Concept

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My digital artefact is a discovery/exploration series made up of photo and short 1-2 minute videos with the key subjects of people interacting with nature and man-made features as well as them alone. I developed this project through my passion for content creation, adventure and capturing visuals. For my digital artefact I plan on continuing my hobby social media account Aquilah Productions which I have run for the past two years during school. Through documenting and creating content of my adventures and explorations and posting to Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.

Methodology

So all the tools and items I used to create my social media presence and content was already owned camera and drone gear, and all the petrol to get to locations.

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So I would dive for any where between one hour and three hours, depended on the location and features there. I would end up with any where between 30 mins – 2 hours of footage and 100 to 300 photos. This mean’t when I came home to edit I had a lot of footage to convert, chop down, colour correct and fix the sound, this process would take any where from two to three hours per video and I would also import all my photos into Lightroom and pick the best and arrange them best for my Instagram theme and Facebook. This was probably the worst part wasn’t very “FIST”. I would upload to Youtube, Instagram and Facebook and promote on different platforms such as Reddit.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aquilahproductions/

Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/AquilahProductions/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCY3m5aHKCCF26DkOR1bKocw

In this blog post I will reflect on the ideas relevant to the DA Aquilah Productions and is still heavily based on photography and videography. During the 2nd major stage of ‘media making’, prototyping, I have been making sure to adhere to the sub stages – making, breaking and remaking. I have also continued in developing an online presence is conceptualising what the project’s creative perimeters are by generating, developing and communicating new ideas.

Making

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aquilahproductions/

Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/AquilahProductions/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCY3m5aHKCCF26DkOR1bKocw

I received a lot of positive feedback on both Facebook and Instagram due to the high impressions and total views, As for my YouTube channel struggled to get traction due to only posting to it every fortnight.

Through the research made on ‘making’ as a stage, I found most of my inspiration for content creation and style through YouTube tutorials for both photo and video editing. I also found inspiration through travel/adventure Instagram pages. In doing this I am aiming to boost my knowledge when it comes to photography and videography.

Breaking/Remaking

The use of a glitch software such as plug ins for final cut pro, to ass the glitch aesthetic to my edits,

Through the research within the youtube video After Effects: Disconnected Glitch Effect! by KYLER HOLLAND, I understood that by glitching certain certain parts of the edit I could create an interesting effect for the viewer.

This was shown in my edit of Wollongong Abandoned Mansion as I glitched the main character throughout the video to create an aesthetically pleasing, adding emphasis to the music, as well as creating an unpolished feeling to the video.

Furthermore this type of editing resulted in pleasing positive feedback in my youtube comments. This type of iteration could also help my DA from any ‘breaking’ as it provides something fresh as well as eye-catching to the viewers watching.

Prototyping

During the Prototyping stage overall I have mainly worked hard on producing the Exploring Wollongong’s Abandon Coal Factory video which was a significant task, compared to my previous videos as used a new type of music and implemented different techniques to edit the music to better suit my style of editing.

From the beginning videography was the major component in my DA and within this prototyping stage I have aimed to improve my editing ability.

Another on of my goals during the prototyping phase was to create a stronger community on instagram and promote other’s pages and find a wider audience and pages to follow.

Where To Now?

I plan to generate more content specialised to the needs of the target audience, maintain an aesthetic for the page, explore different ideas and embrace ambiguity, increase user engagement, curate more content, and continuing to iterate based on the feedback I receive.

To recap, my digital artefact is reflected around my desire for exploring the outdoors the vastness and scale of natural world and my passion in creating visual content such as photography, videography, and graphic design l have chosen to centre my digital artefact around this hobby that l have done with mates for the past 2 years, and hopefully continue to build my portfolio.

Over the past two month my digital artefact has dramatically changed due to daily posting of high quality photos which have been posted at optimal times on both Facebook and Instagram and have achieved my goals of creating a central hub for nature adventure content.

Gained Followers/Follow for Follow

I have seen a gradual increase of followers across all three media channels, With instagram with the highest with 60 followers gained with Facebook in second place with 10 page likes and YouTube in third with 5 subscribers gained. l also gained followers through using Gary V’s success video for social media growth, through this source l DMed on instagram using the search location feature in the look out for local content creators with a similar page to myself. I managed to connect with Adam Rozmus which caused a follow for follow situation and potentially working together on a project.

Hashtags/Tags

Hash tagging on new posts gained followers and heaps more engagement on the post. I used a mix of popular Instagram tags and tags and related to the actual photo I was posting in. Hash tagging caused an influx of engagement on a post and lead to actual followers.

Business Instagram Insights

I used Instagram business tools to see the progress of my DA and to figure out the main audience l was attracting towards my page and the total impressions of each post. I focused on impressions. The 2 photos below show the difference between the start of the project (Left) and the result now (Right).

Paid Advertisement

I have also experimented with the use of paid advertisement on both Facebook and Instagram to target specific ages, locations and specific personality and interests in order to convert accounts to engage in my piece of content or convert into followers.

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Where Now?

From here my plan is to create a website using square space and open an online print store and target Facebook ads towards the baby boomer generation for a source of income and reinvest into more Facebook and Instagram ads for continue growth of my adventure content. I also plan to be a more active user on Instagram with more commenting on other’s posts.

Check out Aquilah Productions 🙂

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCY3m5aHKCCF26DkOR1bKocw?

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aquilahproductions/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AquilahProductions/

In this blog post I will reflect on the ideas relevant to the ideating module, in the context of my digital artefact project; Aquilah Productions. This step in developing an online presence is conceptualising what the project’s creative perimeters are by generating, developing and communicating new ideas.

My digital artefact is a discovery/exploration series made up of photo and short 1-2 minute videos with the key subjects of people interacting with nature and man-made features as well as them alone. I developed this project through my passion for content creation, adventure and capturing visuals. For my digital artefact I plan on continuing my hobby social media account Aquilah Productions which I have run for the past two years during school. Through documenting and creating content of my adventures and explorations and posting to Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.

I will achieve growth through uploading daily, high quality photo content to both my Instagram and Facebook feed in order to succeed with the algorithm and achieve growth l have also created daily Instagram stories based off the daily photo to promote audience retention and promote engagement and well as gain feedback of my work. I have also created fortnightly video edits of my adventures for YouTube and have promoted sneak peaks on both Instagram and Facebook to drive conversion to watch the entire edit on YouTube.

Through following the #Fist principle of creating and uploading daily for the last 5 weeks, l have notice a gradual increase of audience retention and engagement through an increase of likes, total impressions as well as a slow increase in followers on all three media outlets, for Instagram I have gained 20 followers since the beginning of the project, As for Facebook I have mange to gain 15 new page likes and for YouTube 3 new subscribers.

I found most of my inspiration for content creation and style through YouTube tutorials for both photo and video editing. I also found inspiration through travel/adventure Instagram pages.

Follow for Follow

l also gained followers through using Gary V’s success video for social media growth, through this source I DMed a local swim wear company Hyamsbeachswim and used my DA as a portfolio, which ended up being successful in gaining me paid work and make connections in the Wollongong area, I also have a meeting with PipeMedia next month to.

Paid Advertisement

I have also experimented with the use of paid advertisement on both Facebook and Instagram to target specific ages, locations and specific personality and interests in order to convert accounts to engage in my piece of content or convert into followers.

Facebook Ads:

Instagram Ads:

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My first video edit I made for my DA was from my adventure to Figure 8 Pools and was uploaded to YouTube channel as well as a sperate edit as a preview was uploaded to both my Facebook page and Instagram to promote conversion from those social media’s to the full video on YouTube and to subscribe for more content.

Youtube:

Facebook:                                                                         

Instagram:

I received a lot of positive feedback on both Facebook and Instagram due to the high impressions and total views, As for my YouTube channel struggled to get traction due to only posting to it every fortnight.

I plan to generate more content specialised to the needs of the target audience, maintain an aesthetic for the page, explore different ideas in the design thinking stage and embrace ambiguity, increase user engagement, curate more content, and continuing to iterate based on the feedback I receive.