Creative Critical Reflection Essay

Below is my Creative Critical Reflection Essay which includes the social issues represented in my product, and how it engages with the audiences. It also includes the ways how the elements used for my product creates the sense of branding.

Unlike the original music video which does not really represent a social group, our music video represents social groups such as age. The age group, 16-24 are the young adults or youth who are usually represented as rebels, or as hope and potential. Our music video represents a social issue of going through complexities of relationships, and heartbreak. The actor in our music is portraying the feeling of going through a lonely phase. The original music video by Weeknd represented the protagonist driving while intoxicated and is recklessly driving. However, in our music video there’s a sense of loneliness. The protagonist’s emotions are portrayed in a way that could resonate with individuals who might relate to the feeling of losing a connection with someone. The scene where the protagonist attempts to reach out to his partner illustrates the struggle to communicate or establish a connection, highlighting the growing distance between them. It shows the desperation and the desire to be with someone, which is one most highlighted trait in this age group. Our product portrays the lives of most young teenagers and adults who are trying to find ways for escapism. The running scenes of the actor show the two parallel sides. The “lights” used in our product not only represent the lights from the car or the city but also the fame the protagonist enjoyed for his recording career. From stage lights to paparazzi camera flashes, he’s been “blinded” by many examples of a wealthy and successful life, and he doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon. However, his celebrity life often overshadows his deep personal life. This is why the protagonist thinks that his love life is peaceful and wants his lover back.

Moreover, The elements of our production work together to create a sense of branding which creates a distinct identity that resonates with audiences.  Different elements in our production such as the quality, packaging and design, USP, and the storyline create a sense of branding. Throughout the production process, I planned out the theme for our digipak, and social media posts. I used the shade “Payne’s grey” and “Indigo dye” to create my products. These shades caught my eye and I knew that I would use these as my aesthetics. These colors convey a sense of mystery, thrill and are associated with denim culture. Moreover, the social media page for my music video also plays a crucial role in creating branding as it attracts the audience and provides them with every detail, spoilers and the ability to vision it themselves. Furthermore, I decided to go with some differentiation by combining variety of effects into our product. The lyrics of the music matches well with the song. Since our music video does not really have a special or particular plot, we made sure to keep the song and shots in sync so that the lyrics sync with the song, resulting in better understanding of our product. We used marketing strategies such as Cross-media marketing and visual branding. We used email, different social media platforms to create a brand identity of our product. We also used different graphic designs to promote the product. The use of Canva and Adobe Photoshop created a sense of branding.

In my opinion, research was the most important thing which enabled us to find our target audience. We chose multiple songs, but the reason we decided to go with ‘blinding lights’ was because of the huge target audience of the original music video. Since our music video targeted mostly young adults who are a victim of loneliness, and enjoy parties and night, it was quite easy to engage with the audience. As the music itself is very popular, we already knew that the Weeknd fans would like our product. The music contains elements of synth-pop, new wave, and electronic music so people who listen to this genre would value our hard work. We made sure to add such elements in our product that would resonate with individuals such as the speeding of the car which shows that this could be a way for the protagonist to escape the feeling of detaching with someone, or as a desire for freedom and escape from the challenges he’s been facing. Young adults consume our products according to their needs (uses and gratification.) As the music video goes on, the editing pace also gets faster, making it even more exciting and keeping the audience hooked. To make our product look more interesting, we added random dreamy shots in between to keep up with the theme. Moreover, we created a social media page on instagram to further allow the people to engage with our music video, by posting the digipak, and social media posts related to our product so we can target more audience. Posting our product on youtube allowed us to gather much more audience including my schoolmates, friends, and people online. Moreover, our product was distributed using Below The Line marketing which allowed us to further distribute it to a mass audience.

After the selection of our song, we were able to identify the genre and, and the theme of our song. The genre for this song is R&B (Rythm and Blues).  We also identified the conventions we had to research. Weeknd’s songs are usually based on themes such as love, heartbreak or the desire for freedom. The use of visual effects in the original MV such as blurring, strobing lights and colour grading gave us an idea on how to create and enhance the mood and theme in our product. Common conventions in Weeknd’s music videos include being intense and emotional. He often sings about love, heartbreak, and wanting things that might not be good for him. His music also talks about parties, and feeling lost. The music itself has a dark and mysterious feeling, like you're in a movie. So in order to follow this convention, I designed the digipak myself with the vision and retro aesthetics that would suit my product. Also, I used ‘blue’ and ‘retro’ aesthetics to design my social media page which further allowed us to match with the theme. One convention that was challenged was that we decided to go for fast paced editing as R&B songs are usually slowed but ‘blinding lights’ is an upbeat song. Even The Weeknd’s challenged this convention. We researched about the social media page as well. Going through artists' accounts gave us inspiration for our own page too. Most of the artists post their album aesthetics, and spoiler posts so I did the same. This creates the anticipation of the product, among the consumers or audiences.