Video

This video was taken on the 5th or 6th floor of building 10 at RMIT University, with the door connecting the library entrance and common rooms to extra common rooms and classrooms.

Authoring 

This video was recorded around 4 meters away from the doorway that is framed above. Whilst roaming with the intention to find a glass doorway to film, I stumbled upon this walkway and readied the rear camera of my Samsung S9+ and the Instagram app to record a few seconds. I waited for people to not be walking through the main section (for a clear and naturally shadowed frame, as well as minimizing embarrassment) and captured the doorway. Unlike my previous videos, this series of moving images is not a clean cut, and has a slight millisecond cut around the start. This is because my finger slipped, and I only realised now!

I then proceeded to edit the video immediately after capturing, as I was in a rush for my next class. I used the thematic Inkwell filter, bringing its intensity down between 60 and 80 %. However, the footage looks more saturated compared to previous posts.

Publishing

After editing the image, I played around with vague and ambiguous titles, settling on “Divide”, based on the physical divide between the doorway in the foreground and the doorway in the background. This post was the 4th video uploaded to the Instagram account for my Assignment 3 and the 8th post overall.

This was not my first attempt to video the doorway. The first few attempts were very still, with only my shaky hands being noticeable movement. I then waited like a creep, for someone to walk around in the background, and then captured what we have above.

Furthermore, the image was location tagged at RMIT University before posting.

Distributing

The post followed the same 5-period separation between the title and the hashtags, which all followed the same, nuanced and simplified format of the previous posts. Consistently hashtagging #doors, #rmituniversity and #desaturated seems to gain traction beyond my limited follower group, attracting the engagement of 7 views and 8 likes (very confused by this).

This image was also shared to my external Twitter and Tumblr accounts, which retain the same hashtags. Again, as stated in previous posts, I am yet to see a significant influence from either of these platforms.

Picture 1

This picture was taken after leaving one of my media studio classes, on my way out to Swanston St to catch the trams. It is of the big motor operated doors that divide the outside courtyard area from buildings 10 and 12 of RMIT University

Picture 2

This image was captured near the elevators on the fourth floor of building 10, of the two big push and pull doors that nicely segment the areas between the access to other levels and the cafes.

Authoring 

The first image was taken whilst standing directly in the middle of the big motorised doors, which just happened to be opening at the time I strolled past this are of the university. I quickly opened up my Samsung S9+, opened Instagram and switched to my Assignment 3 account via the quick switch tab in the top left-hand corner of the profile bubble. From there, I tried to centre the door frame in the middle of the square dimensions Instagram provides, with breathing room for the light to seep into the frame. Just as I was about to snap a picture using my rear-facing camera on the capture tab of Instagram, a fellow passerby walked into frame. However, whilst I had feared this would have ruined the image, it actually worked out really well, and after editing the image with a 60 to 80 % saturated Inkwell filter, I feel like the product came out almost cinematic.

The second image is a lot less meaningful or interesting. Whilst waiting for the elevators, I turned to my left to see these two big physically operated glass doors, with a shopfront sign sticking out in the background. I was in need of a second image for the third batch of posts to the Instagram account, so I waited until the door was clear, and took the image using my Samsung S9+’s rear camera through the Instagram app. I was really happy with the composition of the shot, and after desaturating the photo with the Inkwell filter, it made the ‘cafe’ sign pop out like a beacon of light (which is pretty unreadable in the screen grab above)

Publishing

The first photo is titled more alongside the overarching theme of minimalism and simplicity, “Passage”. This felt fitting due to the huge overarching doorway allowing what is such a small being in comparison to pass through, felt very Lord of the Rings-esc. This was my 4th photo uploaded to this Instagram account and the 7th post overall.

The second photo follows a previous and less prominent trend of titling the works by their literal features, such as the previously posted “Reflective Slide”. In this case, the post is titled ‘Cafe’, due to the sneaky inclusion of the RMIT coffee house sign. This was the 5th image uploaded to the ‘watch_the_doors’ account, and the 9th and most recent post at the time of writing.

Both of these images were my first choices for uploads once they inspired me, and only took one take. Furthermore, they were both tagged at RMIT University before posting.

Distributing

Both images use the same 5 period spacing between their titles and hashtags. Furthermore, both posts use almost identical hashtags to distribute the post further than my 4 followers, with the essential #doors, #city and #melbourne. The first post does include a new hashtag, #open, due to its wide-open door frame.

The first picture has 7 likes, and the second one has 6. This is a drop in engagement compared to my previous video and image content. Both images and hashtags were externally shared to my  Twitter and Tumblr accounts.

Video 1

This was taken after leaving my Tuesday 8:30 am class for Networked Media, whilst travelling to the Swanston St library to do some editing. This is the burrito shop in the courtyard area.

Video 2

This was taken later that day when I was leaving the library to go to study outside and eat some lunch. This is the revolving doors near that same burrito shop in the courtyard.

Authoring

To take the first video, I stood roughly about a meter away from the entrance of the burrito store (which was barely open, and people were quite confused by my presence). I walked a few steps forward to trigger the motion sensors of the door, waited until the door was fully opened and stepped back and recorded as the door closed fully. My hands are a bit shaky, but I tried to keep the door frame around the edges of the square Instagram format my Samsung S9+’s rear camera gave me whilst using the applications camera feature, as with all other posts.

In the second video, the rotating door rotates without a prompt from a human, so I stood about 2 meters away from it, allowing to capture the entrance and exit in the full frame dimensions the application gave to me. I am really happy with this framing, and personally think it looks the best in the still thumbnail version you see before the video autoplays, just like the video before it.

Both videos are edited the same way, with the Inkwell filter being reduced to around 60-80 % to give the moving images a desaturated effect. Furthermore, I kept the original audio from both clips. From there, they are almost ready to post.

Publishing

The first video takes a different approach to giving a title, less literal. “Slow It Down” felt like a more poetic name, reflecting the slow-moving door and how we should all stop and appreciate the little things in life. This was the second video posted to this Instagram and the fourth post overall.

The second video is titled “In Rotation”, which is the name of a rap song by Jay Rock, but also, what the door does in the video, spinning around endlessly in a 360-degree rotation.  This is the third video posted to my Assignment 3 Instagram, and the sixth post overall

Both were location tagged at RMIT University before uploading.

Distributing

For the first video, I used the same spacing format and hashtagged it with the classic #doors and #melbourne, and started hashtagging the uni with #rmituniversity. This post, at the time of writing, received 11 views and 11 likes, the most on this account to date, with one nice (and real) comment.

The second post uses the same hashtags and spacing as previously mentioned, but includes some context-specific ones such as #loop to try and bring in new users to engage. However, this is my lowest engagement to date, with the post having only 9 views and 6 likes as of writing this.

Both videos were shared to my personal Twitter and Tumblr accounts, which carries over all hashtags for even more external reach. As of yet, I am unable to see any direct overlap between the application’s users.

Picture

This picture was inspired by walking from one of my classes to the library, where I noticed that the two sliding doors that create an airlock of sorts between building 12 and 10 of RMIT University looked ‘cool’.

Authoring

To capture this image, I rushed through both doorways from one side to the other, and inconveniently stood in the centre of the walkway. I waited for the first door (pictured in the back) to be almost closed as the door I stood in front of (pictured at the front) started to close.  I used my Samsung S9+’s rear-facing camera to capture the moment using the photo tool on Instagram, making the process seamless. From there, I did the usual, adjusted the Inkwell filter to somewhere around 60 and 80 %, giving it a desaturated look, and was almost ready to post.

Publishing 

As with all my other posts to this Instagram account, I went with a minimalist and possibly ‘douchey’ title, “One Door Opens, One Door Closes”, which I meant literally, but I’m more than happy to have people read into it. Furthermore, I spaced the hashtags out with 5 periods. This is my third picture uploaded to the account, but my fifth post overall. I realised that the “Picture, Video, Picture” grid format wasn’t going to work aesthetically unless I went “Video, Picture, Video” too.

I had intended to take a picture for the Instagram account between this class and some quality study time at the library, but this was my second attempt for an image, as some similar sliding doors down the stairs didn’t end up looking as nice, and therefore, deleted the image. I tagged the image at RMIT University before I uploaded.

Distribution

I kept to a similar style of hashtagging as prior posts, #doors, #desaturated etc. In addition, this newer post has some more context-specific (and again, possibly ‘douchey’) hashtags such as #duality.  This was also my first week of extending the distribution of the posts, sharing them to both my personal Twitter and Tumblr.

Both do not have massive followings, but the like ratio has drastically changed, with this current image, and at the time of writing has 11 likes, and 1 comment. However, the comment is a site trying to get me to pay them money to repost my picture, but it looks good for the rep!

From the second batch of content onwards, some of my friends found this account, and started to follow and like my content (with no influence by me).

Video

This video was taken whilst waiting for my tram home outside building 80 of RMIT University. I liked the slow, methodical slide of the sliding door, and how it was both see-through and slightly reflective, fitting the theme of the account

Authoring 

I walked up to the sliding door of the building, standing about a meter away as to not block both the doorway or the footpath it entered out onto. From there, I waited for the door to open, and began to take a clean, no break clip of people walking in through the door, with the intention of stopping recording once the door had fully closed. I used the back camera of my Samsung S9+, captured through the direct video selection of the ‘post’ screen, so the process of posting the video to Instagram was the most convenient.

From there, I cemented my colour pallet theme and applied a 60-80 % saturated ‘Inkwell’ filter to the video, giving it a desaturated look. I kept the original audio from the video, as I felt like it added a soundscape to the piece.

Publishing

I continued with the titling theme of the image before this, going for the literal title ‘Reflecting Slide’, because of the reflection the door creates and the motion of which it travels. I then used 5 spaced out periods to isolate the title from the hashtags.

This was the second post to the Instagram account, which began the theme of ‘Image, Video, Image’, which I plan to continue throughout the assignment.  I tagged the location as Melbourne City Centre, even though it was taken at RMIT, purely because it was the first option to pop up.

Distribution

I continued with the abundance of ‘basic’ and obvious hashtags to again, reach further than my at the time 0 fan base. These included the typical #doors, #desaturated and #melbourne. Furthermore, I added some video specific ones, such as #video, and some content specific ones, such as #reflections. As of writing, this video has 7 likes.

This first week’s batch did not include any further distribution, to see the effects it has on engagement, which included this video.

Picture 1 

This is the first image I posted, which started the theme of this part of Assignment 3. After leaving a lecture for Networked Media, I noticed this glass door, with an opaque gradient created from the light. The different levels of opacity intrigued me, and I snapped a picture of it.

Picture 2

This was the second image I took for my Instagram account, and the third post I made to it. I was traming home along Lygon street and decided that the tram doors applied to both the somewhat see-through and urban aesthetic my account was going for, and decided to snap a picture from my seat

Authoring

For the first image, I lined myself up towards the door, opening the Instagram application, and snapping the picture directly from the camera feature in the post-selection screen, where you have a choice between ‘Gallery’, ‘Camera’, and ‘Video’. I chose to do this to make these images and videos the most ‘Instagram based’ they could be, with everything being done in house. I used the back facing camera of my Samsung S9+, converted through the aforementioned camera software in the Instagram app. I tried to line the borders of the door slightly in the borders of the square of Instagram’s portrait mode dimensions.

For the second image, I captured it from the seat of the tram I was sitting on, leaning slightly over to try and align the beams of the motorised door somewhat in the centre (doesn’t seem to have worked). I again used my Samsung S9+’s back camera through the camera feature of Instagram.

From there, I applied the ‘Inkwell’ filter in the Instagram application but reduced it’s intensity to around 60-80%, giving it a desaturated feel.  No other adjustments were made to the images from there.

Publishing

I decided I wanted to title the images in a similar, vague theme. The first one was titled ‘Opaque’ because of how the door’s opacity doesn’t allow you to see clearly through it. The second image was titled ‘Push and Pull’ due to the way the tram doors operate, seemingly pushing and pulling against their gears. I then, as with all other pictures to come, spaced out 5 periods before adding my hashtags.

These images were captured in one take and were the only images I had in mind at the time. I tagged the location of RMIT University for the first, and Brunswick East for the second.

Distribution

For the first image, I used a various abundance of hashtags to distribute my images further than my (at the time) 0 follower fanbase. I decided to go vague, using things like #doors and #desaturated to try and capture an artistic and strange market. Furthermore, I also used more basic and commonly used hashtags such as #melbourne, for broad distribution.

For the second image,  I used the same, vague and artsy hashtags as the previous post, but got a little more specific, such as addressing the tram itself with #publictransport and #tram

Doing this seems to have garnered me a large number of likes compared to what I was respected, with the time of this post, both pictures having over 5 likes each. I decided not to share both these images, or the first video post, to other social media sites, to determine if the external distribution would have any effect on the engagement of the profile and their retrospective images.