Featured image: Doorways Of The Universe, May 11 2019, “🌧☃️☔️ #DoorwaysOfTheUniverse…“, Instagram, viewed 11 May 2019, <https://www.instagram.com/p/BxTqhWcAj0r/>.

The link for the Instagram video can be found here.

How did you author the video you recorded for upload to Instagram?

I recorded this video using my iPhone 6s’s in-built camera. The camera worked really well, using the rear-facing camera I was able to capture the skyline and the building. The rear-facing camera gave me the ability to see and make sure I was capturing the church in the way that I wanted. The camera is handheld so I had to try and be very steady when filming the pan down the church and then the when I was walking towards the door. I that that for next time I will bring my phone tripod which would help make these sorts of shots easier and smoother. The iPhone doesn’t allow you to film in square format so I had to film it in portrait mode, therefore I stood back and made sure that everything I needed was in the middle of the frame. For my next video it will be good practice and easier to film using the Instagram app so I can judge the video better.

One of Instagram’s constraints is that it doesn’t allow you to use any of the edit tools for videos, only photos. I added Instagram’s Clarendon filter to my video. I found that this enhanced the video by bringing out the colour of the sky and rain in the video adding to the aesthetic of the video. I used the trim feature to shorten my video, especially where it got really shaky as I moved closer to the door at the end of the video. What was cut wasn’t interesting anyway and with Instagram it is better to have shorter videos also. I edited the cover image of my video to have the sky and top of the church in sight, I found that a photo of the door wasn’t good as a cover image and the one I chose had better structure and shapes to the image – it also works to try and get users to engage and watch to find out what happens next. I muted the audio in this clip also, as it wasn’t good quality and took away from the video, the video felt smoother without it.

How did you publish the video you recorded for upload to Instagram?

I recorded another video afterwards as well, where I started from the door, moved out then panned up to the church towards the sky. After watching both I felt that panning down to reveal the door was better – it was more interesting and engaging and made the door the focus of the video by ending on it, as the second video where I panned up felt like it was not revealing anything exciting and that felt unnecessary. This is how my curation process usually goes for all of my content, by positioning myself as the audience (user) and thinking of what I would find more interesting to watch when scrolling through. Like the photo also I did not add a location to my video. With my photo I put a fair length caption and since this was the same location I ended up just using three different emojis, with the similar hashtags,  to convey the temperature and weather in the background of the image:

“🌧☃️☔️..”

I thought that these also matched with the colour scheme of the video, especially at the start, where the filter brings out the storm and blues of the video. I configured the video to play automatically so it users will see it straight away and the video won’t have to rely on them clicking to play to watch and makes the consumption of the video a lot faster.

How did you distribute the video you published on Instagram to other social media services?

I distributed the video onto my Twitter and Facebook pages. With Twitter I can easily share it at the same time I am publishing on Instagram. However, Instagram hashtags are different for Twitter so that is something that might hinder the post when sharing between two very different social media platforms. For my Facebook page I copy and paste the link into the post and add the same caption minus the hashtags. I think one of the constraints of Instagram is that you can’t share the post onto a specific Facebook page and not the account – at least with a personal account. If there is a way to do this, Instagram doesn’t make this clear and it is harder, and maybe something to investigate.

Update

Interestingly, this video has the most views on my page but the least amount of likes of all videos. It also received a comment from another users. This was my second post so it would have been promoted more when you think about Instagram’s algorithms. However, I find that the cover image is intriguing and captivating for those looking for old architectural buildings and the hashtags that I used were the right ones.