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

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

How do your products represent social groups or issues?

How do your products engage with the audience?

 

Compiling a mission statement for our artists, before producing the final products, allowed us to create a successful brand image, following coherent and consistent elements and themes throughout each product. Freya’ metanarrative of a unique and exquisite character was portrayed throughout all three products, helping our target audience to immediately recognise the star’s brand within any product produced.

We produced our package for our artist and ensured all three products fit with our mission statement which we used as a foundation for the overarching brand image for our products; ‘ Freya offers a multi-genre vibe into the pop world. Mixing R&B soul, pop and electronica, Freya’s emotive atmosphere and tones give an ethereal and quirky performance style, providing fans with an ocular kaleidoscope with a multi-coloured and freaky aura. This new album ‘Faces In The Crowd’ features the new hit song ‘There Isn’t Much’ along with the most unique new songs. This extraordinary album is destined to rise to top of the charts, connecting emotionally with fans all across the world, leaving everyone to want more’

A coherent and consistent brand image is essential when representing a star image and creating a brand package for them, therefore it is important to portray our mission statement within all our products. The products linked towards the brand and followed a theme, being intelligible, in order to allow the audience to easily recognise it and therefore link it to the star image and R&B/pop/electronica music genre. Within the media I  wanted to display our star as ‘emotive, ethereal, quirky, freaky and unique’ as seen in our mission statement. All three of our products; music video, digipak and social media page demonstrate cohesive designs and elements to portray this mysterious atmosphere linked to our star’s character. It was therefore imperative that we used the various forms of media language to appropriate to the varying platforms e.g fonts, camera movement, designs, which were all designed to convey the same star image and genre When  creating our brand it was important to follow, as Lacey states, the repertoire of elements for the R&B/pop/electronica music genre, however it was also possible to challenge these technical conventions to make our products and brand ‘the same but different’ giving it a unique look. To gain our preferred reading (Hall) from our audience, as producers we need to create a clear meaning through our images and media texts so that our audience can denote them and gather certain connotations which in this case would be an ethereal atmosphere. De Saussaure describes these elements as the signifier and the signified which both contribute to the audience gaining our preferred reading.

One of the main ways we portrayed our star was to represent her as having a kaleidoscopic and exquisite nature, connoting her classy and mystifying character. These attributes were evidenced in all three of our products. The music video featured a party scene, giving the impression of a drunken feeling through the use of special effects giving an edgy and trippy feeling. As well as this bright colours and a fast pace of edit was used throughout to highlight the energetic feeling. Throughout the digipak this ambience is also portrayed through the use of photography and graphic design. The bright colours featured across the digipak connote an fun and energetic feel along with the bold sans serif fonts connoting the mysterious approach through the use of a ghosting effect on the front pane. The star’s expressionless tone creates an uneasy feeling, with the use of direct mode of address to help entice and hook the audience into the image. ‘Eyes’ are a common theme throughout the brand package, which is seen with the middle of the digipak. The use of effects and digital design has enabled the eye to project a ‘psychedelic’ and ‘freaky’ aura.

The SMP also uses this brand image of an ‘eye’ within the star’s merchandise and events. The UK tour has been named ‘all eyes on you’ following the common theme, making the brand coherent. The paradox of the star, proposed by Dyer, shows both an ordinary and extraordinary feeling. Ordinary is shown throughout her loving nature and interactive personality with her fans showing how much she cares for them whereas her extraordinary nature is revealed through the exciting announcements, collaborations and events that have been made apparent on her Instagram page. The social media page highlighted Barthes idea of narrative codes; a semic code is seen throughout the kaleidoscopic setting within the images connoting an ethereal aura towards the artist. In addition to this a enigma code is used throughout the social media page with the use of the other two products being featured, creating suspense towards the release of the artists new album, ‘Faces In The Crowd’- again highlighting on a common theme of eyes watching you. The Instagram page also follows the coherent theme of bright colours similarly seen within the other products in order to portray the quirky and unique character as stated within our mission statement.

To gain an understanding for the chosen genre of our music video it was vital to conduct relevant research of the typical conventions seen in Pop/R&B music videos. From doing this we were quickly able to gather a wider range of knowledge from analysing  professional music videos of what our audience would expect to see. We noticed that our chosen genre  includes both narrative and performance aspects, commonly having a typical theme of relationships and love.  Throughout the process of analysing videos we were also able to highlight the common use of MES; bright statement costumes, low & high key lighting for different scenes, emotional performances, bright makeup and high energy dance performances .

These  are all considered to be the ‘repertoire of elements’ within the Pop/R&B music genre, a theory proposed by Lacey, which establishes that there are always common elements we see throughout similar media text so that the audience accept it. Altman would also argue that these elements are the blueprint for a successful and conventional Pop/R&B music video. A particular video I analysed within my research helped me to establish the genre further, ‘Dusk Till Dawn’ by Zayn & Sia  heavily featured a narrative focussing on love and relationships whilst also including performance based footage with amplified moments..

We chose to follow the common technical conventions of form  to allow the contract (audience) to identify the genre through two elements, semantic and syntactic, suggested by Altman. Their shaped expectations of the text will give them enjoyment when met, helping to avoid the potential for the audience to reject the text. Some of these elements included having both narrative and performance sections, lip syncing, editing to the beat and a variety of shot distances and angles in order to follow the repertoire of elements for our chosen genre. Researching the conventional shots helped to understand what footage we needed to film before even starting to produce our music video; close ups, mid shots, long shots, peds etc. However in order to make our music video ‘the same but different’ and stand out from others within the industry we decided to slightly develop the typical conventions but not to the point where the target audience would not be happy with the product. We followed the theme of love however with a slight twist, the narrative highlighted the characters misery and loss of a past relationship and even though she could have everything she could want from others perspective, inside she was not happy. This does not directly link to the typical love stories most music videos of this genre feature but instead allow a slightly different approach whilst still keeping the product conventional. As well as this the costumes and makeup were challenged as we wanted to portray our star image in a classy,  elegant  and extraordinary way whilst still keeping a fun nature. Researching the star, Emeli Sande, helped us to understand how star images and their metanarratives are connoted within the media. Therefore our star was dressed in a long black dress with natural hair and makeup, portraying her in a sufficient and put together way helping her to be seen as a role model. Our music video followed a linear structure whilst including amplified moments, such as the party scene, due to the narrative nature of the video, helping to keep our audience engaged and hooked, minimising confusion. We feel these elements would be a welcoming addition to the typical conventions seen in other professional music videos and our target audience would accept the text even with the slight challenges.

Representing our R&B/pop star in an enthusiastic, playful, mysterious way within all of the products was vital in order to create a successful package for our star and brand. Our star is known for her ethereal vibe and atmosphere with her metanarrative connoting a classy, edgy character. This clearly evidences the extraordinary aspect of Dyer’s paradox of the star as she displays extreme opposite personalities.  This is seen in particular on the social media page where the star is seen as caring and interactive towards her audience portraying her as ordinary but also extraordinary with her talent and performance skills being showcased..

Within our digipak I wanted to represent our star image as an exquisite and mystifying character to hook the audience. Therefore I developed the technical conventions,  repertoire of elements and the use of media language of fonts, colours, images and print design within the digipak to match this representation. The star is photographed using a close up image of her face, using direct mode of address helping the audience to feel a sense of connection towards the star whilst signifying a compassionate and connecting personality. De Saussure suggests that these elements are known as the signifier and signified, in other words denotation and connotations which enable the audience to understand the image and understand what certain media language (codes) represent.  The lighting is soft yet has a cool tone helping to connote that mystifying energy towards the audience, clearly showing a symbolic code (Barthes). The back cover of the digipak reveals a vibrant ‘wacky’ image giving a more artistic approach towards the album. These colours may also display, as Barthes says, a semic code, referring to the connotation that the bright colours and patterns denote the star’s playful character, helping the audience to to read through their understanding of narratives and learn more about the star image through the use of design. The sans-serif prominent font highlights the importance of the star within the music industry, whilst also connoting the ethereal approach through the use of a ghosting effect, seen on the front of the digipak.  The font is contemporary and youthful helping to reach her target audience demographic and connect with them. This would be, as Barthes suggests, a cultural code implying mystery and an ethereal nature; however in other cultures this may be decoded differently due to headscarf seen on the star and may portray a Middle Eastern vibe. This can be applied to Hall’s theory that different audiences will decode products in different ways due to their cultural backgrounds, therefore the producer may not always achieve their preferred reading. Due to this encoding a message to an active audience may not always be successful in some circumstances. All these elements mentioned above have allowed me to represent the R&B/pop star in our product in the way that we hoped for and have gathered our preferred reading.

As a producer it is vital to identify your audience and follow from this to create engagement in order to create a successful brand package and market your star image as your preferred reading. Audience engagement is the main aim in any marketing and advertising campaigns, as without their engagement the success of the product will be reduced.  In other words audiences need producers and producers need audiences in order for any product to work, it is a very reliant relationship between the two. Our audience demographics are young adults, primarily females, and the psychographics include having a loving nature wanting equality and fun.

A typical way to reach audience engagement is through the use of online social media platforms, where you can reach mass audiences in little time. Our social media page, produced on Instagram, promoting our R&B/pop star was the perfect place to create audience engagement and an active platform for the fans of ‘Freya’.  Hall describes that to encode any media text with the expected signs and symbols is extremely important so that the target audience can decode the text and understand the message. He explained that in order for us as producers to gather our preferred reading  we need to use the correct signs and symbols to reach this as well as appropriate media language to communicate with them.

Therefore to attain our preferred reading we ensured that we were informed by Blumler and Katz would describe as the essential elements to engage audiences within a media text. These elements are entertainment, information, personal identity and social interaction. Our SMP created entertainment through the use of posts and stories, a bright colour palette and use of both photography and graphic design helps to entertain the audience keeping them hooked with a sense of excitement. One post in particular that created entertainment was our teaser trailer for the new music video, including a snippet of the video, helping the audience to be hooked in and excited for the release. Information was given out to the audience through the use of constant updates of what the star is up to e.g tour dates, magazine appearances, collaborations, charity collaborations, teasers, promos and concerts  as well as direct links e.g website in bio, helping the audience to gain easy access to extra information. Personal identity was also created through merchandise, when audiences purchase items relating to the star this will create a sense of identity and belonging. Lastly social interaction was encouraged as the star was constantly engaging with the audience through Q&A’s, comments and personal direct language. This reflects Shirky’s theory that the interaction between the audience and producer is a two way communication, allowing the audience to distribute their ideas and opinions within the media due to the advancement of the online world, making them prosumers.  All of the examples mentioned above were designed and produced in order to maximise the engagement such as likes, comments, clicks and reviews by our target audience to keep the star highlighted within the media and create successful products.

AIDA was considered within our social media page; attention, interest, desire and action. These elements all help to create audience engagement and we used them through the use of blueprints, design, bright colour palette, direct language, creating a role model and the use of products which the audience can purchase. The page followed a coherent theme creating a ‘brand’ for our star, following an ethereal and mysterious atmosphere and character. This can be seen within the images, following statement outfits, patterns and ‘vibes’ within an image. This also helps us as producers to reach our preferred reading (Halls), of our star’s character towards our targeted audience.