Provide the name of the practitioner, the title of the work, the date when it was made, and a link to the work. 

Beau B. Frank is an artist and photographer. This untitled work was published on March 7, 2018.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BgAzGH-ABqR/

Provide some context on the video by summarising the content, the context of publication, and the audience it targets. 

This particular work by Beau B. Frank is a time-lapse process video of an ocean painting, uploaded to his Instagram account, @beaubfrank in 2018. Beau routinely uploads videos and images of his artwork to his Instagram which has a 104k following. His content mainly targets artists, art fans, and art collectors. Beau also operates his practice through his website and YouTube account.

How was the video made technically? 

While authoring the video, Beau has used a tripod and camera to record in the landscape orientation and has set up each shot in the room so that the painting and his process are visible within the frame. During post-production, jump cuts have been edited into the video to skip past some of the painting processes. He has also sped up some parts of the video to create a time-lapse effect. Beau has added title overlays with his name and website at the beginning and end of the video, and lo-fi music to give it a relaxing atmosphere. The work was uploaded to Instagram in the 1.91:1 aspect ratio which accommodates the landscape format. Before publishing he typed out his caption in order to share the significance behind his art process with his following.

What similarities and differences can you make with other forms of time-based media?  

This Instagram process video follows conventions very similar to YouTube-style vlogs. The lo-fi hip-hop music in the background and footage of watching him drink his tea while painting feels casual and familiar to the viewer when combined with the high-quality resolution of the video. Having the title overlay of his name at the beginning of the video is also similar to YouTubers’ introductions. Beau additionally uploads his work to YouTube so it makes sense he has chosen to edit in this style.

The form of time-lapse video used in this instance to showcase artwork is reminiscent of Old-school art tutorials on YouTube and Vimeo, where creators would upload behind the scenes footage of their work. A pioneer of this style would be the YouTuber Mark Crilley and who earned his popularity by showing videos of sped up artwork and tutorials. Timelapses have especially blown up on Instagram’s explore page in the form of DIY videos and craft content (5-minute crafts for example). Unlike a regular tutorial, there is often no speaking and an accompaniment of music. This differentiates itself from a Podcast/audio-based format as time-lapses very much rely on visuals to demonstrate artistic processes.

What is innovative about this video? 

In class, we discussed the meaning of innovation and its connotations. When describing innovation, the terms ‘useful’, ‘creative’, ‘resourceful’ came up as well as ‘exploring new mediums, materials, and techniques’. All of these ideas relate to the notion of building something unique upon existing work. In the context of Instagram, Beau’s time-lapse video is innovative as it distinguishes itself from the ‘DIY/5 minute crafts’ side of video practice through the professional way his work is filmed. The interesting subject matter (the talent he displays through his artwork), combined with his high production video style of filming is pleasing to the viewer. He is adept at his craft and gets candid about his experience through his caption. What struck me is the length of the caption, which goes into depth about his struggles and artistic drive. This adds meaning to the video and his authenticity as a person as he establishes a relationship with the viewer.