The idea at the heart of our campaign is “Be Yourself”, the artist wants the audience to be powerful and confident like her. She rejects the established norms, the political voice and the conventional media representations. As the producers, we wanted our brand to be cohesive and the elements to blend together to demonstrate the same powerful message.

After looking at the ideas of Hall, we encoded our text with our star identity and used elements of design to convey our message for the audience to decode. Our star is consistently represented as honest, loving and powerful. But also in many ways vulnerable, as she is not only exposing herself to the entire world, but making an attack on what people are used to and she is challenging the dominant hegemony of femininity. 

An example of consistency through our products to create a sense of branding was our use of makeup and also the eyes. We used the idea of make up, but also the removal of makeup across all of our products. This was to demonstrate that makeup is not the definition of beauty, and that the natural beauty is underneath when the person is “being themselves”. We also used the iconography of the eye, which formed a coherence across the brand. The eye represents truth, honesty and is known as the window to the soul, it infers ideas about the act of looking and seeing. This connotes to the audience that the star is saying the truth, and gives a much deeper meaning into the message. The use of eye contact on the digipak changes what the image is stating, the eye connects with the lens and extends outwards to the audience, which can lead to an immediate & intimate human connection and engagement with the star. The lack of eye contact by the models in the music video and social media page, implies a sense of regret, longing and melancholy in the facial expressions. This demonstrates that they are regretting their actions and are wishing that they had always felt the confidence that they do now, and had always presented themselves in this way.  

We researched professional Indie/Pop music videos and looked at examples by artists such as Taylor Swift and her music videos. We quickly understood that they were often studio based, with performance elements from the star, who has a glamorised star image. Conventionally they include life affirming narrative. We began by defining the conventions and generic expectations, stated by Altman. The audience had the elements that they expected at the beginning, with the natural settings and models being used to demonstrate the strong star image that they expected the star to be presented like as well. We then tore these expectations down and subverted them by demonstrating that these expectations are unrealistic. By having the models remove the makeup and hair, the star is trying to subvert the predictable pleasure to make the point that this shouldn’t be the expectation of women, and that they can just be themselves. We also built the star up to be what is expected from the audience, to satisfy their needs. We subverted the repertoire of elements, (Lacey), to demonstrate that the expectations placed on women are unattainable, they shouldn’t be forced to change themselves in order to conform. We contrasted this with the elements shown of the star at the end to show the difference of expectation vs reality.
The video begins conventionally; the glamourous and highly styled models ready to be filmed. We then broke the conventions and subverted expectations by having our artist remove the makeup! This was to demonstrate the star’s thoughts on beauty standards and unrealistic expectations, presenting the theme: ‘Be yourself!’ She is trying to encourage the audience to not feel the need to follow these expectations and allow them to express their own identity.
The star’s iconography is conventional, and what you would expect to see, and meets the predictable pleasure for the audience. We then broke these conventions and the blueprint by demonstrating that the star has been hurt by the media, she is not standing for the expectations anymore and wants change. She is making a social and cultural statement and therefore breaks the conventions and battles them, the high angle demonstrates that she feels powerless and alone and is reaching out for help. The ideology is torn down.

In our digipak we wanted to demonstrate the negative impact of the media on not only the star but on ordinary people. We also thought about the theory of ‘The Paradox of the Star’ by Richard Dyer whilst making our digipak. It states that ‘a star is both ordinary & extraordinary’ which we focused on. Our star receives extraordinary attention due to her fame and career, but she is equally as ordinary as everybody else and does not deserve the hate and criticism that she receives from the media. We have conjured a metanarrative which precedes the production of the digipak demonstrating that she has been struggling with this for a long time.

We used the colour red, as a semi, cultural and symbolic code as defined by Barthes in his perspectives. We used the red in our Digipak not only to imply anger and hatred, but also to create an attack on the Media. The colour scheme represents traditional print and newspapers, where text was normally in black with highlights of red for important phrases to capture the audience’s attention. We used it to reflect the attack that celebrities often receive from the media, for example when their bodies are commented on and shamed. We also used the camera to demonstrate the lack of power for the star, we used a high angle of the camera down onto the star, this highlighted that she was powerless and had been knocked down.  It implies her lack of control in comparison to the media and how she is presented as weak. The typeface we used not only implies power because it is bold and striking, but it also is a cultural code 
for the masthead of the article titles in newspaper tabloids. This is making a strong attack against this form of media and what they have written about the star and other celebrities, it conveys that she is ready to fight back, as it shows that she has the same power that they have. It humanises her, and the audience can see the impact that the negative media coverage has on the individual.

In our social media page, we really focused on the audience finding their personal identity as referenced in Blumler and Katz’s Uses and and gratification theory. We wanted the audience to change their ways and see themselves as who they really are, not criticizing themselves constantly. We hoped the audience would have a preferred reading from our music video, they needed to decode the ideology and decode the text in a specific way to understand the statement that she was making about being yourself. We chose to present our star as an extra ordinary campaigner who dissents what others often say and present in their music videos.

We followed the AIDA (Attention, Interest, Action, Desire) model, a marketing strategy, used since the 19th century, when we made our social media page, as it would often act as the form of attention. This is because social media is a very good way of attracting people’s attention. We did this by creating engaging posts that the audience could interact with, and word of mouth would engage more people. For example, we used hashtags and encouraged her followers to create a post that would reference her campaign. This would lead to greater attention by a wider audience as more people are likely to see and interact with her project. We then tried to grab their interest by giving her a consistently interesting and relatable feed for the audience. We then hoped that through this we could market our products as she would have more people engaging with her page, this would lead to a desire to want her products and hopefully they would take action by purchasing or listening. The posts were also a way of helping people to discover their personal identities. For example, the synergy with Garnier is all about removing your makeup and therefore being your true self. This demonstrates being true to your personal identity and encourages her audience to be themselves.

In order to complete the preparation for our essay, I began by putting our ideas on the critical reflection planning sheet. I thought about each individual question and what I wanted to say fro each one. I then thought specifically about the terminology that I wanted to include and also the theory aspect that I had learned and had informed my production. I then explained the example I chose and the impact that it had on our products.

How does your music video use of challenge conventions…form, genre, star image, narrative…? How do your music video represent social groups or issues?

Our video challenges a lot of conventions regarding the way that women are expected to portray themselves, but also the expectations placed on the star to appear as the definition of perfection. The aim of our video is to reflect the idea that expressing your true identity will bring you the most happiness. We looked heavily into and focused on the star image in our music video, and the impact that being a celebrity had on your identity. We wanted to present our star as a normal person, that they are no different to you or I. We wanted them to be relatable for the audience and for them to appear naturalistic. However over the course of the video the star begins to change, this is from pressures of the management company, the media and the public. Because stars are always under the public eye, photographers, journalists and reporters are always following them. This means that the artists are always under pressure to look their best. There are high expectations on them to appear in a specific way, they are not able to be their true selves without being scrutinized by the media and audience. it also demonstrates the pressure of the management, they want their star to appear a certain way, they need them to fit the stereotypes of what is expected from them. As if they are too different or too unique then the public and audience will reject them. Therefore in our video we tried to make slight changes to our star throughout the video, she stars naturalistic with no make up, in causal clothes and she is happy and free. This then changes as the video progresses, she then is placed in a studio, with harsher lighting, and her outfit changes. We then begin to add makeup, and also there id a gradual filter being added to the star. By the end of the video she is presented to be the ideal, she is made up and has extravagant make up. This demonstrates these pressures on her to look this way, because at the end she is not happy or comfortable where she is.

We then wanted ‘ordinary’ people, who are members of the public to feature in our video as well. They were supposed to represent the audience, and they would be able to relate to them.

We used a variety of techniques in both Premier Pro and Camera techniques to influence our music video and the message that we were trying to suggest. In this post, I will be outlining some of the most important ones for us when editing that  helped us convey our star image and narrative.

ADJUSTMENT LAYERS- we used adjustment layers in our music video, these were very important in our editing especially our colour correction. We split all of our clips onto different tracks. This then allowed  us to add adjustment layers to a group of clips, and edit them all at the same time, for example we could apply a filter to the entire selection of clips rather than doing it one at a time. The adjustment layers impacted star image as it meant that we could have a continuous edit throughout all the clips this brought fluidity in the video and continuity, this suggested the idea of the constant star image and the constant need to present themselves in a particular way.

CURVES- we used curves to colour correct our music video. We added more blue into the shadows and areas of black to suggest the idea of the Instagram Filter. This suggests the idea of perfection. We adjusted the blue by adding a marker in the bottom left hand corner which is the shadows, and then increasing this upwards which therefore increases the blue in the shadows. This was impactful for the audience as it demonstrated the idea that they felt that this was the only way for them to present themselves to other people and their audience. It added continuity to the video and I think it worked well to convey the narrative idea behind the performance of the star.

NESTS- we used nests so that we could add different adjustment layers to isolated clips, otherwise the adjustment layer would apply to all clips below it. By making a neat we could use multiple adjustment layers and segment the clips to that they all worked well together. This was very useful in our colour correction and filter process as it allowed them to be done to multiple clips and not affect others. This allowed us to group clips together and apply filters to them all, this ensured that the filter was the same and ensured continuity through the video, and the editing was balanced and the same on clips. This helped to present the idea of the continued pressures on the star and ordinary people to look a a certain way.

KEY FRAMING- we also used key framing to either increase or decrease the opacity at certain frames. This allow due to gradually introduce or remove the filter and colour correction that we had made depending on the meaning if that section. The key frames made this transition seamless and caused a natural decrease. We used the hold key frames to that at each clip there was a drop in opacity with the start of each new clip. This allowed us to gradually fade the colour correction out through the entire course of the video. We could also bring it back if we needed to.

Overall I learnt a lot of new skills when editing my video. I also felt that these skills helped Paige and I to convey our star image and narrative more successfully in our editing. I think that these skills and tools were important in the editing of our video and worked well to convey our meaning.

I used a variety of different tools and editing methods in Premier Pro to help to impact my editing and final video. Here are some examples of the ones that helped me to convey my star image, Mise En Scene and narrative the most.

BASIC CORRECTION: The first main tool that influenced the editing to our video, was the basic correction. I used this tool in the editing for many different purposes. I used the exposure, contrast, saturation and blacks mostly. These tools helped me to influence the look of the star image in the clip. For example I increased the exposure in the outside shots, this made it brighter and suggested happiness and freedom. But in the studio shots, I increased the blacks and contrast, not only to suggest that she is on stage and performing, but that she is trapped and unhappier due to this darkness that surrounds her.

VIDEO FILTERS: I used the filters provided for each different shoot and section of the video. I used a different filter for the outside, in studio performance, and paparazzi sections of the shoot. This was to help reflect the different environments that she is in and how this not only effects her but the way that she performs and the way that she acts. At the start I used a brighter more saturated filter, when this is combined with the motion and more fluid editing, it helps to symbolize her freedom of expression and how she is happier and more comfortable.

VIDEO EFFECTS: Premier Pro also has a selection of effects that can be placed on the video. i experimented with different ones. I used both the lighting effect and the lens flare in this edit of my video. I used the Lighting effect on the mirror shoot, this created the idea that she was on stage performing and that the spot light was on her. This highlights the star image and the expectations on her to be framed. I also used the Lens Flare effect to add onto one of the clips, to further emphasis that she is the star and always in the light with camera’s on her.

VIDEO TRANSITIONS: I used a variety of transitions to demonstrate the effects of star image, at the beginning of the video I used the Cross Dissolve transition to influence the fluidity, movement and freedom captured in these clips. I used the Dip to White in the paparazzi sections of the shoot to suggest the idea of cameras flashing at her and that the paparazzi are always present. I also used the Dip to Black to suggest the idea of the lights going down and then back up again to suggest how her performances and therefore the impact of the expectations of her on a daily basis. these transitions were useful for me to present the idea of her life and how quickly it goes, but also how little time she has to relax and be herself, this is exaggerated by the fast pace of edit in many sections.

EFFECT  CONTROLS: in the effect controls section, I used the Scale, Position and Rotation tools. This enabled me to edit the scale, so zoom in further on some of the shots if they were important, I could also use the position tool to impact where she was in the frame. This enabled me to edit her positioning, which told a different narrative depending on where I placed her. I also used the rotation tool to be able to rotate the shot onto different angles for what worked best, and too give the idea that she was surrounded by cameras or filming from different angles. I used this tool; mostly to suggest how she is always surrounded by the media and cameras and therefore has to present herself in a certain way.

Overall, I used a variety of different effects and transitions in Premier Pro top help to express the narrative of the star image and how that she is expected to be presented in this certain way. They helped to express my narrative in this shoot and exaggerate the ideas of the star image and also Mise En Scene. I think that I can use these effects further as my editing develops to further impact my narrative.