http://www.instagram.com/p/Bw0_BwDBBm6/

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

Cat Meffan is a well-known yoga teacher and blogger – with a Youtube channel with over 93,000 subscribers and an Instagram with over 139,000 followers. Initially, she began documenting her transition and journey from an injured gymnast and dancer to a yoga teacher, and began uploading her lifestyle/fitness/yoga videos to Youtube in 2014.

Meffan’s Instagram initially started around 2013, as a way for her to “motivate herself to eat well, try new workouts, and as an excuse to buy new activewear.” However today, Meffan’s Instagram has evolved to producing daily, motivational content (often utilising shorter snippets of her Youtube videos) while also being an advertising tool for her Yoga Retreats. In an interview with the BBC, Meffan said her latest yoga retreat sold out in 5 days after publishing a single Instagram post about it.

 

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

I have chosen to analyse one of Meffan’s latest ‘flow’ videos entitled ‘LET IT BE’ which was published on April 30, 2019.

This sixty second time-lapse video combined with a caption encouraging her followers to be kind to themselves and live in the present is the typical type of content Meffan chooses to exhibit on all her social media platforms; her Instagram, Youtube and Blog. While all three of these social media platforms are different and therefore expect different forms of content, followers would be able to see a level of continuity of Meffan’s content; with her Instagram posts employing the longer-motivational style captions seen in her blog, with a condensed version of her Youtube videos.

You can watch it via the link at the top of this post, or alternatively click here!

 

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

This video was produced on April 30, 2019. However, it should be noted the amount of time Meffan takes in the actual production of each post. According to the same BBC interview mentioned above, Meffan will often:

  • Take more than one hour thinking of and writing her captions
  • Have to use the self-timer function or physically hold her phone
  • Utilise hashtags to help in the distribution of her photo (but more on that later!)

 

How was the photo or video authored?

This video was authored by Meffan’s rear-facing iPhone camera (using the self-timer function), and edited using the app Videoshop.

Living on her own, it is not surprising that Meffan utilises the self-timer function on her iPhone. Given most of her content is from yoga-practice in real life, apps such as Videoshop allow for quick-editing and time-lapse decisions to be made, hence helping Meffan’s content become platform-specific, and watchable for her followers.

 

How was the photo or video published and distributed?

I would argue Meffan’s video was published on her own accord on Instagram at the end of April. However, I believe this video was distributed online through a number of choices made by both Meffan, and her followers. Meffan’s use of a ‘preview’ Instagram story for this post, with a hyperlink to the post itself works to distribute this video to followers who may only have engaged with her stories – and then encouraged to click and watch the video. Meffan’s video also contains a number of hashtags eg. #yogalove #mentalhealth to aid in the distribution process; propelling the video into a sea of like-minded content. Meffan also tags the artist whose song features in the video, again distributing her content to people who follow that artist, but may then choose to explore her video and profile. Meffan’s large Instagram following also means her content can be distributed by followers re-posting her videos on their own Instagram, or sharing the video across other platforms – such as linking it in a tweet. My discussion of this video is only further distributing the video, by providing a link to it, whereby the readers of my blog can choose to also engage and watch the video.

 

F i n a l     t h o u g h t s . . .

“Online video has been transformed from an expensive to distribute media form to one which can be networked, shared, downloaded and re-used with ease.”

– Trinne Bjorkmann Berry, Video Blogging Before Youtube, p.8.

 

In this week’s discussion of online video, my attention was immediately drawn to yoga teacher Cat Meffan, and the way she has seamlessly transitioned many of her Youtube videos into shorter Instagram time-lapses – hence my analysis of her video content. But another thing that came to my mind was Instagram’s boomerang function. To explain, a boomerang uses only one button to take 10 quick photos and then stitches them together into a video. In a matter of seconds, this video is sped up and looped back and fourth.

The result?

A mini gif-like video that captures a moment in time, and then loops this moment back and fourth. While some might use a boomerang for comedic and ironic purposes, many utilise the boomerang function to give a small glimpse into an experience; perhaps a celebration or a reaction to something. Unlike a still image, a boomerang has the potential to engage someone through movement. Engagement through giving us approximately an additional two seconds of movement that a photo doesn’t. Plus the short-nature of these videos do pose an advertising advantage. If a video only lasts a few seconds even when looped, it’s entire content can be played in the ‘preview’ function of the Instagram explore page. Well-played Instagram.

Like many others, I am a dedicated and studious uploader to my Instagram story. And you can bet that the boomerang function, with its easy accessibility (a function we can use without even leaving Instagram!) gets a fair bit of usage.

It’s like Nash said in tutorial, with each platform comes a different perspective and business model for how online content should look. I strongly believe there is now an emphasis and expectation on Instagram to utilise the boomerang function, and this can be observed through the way videos are constantly looped in Instagram.

Although typically posting longer, 60 second time-lapses on her Instagram, Meffan also utilises the boomerang function, particularly on her daily Instagram stories to help engage and promote her upcoming yoga retreats. Their quick, looped and watchable nature means that followers can consume these ads so quickly, it’s like they aren’t there at all.

Author Trine Bjorkmann Berry makes an interesting point in his reading Video Blogging Before Youtube. He suggests there is the development of a medium-specific aesthetic which is both influenced by, and works in conjunction with, the technical restrictions of a platform.

While Instagram does only allow for 60 second videos (excluding IGTV and the ‘add multiple posts’ function), Meffan’s work has thus worked in harmony with these restrictions, and adapted to the platform’s needs – perhaps attributing to her success.

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Sources:

Berry, T. B 2018, ‘Situating Videoblogging’, Institute of Network Cultures, viewed 14 March 2018, pp. 9–22.

Goggin, G 2013 ‘Mobile Video: Spreading Stories with Mobile Media’, in The Routledge Companion to Mobile Media (eds.) Goggin G., Hjorth L., Routledge, New York, pp. 146-156.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-41224943

https://www.instagram.com/catmeffan/