Creative Critical Reflection Essay

 

This essay reflects upon how my products reflects social group, have challenged multiple conventions, it further discusses, how we created a sense of branding. These branding methods helped us interact with audience and engage with them exclusively.

The two main social group represented in our music video are age and gender. Stereotypically girls are shown as more emotional and reliant on other people. Similarly, the social issue of deep emotional attachment to one and then getting abandoned by them, was showcased in our music video but in a friendship bond. The music video shows Haya (The artist) having flashbacks of her valued moments with her friend, describing their deep and intricate bond. Thus, when Haya and her friend become distanced, she is shown to be in deep pain while reminiscing her memories with her friend.

We portrayed this social issue of dependence on the peer circle in teenagers as they are shown as easily influenced by their surroundings, in the media like Cady in Mean Girls but the positive essence that this music video holds prevents it from completely falling into this category. This shows how teenagers are emotionally sensitive. The constant flashbacks of them crying, laughing and spending time together represents how intricate deep bonds like friendship can get, making the other so dependently habitual of you that saying goodbyes become difficult.

The second social group we represented was gender, how young women act in love relationships like friendships. Stereotypically this gender is associated with affection, care, love and even sometime emotional weakness too. We portrayed the same conventional representation but instead of romantic love we showed friendship. The comfortlessness of the artist denotes the pain she was in for the misunderstanding that erupted in and distanced the friends. Whereas the smiles and laughter in the flashbacks indicates how valuable they were for each other.By incorporating elements of nature, we emphasized the sincerity and depth of the connection between the characters polishing the essence of innocence that the music video holds.

Our music video created a sense of branding through different ways, the different elementals of production that came together to create a sense of branding involved, A theme, A consistent color palette was followed in all our products which helped to lay down the artist’s brand. Our production revolves around Music video, digipak and social media page. The combination of dark and light colors that we used in our products aided us to create this sense of branding. This involves easy identification of the fact that the product is from the same brand, giving it a sense of nostalgia and somberness as a brand.

We even used the same font throughout the production process, this typography of our products made a unique identity for the AZ productions. The title on digipak, the text on social media page, the credits in the music video were all written in the same font.

 The nostalgic and somber aesthetic of our music video clearly fit with the genre of indie pop. The introspective lyrics portray the artist’s feelings regarding the distancing of her friend which was further represented by our mis-en-scene which included soft colors, the natural sunlight, flowers and smiles when they were together and the dark room, orbiting shots, dull lightening when she was alone.In addition, creating a social media page where the Artist’s fandom can come and connect also brings in a sense of branding, especially due to the fact that the artist has an identifiable following or fan base. Hence, we created a social media page specially designed to attract and cater to the fandom of the artist.Lastly, we created a logo for AZ Production Company and posted it on the social media page, we put the link of the final cut in the bio of the social media page and added website of the songs on the posters for better cross engagement. It will create a cohesive experience that resonates with the audience and leaves a lasting impression.

Now for engaging with the audience we tried multiple ways .Firstly, the creation of a social media platform with interesting posts like coming soon, reels with deep quotes. These posts would attract the audience and hook them till the release of the song.

Our music video appeals the audience through a strong plot, an emotional appeal that will make the audience empathize with the lead. The expressions of pain in the eyes of the artist, and the smiles they had on their faces while playing and spending time together and the comfortlessness the lead had will be felt by the audience. This will be done by using close up and Big close-up shots which would make the audience feel more connected with the artist. Secondly, as we are targeting the teenage audience, this might also relate with them. This is because teenagers are emotionally sensitive and are more likely to go through something similar to this such as a fight between the friends. Hence, they will be able to see themselves in the artist and would be more engaged with the music video.

The aesthetic of our product will also appeal the audience. This includes the music video with pink yellow color grading for the past which connotes happiness juxtaposed with the red bluish colors of the present expressing the artist’s negative feelings.  In addition, we put these contrasting colors on our digipak and social media page too. Keeping our audience curious about the actual feel of the cute aesthetic coded in the dark envelope.

We made the social media page more interactive using the comments, Dms and even polls on the stories as a way of communication between the artist and the audience and taking audience feedback. These feedbacks would not just make them feel connected with the artist but would also help them take more interest in interpreting the deeper meaning of the song and the music video.

 Furthermore we followed multiple conventions of the genre of Indie pop, the genre of the song: Ribs. This involves strong narratives, and a performance side by side with the narrative. Our flashback technique represented a strong plot of two friend separated by a misunderstanding and the performance incudes the comfortlessness of the artist missing their friend. Conventionally we created a strong mise-en-scene.

Natural elements such as sunlight, flowers and wind were purposefully included in the mise-en-scene to bring the feeling of the artist into the surrounding environment; this was done so the viewer could be engaged in the mv and feels the emotions the actor is going through. This helped to evoke emotion and form a connection with viewers on a personal level so they could feel nostalgia and longingness through the visuals, amplifying the emotional resonance of the music. This is also what indie pop music videos are known for  simple performances instead of something loud or dramatic. The indie pop music is known as the genre for intellectual, introverted and creative people, this is why in our music video the artist is shown to have only one close friend which meets the ambience of the music.

 

We challenged social conventions by showing the emotion of Love in friendship rather than in a romantic relationship. Secondly showing healthy female friendships is also unconventional as according to my research, Media portrays teenage female friendships as toxic, for instance Maxine and Ginny’s friend group in Ginny and Georgia or Cady and Regina in Mean Girls, and mostly shows teenage girls as rebellious, drugs addict and even playgirls. This is how modern media expects teenage girls to behave, but our representation is unconventional as it shows healthy womanhood where girls support each other and are not fighting over boys. However, the representation takes a conventional turn as the artist is shown to be a very emotional being which is how typically women are represented in media.

Our other products like digipak and social media were managed as per conventions of music promotion. For example, the digipak involves the peak moments of artist’s performance following the same font as in the rest of the product, whereas the social media has the same dull color palette with accents of pastels showing the contradictory nature of the product’s emotional appeal. This use of contradictory colors is where we’ve challenged conventions.

In conclusion, our project has successfully navigated the complexities of representing social groups while challenging conventional norms, all while establishing a cohesive branding strategy. We cohesively focused on themes of friendship and emotional vulnerability, along with engaging on a personal level , also provided a refreshing perspective on female relationships. The consistent branding elements such as color palette, typography, and narrative coherence across our music video, digipak, and social media presence allowed us to create a unified experience for our viewers. Overall, our project stands as a testament to the power of creative storytelling and thoughtful branding in both engaging audiences and pushing the boundaries of social and artistic conventions.

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