Author: sandrakrol

Video can be found at https://www.instagram.com/p/BpEZY_RlG5q/?taken-by=nothing__but__doors)

1. How did you author (the photo or video) you recorded for upload to Instagram?

This video was easy to film due to the handheld nature of the smartphone. With this type of camera it gives a first person point of view to this situation I was trying to capture. The recording required me to start inside a building, walk through a door and walk outside into a carpark to capture the shot. I opted for a portrait style video to make it seems like it wasn’t a structured and planned video as it is meant to portray a day-to-day issue some people have. Therefore in order to fulfil this, I think a portrait style video is more appropriate. I wanted to keep this video raw and unlike all my other posts, I did not add any filters or make any adjustments whatsoever. Which seems very foreign to me personally. I think you get into the habit of adding filters to everything across different social media platforms as they all give you the option to. So in a way it was refreshing not having to worry about making it “look good”. I recorded the shot in one continuous clip as I felt that would enhance the rawness I was going for. I also left the audio on for the same reasons to give it a more unplanned and unedited feel. With this post I decided to leave the default ‘cover’ again reinforcing my intentions.

2. How did you publish (the photo or video) you recorded for upload to Instagram?

I made it an important note to keep this footage raw, so I gave myself one shot to get it and if I didn’t get the exact shot I wanted, well that was that. To ensure I captured the shot I wanted, I did a practise walkthrough without recording to imitate what I would actually be doing when I hit record. Doing this helped me achieve the shot I envisioned. Most people would say, “Why didn’t you take multiple videos?” and thats a valid question but I wanted to set a challenge for myself to see if I could accomplish it. And I did, although I would’ve like more of the door and handle to be in the shot, I think you still get the message with the caption attached. “Is it push or pull?”

3. How did you distribute (the photo or video) you published on Instagram to other

social media services?

Much like the other posts, they were again shared to a twitter and tumblr account. Again due to the ease of clicking a button to share the same post across different platforms is almost too appealing as it is very convenient. I chose to not include hashtags for this last post to see if since my first post we would get some traffic due to the other posts that did. However since the account is very small I highly doubt we will see much interaction.

1. How did you author (the photo or video) you recorded for upload to Instagram?

Still using the same smartphone as the previous posts, this photo required some movement one my part to achieve the correct angle. I had to get down lower to the ground in order to get this level shot. I tried multiple angels before I achieved this one above, that I thought encapsulated the idea I was going for. Since it was taken in daylight I did not have to use flash. One thing I did have to be careful of was the reflection of the car. I did not want the reflection to capture me taking the photo, as that would be distraction from the car door which is the subject of this photo. In Instagram I went for the square format as the other things in the frame if it was portrait would not add anything more to the visual, so I felt no need for it to be portrait. I edited the photo heavily with filters and adjustments. Below you can see the before and after. I altered the brightness, contrast, highlights and shadows, and added a diagonal tilt shift to draw the focus to the door itself. The tilt shift runs along a straight line from the wheel of the car to the door handle. Around that, the photo has a slight blur to draw attention to the focus of my photo. 

2. How did you publish (the photo or video) you recorded for upload to Instagram?

I took quite a few photos before I chose the final one. It was difficult because I had to chose an angle that communicated the idea I had in mind. Similar to in the week 10 photo post. I took multiple images from different angles. This time from higher up, from a more skewed angle to the subject and facing the subject front on. In the front-on angles, you could see my reflection in the car because of the finish coat on the car, which is something I honestly didn’t consider when envisioning the photo. Due to this I had to go for a more skewed angle to avoid this. The caption I added was “is it locked? or unlocked?”. Instilling a bit of mystery whether the car door is locked or unlocked. You would naturally assume a closed car door is locked if there is no driver around but this is not necessarily true and you wont know unless you try and open it. However in this case it was locked. 🙂

3. How did you distribute (the photo or video) you published on Instagram to other social media services?

I decided against any hashtags for this image to see if it could get any traction on its own. But since the account still doesn’t have an followers it is unlikely. I guess I just want to test whether it shows up in any searches without the help of hashtags. As per my other posts, this was too shared amongst my other social media, Twitter and Tumblr as there is no reason not to.

(Video can be watched at https://www.instagram.com/p/BpEZCOmFw8R/?taken-by=nothing__but__doors)

1. How did you author (the photo or video) you recorded for upload to Instagram?

Being consists with all other posts and still using my smartphone to capture video. I used my camera application to record this video as I found it easier compared to using the video option in the Instagram app itself. I find it easier to capture what I want and then crop the video and then upload it to Instagram to ensure I end up with a post that I was aiming for. I positioned myself to get the most of the door in the start of the shot, so I had to stand quite a distance from it and then moved towards it as I walked through the door. I opted to keep this video the original format it was recorded in being a portrait style. As this is the default of the camera application on my smartphone. For video I did not edit it too much. I just turned up the brightness slightly and added a filter to make it visually more appealing. I muted the audio in this clip as it wasn’t necessary to the video and it was taken as one continuous shot. I chose to leave the ‘cover’ as the first frame as it makes sense in a sequential order.

2. How did you publish (the photo or video) you recorded for upload to Instagram?

I took a number of shots to see which one looked the best. I also had the added factor that it was recorded in a public place and that other people around could get into the shot or in my way whilst i was taking this shot. Since it was shot in a public place I had no issue adding the location for people’s interest before uploading the photo. I also added a caption but did not realise until after i posted it that it contained a typo. However this was an easy fix as I could just press the edit button on the post and correct my error. The caption I chose is a silly comment “magic self opening doors”.

3. How did you distribute (the photo or video) you published on Instagram to other social media services?

Continuing the trend of sharing to Twitter and Tumblr, I did just that with this post too. I also decided to add some hashtags to this post to attract more attention. The hashtags I chose were ones that have a huge number of followers and some do not necessarily relate to my post at all. I was curious to see if my post came up in these tags, if it would get likes even though it did not quite relate to the topic. The hashtags I chose were, #magic #instagood #me #follow #happy #tagforlikes #fun. Some of these are amongst the most popular hashtags and it will be interesting to see if I gain traffic this way.

 

1. How did you author (the photo or video) you recorded for upload to Instagram?

Exactly the same as last weeks posts. I used the 12 megapixel rear camera on my smartphone which is a Samsung Galaxy S9. This week I am focusing on taking the photo with my camera application that comes with the phone and then uploading into Instagram. I took a number of photos from different angles. Some from a low angle looking up at the subject, some front on and these all captured the full shed in the original photos. When uploading the chosen photo into Instagram I could chose if i wanted a more portrait or default square format photo. I opted for the square format as I thought it complemented the subject when I cropped the original. I intended the photo to be relatively symmetrical as it is natural more visually appealing to the human eye. However the chains in the photo pull towards the right side of the photo it doesn’t disrupt my intentions too much. I then added a number of filters and made adjustments to the brightness, contrast, structure, saturation and added a slight vignette. All these enhance the photo from being dull to a more saturated and structured photo.

Comparing this process to other types of photography I have done. It is a good and easy way to capture and publish photos day to day. Depending on your intent on the photo, such as taking photos for a event with a DSLR camera, higher quality photos require a professional program such as Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop when working with clients. But again I think it all depends on the purpose of the photo. In saying that, I don’t think you can’t get professional looking photos through the a smart phone however it may be harder and more time-consuming.

2. How did you publish (the photo or video) you recorded for upload to Instagram?

In order to get this final photo, I took a number of photos and chose this one that I thought fit best. I had around ten images and from the ten I narrowed down the two best angles I captured and within those I then decided what I was truly trying to communicate to my audience. I had a low angle shot looking up from a bottom corner from the shed, which made it look huge and dominating in the frame. And then I had just a simple front-on shot that was focused on the lock and chain on the door of the shed. I felt that the other photo was communicating a more daunting image than I first intended. So with that in mind, I chose the front-on image which I then cropped to its final form as seen above. Similar to my photos last week, I did not think it was necessary to add a location as it wasn’t a key factor in what I was trying to communicate.

3. How did you distribute (the photo or video) you published on Instagram to other social media services?

I chose to distribute my image in the exact same way as I did last week. A simple and easy method of just selecting the other social media platforms to post to when doing the final steps in Instagram. That allowed for a consist post throughout my social media platforms. I chose to include hashtags in this image to see how much traction I could get compared to last weeks posts which did not include any hashtags at all. The hashtags were: #door (appropriate) #shed, #lock #chain #lockandchain #green (obvious) #whatsinside #mystery (everyone loves a mystery). Hopefully we will see a difference in traction compared to last weeks posts.

 

(Link to the video: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bo8NfYiFu3p/?taken-by=nothing__but__doors)

1. How did you author (the photo or video) you recorded for upload to Instagram?

Using my smartphone, a Samsung Galaxy S9 with a 12 megapixel rear camera, I captured this video through the Instagram application. I stood very still to capture this video with minimal shaky footage. As this video was captured through the Instagram application, I could not crop the video to be shorter as it does not give you the option to do so. Instead you can just add a filter or chose which frame of the video will be the display image before someone hits play. Since I could not crop the video it did not turn out exactly as I wanted it to as I felt restricted but not having this function in the application.

2. How did you publish (the photo or video) you recorded for upload to Instagram?

Due to the subject in my video not co-operating all of the time (my dog). I had limited chances to get the clip I wanted. Since I restricted myself for this week to only use the app itself I only had one chance to get the footage. I spent about 15 minutes recapturing this video as between timing it correctly and getting my subject to listen to me was a challenge. Similar to the photo I published this week for the contents of the video I did not feel like a location tag was necessary at all. I added a slightly satirical caption, “Can’t have trouble opening a door when you aren’t the one opening it” followed by my student number as I wanted it to look like a direct quote from me. This is a mock to those typical inspirational captions you see that overly cheesy and sappy. However my caption is relevant to the topic at hand.

3. How did you distribute (the photo or video) you published on Instagram to other social media services?

Similarly to the photo posted also this week, I shared this video to Twitter and Tumblr. Again i found the ease of sharing through Instagram to be very quick and simply and requires minimal thought. It is a great way to get your content to a wider audiences. However with my accounts being brand new there is not really an audience for my content at the moment. But hypothetically with a well established accounts you can have quite a big reach.

1. How did you author (the photo or video) you recorded for upload to Instagram?

For week 9 I decided to only use the Instagram application itself to capture and edit the photo/video works to see how it impacts the final outcome.

The type of smartphone I used to take the photo is a Samsung Galaxy S9 that has a 12 Megapixel rear camera. To capture the photo I wanted the whole door to be in frame, therefore working with a square format I had to move my body backwards away from the door in order to fit it all in frame. Whilst usually with a portrait format in a normal photo taken by the camera app on the phone, I wouldn’t have had to do this. After getting the shot that I wanted, I then was prompted by Instagram to add filters and adjustments to the photo. I adjusted the photo by rotating it slightly so that the door was perfectly straight. I adjustment the contrast, structure, warmth and added a vignette and tilt shift. A tilt shift adds a slight blur around the chosen subject in a photo. In the photo above I added a vertical tilt shift to draw my audience’s attention to the door itself and not anything else in the frame.

The differences I noticed in this authoring process is that you can be limited in some aspects but due to the simple nature of the process it may be efficient. Depending on your purpose, you may find that it takes you longer to get the shot you need because of some of the constraints of the camera within the Instagram app itself. For example you cannot take a portrait style photo within the Instagram camera but you can take a portrait photo on the devices camera app and then upload that photo to Instagram. However for this assignment we were restricted to use of the Instagram applications on its own.

2. How did you publish (the photo or video) you recorded for upload to Instagram?

When publishing the above photo, it only took me about 5-10 minutes to capture the photo. I knew what I wanted the image to look like exactly so I had a clear vision. I chose to not add a location tag to my photo as the contents of my photo is very personal. This is the front door to my house so for obvious privacy reasons I do not feel comfortable even tagging a suburb and publishing it online. I added a caption “Lucky door No. 1” for the mere fact that the door has a metal number one on it. The caption I came up with reminds me of those old gameshows that used to have contestants guess the correct door to win a prize, but if chosen wrong they got a pity prize for being on the show. I kind of like the idea of no truly knowing what is behind any door (unless it is made of glass). We don’t know what we are stepping into each and every day and thats scary but somewhat exciting.

3. How did you distribute (the photo or video) you published on Instagram to other social media services?

I distributed the Instagram post to a twitter and tumblr account which both were extremely quick and simple. I shared my photo after I had already posted it on Instagram, however Instagram allows you to share to other platforms straight away right before posting the initial photo to Instagram. I went on the post I wanted to share and pressed the share button which automatically gives you a number of other platforms to share with. Twitter being the third option down, I selected it and it opened up the Twitter app and all I had to do was add another caption or tags if I wanted or simply press share, which in this case I did. Instagram have made distributing so easy between different social media platforms so if you do interact with more than one platform you don’t need to spend hours editing the same photo to just post it on another platform.

Who is the practitioner (what is their name?) and when were they practicing? What is the title of the photo or video you have chosen to analyse (can you provide a link?)

Bradley and Pablo from PRETTYBIRD

The title is Music Video | Silk City & Dua Lipa – Electricity although i have chosen to focus on the snippet that Dua Lipa posted on her Instagram account, as she is the main vocalist she was announcing the release of the new track.

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

The video published on Dua Lipa’s Instagram was published on the 6th of September however the actual music video was published to Youtube on the 5th of September.

How was the photo or video authored? For instance, with a photo, this would involve understanding the device used to record it and the technology used to prepare the image for publication. Included in this observation may be how the image was recorded (like in a mise-en-scene analysis).

The video itself although published on Dua Lipa’s account is not her work as it is a music video which she is the lead singer for. The authoring process is hard to locate due to a whole production company that worked on this high quality piece of video. In this specific post no credits are directly given to the producers, but when you read the caption you are instruction to go to Dua Lipa’s biography and click a link that takes you to the full music video published on youtube. From there we find in the description of the video, the company and individuals who worked on the video almost at the bottom.

PRETTYBIRD is a production company who has many ties top creatives and advertisement agencies. They produce high quality work which is seen just from perusing their company website. So you would only expect they use very high quality expensive equipment, such as cameras, lighting, editing software and so on.

How was the photo or video published? For example, with a photo, this would involve understanding the medium the photo was published in, like for instance – was it print media or the World Wide Web? Was the photo printed? If so how does this printing process affect the photographer’s practice?

When taking a look at Dua Lipa’s video post, it is a short extract from the full music video for her to promote on her page. Although I’m sure she has a team that works with her and i do not assume that she’s personally cropped the full music video to this shorter snippet. It was done to fit the restrictions of Instagram videos, which must be no longer than 60 seconds which was only increased from 15 seconds a couple years ago(Engadget, 2016).

How was the photo or video distributed? For instance, with a photo, this would involve understanding how the photo is distributed to multiple viewers. Like for instance, if the photo was printed in a periodical magazine – how is that magazine marketed and distributed to viewers?

This video was distributed through a number of channels including Dua Lipa’s Instagram page that at the time of writing this post has 18.1 million follows, which is quite a big reach. However the video itself on received just under 5 million views. Considering it was published only a week ago I’m sure that number will climb a little more. The full music video was published to Mark Ronson’s Youtube channel which received 12.5 million views who also collaborated on the song and he also does have a slight different audience but many crossover with Dua Lipa’s. So just from this one video we see a lot of sharing and a lot of pages featuring this video, not to mention all the other people who have shared it on their instagrams or other platforms for admiration and appreciation.

References:

Engadget. (2016). Instagram’s big bet on video doesn’t stop at 60 seconds. [online] Available at: https://www.engadget.com/2016/04/05/behind-instagram-video/ 

Who is the practitioner (what is their name?) and when were they practicing? What is the title of the photo or video you have chosen to analyse (can you provide a link?)

The Instagram account i have chosen is https://www.instagram.com/rounddrop/. The person behind it is a good friend and a cinematographer Abdul Yusuf who is based in Melbourne.

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

The photo was published on the 28th May 2018 and can be found here.

How was the photo or video authored? For instance, with a photo, this would involve understanding the device used to record it and the technology used to prepare the image for publication. Included in this observation may be how the image was recorded (like in a mise-en-scene analysis).

Instagram’s standard formatting in a square crop however for this creator it is not suitable to showcase his work as a cinematographer. Therefore to accomodate for this, the creator has taken this wide shot and edited it to when he publishes it on Instagram so that he wont have to crop any of the original photo to fit the Instagram template. The photo was edited in great detail to achieve the aesthetic the creator desired. When looking at his Instagram page in full, this photo fits in seamlessly as a part of the portfolio as there is a consist style seen throughout each photo which makes his work unique and distinctive.

I interviewed the photographer to understand the process of authoring his photos on Instagram and below is a quick overview of the process.

“Instagram is a great tool for me to share my photos and share with the world.  Before I post my photos I usually correct and grade my photos to fit a moody aesthetic.

Once I select the photo, I then would take it into a program called Davinchi Resolve. This is a software I use to color correct and color grade all my photos. After I upload the photo into Adobe Photoshop to crop the size to a 16×9, I then create a white background behind the photo so that it blends into the Instagram white. This will allow me to use the 16×9 instead of the default size.  This will give it a consistent look throughout my Instagram feed.” – Abdul Yusuf 2018

How was the photo or video published? For example, with a photo, this would involve understanding the medium the photo was published in, like for instance – was it print media or the World Wide Web? Was the photo printed? If so how does this printing process affect the photographer’s practice?

The photo was published online to the webpage Instagram. Although there is a process to posting photos on the site through a phone app. Most users can just take a picture with their phone, the app automatically crops it to a square format and then prompts you to edit the photo by adding filters and making adjustments like brightness, contrast, saturation etc. Followed by adding a caption and publishing it to your followers. Interestingly the creator goes against some of these elements of the typical publishing process on Instagram. As mentioned earlier, the photos are taken with a DSLR camera to ensure high quality that a phone camera cannot capture. All the editing happens outside the website/phone application and majority of his photos do not contain captions.

How was the photo or video distributed? For instance, with a photo, this would involve understanding how the photo is distributed to multiple viewers. Like for instance, if the photo was printed in a periodical magazine – how is that magazine marketed and distributed to viewers?

The photo was published to Instagram for distribution to the creators followers. Currently the page has just under 4,000 followers however the photo has 1,464 likes. In terms of the reach it is one of the most liked photos on the page and Instagram is the only platform the photo was distributed through and it wasn’t shot for a client or brand. The Instagram page is of professional standard that allows for the creator to showcase his work in hopes of admiration or job opportunities. All the photos posted on this account are same in formatting therefore keeping it succinct and a clean cut look for a portfolio of work.

Who is the practitioner (what is their name?) and when were they practicing?What is the title of the photo or video you have chosen to analyse (can you provide a link?)With the photo or video you are examining when was it produced (date)?

Nam June Paik practised from 1953 to 2006 when he passed. The work i have chosen is the Electronic Superhighway: Continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii produced in 1995. Which can be seen in detail in this youtube video 

How was the photo or video authored? For instance, with a photo, this would involve understanding the device used to record it and the technology used to prepare the image for publication. Included in this observation may be how the image was recorded (like in a mise-en-scene analysis).

This piece of work is a installation in an art gallery that was constructed of 336 televisions, 50 DVD players, 3,750 feet of cable, and 575 feet of multicolored neon tubing. Paik used technology and video in a way no one had ever before in art and he manipulates the video that is being played on the screens by synthesisers to create unique eye capturing effects. “Nam June Paik is hailed as the father of video art and is credited with the first use of the term “electronic superhighway” in the 1970s.” (Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2018) He had a perspective like no other and that is what got him known. Also the use of television sets in combination with the manipulation of the content shown on the screens was the focus of his series of works at the time.

How was the photo or video published? For example, with a photo, this would involve understanding the medium the photo was published in, like for instance – was it print media or the World Wide Web? Was the photo printed? If so how does this printing process affect the photographer’s practice?

His work was published in the form of an exhibition in a gallery which could both limit or benefit his works, depending on the space he had available. This meant he could adapt his work to the space by having the main section of the “map of america” on one wall of the gallery and then “hawaii” section etc. on another wall nearby such as the youtube video above shows. Altering the layout of the piece can also give a different meaning, but not necessarily in this case as Paik was trying to showcase the USA as being influenced through how it is portrayed in TV and film and how that affects our perspective of it too.

How was the photo or video distributed? For instance, with a photo, this would involve understanding how the photo is distributed to multiple viewers. Like for instance, if the photo was printed in a periodical magazine – how is that magazine marketed and distributed to viewers?

Since this piece of work is an installation, it was available for viewing at a gallery. At this moment it is currently on show at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and was a gift from the artist in 2002. The exhibition was on display in 2012 at the museum which is located in Washington DC and therefore gets a lot of traffic from day to day. The museum is very popular because of its location. I can only assume that a similar amount of traffic was attracted through all the previous museums it was showcases such as The Museum of Art in Fort Lauderdale, Florida which the piece premiered at. (Newmedia-art.org, 2018)

 

References:

Newmedia-art.org. (2018). Nam June Paik. [online] Available at: http://www.newmedia-art.org/cgi-bin/show-art.asp?LG=GBR&ID=9000000000066871&na=&pna=&DOC=expo

Smithsonian American Art Museum. (2018). Electronic Superhighway: Continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii. [online] Available at: https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/electronic-superhighway-continental-us-alaska-hawaii-71478