How do your products represent social groups or issues?
In the music video ¨Hope¨ by Jessica Banks I decided to create awareness through the incorporation of the theme of mental health. This was achieved through merging the theme into the narrative, by creating a short story in the music video which the audience is capable of identifying as a girl going through the basic elements of depression such as; dissociation, numbness and mental breakdowns. Although this theme is clearly represented in the music video, I decided to take a different approach for my digipak and social media. To make my artist more relatable I presented her in her social media as a normal human being, deleting the ¨star¨ factor out of her real persona. Richard Dyer believed in ¨Star as a commodity,¨ which suggests that stars are designed to be consumed to generate profit through their image, that is created by the institutions they belong to. However, by presenting certain ideals and images in the music video and digipak then juxtaposing them in the social media I was able to draw a line between the artist’s work and the artist’s personal persona, this avoids the audience from romanticising mental health disorders, this might happen due to the fact that fans see Jessica as their role model and might repeat certain behaviours she presents. In the music video ¨Hope¨ the only age representation are teenagers, this was done to bring light upon the stigma that young people should not suffer from any disorders since they are ¨young¨ and ¨have their whole lives ahead of them¨. This toxic way of thinking leaves teenagers with the idea that they are not entitled to their own feelings, thus, using teenagers in the music video gives support to teenagers that might feel helpless and alone. Even when representing the ¨father¨ mentioned in the narrative and in the lyrics I used a seventeen year old boy instead of an actual grown up, the absolute avoidance of older people represented in my music video creates a safe space for the presented age group (teenagers). There is a variety of gender representation when viewing the music video as to promote inclusivity, this is especially observed when viewing the shortcuts of characters, in which I have implemented both the female and the male gender as to reintegrate my previous point of age, however modified into gender to encourage the suggestion of both genders being perfectly capable of suffering from mental health disorders. However the thought of sexuality represented in the music video was avoided, ultimately defying David Gauntlett’s theory of fixed roles, which mentioned the idea of rigid roles in society, which I felt was unnecessary for the development of my product, although my music video shows a boy helping a girl through her struggles there is no confirmation that both characters are or will end up in a romantic relationship, I purposely subverted the stereotype of ¨damsel in distress saved by a strong man¨ and purposely leave ambiguity in the end of the video. The same is applied in the social media where both characters have been posted together, still, there is no sign of romantic interest between the two.
How do the elements of your production work together to create a sense of branding?
Making use of ¨brand identity¨ helps create a cohesive and recognizable image for the brand. By using consistent design elements, such as colour, fonts, and imagery, consumers will quickly identify products as belonging to that specific brand. This helps build brand awareness, loyalty, and trust. In addition to this a consistent brand identity can help stand out from the competition. If products have a distinct look and feel, they are more likely to be remembered and shared by consumers, consequently resulting in an increase of brand exposure. Nevertheless having a brand identity can help consumers have an idea of the values, and personality the brand holds. In both my music video and social media, there is a heavy presence of friendship, in which we can see both the character in the music video and the real life persona of the artist largely rely on her friends. We can see this through the support given to her in the music video and the constant presence of friends in her social media feed. Often in my music video there friendships are presented, however in my social media the audience is capable of submerging themselves into a deeper perspective of those friendships and are capable of seeing them in their natural state, giving the audience a closer connection to the cast, in a way the audience forms part of the ¨Hope¨ family by giving them behind the scene photos of the actual music video. My social media also makes use of the Henry Jenkins theory of fandom, where our hashtag #havehope can be used by consumers in addition to the idea of cultural production and practices by the fans, as they are capable of creating any type of homage to the music video and add the hashtag to state the clear presence of essence between their art and ours music video. I decided to add one of the most captivating shots of the music video in the digipak’s front cover, this creates a link between both the digipak and the music video, giving the audience something that is recognizable to the music video, this can increase the sells of the product as familiarity promotes comfort between the consumer and the product, I was also capable of using the star power Jessica already had to increase the attention surrounding the theme of mental health in her song ¨Hope¨. Also, in the back of my digipak I added a QR code that will link consumers directly to the music video. My social media in the other hand makes use of algorithms to target the right audience, through the collection of data regularly done by the platform `Instagram´, which will suggest the post promoting my digipak to users that show interest in the R&B and Soul music genre, mental health issues and friendships. Both the music video and the digipak have a nonchalant atmosphere in terms of the content, which represents the style of both the music video and the artist, however warm tones are used in the music video and then repeated on my social media, which is a famous characteristic of the R&B and Soul music genre.
How do your products engage with the audience?
The positive feedback given to me by about my first draft for my music video consisted of a clear and focused narrative, with a well chosen song that was clear to the message and theme broadcasted on the video and good quality shots, however I was told that certain shots were too long and that I needed to the cut them shorter, fixing of the lighting was needed for certain scenes and that using such a large cast might become difficult during production and editing as gathering cast to retake shots might be difficult due to different schedules. I took this feedback to practise and by making shots shorter I was able to retain audience attention throughout my whole music video and the lighting made it easier to watch. The casting inconvenience served as a lesson for future products in which I should have agreed on fixed shooting schedules within my whole cast, to find agreements on when everyone is going to be able to record for the first shots and the retakes. All the comments given to me helped me discover new ways of editing and cinematography that helped me make my music video as professional as it could have been through elements like colour editing and templates.
How did your research inform your products and the way they use or challenge conventions?
In my music video a large amount of conventions were used, through my video you can see the presentation of special effects such as the flashback in the second scene, using templates that illustrate a vintage film to create nostalgia. A clear narrative is also established through my whole music video, where there is a clear struggle at the start that is overcome by the main character. There is also the incorporation of lip syncing in the video through several scenes such as the conversation with the parents, the intimate conversation between her best friend and her and the artist’s monologue, using this specific moments as a chance to add lip synching helped me create profound meaning between the narrative and the lyrics. During the music video I made use of cutaway shots on several occasions to balance out the narrative, so as to not overload the audience with a constant storyline. Many R&B and Soul music videos tell a narrative story, often featuring the artist as the protagonist. The story may involve themes of love, heartbreak, or personal growth. I used this convention featuring my own artist as the protagonist, however I decided to focus my theme on a social dilemma that is currently a problem for our generation. The lighting and colour palette of R&B and Soul music videos is often designed to be visually striking and expressive, that's why I decided to edit my video adding saturated filters and settings. The genre also incorporates special effects, such as green screen technology, animation, or visual distortions, however due to my limited budget I was only able to make use of free templates from the internet that mimicked an old vintage film. The digipak conventions consist of cover art, typography and the inside panel. I made use of all these conventions however I decided to make my cover minimalistic, my typography elegant which matches the song and my inside panel consisted of a photo of the actual locations used for one of the shots. Three of the main conventions in social media are visual content, hashtags and being consistent, these conventions were my main targets when creating the social media page. I made sure to make all my posts relating to the music video in some way, hashtags were also added to promote my music video and to encourage interaction with users and the feed in general of my media account was taken on a professional camera, making sure the quality and visual appliance was at its highest. By building in all the conventions in my component three music video package I was able to produce a high quality product, with a theme that links with Henry Jenkins ¨fandom theory¨ suggesting that audiences will connect with the message in an emotional level, ultimately integrating emotional resonance with the audience due to the polemic message used in both the narrative and the song, making my product authentic and relatable both in the music video through the theme and by making my artist easily to identify with in the social media page.