Critical Reflection

For our music promotion package, we chose Chamber of Reflection by Your Anxiety Buddy, which is a slowed-down and moody cover of the indie-pop song originally written and sung by Mac DeMarco. This song also features a bit of slow lo-fi reverb. We as a team chose Kenneth for the star of our music video. Our music video star is portrayed as a depressed, mournful, and lonely teenager who feels isolated from society. This essay is a critical reflection showing how my team included genre conventions, technical elements, and representations to create a consistent brand image that aligns with our target audience.

Branding is a strategy of creating and maintaining a consistent identity across all forms of content (social media, video, print). It is crucial in order to shape public perception, builds emotional connection with the audience, builds loyalty, and makes them stand out. In media, this can be achieved through conforming or subverting to genre conventions. Genre conventions are established rules, tropes, and elements that define specific genres in media. According to Steve Neale, these conventions are not fixed, but evolve as new works of media conform and subvert them. Conforming to these conventions allows the audience to be interested through being familiarised, while subverting allows the product to stand out from the others of the same genre. Branding is built through consistent color scheme, typography, similar aesthetic and costume across platforms.

We used multiple visual similarities between the MV, social media, and digipak to maintain visual consistency, which builds a consistent brand identity. Firstly, we use the same soft-lighting style which gives off a reflective and intimate feel. We found that reducing harsh shadows helps create a calmer, emotional mood, which aligns with the theme of our song. This same lighting is replicated in the images for our star's social media posts, as well as on the digipak cover.

Other similarities include similar color palette, similar outfit, consistent facial expressions (reflective and serious), and featuring empty spaces to enhance the feeling of loneliness.

This supports our star's persona by reinforcing that he is deeply emotional, authentic, and in solitary. This helps audience associate this aesthetic with our artist.

We as a team did research on various digipaks of other artists', mainly the ones with the same genre (indie-pop) as our music video. From the research we conducted, I found that digipaks of our genre are often minimalist, with muted colors, and serious facial expressions for those that show their face on the album cover. These really influenced our design choices throughout the process of making our digipak.

Through our research of digipaks in our genre, I also found that various digipaks feature a zoomed in image of the artist, which we thought would greatly fit our digipak. Hence, we created a similar version where our star's face is in the center of the digipak, with minimalist typography and muted colors, which enhances the emotion. Another genre convention that we implemented was the use of casual clothing and locations which makes the artist more relatable to the audience. We also conformed to the common convention by using lighting during the shoot to help convey the emotion through the star's expression better. as well as the consistent darker colors which helps make the audience be more immersed just through the digipak. Through researching indie digipaks like The Weeknd - Dawn FM, I found that muted colors and facial expressions really do play a role in making a digipak more impactful to the audience, aside from the design choices and conventions. Meanwhile, color choices, muted colors in this case, help the audience connect to our star. Also, it helps the audience to be able to know the genre through the digipak.

Our target audience for this music video are teens to adults, since they would be able to understand the music video in a deeper level than younger audiences. Especially those who have experience going through struggles, making them more emotionally aware. We also target those who enjoy indie music and values authenticity and relatability.

In our music video, the artist is depicted as someone who is also struggling and is in solitary. He wears ordinary clothes to show realism. Also, when he was in the supermarket, he seems to be alone. We enhanced this feeling of loneliness by featuring close-up shot of our artist, as well as long shots of the supermarket to put into perspective just how much our artist is in solitary, making him even more relatable to the audience. This links to David Gauntlett's Theory of Identity, suggesting that audience use public figures as role models for themselves, which plays a role in them finding themselves in life.

Our social media page also follows the same aesthetic as the music video, where we continued to feature muted colors and casual clothing, for emotional relatability and brand consistency. Captions for each of the Instagram posts gives a bit more context on the image or video of each post. A few of our star's posts are teasers from our music video, which helps build anticipation. Our star also interacted with fan engaging by commenting on the posts, which makes our star seem more approachable and down-to-earth despite the star status. By doing this, our social media page establishes and maintains our star's indie brand image, as well as continuing to show our artist's solitariness, relatability, and vulnerability.

The social groups represented in our products are young males from teens to adults who have experienced hardship, loneliness, and isolation. In the music video, this is represented in various ways. In the beginning of the video, it is represented through the contact name being "Nobody Likes You", referring to the character as being unlikeable by others. There's also a scene where the character eats all by himself, despite being in a public place, showing how our character is truly isolated and alone.

Issues represented in our products are isolation, depression, and loneliness, which people in our target audience's ages experience more often. These are represented through the muted colors, darker overall atmosphere, and long shot scenes where the character appears to be alone.

In conclusion, branding is an identity that is established by a media product in order to attract the target audience, and builds a connection to them. Also, consistent branding can make a star stand out from other artists of the same genre. For our products (MV, social media, and digipak), all 3 have consistent aesthetic and feel, allowing them to maintain the star's brand identity of being ordinary and relatable. This ultimately makes audience feel closer to the artist and be able to identify with him. This aligns with Richard Dyer's Theory of Stardom., in which our star is easily identified on all 3 of the media products.

Final Product

Below are the final version of our project.

MUSIC VIDEO

In case it doesn't work: https://youtu.be/TnOVLNfLf1k?si=BHAC4rcmpnM70vPI

DIGIPAK

SOCIAL MEDIA

Posts:

Editing

This is the progress of our editing for the music video. This blogpost is originally made by Jeremy.

First Result:

This is the result of me filming and editing in the span of a day. I thought it was pretty decent but some of the scene color was washed so I had to go do some reshoot

Feedback From Mr Nick: 

- Some of the scene lighting is too dark

- Some of the clips placements are too random

Second Improved Result (After Feedback)

Here I fixed some of the low lighting after reshoot, which I implemented after Mr Nick's advice.

Overall I would say it's a decent improvement from the first video, and I am satisfied

Some screenshots of the editing process:

Reflection: Even though I wasn't the editor, I gave him some feedback throughout the editing process. But unfortunately, some aspects of the editing couldn't be fixed as there were device problems. But in the end, the music video turned out better than any of us expected, which is awesome.

Research & Development: Social Media

The presentation below discusses the conclusion of our research on several artists' Instagram accounts, posts, etc. It is made by my teammate, Candra.

Reflection:

Despite not being the one to create the presentation, I found his conclusion on this topic very good. I personally did some research on my own as well, throughout the making of this project. Through my research and Candra's presentation, I understood more on how artists create and maintain their image through posts and reels, as well as how fans interact through comments. I also found that various artists focusing on the same genre can have their own uniqueness and style which make them stand out and appeal to their own audiences. I came at the conclusion that social media is a tool that helps enhances artists' image and expands their reach.

Screen Test

This blog shows the screen test we did for our version of the music video. Kenneth (me) created the questions, designed, and printed all 3 questionnaires. This blog was written by Kenzo, summarised from both of our conclusions.

The main reason of doing screen test prior to the release of our music video, is so we can get suggestions and criticism from our target audience, and produce a better version than the current draft version we had them watch for our screen test. Another thing is that a screen test helps us to view different perspectives of different types of audience, whether they get the message of the media text we're trying to convey. Me and Kenzo approached 4 people in total, 2 guys and 2 girls. The girls were sitting together, so we had them watch and fill the questionnaire together. Most of the ratings given were around 7-8, which we both admitted was great, but reading through the answers from our audience, we understand that there are more room to improvement. The criticism our audiences have in common is that most of the scenes are deemed too dark and shaky, which reduces the clarity of the video.

Reflection:

The suggestions and criticism we got from our screen test was very valuable for us as we were able to make an improvement during our second shoot on Saturday, the following week. We made sure this improved version better aligns with our target audience's expectation and follows the "vibe" we're going for.

Classwork: Persona + Brand

We did this classwork in class together, as a team.

Below is the persona mind map for our music video character, made by Kenzo. I (Kenneth) will be playing this character.

Reflection:

Completing this classwork allowed us to gain more knowledge on Persona which helped us decide how we want to portray our character in the music video, on social media, and in real life. A slight problem we encountered while doing this classwork was that we couldn't decide on a single artist to research, since we all had different artists in mind. But later, we agreed on researching Billie Eilish's persona because we felt that her persona was quite straightforward.

Meanwhile, we've already made a decision for the persona of our own character in our music video project, so the last part didn't take much time to complete.

UPDATE:

This mind map we created was very useful during our shooting, since we were able to use it as a guide and maintain the same direction throughout the whole process. Along the way, we did make some changes, mainly the outfit which are now more casual. We made this change because we felt that it resonated more with the character, as well as the overall feel of the video.

Digipak: Research & Development

This blog post shows the research we've done and our progress to reach the final digipak design. This research was done by Kenzo and assisted by Kenneth (me). A few of Arnold's edited scenes are also featured below, which were used for the digipak designs.

The Research
When doing the digipak research, I looked at how other artists on social media platforms, like Instagram, X, and TikTok create digipaks that fit their persona as well as the intended audience. This gave us a wider understanding, which helped guide us create our own digipak for this project. Our teacher told us to research on 6 different digipak covers, but Kenzo did 10 in total, with my assistance.

1) Billie Eilish - When We All Fall Asleep

Camera:

1. Medium Shot: The angle of this shot is taken at eye level, and the lack of camera movement and angles makes this scene feel uncomfortable and eerie, as if something is wrong, even though nothing has happened. The position of Billie Eilish is facing directly to the audience and centred in the frame, also adding to the uncomfortable feeling.

Miss-en-scene:

1. Dark background: A calm but sad feeling. This also depicts a single character in a small, dimly lit room, which conveys loneliness and quiet.
2. Simple and Plain costume: The loose and oversized white outfit shows vulnerability and links to the theme of sleep. The white contrasts with the dark black surroundings, making the image feel unsettling. 

How does this reflect the artist's persona?

The digipak cover shows Billie Eilish as someone who enjoys darkness and emotional honesty. The unsettling of the scene, yet calm environment, shows Billie exploring her fear and her inner thoughts. Showing Billie in a dark room alone suggests that the artist is not afraid of confronting uncomfortable life rather than hiding from it.

Does the Artist have a logo? Is it consistent with their other media?
Billie Eilish does not have a strong traditional logo, as her branding often relies on mood, imagery, and minimal use of typography. However, this album cover is consistent throughout her other media, such as merchandise, music videos, and so on, which use low-key, moody lighting, an unsettling environment, and a minimalist aesthetic that prioritises emotions.

How has the Album Cover influenced you?
Even though the vibe given off from this digipak is really well created, our artist would probably not 100% follow this digipak design, as it's too horrifying and disturbing for the viewers. We would most likely only take the lighting from Billie Eilish and apply it to our digipak. Since this was the first digipak I researched, I realised that facial expression is also important, as it conveys what our character's overall personality looks like. 

2) Arctic Monkeys - Whatever people say I am, that's what I am not

Camera:

1. Medium Close-up Shot: The angle of this shot is taken at eye level, and direct framing makes this digipak have a raw, documentary style feeling. Additionally, it also uses the lack of camera angles, which creates a sense of unpolished realism combined with eye level view, suggesting honesty in everyday life.

Miss-en-scene:

1. Black and White colour palette: this creates an urban, gritty vibe. The urban vibe allows the audience to feel that the artist's lifestyle is similar to theirs.
2. Simple background: Allows the audience to stay focused on the emotion and expression of character in the digipak cover.
3. Cigarette: it helps to symbolise the character in the digipak as a rebellion and a youth culture type of person
4. Plain clothing: it adds to the realism vibe, making it feel more depressing.

How does this reflect the artist's persona?

It portrays the artist as truly rough and honest, matching their songs about daily life, partying, and the young people's world. It gives off a strong, no-frills energy that highlights how down-to-earth and against mainstream trends they are.

Does the Artist have a logo? Is it consistent with their other media?
This artist has a logo, and they are named Arctic Monkeys. The font used in the text logo matches their indie identity, and with their other music albums, they have focused more on imagery rather than branding, which makes them consistent across their other media.

How has the Album Cover influenced you?
We will most likely create something similar to this album cover, as it does not require any complex props or visuals. A similar font used on the digipak cover could also be used on ours, as both of us share the same vibe and target audience for the music video. So far, this digipak is what we're looking for.

3) The Weeknd - Dawn FM

Camera:

1. Close-up shot: Eye levelled to show the audience the artist's expression, creating a direct connection with the viewer. It also uses a lack of camera angle, making the image feel reflective. Another thing is that it also uses a tight frame to show the artist's clear expression and his age in the picture.

Miss-en-scene:

1. Dark background: shows the artist is isolated, combined with the tight space of the picture.
2. Blue lighting: it shows the mood and vibe that the artist is full of sadness and loneliness.
3. Plain clothing: The artist intentionally does this to keep the audience focused on the facial expression, similar to the previous digipak cover.

How does this reflect the artist's persona?

From the digipak, it shows that TheWeeknd is a self-aware and reflective artist. The old man shown in the image suggests that the artist is now matured and is looking back on his past choices. In this album cover, the artist is shown more in honesty and vulnerability rather than the normal artists who are mostly shown in glamorous and flashy lighting.

Does the Artist have a logo? Is it consistent with their other media?
The artist uses a simple text logo, such as "TheWeeknd /Dawn FM", similar to his other albums. The typography matches his intended retro radio vibe, and it feels like the branding is minimal and intentional. If we compare it with the other media of TheWeeknd, the design remains consistent, mostly showing his own singular face in the image.

How has the Album Cover influenced you?

Similar to the other album cover, the lighting and makeup show how important they are, as they can tell a story and create a first impression of the music to the audience. Another thing to mention is that facial expression could also be a good combination with the lighting to create a deeper vibe.

4) The Smiths - The Queen is Dead

Camera:

1. Medium Close-up: the character is shown side-facing the camera rather than looking at the camera, which is something new compared to the other digipak I researched. The angle at which the album cover was shot makes the audience feel that they are observing the character.

Miss-en-scene:

1. Black and white colour palette: it gives an old classic vibe and a serious mood.
   
2. Neutral face expression: It creates an impression on the audience that the character has detached from emotion and is depressed.
3. Simple background: Similar to the other digipak cover I researched, the artist intentionally does this to make the audience stay focused on the subject, which is the face of the character.

How does this reflect the artist's persona?
The album cover highlights the emotional depth of the Smith rather than the glamour, reflecting on Smith's introspective nature. The album cover rejects the norms of pop culture and instead tries to create an emotional feeling of detachment by using proper Miss-en-scene which is in line with the band's artistic identity.

Does the Artist have a logo? Is it consistent with their other media?
Same with the other artist I researched, The Smiths, uses a simple serif text logo for their band on the album cover. This style of logo remains consistent throughout other Smith's albums and merch. The reason they do this is probably because the band wants the audience to focus more on the message and make it feel more honest, rather than focusing more on the branding.

How has the Album Cover influenced you?

From this album cover, I like the use of the colour grading, although it is maybe way too dark for my album cover. I also liked how all the album covers have the same similarities, which is that they use simple, minimal font typography, as this creates a stronger meaning in their song.

5) Keshi - Requiem

Camera:

1. Long shot: the camera is positioned a bit distant from the artist to create a silhouette shot. This camera angle completely subverts a typical pop-star image, as the lack of eye contact suggests emotional detachment and avoids being too glamorous.

Miss-en-scene:

1. Low-key lighting: The image, combined with a strong backlight of the character, creates a dramatic silhouette.
2. Dark, simple clothing: It adds up to the vibe.
3. Lack of props: the artist wants the audience to focus on the emotion rather than on other objects.
4. Unclear setting: the artist wants the audience to focus on the emotion rather than the location.

How does this reflect the artist's persona?

Keshi's persona is that of an introverted and emotionally honest artist, which matches the album cover vibe. It is shown through the silhouette that suggests the artist is having an inner conflict with his emotions. Additionally, the lack of visual images of unpolished scenes also reinforces this ideology.

Does the Artist have a logo? Is it consistent with their other media?

Keshi's logo is a minimalist typographic design that often only uses his name in bold with clean lettering. This also applies to his other media, such as the merchandise and vinyl designs. Having a consistent logo allows him to create a strong brand identity and cohesion across different platform making him gain a lot of fans.

How has the Album Cover influenced you?

I like how the cover has already told me what emotional expression I would get before listening to the song. The silhouette also made me feel that I can relate to this artist. However, I do not like the lighting of the album cover because it's way too dark and it does not fit with the album we are going to make. 

6) Jeremy Zucker - Love is not dying

Camera:

1. Medium shot: It is also placed at eye level to create equality between the artists and the audience. The artist's head is shown tilted down while avoiding eye contact and is intentionally placed slightly off-centre, creating a sense of emotional imbalance.

Miss-en-scene:

1. Lighting: low-key lighting under the sunset with orange and a bit of mixed purple colour.
2. Setting: Outdoor sky at dusk may symbolise that something is about to end, and a new life may begin.
3. Simple costume: the artist is trying to make the audience relate to him.
4. No props: the artist wants the audience to focus on the emotion rather than on other objects or status.

How does this reflect the artist's persona?

The artist's persona is often seen as emotionally open and relatable by the audience. In this album cover, the artist's posture and lack of eye contact make him insecure and honest about vulnerability.His image as a bedroom-pop musician who prioritises authenticity over celebrity is linked to the natural setting and understated style.

Does the Artist have a logo? Is it consistent with their other media?
The artist does not have a visual logo; he relies on his handwritten style, typography and minimal graphic design. Throughout his career, this style has been shown consistently on his merchandise and vinyl/cassette designs.

How has the Album Cover influenced you?
I like how the album gives a healing lighting through the sunset setting and dusk sky, telling the listeners that it's going to be reflective music. Jeremy's closed body language promotes emotional connection and empathy. By this, it makes the audience listen to the record more intently and thoughtfully, instead of just carelessly
___________________________________________________________________________________

DEVELOPMENT #1

FRONT COVER
The front cover is the most important part of the digipak, as it gives the audience a first impression of how the music's vibe will be. Which is why Jeremy and I produced a lot of versions of the front cover and asked a few audience members which design is prefered the most.

1st Version:
We didn't have any illustrations or whatsover however, we want to fuse Arctic Monkeys' digipak cover with our music video. We want the audience to feel that the character is trapped inside his own thoughts by making the character alone in a small room with his head down. Additionally, we want to tell the audience that it was his birthday, so instead of having candles on a cake, we added a cigarette on layers of bread. The cigarette on the bread suggests that the character is doing the bare minimum on a day that he's supposed to feel special about, combined with water from the shower raining upon him, telling that he's trying to cleanse himself from thoughts washing over him. We used the glowing question mark on his head to make the audience think that our character is uncertain of his identity. 

After we finished the 1st version, we asked our teacher how the front cover looks and it was met with pretty good feedback. Here's what he said, summarised in points:

1) Good lighting, it gives a proper vibe to the music video

2) The question mark is a bit too off and dominating; this will pull the audience away from the better detail (like the cigarette on the bread)
 

=========================================

2nd Version:
After receiving feedback from our teacher, we scrapped our first version and immediately worked on our second version. We decided to pick another picture that shows the bread and a cigarette, much more visible than our previous 1st version. We also experiment with different lighting and visual effects to try to give more options for our audience to decide.

(Fig2.1)

(Fig 2.2)

(Fig 2.3)

(Fig 2.4)

(Fig 2.5)

On this attempt on colour grading, I tried using Arctic Monkey's lighting, and it received good feedback from the teacher.

Throughout version 2, I experimented with different types of colour grading to ensure that it fits with the vibe we are looking for and the intended audience. I want to create a message just from the digipak cover, so I decided to choose Fig 2.2 because my intention was to make the colour gold to represent how Kenneth Lee is from the outside (giving a positive vibe as if the artist has successfully reached his goal) while the inside of the digipak is going to be dark moody blue to show Kenneth Lee's inner self (giving lonely and sadness feeling even though he succeeded). When the audience opens/listens to the digipak, it will make them feel as if they are entering into Kenneth Lee's emotions.

***

The chosen Digipak Design based on Fig 2.2

I intentionally covered Kenneth Lee's eye, as it creates a meaning of uncertainty and lack of clarity about his future life. Aditionally I added roses in the background as it symbolizes love and desire; however, I lowered the contrast of the roses and made them dark and a bit hidden, which makes the audience think that the artist emotionally wants that to exist but cannot be clearly perceived. I also copied most of the digipak research where the artists are centred in the frame. This makes the audience focused on the intended subject (which is Kenneth Lee). I think this is a good digipak design because it creates a powerful message without explanation.

___________________________________________________________________________________

DEVELOPMENT #2

DIGIPAK CONTENT

Version 1 (attempt made by friend)


Version 2 

Mini vote

So it turns out version 2 was the chosen one. Even though it was a good attempt made by my friend, there are some flaws that it has (for example: The same digipak cover is used for the digipak content). In version 2, the content is divided into the left panel and the right panel. On the left panel, the artist is shot from a high angle, making him vulnerable, and the low lighting gives a sense of emotional heaviness and depression. We intentionally make the artist feel like he's doing too much but still is not enough, which fits the theme of the song. Not to mention, I also added a quote saying “I step into another year carrying the same unanswered thoughts,” which is not a dramatic quote but a reflective one, talking about how time is slowly passing, and growth is expected. On the right panel, it shows the shadow outline of the artist rather than the full person, which may suggest he has lost his identity.
___________________________________________________________________________________

DEVELOPMENT #3

BACK COVER

(The original Picture we took)

The Final Version

For the final creation, I used Canva to help me edit the picture and the lighting. We used the bread and the candle as our main symbol on the digipak cover because it gives an impression to the audience that something is wrong, as this suggests that the character is celebrating nothing all alone. We intentionally make the candle flame small, showing that the fire is steady, to create a meaning that this character's loneliness isn't explosive but just constant (reminding him every single time). The dark background of the digipak used to isolate the bread and candle together, just like being mentally alone.

THE FINAL MEANING OF THE DIGIPAK
The gold exterior and the dark interior create a contrast that can represent the difference between our character's public identity and his private emotions.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Reflection:

I was very much content with how our digipak turned out, and the process we went through to get there. Me and Kenzo learned a lot from the various kinds of digipaks we analysed, and even enjoyed the learning process and how much we appreciate these designs now that we have better understanding of them. During the designing process of our own digipak, we started with little idea of what design we were trying to go for, and soon ran out of ideas. We came up with a solution, which is to redo the bathroom scene for the digipak. But within our limited time, Kenzo came up with excuses, canceling our shooting, ultimately leading to delayed progress. Eventually, we had to use footage we took during shooting for the digipak. In the brighter side, this experience taught me that we should plan ahead for smaller details like this for a more streamlined process.