Being 20 years old, many adults assume that I was brought up with a phone in my hand and social media accounts as soon as I could write, but that’s not the case. Yes I had access to media; we all did with access to newspapers, magazines, television, etc. Social media however, is a different story.

Defining social media has been as difficult for me as it has been for the general population. As Carr and Hayes (2015, p. 46) states, ‘there tends to be a general consensus of what tools may be considered social media but without a consensus on what defines these tools as social media.’ Platforms such as Instagram and Facebook are marketed as social media so I too would look to them to interpret social media. But what about them makes them “social”? I could look at photos in a magazine rather than on Instagram but I would only consider Instagram to be social media rather than simply media. The main point of difference is that Instagram is online. From this, I find that social media affords connection and communication. This is seen through Sensis (2020) data whereby Facebook is recorded as being used by 86.3% of 18-29 year olds and an even higher 89.5% of 50-64 year olds. The popularity of messaging platforms is undeniable. But is that all social media is? This notion is taken a step further by academics such as Baym (2015, p. 1) who argues that social media has become such a prevalent term ‘when “Web 2.0” platforms based on “user generated content” seemed to subsume the Internet.’ In that case, maybe I began interacting with social media at a younger age. 

Long before I had joined Facebook or Instagram, I had club penguin to fill my time. The world of club penguin allowed me to create a penguin who could be dressed, play games, waddle around town and much more. But importantly, club penguin was online and enabled players to chat with other players who were playing at the same time. This leaves me wondering if social media is more complex than simply being about online connection and communication.  I see the online scape continuing to evolve and with that, my understanding of social media.

References:

Baym, N.K 2015, ‘Social Media and the Struggle for Society’, Social Media + Society, April, vol. 1, iss. 1, pp. 1-2.

Carr, C.T & Hayes, R.A 2015, ‘Social Media: Defining, Developing, and Divining’, Atlantic Journal of Communication, vol. 23, iss. 1, pp. 46-65.

Sensis 2020, Have Your Say Australia, company report, Sensis, viewed 13 March 2020.

In many ways our lives have become dependant on the internet. But are we really ourselves on the internet? Does disconnect occur in the place centred around creating connections? Where is the authentic you? is a three and a half minute short film aimed at asking you to reflect upon your experience with the online world. 

Final Work Showcase: Where is the authentic you?

This week was all about exploring authenticity in the online world. I really enjoyed this week as I reflected upon my own encounters with online media through what I create, what people I know create and what people I don’t know create. In a way, many people feel that the people they don’t know such as YouTubers or Instagrammers aren’t complete strangers to them and so, they kind of do know them. But, there comes a time when it is useful to question the importance of authenticity. From my own perspective, I think that authenticity is important for the reasons that I want what I am consuming to be from a place of genuine passion. Through this week’s reading I was able to contextualise this further by which the discussion became focused around branding. Once you brand yourself, it seems there is a duty to remain genuine to your brand. This however, strips one’s own agency as if a desire to evolve emerges, then consumers may try to dissuade them from doing so. It is for this reason that I believe authenticity is of utmost importance as if you remain genuine to who you are from the start, then no matter the external pressure, you know that you are changing for you rather than for the sake of a character that you portray. In saying all of this, I enjoyed using the Zoom F4s for the first time as I love how captivating sound is. It was eye opening to hear the opinions of others as well as edit it together to form an audio piece which showcased contrasting views. Overall, I learnt a lot both conceptually and technically this week and so, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

This week had an emphasis on improving our technical mediamaking skills. In order to do so, we went out to film the same shot with two different cameras. It was interesting to see how operating each camera differed from the other. I spent most of my time playing around with the Sony FS5 rather than the Canon 6D and through doing so, I learnt a lot. I hadn’t used that particular Sony camera before and so, I began to get my head around how to use it. Now, what I think was important about this exercise was that it was focused around getting the basics down. If you can successfully capture a shot; successful meaning that it is correctly exposed, focused, etc., then you acquire a video which can be edited however you wish in post-production. But, in saying that, if you know what kind of shot you want, then you can start doing that through adjusting the camera settings. But for myself, I employed the strategy of getting well balanced shots when making this week’s vlog. I enjoyed having the creative freedom to film what I wanted but what I found challenging was being in the shots I was setting up. Because I wasn’t filming someone else, it took some trial and error making sure each shot was how I imagined. But what I enjoyed most about this vlog was colour grading. I don’t do too much colour grading so I really enjoyed testing out the methods to do so and discovering the mood it can create. Overall, through being around cameras this week, I’m feeling very inspired to create more.

This week was the first week back for semester two and so far, my hopes for this studio are being realised. The reason I think this is that from the get go I was immersed in understanding the concepts of online video and YouTube beyond simply analysing the people we observe from within this field. Whilst it is necessary to unpack the foundations of online video such as through viewing Vlogumentary, it left me to reflect upon the extent to which I contribute to the realm of online video. I want the discourse of online video to elicit myself taking an active role via creating my own content and conducting my own research to understand how online video is shaping our everyday lives. In saying that, I filmed my first vlog for this studio. From a technical standpoint, I spent time deciding which location would best suit my video, what time of day would give me the necessary lighting, etc. But, what I took away from creating this video in the style of Hank and John Green is that there is something quite powerful and captivating about a video with no post-production addition of music. That the words spoken can resonate more with a viewer as there are no distractions. And so, it’s not always about having the flashiest editing or environment to shoot in when the aim is to spread a message. In saying this, I am thoroughly looking forward to immersing myself in this studio.

A Model Son

Two Separate Edits of a Sequence from A Model Son

Collaboration Reflection

Appraising A Model Son

Real to Reel Reflection