashing. Sometimes, it indistinctly showed news still, rotating statue of Liberty and faces with a morph of US presidents from Harry S. Truman to Bill Clinton and it is endlessly running of ones and zeros. This work was created based on the American flag for three sculptures: Video Flag X, Video Flag Y and Video Flag Z with a symbolic meaning to praise America and the power of learning from youth-oriented culture. Video Flag Z embodied the latest advance of technology during the 80s, including laser disks, automatic switcher and thirteen-inch monitors, this incorporates his belief in technology that gives people a chance to make a shared art and the idea of ‘Global Grove’ as he had predicted in 1973 there will be global satellite TV which allows people to switch to any TV station in the world (Tate 2019).

How was the photo or video published?

The video was published as the analogue electronic signals to create the flash and transition of image on the monitors. Indeed, analogue video and television are highly reliant on physical objects in the world (Lister et al, 2009, p. 19), like cables, fibres, television monitors, electricity supply etc. This means Paik had to ensure all the points were interfering with the signal so to project the effects in the video.

Unfortunately, there are limited sources to show whether the videos had been shown in other analogue television. However, it is certain that this video was shown on 84 Quasar monitors in the art galleries or exhibitions in the past. Yet, the screen of the Video Flag Z went dark since the 2000s and Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) conservator John Hirx stated that they could not find replacement anymore subsequent to the closure of Quasar manufacturing. The artwork pieces are currently stored in the museum’s warehouse. This situation applies to other avant-garde works as they are videos, laser-discs and technology-based, they are plagued with failing disk drives, burned-out bulbs, scorched wires etc (Pham 2004) when times went by. The video art involves various sectors to conserve, unlike the analogue photography that only required several chemicals and designated environment to maintain it.

How was the photo or video distributed?

As known that Video Flag Z was shown in Los Angeles Country Museum of Art from 1986 till the 2000s. Regrettably, people could not see its authentic anymore due to the dissipation of time, however, there are still access via Youtube because of visitors and fans of Paik recorded the art piece while they are visiting the gallery and upload it online. Besides, the image of it could be found in the museum sites.

References

Lister, M et al 2009, New Media: A Critical Introduction, Routledge, New York, p16-21

Pham, A. 2004, Art That Goes on the Blink, Los Angeles Times, viewed on 7 April 2020

Tate, 2019, 5 Times Artist Nam June Paik Predicted the Future | Tate, Youtube, 20 December, Tate, viewed on 7 April 2020

Week 5: The Analogue photography

vannawongLeave a comment

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

Henri Cartier-Bresson (22 August 1908 – 3 August 2004), a French photographer. He was inspired by a 1920 photograph of 3 naked boys by a Hungarian photojournalist, Martin Munkacsi.  Therefore, he started to take up photography seriously from the early 1930s and retired from photography in the 1970s.

credit to:

What is the title of the photo or video you have chosen to analyse (can you provide a link?)

‘Behind the Gare Saint-Lazare’. Click here for the photograph.

credit to:

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

It was produced in 1932 in Paris.

How was the photo or video authored?

Henri Cartier-Bresson used a Leica camera with 35mm film tape to create this black-and-white photo which he was also well-known for this. The photo was created at the very beginning of his photography career, yet he used this mobile camera to capture with a split-second shutter speed. The photo was taken behind a train station called Gare Saint-Lazare in Paris with a small construction area next to it and created a slightly flooded area. There was a man leaping on the puddle, who was just a second before his heel touched the water and ruined the perfect reflection. When Cartier-Bresson passed by and stuck his lens through the fence made up of wooden slats as he could (Harris and Zucker, 2012). Thus, it happened to have this photo created. Mentioned in his documentary (Analogish, 2017), that photographers have to be sensitive and aware of the surroundings, as the moment to press the shutter is just an instant of time.

The photograph’s particular exposure and the geometry were worth to investigate. He was well-known in the geometry of the photograph as he thought it creates a strong relationship with lines and shapes (Analogish 2017). So, in this image, there were elements matching the geometry forms, like the reflection from the man’s leap and the fence in the puddle, the rooftop with steady form, the arching forms on the foreground and some advertisements in the background. Therefore, the photograph snapshot a movement and yet with stability in it which create a balance. Also, it reflected the urban environment at the same time.

The image embodies Cartier-Bresson’s concept of the ‘decisive moment’, which is when the snapshot is immediate instantly captured and reflect the time, place and culture. The moment in the image was captured instantly within a fraction of second if not the man would step into the puddle and ruined the scene.

How was the photo or video published?

Unfortunately, there is little information offered on where the composition went after Cartier-Bresson’s creation. However, from MOMA (2020), it is given that the image was created in 1932 and printed in the 1950s with the medium of Gelatin silver print which was developed in the darkroom. The film had to wash with chemicals which are sensitive to lights, then it produces a film negative which is the black is produced to white, vice versa. This allows light could go through it and cast it into the light-sensitive paper to create the positive print. (Asto and Kayo, 2019).

Indeed, there were limitations to publish the image at that age. Tools and chemicals to produce the image were expensive, besides there were limited physical spaces such as printed magazines and newspaper. To be published by the news agencies, the image had to go through several examinations, this is absolutely distinct when compared to the accessibility in present days. Besides, photographs can’t be seen before print, which makes film photographing is so much excited.

Back to 1950s, when Cartier-Bresson printed the image as a preliminary based, he was deeply into the exposure and the geometry illustrated in the photo and the instant moment captured in the image (Harris and Zucker, 2012). As the moment was captured while the man was in the air before he landed on the puddle, the reflection was flawlessly structured, hence, the image was chosen to be one of the pieces in his ‘A Decisive Collection’. Additionally, he objected any post-editing or enhancement like cropping and lighting in his photo which interferes the originality of the photo. Therefore, it is believed that his photo could authentically reflect the actual environment or situation at that moment.

How was the photo or video distributed?

Though it is not available to specifically tell the distribution time and place of this piece of work. However, Cartier-Bresson had held various exhibitions throughout his career since 1933, so, it is believed that this art piece was once distributed in his exhibition. Indeed, the image was one of the photographs in his ‘A Decisive Collection’ which was familiar and popular that would be seen in different art galleries and exhibitions worldwide, including the exhibition ‘Henri Cartier-Bresson: A Decisive Collection’ held in Beetles+Huxley, London in 2015 and  ‘Henri Cartier-Bresson: THE MAN, THE IMAGE & THE WORLD’, Queensland in 2011. Fans and photography lovers would surely visit the galleries and exhibitions for Cartier-Bresson’s artworks.

Of course, with the advanced of technology, the image is available online such as Pinterest, Google search and also can be viewed in the Magnum Photos website, which was co-founded by Henri Cartier-Bresson. Consequently, there are so much accesses to Cartier-Bresson’s works nowadays where the distribution is broader than the past.

Reference

Analogish, 2017, Henri Cartier-Bresson – The Decisive Moment, video, Vimeo, Germany, viewed on 2 April 2020

Asto, J.C. and Kayo, T., 2019, A Beginner’s Guide to Film Photography, Analog Cafe, blog, viewed on 2 April 2o20

Harris, B. and Zucker, Z., 2012, Cartier-Bresson, Behind the Gare St. Lazare, video, Khan Academy, viewed on 2 April 2020

Moma 2020, Henri Cartier-Bresson Behind the Gare St. Lazare 1932, sound recording, MOMA, viewed on 2 April 2020

Times 100 Photo 2020, Henri Cartier-Bresson: Behind the Gare Saint-Lazare-photo, Times 100 Photo, viewed on 2 April 2020