https://www.instagram.com/emily.peersmedia/
Contextualising Statement
I have created a ‘season’s greeting’ video for Instagram along with several behind the scenes shots of the creation of the video. Before beginning production, I had to carry out some individual research into what is popular on Instagram, especially around Christmas time. Hinton and Hjorth describe social media as ‘fundamentally a participative medium’. Therefore, I thought that if I researched what was popular on this site, my artefact would be viewed and shared more by its users. After researching previous Christmas videos, I began planning several different ideas in mind maps and storyboards (photos of which would be used as my behind the scenes stills) until I decided what would be most appropriate to the brief. The process of individual research and planning enabled me to create an artefact that would be better received by those who use Instagram.
When it came to shoot the video portion of this task, it was important that I worked collaboratively with the subject of the video so that the end product was true to my vision for it. Therefore, it was ‘crucial to communicate’ (Bamford, 2012) during this task, just like in every production. While filming the video was a collaborative process, ensuring that I took good quality behind the scenes stills and that the completed video was up to a good standard fell to me as an individual. This means that it was my own responsibility to set up visually pleasing shots of the planning and production process and edit my footage together, resulting in a video that was up to good enough standards to be uploaded to Instagram. This was something that I found quite difficult as editing all of the shots together took a long time to get right.
As with every production, it was important to take health and safety into account despite there not being many hazards related to this task. The main challenge when it came to considering health and safety was the filming location. I chose to film in my own room on campus which was suitable for the video, however, it is quite small. This means that there was a higher risk of trips and falls as there was not much extra room to move around the furniture and equipment. To reduce the risk of such trips and falls, all furniture was pushed to the edges of the room, excluding the desk on which the wrapping was taking place which was in the centre. Another way in which risks were reduced was by ensuring that everyone in the room (i.e. myself and the subject of the video) knew where any cables were at all times and that they were kept organised, as they significantly increase the risk of trips. These actions meant that a safer workspace was created, making production much easier.
Overall, this task really helped to develop my ability to work both individually and collaboratively while considering health and safety. It also developed my ability to research a specific platform and create something suitable for that platform, which was Instagram in this case.
Reference List
Bamford, N. (2012) Directing Television: A Professional Survival Guide. London, Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 121 – 122.
Hinton, S. and Hjorth, I. (2013) Understanding Social Media. London, SAGE Publications Ltd. p. 54.
