Creative Critical Reflection

1. How do your products represent social groups or issues?

My music video and the digipack  represent that teenage girl who is suffering from heartbreak and emotional trauma. Representation that is real and relatable instead of what’s very common in mainstream media realism and relatability.

This image demonstrates a close- up look at human emotion: The close-up  look of the character's face. The viewers can clearly see her emotion and in this way have an emotional connection to her, thanks to a close-up  view at the time. That resonates with Stuart Hall's perspective that the source of meaning comes from media. My product is not like the typical images of women that come from media: They too may have glamour and perfection. There's a limited focus on my character’s clothing such as a t-shirt and jeans, with minimal makeup. This makes her feel real and authentic and it resonates with the audience from a personal and emotional perspective. The heartbreak and emotional pain are a central part of my products. Narratives like unanswered phone call, writing letter and playing piano, for example, also fit in. You really have experience in which way, in your own life and how you feel with the story. So in general, my products reflect young people in a true and emotional way to break down stereotypes and show them what really it is.

2. How do the elements of your production work together to create a sense of ‘branding’?

My music video and digipack work together to create the same brand identity by my artist, LISA.

The digipak uses a close-up photo with low-key lighting and dark colour palette. This same visual style is used in my music video with similar lighting and emotional tone. So the products are very much connected. 

Branding is carried out as follows:

Consistent colour scheme → dark, muted tones

Emotional aesthetic → focus on sadness and reflection

Minimalist design → simple and professional

Similar mise-en-scène (the same for our products) is used to reinforce it. Just from an emotional standpoint, in the video and digipak, how emotional the character is.

This image mirrors the emotional tone in the video and correlates instantly with the digipak design. This gives a unified brand to the audience, and the typefaces add to the branding aspect of a brand identity. The sparse font quality and very simple text can be quite different from Adele’s work but is a great fit for a clean and emotional brand. Visual elements together across all products create a powerful entity with the brand.

3. How do your products engage with the audience ? 

The audience can see in relation with my products because what I offer is a person of emotion as well as a graphic approach. My music video targeted teenagers to young adults who believe love and heartbreak are important things, and you like things like your music’s title.

This is one of the top emotional moments in the video. The close-up shots are to give the audience the real emotional feeling of the character by making experience more personal and relatable. And you also need to get the narrative part right in the entire video. The unanswered phone call and letter-writing part you wrote is representative of our real world, so very relatable. Slow editing and soft transitions give it a nice calm and thoughtful feel. This makes the audience focus on emotions instead of fast-paced action. This relates to Uses and Gratifications Theory for an effective emotional connection and personal identity on social media. My products are for the audience to find themselves in the story, so there is increased engagement (focusing off of just emotion). Digipak  draw the audience into the product emotionally. More than anything, there’s an emotional element to my products as I try to have good storytelling (emotional emotional story on top of visual appeal).

4. How did your research inform your products and the way they use or challenge conventions?

My research influenced my products even further. By viewing Adele's music videos, I came to grasp what emotion can be communicated through the use of imagery, editing and mise-en-scène.

From my research, I identified key conventions of pop/soul music videos, including:

• Close-up shots
• Slow editing
• Narrative structure
• Emotional performance

I applied these habits and methodologies to my very own video. For instance, I used close-ups to illustrate the emotion, and slow editing that matched the song's tempo. This in mind fits with Andrew Goodwin that music video should highlight the artist, and that visuals can be tied to the music itself. In my video, the visuals very accurately reflect the emotion in the lyrics. In my digipak design, I have also had to reflect some of these results. I noticed that album covers usually used minimal text and strong imagery and thus I approached my own design based on these themes.

However, I also challenged conventions by:

• Using a single location
• Creating a more minimalist narrative
• Focusing on internal emotion rather than action.           

This allowed me to create a product that is both conventional and original.Overall, my research provided a strong foundation for my work and helped me create effective media products.