Networked Media Week 9 Video


1. How did you author (the photo or video) you recorded for upload to Instagram?
Admittedly it took me time to adjust to using the video system of Instagram. I’m generally used to platforms that need you to touch the record button to record. While holding down the button to record isn’t unfamiliar to me as I used to use Snapchat frequently in the past, it felt clunky adjusting to this at first. I had to figure out how to hold the phone properly so I could comfortably move about without shaking the camera. Again, I used the iPhone 7 rear-facing camera to keep everything in the same style.

The idea for my account was to create comparisons between the aesthetic appeal in designs that Instagram shows and the practical appeal behind my chosen designs as well. In the case of fairy lights, I am showing the appeal in the design with the string how it’s easy to use and manipulate. At the same time, the video displays the practical design of how they work. As stated in my previous blog post, The video was used to show the practicality and good design of the fairy lights linking to a power source.

I wanted to show more of the fairy lights and reveal more about the design of the string lights. Thus in the previous photo intentionally kept the battery pack hidden. The pattern I wanted for my posts was that the picture would be using my chosen designed object aesthetically. Then the video would show the design of said object. The video pans across my bed headboard, showing the string of lights before showing the source of power for the lights, the battery pack. This created the idea of doing what the photo asked and ‘following where the lights lead to’. I then ended the video by reaching out and turning off the lights myself, leaving the video to end in darkness. I had to do this a few times due to not liking the take multiple times for being too fast, too slow, too shaky, not timed correctly with me turning off the light, etc.

I kept audio on for the video as I liked the sound of the switch turning off the light to signal the end of the video. I see it as sufficient to my point in showing the design of the object rather than with no sound at all. Like before, I used the Paris filter first to conceal the grain of the video and give it a smoother look. I then used the same Valencia filter as I liked the effect it gave the lights, and it allowed the image of the battery pack to be more visible. Again, this was before I had noticed the editing feature to adjust the brightness of the footage.

2.How did you publish (the photo or video) you recorded for upload to Instagram?
The video was published soon after the related photo to the @networked_design page. By this point, I had decided the theme of my page would be to show the picture as aesthetic. The video as more practical, thus the caption of the video would, in turn, relate to the question posed in the photo. This would, therefore, provide a recurring motif of me asking a question and the viewer needing to see the next post to see my answer. Thus the video was captioned ‘Why they lead to a power source of course.’ This emphasised a form of “fantasy vs reality” theme, showing the structure of Instagram where the camera only shows what the photographer wants to see and not the work that goes into the photo or video.

3.How did you distribute (the photo or video) you published on Instagram to other social media services?
I wanted the video to fall into the same categories as the photo that was taken. I tried to use similar tags to keep them both connected; however, I did add my more tags to keep them relevant to the video content. I tagged this video with ‘#lights #light# fairylights #video #powersource and #battery’. I wasn’t fully looking at the photo I had previously posted. Thus in hindsight I did miss a few tags I would have liked to add later. I ended up doing this later upon realizing I was able to go back and edit posts. This feature to Instagram is something I like since I would have hated to go through the hassle of deleting the photo only to reupload it on the same.

I also did as before and uploaded the video to my Tumblr and Twitter accounts made for this project with the relevant tags as needed.

https://networkedesign.tumblr.com/post/618363603467321344/why-they-lead-to-a-power-source-of-course

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