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

 

Branding is key in production for it to be memorable for the audience, so it is the producer’s job to create a united and merged campaign to make the products belong to the same genre. Our mission statement portrays our artist as controversial, authentic, rebellious and youthful. We made sure all of these worked cohesively. To ensure a sense of branding, I researched the basic conventions of Indie/Pop and incorporated these into my work to make sure the correct brand image was presented. We used integrated advertising in our products to represent Maeve as such across different texts, this is where the audience’s preferred reading takes place. De Saussure would depict this as using clear denotations that have relevant connotations. They were used as one in the Social Media Page to visualise the elements that had the main role in accomplishing a sense of branding.  We incorporated media language across the platforms to deliver the same message to the target audience, for example we employed editing to represent the contemporary and popular aspect of her brand whilst in our social media page, colour was very important for the representation. 

 

The main focus of my star image is a passionate young woman with a remorseless attitude, as an Indie popstar. This was visible in all of our products. For example, in our music video, the juxtaposition between sweet and innocent vs unmerciful and evil illustrated the power she held, supporting the Indie Branding image we were trying to represent. The paradox of the star with Maeve being both ordinary and extraordinary was also shown in different scenes and our branding. The semic codes of Maeve being controversial and the cultural code of the different settings are all examples of what Barthes would demonstrate the narrative code. Our audience should be able to view this through symbolic pieces, for example, during the disruptive side of our music video Maeve was dressed in darker shades such as red and black to develop a temperamental tone, however she was also shown as an ordinary, innocent young woman through the colours pink and purple. 

 

The overall branding of Maeve is shown as individualistic and funky especially in our Digipak because in order to appeal to our target audience, our branding had unique aesthetics for our fans to recreate. Throughout all of our products we aimed to portray the same narrative message, we did this by using the Adobe Colour Wheel, concentrating mostly on the colours pink and blue for our digipak and SMP, signifying a conventional metanarrative of an unrepentant but passionate Indie popstar. This was important as we needed our audience to get a preferred reading. Hall would argue this will only happen if and when a producer encodes a narrative that can be decoded by the audience in that they ‘get it’. Being a producer means finding all the denotations that have required connotations- only then can a brand be successfully delivered across all platforms. 

 

How do your products represent social groups (genre) or issues?

 

I have represented the Indie Pop genre and Maeve in my Digipak as quirky, contemporary and fashionable as she keeps up with new trends that her audience may inspire to adopt.

Our products correlate to the genre, for example Maeve wears a bucket hat emphasising she is edgy and different, like an Indie popstar. Maeve  is also represented as pushing the boundaries, due to the young, vibrant colours and current fonts that our young audience would decode as current, trendy and cutting edge. Her poses, costumes and makeup designs are also shown as eccentric and exclusive as she is extraordinary and a superstar. This was all in order to communicate with our audience, evidence of Barthes semiotic codes, media language are evident in our second cover of our Digipak as it’s a cultural code for young people in a photobooth enjoying themselves, this conveys that she’s relatable and a lively, youthful young woman and helps reinforce the star image of what Dyer would term, her ordinary metanarrative.

 

We wanted Maeve to be portrayed as individualistic and unconventional because this adds something to a regular celebrity, we did this through using the media language that the audience would be able to decode for a preferred reading. Maeve also enjoys her ordinary lifestyle, where she can relax  and do what she enjoys the most, for example, as displayed on our Social Media Page, Maeve plays the guitar in her spare time, coming up with new songs and also to unwind during her busy schedule. This gives the audience ‘the girl next door’ vibe and helps create a deeper connection with our artist. 

 

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

 

After researching Indie / Pop music videos, we came to the conclusion that there’s a mixture of Performance and Narrative included in the videos, interestingly with high amounts of production and editing. The narratives follow a certain pattern throughout the music videos, and as Almtan would argue, the blueprint portrays them as symbolic, metaphorical and realistic.

 

Conventions describe the general accepted ways of doing something. For example, ‘Happier Than Ever’ by Billie Eilish presents a highly edited video with many different camera shots and actions. We chose to use similar conventions of MES like, unique but natural makeup to show her age, status and stability and over the top filters to give the viewers a certain idea. We also decided to challenge some conventions to create an impact on our music video, in particular a live performance is popular in indie/ pop music videos to allow the audience to focus on their talent and to promote the artist, however we didn’t include this as we wanted to primarily focus on the amplified narrative about a murder to align with the title of the song and the story our star was telling. This impacted our audience hugely as it allowed them to see Maeve’s intense feelings and follow the story knowing the true meaning behind it. 

 

In my opinion, our music video fulfilled the Indie/ Pop genre as we involved our repertoire of elements and blueprint throughout as Altman and Lacey would suggest, this allowed  our audience to recognise the genre and not reject the text as something they were not expecting to see. Moreover, we used edit to the beat and lip syncing to make our music video conventional. Maeve’s deceptive and aloof acting was a semic code for her devious and deceptive nature and would’ve been read as such by our audience.

 

How do your products engage with the audience?

 

Audiences have different uses and gratifications, our target audience is a mix of 14-25 year olds, Gen X and Millennials, meaning they enjoy free spirited and unique content that portrays a message for them to relate to. This helped us adapt to an approach that would engage and keep our audience interested, which was exclusive and relatable. 

 

Engagement with the audience is very important in marketing campaigns. According to Blumler and Katz, the four main reasons that people engage with media is to be entertained, informed, reinforce their personal identity and socially interact. On reflection all the essential elements from B and K’s theory were incorporated into my Social Media Page, for example, we posted a Q&A on Maeve’s Instagram story. This was an excellent strategy to interact with the audience but also to entertain and inform them. Being able to ask Maeve questions enabled her fans to develop a deeper understanding of Maeve, e.g, learning about her morals and views on charities and more sensitive topics. Furthermore, the Q&A allowed Maeve to spoil and tease her audience about Merchandise, this kept the audience intrigued for what to expect in the near future. Including Merch in our Social Media Page was effective to help Maeve’s fans reinforce their personal identity because it allowed them to express themselves through the brand image, style and personality of Maeve’s merchandise. It also allows her audience to feel part of a group and society.

 

Another way Blumler and Katz ideas are apparent was through posting teasers for the ‘Killing Boys’ music video and Maeve’s new album.  We posted a countdown sticker on Maeve’s story, counting down the days until both of these products were released. This informed and engaged fans by giving them something to chat to their friends about and create excitement, producing more likes, clicks and reviews by our wider audience. Our Social Media Page also included ordinary lifestyle photographs, captions, funds for charities and story highlights to portray Maeve’s individualistic personality – both in visual and literal terms to develop a preferred reading. For example, portraying Maeve’s views and morals online about an Action Aid Charity allowed the audience to understand her in a more sensitive and approachable way. It depicted that despite being a famous popstar, her integrity and personality is very humble and generous.