Media Studies - COMP 3 Self Reflection

This blog post features my (Maxi) critical self reflection for my teams Component 3 project. 
Cambridge's brief for this project was to produce a music promotional package for an artist that includes a music video, social media page, and digipak. I decided to do this project in a group of 4, and together decided to create a promotional package for our fictional pop artist, "KIARA". In this essay, I will be reflecting upon and evaluating the creation of this promotional package comprehensively,

The major aspect of our project was to create a Music Video for our artist KIARA, a 17 year old female musician of Asian descent. The song we chose for her was Sabrina Carpenter's "Feather", a song which is centered around a positive reaction to breakups, subverting the common conventions of songs of the genre. The social issue of modern relationship culture played a large part in us choosing Feather as our song, specifically due to the rising obsession individuals (mainly youths) have with being in a relationship, which may possibly due to rising social pressures from social media platforms, which lead them to not being able to see the negative effects/pullbacks of their own relationships. Thus, the aim for our music video was to spread the message to our audience that; the joys of life go far beyond romantic relationships, how important letting go can be, and the substantial role a strong bond of friendship plays in girlhood. The representations in our music video center around Asian teenage girls, as that is our target audience's demographic. We decided this due to under representation of Asian solo female artists in the western music industry, as from the research we've done, we can see that Asian representation commonly revolves around bands (specifically K-pop groups). This may be because of the fetishization of Asian culture that places them in a submissive societal role, which stems from post colonial roots (Gilroy's Post Colonial Theory). We hope that by having KIARA be a solo female asian artist, she will be able to break the common misrepresentation of Asian artists as "others" not being able to gain success individually, and have her story inspire her audience to break these boundaries of the western music industry. Furthermore, since teenage girls tend to suffer the most from issues concerning heartbreak, we hope that KIARA's strong and independent nature is able to serve as motivation for her audience who may be facing similar issues. Our research shows that “Feather” goes against the conventions of most breakup songs, as it's generally quite happy and upbeat, and not sad. We followed this message, and portrayed the process of letting go in a joyful and vibrant form, using various different aspects of media language. To convey the message of fun and enjoyment we intended to have KIARA and her friends partake in exciting activities at high-end locations which have connotations of thrills, leisure, and luxury. We prepared extensively before the shooting of the music video through various ways, including scouting out possible locations [Fig. 1], conducting screen tests to find the actor who would best fit our artist, and acquiring props [Fig 2] that would be used in our music video. I played a role in this by creating a screenplay [Fig 3] for the music video which I'd done by researching other similar screenplays, like those of musicals. The screenplay helped massively in the filming of our music video, as it was the main source of reference which the team used for finding what shots we’d need, what lines were being said in each scene, and overall gave a detailed idea of what the music video would be like to the team and cast of actors. In the final music video, we used a myriad of filming techniques to convey the exciting nature of the music video, as well as showcase our artist. We filmed scenes of activities like pillow fights using slow-mo shots and close ups [Fig 4] to portray the amount of fun the cast are having, as well as scenes where the cast drive down roads together all while performing, talking, and having a great time. We filmed these with tracking shots [Fig 5] of the girls’ vehicle from the outside, as well as handheld shots from inside the car [Fig 6], which provide a more personal experience for the audience, making them feel as if they are there in the car themselves. The shakiness of handheld shots also increasing the thrills and excitement in the scene. Furthermore, aside from filming techniques, heavy planning went into the mise-en-scéne showcased in the music video, such as the costumes we had chosen for the cast [Fig 7], which aimed to match the outfits our target audience would likely also want to wear when hanging out with friends. We made sure to give these outfits a classy, elegant, yet also casual look - as to make sure it wasn't out of touch with our target demographic. These outfits serve as a tool that builds admiration towards our characters, as audiences will see their outfits and take inspiration, as they'd most likely want to dress just like them (Gauntlet's Identity Theory). Additionally, the chosen locations not only add onto the excitement of the video, but also the idea of a lifestyle that is luxurious and coveted. Locations such as villas, the beach, lush green parks, and car interiors all provide connotations of wealth, which allows our audience to build up their own aspirations from watching KIARA partake in such a lifestyle, prompting them to believe they can have that too. We also included various scenes in which KIARA lip-syncs to the lyrics of the song while looking into the camera, which is a direct mode of address [Fig 8], conveying how she's talking to the audience, leading to a connection being built between the star, and the fans, in turn leading them to like KIARA even more. This is done throughout the video using close up shots which make clear the emotions KIARA expresses as she sings these lyrics, culminating at the very end with KIARA blowing a kiss goodbye to the camera, and thus the audience as well. To further build KIARA’s brand and showcase the type of artist she is to audiences, we created a social media page, as well as digipak for her. Our vision of KIARA from the start was to be a sweet, kind, and charming girl, who rose to fame at an early age. According to Dyer’s theory of stardom, fans become interested in stars due to their real persona’s, which incorporate aspects such as their ordinariness, which is what we decided to represent the most in our social media page. Through research on the social media pages of other solo female artists in the pop genre, we decided on specific posts that we'd create, and the ways in which we could convey KIARA's personality to make her seem like a normal girl who’s no different to her fans that look up to her. We decided to publish posts such as interviews, dance challenges, and personal pictures of KIARA, which focussed on expressing her personality, as well as posts like concert tour posters and music video/release date teasers, which focussed on promoting her upcoming album and music video. Posts like her dance challenge announcement allow for her fans to take place in fandom culture, as described in Jenkins' theory of fandom, specifically textual poaching. Fans can create their own covers of the "Feather Dance", post them online, and in turn build a larger fandom/community with other fans who enjoy KIARA's music. I also played a large role in developing KIARA’s personality through her interview post, where I curated questions and answers that would appeal towards our target audience [Fig 9]. Furthermore, we represent KIARA as being kind and humble by having her engage with her audience by replying to fans that decide to comment on her posts, showing her fans that she really is just like them. In addition, the digipak we created builds upon this further to create a solidified brand and aesthetic for KIARA. We do this by including a tracklist with songs that represent KIARA’s personality, all titled as to sound dreamy and aesthetically matching KIARA's identity. The pictures we chose of KIARA in the front cover, back cover, and tracklist [Fig 10], utilize close up shots and low angles, which generally connote power and respect, therefore empowering her and painting her as a strong, independent artist. This is important as we aim to follow modern feminist narratives, such as those outlined by Van Zoonen's feminist discourses, and ensure that KIARA is not merely an "object" used to attract attention, but is also able to empower and inspire her audience to better themselves. We believe KIARA's fans will find her aura/image in this digipak very enchanting, and give them more reasons to look up to KIARA as a person and artist due to her strong empowering image as a female artist. Her music video, social media, and digipak all portray a sort of “girl next door” that not only captures attention wherever she goes, but also encourages people and inspires them to become the best version of themselves they can be; which we believe encapsulates who we imagined KIARA to be excellently.

References/Figures:

Fig 1: Pictures taken during the location scouting process

Fig 2: Props we had acquired to use in the filming of our music video

Fig 3: Screenshot from the first page of the screenplay I wrote for the music video

Fig 4: Scenes from our music video in which slow-motion capture was utilized

Fig 4 Cont'd: Scenes from our music video in which close up shots were utilized

Fig 5: Process of filming exterior car tracking shots, as well as the results in the final music video

Fig 6: Process of filming interior car shots, as well as the results seen in the final music video

Fig 7: Costumes worn by our actors in the music video

Fig 8: Shots in which KIARA is seen looking at the camera and lip syncing to the audience, including the final shot of her blowing a kiss goodbye to the audience.

Fig 9: List of questions and answers for the "10 Questions With KIARA" post which I helped create

Fig 10: Pictures chosen for the covers, and tracklist, of KIARA's digipak