A creative critical reflection of my work
• How do your products represent social groups or issues?
GOLDWING explores identity and how it is multi-faceted and evolves due to social influences as well as internal conflict. The music video utilizes the shift in genre (from church hymn to techno) paralleled in the imagery, to represent a change in identity challenging societal conventions and restrictions specifically on women. GOLDWING music video represents Asian and mixed-race teenage girls, therefore the primary target audience being teenage girls about to enter adulthood, the secondary target audience are artists or people interested in the arts as the aesthetic of the music video is very distinct, making intertextual references to other artworks (‘Ophelia’, Vogue Italy photography…) or entertainment news (Free Britney Spears). We wanted to explore the psychological turmoil experienced by people, specifically women in society as they face conflicted gender expectations, including ‘women have to be pure and passive (socially and sexually)’ ‘women’s role is to appeal to men and be sexy’. Such expectations are mainly products of sexism which is evident in Laura Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze and objectification of women as stated “In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female.” The power dynamics addressed by Mulvey is equally explored in our music video with the cinematic focus being more on the dual identity rather than gender, as one of our focuses is to challenge the presentation of females changing due to emotional struggle caused by individual men, we mainly address the impact of the split truth which is also a postmodern phenomenon. We further present the power of the self through the trope of femme fatale (presented by Arina).
The digipak elements of the glass balls on the hands(which is from the scene where I place them on my palms and cover my eyes) draws reference to the ‘Pale Man’ from ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ implies the social issue of greed, specifically ‘institutional feeding on the helpless’ as stated by Guillermo del Toro on Twitter. This links back to how society and the media abuses their authority and have toxic expectations for minorities, specifically Asian and mixed-race teenagers as represented in the music video and Digipak.
On my socials page, I address issues surrounding human rights in my stories album on my main page with the title of ‘we are one’ and cover stating ‘we all have rights’. In which includes content surrounding refusing racism targeted towards Asians as well as gender topics such as having abortion rights.
• How do the elements of your production work together to create a sense of ‘branding’?
Branding is ‘the art and science of influencing perception about a product, service, or organisation’ as described by Sean Tambagahan. My artist is Noor and her brand or the ‘vibe’ she gives off is funny, artsy, approachable and surprising. This is achieved through her social media page;
Funny & approachable
-Posts include funny/weird photos of herself
-When promoting new projects there are bloopers that shows funny moments behind the scenes
-Noor also responds to fans’ comments and reposts funny content or sarcastic content about her
Artsy & surprising
-Noor explores and tries different styles both in her clothing style, and the art she produces. For example, GOLDWING is a combination of techno and church hymn, and there is another post of her dressing in a 1920s Hotbox dancer style as she stars in Broadway show. This highlights her curiosity and desire to challenge herself as an artist.
This branding in personality is quite similar to the original artist of GOLDWING---Billie Eilish, who is also constantly exploring different styles of music and is approachable or authentic as she posts very daily photos of herself and is very warm to her fans. This conforms to Richard Dyer’s star theory of a star being simultaneously presented as ordinary and extraordinary as well as present and absent, therefore the audience would strive to complete the star image through consuming their shows and products. In this case, the Digipak sales is an occasion for audiences to further connect with her, especially since the caption of the digipak post suggests that the first 500 digipaks sold will include Noor’s signed autograph. There is also a link to the official website for Noor including merchandise, events and more. Another occasion for Noor’s fans to feel more connected through attending a live streaming with artist Arina, where the two artists converge and talk about the creation process and funny moments for the music video of GOLDWING, this is a good platform for fan activism and strengthens Noor’s branding image as warm and dedicated.
• How do your products engage with the audience?
My products include:
-Social media page with a range of posts about events, daily photos and projects
-Digipak
-Music video
My target audience is:
Primary
-Teenage girls
From my research on the original artist, Billie Eilish’s fanbase, it is similar as her primary target audience is teenage girls who struggle socially with being different
-Asian and multi-cultured backgrounds
My artist comes from a multi-cultured (Asian & Western) background therefore would be more relatable for Asians and those who are mixed-race
This demographic--teenage girls tend to actively engage with celebrities, through
Secondary
-Artists and people interested in art
On my socials page, there is content including a range of art forms(theatre, art and music) as well as different genre which targets people who are interested in art and culture in general.
This particularly applies to the music video GOLDWING as its views on YouTube are relatively lower than other Billie Eilish’s work because of its genre appealing to smaller amount of people, as well as the fact that Billie Eilish herself didn’t create a separate music video for this song (she created a lyric video). Similarly, for our rough-cut screening, one question on our survey is about how much the song choice appeals to the audience, the result being around 6.5 on average. Therefore, the music video specifically targets a more narrow pool of audience who are interested in discovering art without limit to age, gender or class.
Through researching on a range of artists’ branding (Angèle, Billie Eilish, The Weeknd, Lady Gaga), the common methods used to engage audiences are:
1. Having an official website for more specific and informative information on the professional journey of the artist
2. Synergy and collaborations with other artists or brands
3. Posting interactive stories that allow an informal Q&A to occur on Instagram
4. Teaser content such as ‘Easter eggs’ which is something Taylor Swift is known to be really good at
5. Live stream
6. Merchandise
All of the above have been used by me to create a wholesome branding for my artist.
This would encourage audiences to be more involved in my artist's branding, especially for fans as they are likely to consume each of the content my artist posts with 'rapt attention' as Jenkins states in his theory of five distinct dimensions to social entity subcultures. Particularly with celebrity merchandise, fans would buy such products to present themselves as part of a community, which based on the Uses and Gratifications theory, such items help develop personal personality; fans admire their idol due to specific qualities they possess, thus, by wearing an item that is linked to their idol, they feel closer to that ideal whilst becoming more connected to the celebrity. The branding of my artist includes such opportunities for purchases of merchandise on the official website link on her social media page bio.
• How did your research inform your products and the way they use or challenge conventions?
GOLDWING is a hybridity of genres Church Hymn and Techno, with the opening of the song fading out with a rhythmic techno beat, the contrast and shift in genres allowed us to explore the concept of metamorphosis. Church hymns connote strong religious values, often linking to the ideologies of goodness and purity; the hymn in GOLDWING is ‘Hymn to Vena’ by Gustav Holst by Gustav Holst known as ‘Hymn to Vena’ with a 3000 year old sanskrit text. We use black and white as well as natural mise en scene to match the holy and pure feeling of the church hymn genre, we then use low-key lighting as well as a range of special effects to create a contrast in pace and diversity to match the tones of techno style. Based on my research on Billie Eilish’s intentions and meaning behind the song as well as the phrase ‘keep your head down’, it carries a more positive tone of keeping your head down to remain true to yourself and block out the negative noise from society. We challenge this by bringing out a darker tone from the song especially evident through the reference to Ophelia, Pan’s Labyrinth and the concept of my character evolving under the influence of femme fatale Arina’s character.
Through my research on social media pages, I realized that ‘PLOGs’ are usually not included in celebrity’s content, however it is a popular form of recording life amongst lesser-known influencers and equally receives a lot of fan engagement in the comments section. Audiences do enjoy this form of sharing and find it more interesting fun than simply sharing a range of photos which are considered ‘daily’. Thus, I decided to utilize this format which included 'Easter eggs' in the photos to hint at the GOLDWING music video project. I shared this as a post about the filming process at the Great Wall.
This form combining with 'Easter egg' clues demands fans' close attention and is a good way to create hype around a project with more fans reacting to my artist's content and sharing their interpretation of the clues. Based on Jeremy Tunstall's audience engagement theory, this would be a form of primary audience engagement which, like in a cinema, requires the audience's utmost attention to the film. Similarly, the audience are actively looking for the subtext of symbols included in my teaser posts. This would boost the reposts using '#goldwingmv' which would raise awareness amongst more audiences and is an effective way of promoting and branding for artists, as it is zero cost to post social media content. Applying Hesmondhalgh's concept of minimizing risks and maximizing profit, with social media platforms such as Instagram---an ideal place to promote and release projects as well as the developing an artist's image. Furthermore, the 'comments' and 'likes' sections allow immediate audience and fan engagement. As Jenkins claimed, Fandom thrive because of social interaction with celebrities and mostly, with other fans. As a result, through my research, I create opportunities for such fan and audience engagement by both following trends and subverting some traditions.
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