How do your products represent social groups or issues?
I aimed to represent the star as playful, youthful and mysterious. I was able to achieve this in the Digipak through mise-en-scene, which helps evidence Dyer’s star image theory. Inadvertently I was evidencing the extraordinary side of the paradox of the star by doing extravagant and excessive unique make-up consisting of bright colours and contemporary shapes helping connote the playful and individualistic theme of the artist. I aimed to also represent the star as mysterious; through posing and lighting I was 
able to achieve this. The star was not in a regular normal standing or sitting pose and instead was posing with her arms up or turning in certain ways with the lighting of neon lights projected onto her; the audience would have decoded this pose as one that has connotations of power and enigma. Due to the use of lighting the star seemed to be staring at her own shadow which helps show the star’s ideology and connotes the symbolic code (as proposed by Barthes) of introspection; conveying the idea that the star is in her own mind. The genre was indie pop which we aimed to represent. Indie is authentic and honest whereas the pop aspect is popular, modern and up to date where both of these genres convey the artist’s persona, being shown through her slightly quirky, vintage clothes shop costumes and extravagant make-up, yet still being able to be represented as relatable and authentic, this could also be seen as a cultural code as proposed by Barthes, as only certain audiences would appreciate and read this
correctly. The indie pop genre can be argued to have a semic code of being free wheeling and organic; Using distorted fonts mixed with the classic fonts and a range of colours varying from neon pinks, blues and greens to them switching to dark reds, browns and black helps connote the stylised aspect of the genre, linking back to the semic code of being known for being free wheeling and organic. The use of distorted fonts could also show a symbolic code with the audience seeing this as a representation of something controversial or playful.
How do your products engage with the audience?
Engaging my audience was the main aim when creating the social media page. My audience are typically young females who are playful and have a desire to fit in with all the new trends and crowds. I ensured my SMP contained all the elements that Blumer and Katz would argue are essential elements to engage any audience such as social interaction, entertainment for the audience, create a sense of personal identity and inform the audience. These all needed to be incorporated into the SMP; as Hall argues if 
the repertoire of elements is ‘off-piste’ then the audience could not get a preferred reading of it and reject the text. An example that provides social interaction for the audience are highlights/stories. I used highlights named ‘Q&A’ to allow the audience to have a more personal relationship with the star allowing them to ask questions directly to the artist. This provided social interaction for the audience whilst also supplying information to the audience as the star could reply to any question asked about future releases, merchandise and more. Another example which provided a personal identity for the audience was releasing merchandise for the audience and posting about charities the artist supports. By creating merchandise the audience can purchase and wear it creates a personal identity for them as they can now wear clothes that represent the star; someone they look up to and find personal connections in. By having the star post publicly about a charity she supports it allows the audience to one, be informed about issues whilst also again, creating a personal identity for them as they idolize the star and can now understand what they support themselves whilst also getting influence from the artist. Finally to engage a wider, larger audience I posted a video teaser for the upcoming music video, and posted highlights including a countdown of the release of Maeve’s upcoming album. By doing this it created a build-up and excitement for the fans which could cause them to talk about the artist more creating social interaction for the fans whilst also engaging a wider audience for the star.
How did your research inform your products and the way they use or challenge conventions?
I researched multiple indie pop music videos and quickly discovered they are mainly performance with some features of a narrative (70:30). The music videos for the genre mainly consisted of a colour theme of light pastel colours which seemed to be created by putting a colour filter over the video; the videos also tended to have a positive, happy narrative throughout. We followed these conventions whilst also subverting them at points. One convention we followed was the 70:30 performance narrative layout.
Most of the video consisted of our star lip-syncing in different looks whilst containing a few scenes scattered throughout in a non chronological order of the artist telling a narrative throughout the video. Another convention I followed in parts of the video was the colour theme of light pastel, dainty colours usually in a high-key lighting for example and the beginning of the music video the artist is sat in the setting a field of white daisies on a sunny day in the costume of a flowy white dress. By using these elements which Lacey would say are the repertoire-of-elements it allowed my target audience to see what they expected to see. Altman would also argue this is a blueprint for a 
conventional, successful and easily recognisable indie pop video. Following the conventions was successful for my music video however I also challenged them. Instead of having the recurring theme of happiness and positivity with a colour theme of light colours I went against this by having part of the narrative scenes and performance scenes featuring the artist in low-key lighting with her dressed in the costume of dark black clothing with dark make-up; to also subvert the convention of positivity the artist was shown covered in blood implying a negative emotion and feeling to the audience – something they wouldn’t expect to see in an indie pop music video.
How do the elements of your production work together to create a sense of ‘branding’?
The mission statement of our artist features descriptors of youthfulness, controversy, mystery and authenticity; the products in our package create a cohesive representation of these descriptions of our artist; Dyer’s Paradox of the Star is shown through the artist’s features as it shows both sides of being ordinary and extraordinary. Our brand needed to be recognisable to the audience so I needed to blend the three products; Digipak, social media page and music video so that they are easily distinguishable in the same campaign. For example some of the star image my audience would expect to see was the artist’s raw authenticity with controversy tied in to represent the young,
unapologetic side of the star. This was evident in the music video; the artist sat in the setting of a field of daisies dressed in white connoting a pure youthful feature to the stars persona however also in the music video including frames zooming into the artist showing her face and body covered in the prop of splattered blood with a emotionless look in her eyes connoting back to the descriptor of the artist being controversial. However in the digipak this was juxtaposed by using the symbolic reference of the artist being playful and amiable with bright pink neon lights projected over her. The semic code of relatability and young expression and the cultural code of the setting are all clear examples of what Barthes would term the narrative code. Our audience will be able to decode the idea that although the star has an extraordinary side of uniqueness and out of the box creativity, the star also has the ordinary side of being young and authentic with flaws. The music video and digipak were vastly promoted on the social media page also helping create a brand. Fans would expect to be excited and teased over future releases and future projects whilst also consuming the star’s ordinary credible teenage self. The social media page also created a sense of involvement for the fans with them being able to actively absorb the descriptors of the artist on a more personal 
level. Having a clear and understandable mission statement allowed me to easily create and assign a brand to the star whilst projecting this through the three products; it also helped me send out the same message throughout all the products by using integrated advertising. For example, having a similar colour theme throughout the music video, digipak and SMP of bright neon colours which were used from a projection light allowed the audience to have a clear preferred reading; this was also evidenced by the use of quirky and different camera angles used throughout the three products, specifically high shots. The goal was achieved as Hall says having a clear preferred reading allowed me to encode the same message throughout the three products for the audience to decode and understand the same narrative and ideology; these stemmed from the descriptors in the mission statement.
