Critical Reflection

This is my CR essay for Comp 3. In case some pictures are not properly labeled refer to the google docs: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nzPd-het9Qkg53fEMoQ4qP3uCahlEfMRy2p-QRRE7pg/edit?usp=sharing

For our Music Video promotion package, we decided to use Chamber Of Reflection by Your Anxiety Buddy, which is a Mac Demacro song but sung by another official artist. This music video has a genre of indie pop combined with a bit of slow reverb lo-fi. For the main star of our music video, Kenneth Robertson Lee, we portray him as a depressed, lonely teenager who is isolated emotionally away from society around him.

However, any form of media output must stick to the genre convention they are intended for. According to Steve Neale, genre conventions are dynamic and change from time to time. In order to appeal to their audience, they must either conform to or subvert these conventions. By subverting, we are able to keep our product unique and distinct from other products of the same genre, while conforming helps us to retain the interest of our consumers by giving them something they are used to. We conducted research on music videos, one of them is JoJi - SLOW DANCING IN THE DARK which heavily influenced us to do something similar to that. For our music video with pop as our genre, we decided to subvert most of this genre elements. One of the noticeable elements throughout the whole video is the use of pale and distorted dark colour grading which is unlikely to be seen in normal traditional pop music as they use vibrant colours. Another element we also subverted is the star in our music video. Most of the time a typical pop star portrays confidence and energy towards the audience, however we make our star as an introverted individual who feels isolated and emotionally disconnected from society. This demonstrates how Richard Dyer’s theory of stardom can make stars feel normal, but somehow stand out uniquely on the intended audience. One element that we conform to is how the camera angles focus more on the star and appear in every scene which can create an identity in the audience's mind.

When creating the Digipak, I decided that I will conform most elements to the indie pop genre through the close up shot of the star’s emotion and the minimalist design. However there are some subversions I did on the setting of the digipak by presenting the star in an isolated dark room instead of a glamorous environment. From the research I did on multiple digipak covers from artists within our genre, it showed me that they often rely heavily on the zoomed artist image and the use of proper colouring to create emotion. Hence, we decided to implement muted colour grading and one of the pages that showed the artist’s emotional expression to keep it raw and relatable when seen. One genre convention that I used and I find in common with other digipak covers is the usage of simple settings and realistic outfits. By doing this, the audience can feel a sense of relatableness which makes our star seem approachable rather than a typical glamorous artist. We also wanted to make the audience feel that our star’s emotion is honest so we did a close up through his facial expressions with the realistic everyday background and felt a bit of empathy towards him. Another common convention I conform is using the proper lighting to convey the right meaning to combine it with other elements. By using consistent dark colour grading lighting, we made the audience feel the emotional tone of the music before listening to it. Through our research on indie digipaks, for example by Arctic Monkeys, we have learned that close-ups and dark color grading are often employed to create an emotional star image, which has impacted our design choices. This is also in line with the theory of stardom by Richard Dyer, as our digipak design also portrays the artist as relatable yet distinctive through their emotional representation. The colour grading will assist the audience in understanding the feelings of the artist and also helps them to connect with the star emotionally, while at the same time making sure that the digipak is recognizable in the indie genre through the use of a moody and realistic style.

For our media representation, we would like to portray teenagers and young adults who are going through emotional struggles and identity crises as a result of society. The message that we would like to portray to the audience as they watch our media text is to portray the realistic struggles that teenagers go through as opposed to a perfect lifestyle and also that emotional struggles are not something to hide. To show these groups, we deliberately ensured that our star is a young teenager who is mostly depicted as struggling with issues and this forces the audience to delve deeper into the stress, insecurity, and self-growth. In our music video, we ensured that our star is depicted in ordinary clothing to show realism, together with the environment of the supermarket to show that even in such a setting, young people can have valid dreams and struggle.We also showed a close up shot of our star (Fig 2.1) to make the audience feel connected with the star’s emotion. To show more realism, we did a couple of medium and long shots of the supermarket shown in Fig 2.2a - 2.2b. The persona we made our star is relatable, ambitious, and emotionally authentic in order to connect with our target audience of young people. With the media elements combined, we made our star appear approachable and allowed viewers to emotionally connect with his journey. This representation links to David Gauntlett’s theory of identity, which suggests that audiences use media figures as role models to help shape their own sense of self and aspirations. We partially conformed to stereotypes of teenagers being confused and uncertain about their future by making our star hopeless and uncertain about what to do in life. Our social media page is an embodiment of teenagers and young adults who go through emotional struggles and identity crises. We have maintained a dark and muted color scheme throughout the posts to portray the emotional state of the star. The use of close-up shots and lighting effects also aims to highlight the star’s feelings of isolation and uncertainty, allowing the audience to relate to the star emotionally. The casual posing, wearables, and captions (fig 2.3a-b) also help to make the star seem more real and authentic, making the young audience feel that the star is just like them. Through this, our social media page is able to portray the realistic and emotionally vulnerable side of the star while still maintaining the indie look on Instagram.

(Fig 2.1)

(Fig 2.2A)a

(Fig 2.2B) (FIG 2.3A)a

(Fig 2.3B)a

Our product interacts with the audience by building a strong emotional connection and encourages the audience to interact through our social media page. For our target audience, we are looking for teenagers and young adults between the ages 16-25. Our psychographic are people that value their emotional expression and self reflection. According to Clay Shirky’s theory, recently audiences demand more interactivity in media consumption rather than passivity, which can be seen in our Instagram page where the audience can comment, like and share posts to feel more connected with the star. This also supports Richard Dyer’s theory of stardom, as our star is shown to be both normal through his realistic struggles and extraordinary through his emotional vulnerability, making him attractive to the audience. Also our star replies to most of the fans' posts to make them feel connected even though they are far apart (Marshall McLuhan’s Global Village Theory)(Fig 3.A-3.B). By using a dark color scheme, close-ups, and realistic settings that are similar to the visuals in our music video and digipak, we have made this appealing to the audience as it ensures a consistent brand image. These similarities help to reinforce the star’s character as emotionally vulnerable, relatable, and authentic rather than glamorous. Our social media page also has several users and gratifications, as outlined by Denis McQuail, including personal identity, as audiences identify with the struggles of the star, social relationships, as fans can interact with each other, and diversion, as the content offers emotional escapism. Fans can also create communities through comments and shared discussions, reflecting the theory of fandom by Henry Jenkins, where audiences actively participate and connect with others who share similar interests. (Fig 3.A)a

(Fig 3.B)a

In conclusion, branding is basically the image, identity, and message that a media product establishes in order for the audience to easily identify and remember the artist even without mentioning them in detail. Branding is crucial as it enables the establishment of a strong link with the target audience, making the star unique in the competitive world of media. In our case, all three media products – the music video, social media page, and digipak – establish a strong brand image based on emotional vulnerability, realism, and introspection. When we look into the technical elements, all three products have a lot in common, including a dark and muted colour scheme, close-up shots of the star’s facial expressions, and realistic settings such as the supermarket. These elements are consistent with our star’s character, who is relatable, emotionally genuine, and ordinary rather than glamorous, making it easier for the audience to identify with him. This is consistent with Richard Dyer’s theory of stardom, where our star is both ordinary and unique in terms of his emotional complexity, making him easily identifiable in all three media products.