How did you author (the photo or video) you recorded for upload to Instagram?
I authored this photo on my iPhone 6S’s rear-facing camera and the camera function built into the Instagram app. This video was taken on my train ride home. Throughout the train ride, I was brainstorming ideas for my video, my photo having already been completed. Originally I intended to get out of my seat well before my stop (Berwick) and film the train doors opening. Then, using the start-stop feature, I planned to stop the video, step outside onto the platform, then film the doors closing, all from a very neutral angle with the doors flat and centre.
It didn’t work out that way. I realised how illogical it would be to try and line up a photo at one of the busiest stops and also get off the train before the doors closed. So instead, at the stop before mine (Narre Warren), I simply twisted around in my seat, leaned backwards to avoid getting the lady next to me in the shot, and simply filmed the train doors as they closed. No stop-start. Just me taking a spontaneous video.
I was quite disappointed with the lack of editing features available for video. I applied a black and white filter (‘Moon’ I believe), and set it to 80 strength, so it was almost black and white but not quite.
Rather boringly, I used the ‘Cover’ feature but selected the first frame as my thumbnail.
If you watch the video at the link above, you’ll notice the audio is muted.
That was unintentional. I wanted to record the audio, the loud beeping of the train doors as they closed, yet in my exploratory button-pressing during editing, I must’ve accidentally muted it. I mean, I guess it kind of works with the black and white filter?
The biggest differences in authoring this video, compared to just taking a photo on the iPhone Camera app was the fact I had to hold down the button to take a video, similar to Snapchat. The start-stop feature looked incredibly intriguing so I will figure out a way to incorporate it into future posts.
How did you publish (the photo or video) you recorded for upload to Instagram?
Though I had ideas in mind prior to authoring this video, I ended up taking only one video and posting it straight away. As I mentioned in my photography post, I wanted to get the experience Instagram and the network affords: taking a photo on the go and posting it almost instantaneously.
Simone Bramante geotagged his photos in Week 7, so I decided to geotag this too. I’m mildly annoyed by the fact ‘railway station’ isn’t capitalised.
Like for my photo, I wanted my captions to be short but quirky. In my caption, I put what I consider to be the title of this work: “Now arriving at–Narre Warren.” Why did I choose this? I feel like it’s a relatable line and it prefaces the video as often you’ll hear this phrase well before the train stops and the doors open. Like with my photo, I added hashtags for the course name, uni, subject matter and then one silly one detailing my thoughts. I want to continue this trend through all my photos and videos, always with one rambly hashtag. A hashtag is intended to be a tag, something short and universal, but I thoroughly enjoy subverting that, as many others have done, with lengthy, lengthy hashtags.
How did you distribute (the photo or video) you published on Instagram to other social media services?
From Instagram, I shared this photo to my personal Facebook with a very brief comment: “A video for that same uni class.” Since I already posted my photo to Facebook explaining the sudden influx of Instagram shares, I opted for a short succinct post.
For my second social media service, I posted to my book-related long-forgotten Twitter. I tweeted: “My Week 9 Instagram video for a uni class. https://www.instagram.com/p/Bn3Fon9gou5/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet …” It was only now, after I posted both my photo and video to Twitter, that I realised Twitter didn’t display a preview of the photo/video like I assumed it would.
So now I just have two super boring tweets with links. I also can’t find the button to edit my tweets and it’s nearly midnight so before I turn into a pumpkin I better go write my two blog posts for another class.
These posts (both here and on Instagram) will get better, I promise.