Instagram: @syphcopath
Instead of continues exploring the charactersitics that we chose in the 1st project. We selected two alternative characteristics and a new platform to conduct our 2nd project. Those two characteristics that we chose for this project are portable and multimedia.
As the platform of this project is Instagram, an social app, which could be used either on computer or mobile phone, but mobile phone mainly. Hence, it is considered that the project will be as portable as mobile phone due to the fact that it can be easily access whenever and wherever via phones. Every posts and Instagram story highlights in our project can be viewed freely without restraints.
Also, because of the multiple media features, we tried to combine different types of art works into our project, such as photographs, videos and sound. Thus, our project is defined as a conceptual thriller project consists of a series of images, sounds and clips.
For example, there is a post that a piece of sound is heard at first followed up with a short video that tells the uncompleted story related to the sound. Finally, the full version of story is released with a longer video.
There are some things that I learned from the practise of this project.
In terms of the online screen characteristics, the existence of modularity and multimedia in our project are apparent.
To be specific, in regarded to modularity, parts remain parts. Every post tells an independent story, but they can also form a mood or even a narrative. This can be seen in our project as every post has its own meaning, however, they also form a mysterious thriller mood together.
It is found that online screen project contains more than 2 online characteristics, which is also applied to our project. Also, because of these characteristics, the creation, distribution and exhibition of media will be more easier. Owing to it is more simple and convenient to create and display media. For example, it is not necessary to create a narrative or storyline in online media as everything remain fragments. There is more freedom and lower budget to be creative, experimental, and produce unrelated contents. Media prodcution becomes more accessible and affordable.
However, there is a shortcoming in relation to our platform, Instagram, in online media, which is transcoding.
After we using Instagram as our platform, we found out there is bug for this app related to the uploading of multimedia works. We tried to upload the a piece of sound, a picture and some videos on a same post, nevertheless, it is found out that the size/frame of picture is not the same whit video. If we tried to upload a video after a photo, the video will be automatically enlarge, which is annoying as it interrupts the origin orders of elements in our posts. Hence, we had to divided our post into photo post and video post. What is more, the quality of our work, especially video, is reduced. This has been discussed at the class. Owing to the online environment, the quality of media cannot be asked to be the same as traditional screen media. The media practitioners have to compromise the reduction in quality. It is also can be noticeable in our project. The videos that uploaded on Instagram was compressed, hence the quality of video is not as good as we saw on computer.
We attempts to be creative and combine as many art forms as we can as some posts or examples online, however, it does not work out very well in some extent.
Firstly, because of the Instagram bug, we are unable to combine our images and videos on a same post.
Secondly, the combinations of still image, video, still image and video form is not effective. Because I attempted to intercut my video with images. Nevertheless, it brought no extra meanings to our project. It was not as effective as I thought.
Lastly, I failed to experiment the silent mode with subtitles as our project is thriller concept. It will be bleak if there is no sound effect.
After conducting our project, there are some questions remained:
“Today we are in the middle of a new media revolution— the shift of all culture to computer-mediated forms of production, distribution, and communication.” – Manovich (2001)
It is stated that the new media differs from the traditional form as it consists of sets of numbers stored in computer, which is considered as materiality. A variety of art forms are produced, distributed and communicated through a series of numbers/codes/data instead of the works itself.
The materiality also applies to our project. For example, a edited video file was saved and stored in school’s computer at first. However, for continuous improvements in editing, it was sent to our personal laptop via airdrop later on.
According to Manovich (2001), there are some key characteristics in terms of the identification of media:
Among these, modularity and automation will be discussed in detail specifically.
Modularity
“fractal structure of new media.” – Manovich (2001)
“Media elements, be they images, sounds, shapes, or behaviors, are represented as collections of discrete samples (pixels, polygons, voxels, characters, scripts). These elements are assembled into larger-scale objects but continue to maintain their separate identities. The objects themselves can be combined into even larger ob- jects—again, without losing their independence.” – Manovich (2001)
It is suggested that online media productions can function together officially and make sense individually at the same time. Everything online remain separated/parts/fragments, which adheres to our studio title. Also, it is mentioned to focus on individual part rather than thinking about how a part contributes to a whole. This statement connects with our project because of that our project is made up of a series of sounds, images and videos. Every posts can be considered as independent stories, however, they can also be connected to create a mysterious/suspenseful mood without a completed narrative in some extent.
Automation
“The numerical coding of media (principle 1) and the modular structure of a media object (principle 2) allow for the automation of many operations involved in media creation, manipulation, and access.” – Manovich (2001)
The development of technology enables computer to serve us. It is more convenient for beginners to create, manipulate and access media. As our project consists of some photographs, it is necessary to use Photoshop or other similar softwares to beautify those photos. Nevertheless, both of us are beginners of Photoshop. Hence, it is helpful for us to use auto function in Photoshop, auto exposure in particular, to correct our images.
In conclusion, the emerge of new media and advancement in technology make media more accessible, diverse, and convenient in regard to various relevant processes, such as production, distribution, communication and manipulation.
Reference:
Manovich, Lev. The Language of New Media. The MIT Press, 2001. pp. 18-31
Manovich, Lev. The Language of New Media. The MIT Press, 2001. pp. 32-48
There are also some music videos that I found interesting on YouTube.
The way of how the storylines are combined and the use of split screen could be applied into our project.
The music video portrays the stories of two protagonists (from different perspectives) and shows it up at the same time by using split screen.
This music video mainly exhibits the real world life and the expectation of the male protagonist by using split screen intersecting with the singer performance.
These video enhances the idea of using the split screen in our project with the variation of showing only one perspective/detail of a scene at a time for leaving more suspense for the viewers.
This music video has 3 versions in total which released gradually.
The 1rd one is the female protagonist’s gaze/perspective from right hand side., which was released at first.
The 2rd one is the male protagonist’s gaze/perspective from let hand side, which was uploaded continuously.
The last/final one combines 2 sides and shows the entire and completed story, which was released lastly.
This videos inspires me of showing only parts/fragments of the story at first and reveals the whole story later on. Also, we consider using square frame or non-standard wide frame in our project.
I experienced a fiction project called Salt.
It is imitates the process of swimming by pressing the space bar in keyboard while listening to the designed music. As the user keeps pressing, the story will continue with words showing on the screen. However, once the user stops, there would be an alternative version of the story.
Here are some advantages that I found out from experiencing the project:
However, there is also a problem existed in my opinion, which is the storytelling pace is a little bit slow. Although the story outline and the storytelling form draw my attention and I am curious about the story, I did not end up with knowing the ending of this story due to the slow speed.
Hence, it would be concluded that the curiosity oriented creative form is important for an online media project. Nevertheless, it is also vital to keep in a certain degree. In other words, it is crucial to keep the user’s curiosity and leave an suspense, but it is also significant to do not use up/destroy them. The clues should be provided to the users in a appropriate time in order to their continuous experience.
Regarding to our project, it is essential to leave a suspense to viewers but give them clues at the same time. Also, in terms of interaction, it might be effective to leave some questions to viewers on Instagram Story.
There are some inspirations and reconsiderations about our project after peer’s share of a non-fictional project called Seven Digital Deadly Sins.
There are categorisations and titles for each stories or narratives.
As the storyline is nonlinear and everyone has their own short stories, it is reasonable to present each narratives or persons by fragments (shot clips) instead of putting them together and forming a story.
This project gives me the idea of naming each short individual video that we make.
In addition to that, it shows up the unique feature that exits in online screen media as viewers has the freedom to choose the contents that they like to know about. It is different from the TV series and film owing to they are linear dominantly, expect for skipping or speeding up, otherwise, it would be difficult for audiences to follow only one storyline/strand.
Non-Fiction vs Fiction
It is found that they are more non-fictional projects presented in online screen space comparing with fictional works. Hence, it arouse the thinkings and discussion about the reasons why and online screen media content.
The online screen projects are usually in parts/fragments. There are less continuous stories.
Non-fictional project could be easily divided into or presented as parts. For example, in documentary, it is difficult for the director to determine what the social actor is going to say, which is an open environment. Sometimes, pieces of information or stories do not fit into each other. Hence, it would be easier to present as fragments than as a whole. Also, there might be remaining footages that cannot be shown on traditional screen due to the limitation of time. However, it could be fully exhibited online as those contents can be presented as individual possibly relevant parts that are categorised or tag accordingly without time restriction. The viewers have the choice to choose the contents that they would like to approach. What is more, in terms of the interactivity. Non-Fictional project enables better interaction with viewers due to the authenticity of the content and open structure of the story.
Nevertheless, regarding the fictional project, there are some restrains.
The story itself builds up in a new and precisely designed world which does not exist in reality. It is a relatively closed environment with its own operating rule created by the writer/director. Every plot is elaborately constructed and related with one another. Hence, it is hard to cut the story into pieces. Furthermore, there would be no space for the audiences to participate in or engage with in online screen. Otherwise, numerous new storyline would be created and the original world would fracture. Hence, there is a lack of interactivity for fictional project due to its limitation of content.
As our project is fictional, it would be a challenge for us to keep the content in parts and interactive.
Here are some of our solutions:
is an online interactive documentary that documents the production of the musician J.Views‘s album 401 days
It aims to unfold the elements of creating songs and communicate with his listeners during the process. The Project demonstrates some characteristics of online screen media, such as unregulated length, multiple media, interactive and episodic form. For example, in terms of multimedia, there are several art forms are combined into this project for allowing viewers to look into J.Views‘s creation of the album, for instance, video, audio and photography.
What is more, there are 3 different ways of experiencing this production process, which are timeline, tracks and the DNA. Take tracks as an example, the accomplishment processes of every single track from his album are shown from inspirations, production to final product by using personal perspective (POV).
In this project, every pieces of various art forms are composed to produce a final product, which relates with my individual research coincidentally about Instagram and has an impact on my group project.
It is found that there are mixes of diverse art forms presented on Instagram posts. Here are some posts that I thought appealing from Margaret Zhang (@margaret__zhang):
Post 1:the combination of still image with moving video as background.
Post 2:the mix of photos and videos on the same post.
Post 3: split screen: the division of one post into two fragments for showing different angles and the silence of the video with subtitles for convenient glancing.
These posts are not merely single art form posts, instead, it incopporates with a variety of art forms to create an innovative online screen media experience, which is similar to The DNA Project to some extent. In terms of the characteristics, it satisfies the multimedia form, unregulated length, mobile, tag, commenting and sharing.
After experiencing and analysing this 2 project, I have an inspiration of creating an multimedia form project on Instagram. There would be a series of posts consists of either a single art form or a mix of different art forms, for example, there is only a piece of music on 1st post, a mix of photos and short clips on 2nd post, etc.
To be continued…