The aim of this DA was to create an Instagram page and YouTube channel providing both places to buy food in Wollongong and then these meals recreated on a uni students budget.

Stage 1: Sketch prototype

To start with the prototyping stage, I started by doing some sketches of what the end product will look like in order to move on to the tangible model.

The Instagram page was to have three posts per meal with the first being of the bought product and a review of the place, the second being the bought ingredients and the third the final product with how much was saved, as shown below:

The YouTube channel took its inspiration from Buzzfeed tasty videos, which would have the video taken from above, with the ingredients up the top with no words or person in the shot, just the hands making it, as shown below:

Stage 2: Tangible prototype

We have done two posts so far, which follow the model first suggested, shown below.

Eggs Benedict

Sushi   

Stage 3: Feedback

Eggs Benedict

The feedback for the Eggs Benedict received really positive from the group of followers we have currently. The post on Instagram received a couple of positive comments and interaction with our audience. It also worked with the purpose, as the Eggs Benedict homemade was far cheaper than the bought one.

One thing that also enabled audience engagement was the use of Instagram story, whereby certain functions can include reactions to content. This means we could use it to promote content already made, ask questions and create future content.

When making the video, all three of us were there, enabling one person to cook, one person to clean and one person to film. This was done during the day so the lighting was good. One thing that I notice when filming was that I had accidentally filmed vertically, when the logical thing to do was to film horizontal. Luckily when editing the video using iMovie I was able to just flip the screen.

Sushi

The Sushi prototype didn’t work as well, as we changed our approach to its creation. In order to pump out more content, we decided to start doing them by ourselves. Ashleigh tried to recreate sushi by herself but really struggled with the filming. In addition to this the quality of the film was not as good due to the time of day.

The feedback we got on the Instagram page was also varied. Particularly as sushi is so cheap to buy for around $3.50 per roll, and the ingredients list being quite long, it wasn’t the best decision to do sushi. Particularly as our target is uni students, they want affordable and quick meals.

After trying to make a video out of the film Ashleigh did get when she recreated it, we have decided to redo the video. There were too many pieces of the cooking process missing to make up the recipe and the video quality was poor.

Stage 4: Iteration

What worked

• Producing content every three weeks
• Filming during the day and with all three members of the group
• Using Instagram story and Instagram generally as a ‘content funnel’ in order to gain more feedback, create hype for new content and to gain more audience engagement

What could be improved

• Making sure filming is done horizontally
• Choosing meals that have a difference between them i.e. Chicken Pad Thai which costs $17 at Kinn Thai in Wollongong which only costs $11 to make for two people or Gnocchi from Kneading Ruby which costs $26 and would only cost $13 to make at home
• Second prototype made for the sushi recipe to create a better quality video
• Maybe attempting to make a camera stand in order to improve the quality of film if there is only one/two of us?