Creative critical reflection

 

The Mise-en-scene includes costumes, props and facial expressions which help define the social identity of characters or at least adds to it and then those characters begin to represent a social group. The product I have created is a music video which depicts 2 teenage girls who are really close to each another. One of those goes abroad for her higher studies. That moment was really hard seeing off her friend but when she returns back after graduating, everything was same as it was before. Both met each other happily with such love and happiness.  The costumes are jeans, kurta, button up shirt and also coats which gives a formal classic look. Even the colors of the outfits are bright such as yellow, purple and blue which connote youth and liveliness. The props I used were glasses, suitcase, laptop, handbag, mug, car, and a Persian cat too. Also, in one 2 scenes the teenagers are shown in school so they also represent students which is why I decided not to use much makeup on them to give them a natural look and props such as books and bags have been used to represent them as students. In conclusion, teenagers are represented as fun, playful, carefree, immature, active, joyful and innocent

The main artist is introduced in the video at the beginning where she is getting dressed up and goes in the past remembering all the memories and moments spent with her best friend. The costume includes an over coat which present adults as more mature as compared to their school going days. The facial expressions of the lead protagonist are also more delighted and cheerful, showing she loved enjoying those joyous moments and is now very excited to meet her friend after years, which is the main theme of my music video. Overall, my music video portrays adult women as mature, sober, professional and even a bit weary.

Cross-media branding is used to promote the artist across the products (music video, Instagram page, digipak) as well as allowing fans to associate the products with the artist’s image. Synergy is created by using a combination of different linked products to promote each other. In this case, synergy is used to create a recognizable image of the artist, which the audience can pin-point and remember. This is done through the color scheme, costumes, typography and logos present in the media products.

The music video is the main product, which uses colors, props and elements of setting which can also be found in the other products. For example, the house where I shot my music video had brown tiled walls so I used it as a background on my Digipack front cover. I have used a red saturated filter for the digipak which creates a specific aesthetic which is then later linked to the artist and then the artist is recognized and remembered by that aesthetic or style. I believe it is a good way of appealing to the target audience of mainly teenagers and young adults, as well as suiting the artist’s persona and style. 

The target audience of my products is similar to the usual audience of the pop rock genre. This would be made of teenagers and young adults of the age of 16 to 24 years old. My music video would attracts mostly teenagers and students as those are the social classes my music video represents.

The main task, the music video, would engage with the audience for several reasons. The lyrics and its interpretation touches on the themes of friendship and memories, which is a commonly used theme in popular culture, because it is relatable and accessible to the audience. This creates an emotional connection with the audience, who might resonate with the experiences shown in the video. To further make it relatable and appealing to the youthful audience, the costume of the lead protagonist (in their teenage) is casual but fashionable and up-to-date, as fashion plays an important role in today's age.

The digipak has an appearance of both the girls standing in a house, which reinforces the main theme of the music video. It uses a variety of fonts and typography styles to make it look more fun and visually attractive. Furthermore, the Instagram page has the necessary information about the artist, which would engage with fans that access it. The first thing they see when they access the page is the logo of our studio and the concert tickets of the artist where she’ll be performing live. I have added the music album on the page too, so the audience can learn about the artist personally which will lead them to like the artist and follow their music. I have also posted a poster of the artist with her friend on the page so the audience stays tuned and gets attracted towards it.

Essentially, genre conventions are the defining aspects of any genre or subgenre. There are tons of these conventions for each genre, and any given work doesn't necessarily have to include more than a handful of them; if there aren't any at all, the work may not ultimately fall into the intended genre. In pop music, they have a good rhythm, a catchy melody, and are easy to remember and sing along to. They usually have a chorus that's repeated several times and two or more verses. Most pop songs are between two and five minutes long, and the lyrics are usually about the joys and problems of love and relationships. It is a type of music, usually played on electronic instruments, that is popular with many people because it consists of short songs with a strong beat and simple tunes that are easy to remember. Most artists are dressed fashionably with a high end street style which portrays them as rich and bad (in a good way). Rap videos are either shot indoors, on a crafted set or in the outdoors at night time. The genre is normally conveyed through the costumes, the setting, relationship between lyrics and narrative however most music videos for pop are performance based. Interrupted narrative/ performance helps keep track of the plot and keeps the audience's focus on the video. 

My music video challenges these codes and conventions of the pop genre, it has been shot both indoors and outdoors in broad daylight and the dress code is pretty casual as the characters are common college goers. There are no shots that follow voyeurism in the video as the cast is dressed casual with little to no makeup and are presented to be relatable to connect better with the viewers. My video is mostly narrative based with interrupted lip sync singing and the song I have chosen does not contain foul language and the overall theme of the song and the music video both, do not revolve around cash, girls, cars or luxury but themes of friendship and nostalgia.