Week 8: Networked Videography
Who is the practitioner (what is their name?) and when were they practising?
@taramilktea, real name Tara Whiteman, is an Asian-Australia blogger of travel, lifestyle, food and fashion on Instagram. Her posts have a very colourful aesthetic, following her passion for digital art. She creates IGTV’s of some of her travel adventures and lifestyle. Setting her aside from other vloggers, she does not upload her content to YouTube, only Instagram and her website. This sets her aside from others as most vloggers want their content on every platform out there, including the big platform for vlogging, YouTube.
What is the title of the video you have chosen to analyse (can you provide a link?)
The title (caption) of the IGTV post is:
“Home
The space we’ve been spending every waking moment in isolation. 🏠 All furniture by @harpersproject linked below: 🎶 Morning Glory – Liza
Sofa – https://www.harpersproject.com/collections/sofas/products/the-barwon-sofa
Marble coffee table – https://www.harpersproject.com/products/scandi-low-round-marble-coffee-table?_pos=2&_sid=c3ddeda4b&_ss=r Marble coffee table – https://www.harpersproject.com/products/round-marble-coffee-table-medium?_pos=3&_sid=4e1f68ff7&_ss=r TV Unit – https://www.harpersproject.com/products/solid-timber-side-board?_pos=2&_sid=b59252631&_ss=r Rug – https://www.harpersproject.com/products/ropeweave-rug?_pos=1&_sid=19b3c3b6c&_ss=rVases – https://www.harpersproject.com/products/large-decorative-timber-vase?_pos=2&_sid=5115dff97&_ss=rMirror – https://www.harpersproject.com/products/free-standing-marble-mirror?_pos=4&_sid=95e0010bc&_ss=r“
https://www.instagram.com/p/B-eYprLlfCg/
With the photo or video, you are examining when was it produced (date)?
It was posted on Instagram on April 2nd 2020. However, it may have been produced before this date. She does not specify but it can be inferred that this video was recorded on a different day and may have took a while to edit, consequently meaning Tara posted it days after filming and editing. Also, some vloggers and influences have a schedule to when they upload on Instagram. This is due to an Instagram algorithm, so their posts come up first when lots of people are on their news feed’s.
How was the photo or video authored?
Tara is always open about what video camera and software she uses, in a Facebook post she writes “I’ve always been team Canon”. She states she likes to use the EOS M6 Mirrorless Camera by Canon for photos sometimes. However, for the video I am looking at, it is not stated which video camera she uses. It can be inferred she uses video cameras that are designed by Canon as she likes to use Canon for her photographs. Also, as she is in some shots of the video, it is implied someone else is helping to film. They are most probable under her instruction, still making it directed and authored by Tara. Also, some shots are of the room rotating. To get this unique shot, it can be guessed Tara uses a gimbal. A gimbal is a pivoted support that allows rotation on a single axis, holding a camera.
She also uses software to edit her videos. Although it is unknown what she uses in this video it is most probable by Adobe as she is candid about using Adobe Lightroom to edit her photographs.
It is also unknown the software Tara used to edit this video, however there is a wide range of simple editing software that fit the characteristics for Instagram’s IGTV, such as: iMovie. Video content produced offline can easily be published within blogging software. This in turn opens up the practise of video-blogging to both non-professionals and professionals.
How was the photo or video published?
The video was published on to IGTV on her Instagram page @taramilktea. IGTV was launched in 2018 by Instagram, in a way to compete with YouTube. Following YouTube’s launch in 2005, it has been flooded by a growth from online video blogging, to a variety of forms that now make this media a significant part of communications (Keen, 2020). Using IGTV, a user can post up to 10 minutes of content in one post and can even create a running video series. It is a popular way for vloggers to post as they can reach a wide audience. In Tara’s case, she has 1.3 million followers worldwide and the video has 62.4k views. This implies IGTV is successful in competing with YouTube.
How was the photo or video distributed?
This photo was distributed across her Instagram page, but she has also tagged in her caption links to all her furniture by Harpers Project. Instagram now has a rule where sponsored posts have to be clarified by the user, either with #ad or another way. However, Tara does not specific this, so it is unclear whether this is a sponsored post for Harpers Project furniture or just her personal taste. Instagram is utilised by vloggers to create money from sponsored posts. “Instagram became home for a less official economy in the form of sponsored, promoted and paid messages delivered by Influencers” (Leaver et al, 2020, p.33). Thus, creating a shift to corporate sponsored content within media platforms. Therefore, it is difficult to distinguish between vlogger’s having a capitalist agenda, focusing more about views than creative, unique content. Nevertheless, this post would have had a wider reach as Harpers Project was tagged, meaning an additional audience exploring Harper’s Projects Instagram might come across her post.
Also, Instagram have an explore page, taking in to account people’s personal data across many integrated social media platforms and sharing that cookie data to create a tailored page full of posts the user might engage with. Therefore, with this logic, user’s who like aesthetic furniture and vloggers similar to Tara, might have this IGTV post come up on their explore pages, creating an even wider audience reach.
References
Taramilktea (2018) Editing my photos with light room. [Online], 1 June. Available from: <https://taramilktea.co/2018/06/01/editing-my-photos-with-lightroom/> [Accessed 28/04/2020].
Keen, S. (2020) Networked Video [Lecture] COMM2219 Networked Media. RMIT University. Week 8.
Leaver, T., Highfield, T., Abidin, C. (2020) Instagram: Visual Social Media Cultures. Digital Media and Society, United Kingdom. p. 1-38. Available from: <https://primo-direct-apac.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/1d27kpc/RMIT_ALMA51238311040001341> [Accessed 29/04/2020].
Loren, T. (2020) IGTV: The Ultimate Guide to IGTV. Later. [Online], 7 April. Available from: <https://later.com/blog/igtv/> [Accessed 28/04/2020].
@taramilktea (2020) Home. Instagram. [Online], 2 April. Available from: <Available from: <https://taramilktea.co/2018/06/01/editing-my-photos-with-lightroom/> [Accessed 28/04/2020].> [Accessed 28/04/2020].