Component 3 Brief Completed:

A Promotion package for the release of an album to include:

• A Music Video ( Major Task )
• A Social Media Page ( Minor Task)
• A Digipak ( Minor Task)

• 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?

 My group’s Mission statement is: the following ‘Astrid is the new pop sensation… with a difference. Embodying the electropop genre, she produces powerful music with a quirky and edgy performance style. The debut album ‘Eclipse’, featuring the hit single, ‘Panic Room’ will capture it’s listeners and awaken their senses.’

By having a Mission Statement, you therefore craft a narrative for your star and create a brand for them, identifying if they are ordinary or extraordinary different aspects of their metanarrative feed into the same overarching representation. The Paradox of the Star representation theory by Dyer equally allows us as producers to provide our target audience with an understanding as to whether the star is going to be present or absent, and to be ordinary or extraordinary an example of this in our work is the social media page, in which we’ve highlighted our star to be ordinary and present.  

In our design work, we have ensured to be consistent as this will attract the attention of our target audience, this is from the typefaces throughout the digipak, to equally using the same filters and effects during post production in our music video. We used the Lumetri Colour tool which allowed us to add a filter on top of our original clip. I believe this tool worked well as it meant that our branding as a whole was consistent and met the standards we wished for when writing our mission statement.

In addition to that we have represented and highlighted mental health awareness in our music video through the narrative section with our star feeling isolated and trapped. This didn’t surface in the Social Media Page yet, this is something that can be improved upon. 

We researched professional electropop music videos and understood quite quickly that they were split between a combination of both narrative  and performance videos with aggressively edited footage. An example of aggressively edited footage iis the use of jumps cuts during certain sections of the music video.

In addition to that we used conventional Mise en Scene of simple but effective costumes. The costume was a black jumper dress with doc martens. We have used conventional glowy makeup and natural hairstyles . Lacey’s theory of ‘The repertoire of elements’ has been highlighted here so we ensured we had everything we needed for our music video to be a success. We have used the conventional ingredients that would highlight Lacey’s ideas, these are essential for any genre.

 In particular we watched the music video ‘Bury a friend’ by Billie Eilish to gather an understanding of what types of camera angles were typical/conventional.  It was useful to gather a basic outline of the conventional camera shots such as a ‘mid shot’ and a ‘high angle’ shot. However, during production, we decided to challenge and expand on the conventions.  Instead of having our star in the performance and the narrative part of the video, we used a different model for the narrative element of the video, this is unconventional for the electro pop genre. The impact of this is reflected on our genre, as it became unconventional, which will encourage our music video to stand out among the other electro pop music videos. 

Representing the star in a genuine way in all of the products was key when producing a successful digipak, as you are able to gather a first impression of whether the star is present or absent within her fans lives and equally if they are ordinary or extraordinary. I believe our star is ordinary as she is relatable to her target audience and hasn’t used fancy costuming or makeup during the photoshoot of her digipak. This represents her as a relatable person and the audience are able to understand and feel connected to our star. 

Our star is appearing to be ordinary and present on our digipak, Richard Dyer’s Paradox of the Star Theory, illustrates this perspective, our star although posing in a wide variety of different ways, an example of this is the positioning in which she is sat looking up at the camera, (The image to the left) this conveys her to be ordinary and a relatable person who isn’t trying to convey themselves to be this bold and extravagant person.

We  wanted to represent our star on the DP as a humble and well rounded character, therefore we developed the conventions of how we wished for our  star to be conveyed. We took simple images of her, doing a variety of different poses. This represents her as an ordinary girl, that doesn’t need to try and put on a front to be someone she is. In addition to that it was also a symbolic symbol, as Barthes would say, of her considerate and thoughtful personality. However we used the halo light around her neck as a symbol of something less ordinary, representing our star in that moment to be current but on brand.

Engaging with the audience is one of the most important factors of any advertising campaign, as the success of the product launch shall not be highlighted as much and won’t equally catch the attention of the target audience. Catching the attention of the target audience is an essential factor when producing a social media page, as it will need to be able to interact and engage with the fans.  

An example of using Cross Media Convergence in my work is, using different platforms and brands in order to promote and highlight the star, for example we launched a brand deal with The Body Shop it will help to maximise the number and type of platforms used in order to attract the target audience. 

The SMP highlights all of the different ways to engage with the fans. Hall describes encoding any media with the anticipated signs. It is key for the target audience to be able to understand the text and decode it, whilst having a preferred style of reading of the text. For example the product launch collaboration with The Body Shop, as this could be a hit or miss with the target audience, it is difficult to determine whether the audience would be able to fully decode the message and take a liking to the posts.

We ensured that we considered B & K’s Uses and Gratification Theory. An example of when we used social interaction, took place between the audience and the star herself, this allowed the SMP to be successful as you have to have social interaction alongside creating a personal identity for the star whether that is by making them humble or cocky. In addition to this you have to consider the entertainment factor of the SMP and if it will engage and connect with the audience, whilst also providing them with critical information, for example the post highlighting the stars music video and album are two very important pieces of information for the audience.