One thing I have learnt from immediately completing my digital artefact, is hand-holding is the worst approach to user interface design. iMovie has never contended more with my frustration than any software I’ve experienced using – shoutouts at least for Audacity, and no not iMovie’s boldness in screwing with my sanity.
This software made recording the voice over of my digital artefact, a task met with ease, unlike creating image overlay upon a video and maintaining cropping integrity whilst in iMovie. Have to give credit where it is due, it is very easy software to use, it was just that its limitations were more apparent with what I wanted to achieve. I didn’t want to make a video with a voice over, I wanted to create a video essay.
Video essay’s have grown in popularity within the last year as a way of engaging with an audience that demand content beyond that stimulates interest. It isn’t a matter of talking to the viewer, it is about speaking to them. It extends beyond a vlog as presenting a personal opinion on an issue, but rather creates a format of presenting a concept objectively with the aim of meeting a ‘thesis’. I’ve been inspired particularly by the kaptainkristian youtube channel. He approaches topic that meet my interest, but I value his work primarily due to the way its present. Both image and sound work intertwined in a sort of dance to deliver a point, – either of which one doesn’t triumph the other, they both with together in synergy to achieve its means.
My frustration with iMovie was largely due to the fact it could not meet my ambition. My comfortable medium as a student of graphic design, is largely stagnant. I’ve had some experience in video editing before, however a video essay demands so much more than side sweeps or dissolves. Therefore, my digital artefact is very ‘jerky’ in the sense of its flow. I’m proud with what I managed to achieve however, I envisioned greater fluidity between frames. I had to know and understand where the limits of iMovie exist and leverage them to meet half-way what I wanted to achieve. I used largely in alignment, Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop to work around the limitations of iMovie text overlay’s and other graphic demanding aspects. Huge shoutout to Quicktime Player for screen captured recording, which is a heavy and strong feat. throughout my video essay.
Stepping away from the technical process, unpacking the concept I was presenting was incredibly difficult to achieve and I found to be the largest bottle neck of this entire assignment. Because username squatting isn’t an actual coined term, it was very difficult to find any sources that I could draw from. My information was largely sourced from issues of trademark infringement on social media, domain squatting as a form of cybercrime, trademark regulation, the limited (yet very helpful in adding validity to my case study) insight provided by Flight Facilities manager on their experience of username squatting, as well as my own observation and knowledge on branding/marketing. With all this in mind it largely came down to my own interpretation and I believe that truly compliments the video essay format, because although it is the presentation of facts and objectivity as artefacts, it all comes down to a thesis, which you use these artefacts as tools to justify it. Furthermore it is a largely unexplored area because it is largely kept internal. It’s not something that publicised significantly. Domain squatting is still an issue that occurs and because domains cost money and social media is free it is more prevalent, and brands on social media haven’t lost anything necessarily – apart from the use and complete control of their brand name.
I’m content with what I achieved and despite some frustration and many times getting bogged down with the direction I should take a concept or what to include or not, I enjoyed making a video essay, and hope to do it again soon. I would also like to redo this video and try it with more intermediate software such as Premier Pro or Final Cut Pro.
Transcript:
Branding is an incredibly powerful tool, it is the representation of an organisation without its needed physical presence – a brand is a proxy. A brand desires immediate association with its represented entities. Logo, colour, value, and most importantly brand name. These artefacts are heavily funded and invested in because a brand is intangible. You can’t keep intellectual property locked away in a safe to prevent unauthorised use of it – the only method of protection is a trademark.
It’s evident that a brand manifests in a multitude of different ways. Living in the digital age we do, brands have achieved greater ubiquity than ever before, however as a result, access to Intellectual Property has never been more achievable. A single person can’t claim a Coca-Cola billboard as their own, yet the same person can create a twitter account under the guise of Coca-Cola.
Therefore it’s incredibly frustrating for a brand when their trademarked name is already taken on Social Media. This referred to as username squatting, a derivative of domain squatting which is a legislated form of cybercrime in which a trademarked name is registered without authorisation as a username on a social media platform – in order to leverage its value and extort the owner of the trademark. Brands must be fully aware of this because username entitlement doesn’t fall within the parameters of a trademark (find evidence)
Instagram, like other social media platforms, when it comes to registering a trademark as a username, it functions through a first-come, first served basis. In order to secure a trademark as a username, brands must be quick-to-act when a new social media platform emerges. Which creates issues of resource allocation when there should be a regulatory framework to delegate this responsibility to.
Flight Facilities are an Australian electronic music duo that achieved break through success in 2010 with their track ‘Crave You’. Their popularity grew almost simultaneously with Instagram’s proliferate use as a favoured social media platform. When the boys ‘took to the skies’ mid 2012 and created an official Flight Facilities Instagram account, they were met at a halt when their trademarked brand name had already been taken as a username. With no other option they settled out of convenience and necessity for its colloquial abbreviation.
Full aware of the risk of alienating prospective fans who might not be completely familiar with their ‘pseudonym’, the ‘pilots’ Jimmy and Hugo launched their Instagram account and cultivated their social media presence under this moniker with @flightfacilities co-existing in the background.
However Flight Facilities are a trademarked company, and the presence of this account is clearly evidence of trademark infringement as it is an unauthorised use of a brand name. According to Instagram, trademark infringement is only met when trademarked brands are fraudulently represented on social media channels. There is no infringement if the account simply occupies the trademarked name. This is why I haven’t been caught up in a litigious pursuit by gluten free food manufacturer, Silly Yaks. However this doesn’t necessarily provide justice to the brands, public figures and organisations that have earned the inherent equity and value of their name. It’s only provided a loophole for username scalpers to extort brand owners, whilst their social media activity remains superficially innocuous micro-blogging. If extortion isn’t an aim, self-gratification could fuel their pursuit through capitalising on the existing popularity of the name in order to attract a large traffic of followers. In the instance that the trademark is already taken as a username, Instagram recommend choosing closely related alternatives. It might not make a difference to the flow of follower traffic to include underscores, an alphanumeric iteration or a close abbreviation,
However, this additional Flight Facilities account still exists despite yielding elements of their brand identity. Doesn’t this conflict with what Instagram constitutes as trademark infringement on social media? Well this is because it functions as a holding account for flight facilities. The username was previously used by another account. Eventually it was abandoned allegedly due to the popularity of the official Flight Facilities account. There was no value occupying anymore, that @flightfac had held its own and translated the flight facilities brand on social media effectively gaining nearly 60,000 followers. Flight Facilities were then able to retrieve the squatted username and re-register it under an additional account, which now functions as a holding page, to redirect traffic back to the official Flight Facilities accounts and to prevent anyone else from occupying it.
To further combat the issue of authenticity, the introduction of the blue check resolves this within the platform, however it doesn’t resolve the issue as a whole. It’s merely fixing a tattered shirt with a sewing patc h, instead just buying a new shirt.
Although this matter may seem trivial, you have to consider the inherent sentimental value of a name. For brand such as flight faciltities, they operate within the heavily cut throat music industry, one that is often hard to make a living of. Where as larger organisations can afford to expend re-directed follower traffic with their social media presence. For an upcoming band who might not have the following to warrant a blue check or expend followers, everything is worth its weight in gold. The correct name is as crucial as anything. It could mean all the difference in the world between sustaining a living from a pursuit of passion and being forced to give it all up to make-ends-meet.
People don’t purchase Apple Ltd products, they buy Apple products. Apple wouldn’t harbour the same value it does if the Apple insignia included an underscore and a succession of numbers.
Name shouldn’t be a representation of the brand, but rather the presence of the brand.
References:
https://revisionlegal.com/trademark-attorney/trademark-my-instagram-username/
https://help.instagram.com/101826856646059?helpref=search&sr=7&query=username
Sam Beck – Flight Facilities management
http://www.commonplaces.com/blog/what-is-a-verified-social-media-account-and-why-does-it-matter/
https://hstalks-com.ezproxy.uow.edu.au/t/2964/branding-how-it-works-and-why-it-matters/?business
https://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/trade-marks/understanding-trade-marks/trade-mark-costs
sillyyaks 