Research: Song Choice & Permission

Here is how we chose our song and got permission to use it before it gets restricted for our music video project.

Song Choice

Before we were allowed to select a song, our teacher informed us that our choice had to be contemporary meaning it had to be related within the past five years. I found this quite challenging because before starting this project, I had planned to create music videos using songs from the past ten years. This meant that my original ideas would not qualify and would not be accepted for the examination. Because of this, I had to explore more recent music and research for suitable replacements.

 

We decided to work within the pop genre, focusing on relationship based storytelling. Since we already had a clear vision, we mainly needed to find a song that matched it. We looked for something cinematic with a strong sense of tension in the relationship, We also preferred a sad tone rather than a happy one, which led us to focus on Electro Pop as it best fit the mood and idea we wanted to create. Here is how we developed and finalised our song choice. First, we discussed in class and selected our top five most potential song choices.

1. party 4 u - Charli xcx (2020)

Benefits	Drawbacks
It has a lot of emotional tension, making it easier for us to showcase strong emotions	It feels very party like, which is not the direction we want our music video to focus on
The meaning behind the song relates to toxic relationships, which gives depth to our concept	Some of the lyrics may be inappropriate or difficult to connect with our project
It feels very cinematic and has a good tone for a storytelling music video	The concept may require a bigger budget, especially if we include party scenes.
The lyrics are very storytelling helping us plan and connect our shots clearly	The contrast between the party vibe and deeper meaning could make the message confusing.

2. David - Lorde (2025)

Benefits	Drawbacks
It has a lot of emotional beats which works well for our opening scene	The song only has one strong part at the end, making it difficult to build progress in the beginning
It has a cinematic feel making it ideal for our concept	It would be difficult to include performance elements since the song is mostly instrumental
The song does not have an existing music video allowing us to be more creative and avoid copying others	The song’s duration may be too long, which could increase filming and editing time
The music has a lot of meaning giving us the opportunity to include multiple connotations in our work	The song might not be suitable for storytelling making it harder to present our intended vision

3. ceilings - Lizzy McAlpine (20223)

Benefits	Drawbacks
The song has a very soft melody which is simple and easy for us to work with	The song is not intense or toxic “enough” so it may not strongly highlight tension or conflict
It has a lot of storytelling in the lyrics allowing us to connect them to our vision and narrative	The ending of the song is not very clear or impactful which could make it harder to conclude our video
The calm tone can help us create a more emotional and intimate atmosphere	Because the song is soft and slow, it may be harder to keep audiences engage
The song allows us to focus more on visuals and acting rather than the actual singing performance	The pacing of the song may limit our ability to include dynamic or fast changing scenes especially in fights

4. we can't be friends (wait for your love) - Ariana Grande (2024)

Benefits	Drawbacks
The song has a lot of toxic meaning which we can use to connote our toxic relationship meaning	The song is quiet soft making it harder to create very dramatic or intense scenes
It has a modern and relatable theme which can engage the audience more	It does not fully match our theme as we want more toxicity rather than a sad relationship vibe
The song has a clean, soft, and simple structure making it easier to plan our scenes	It may be harder to build a strong storyline since the song learn more towards performance
The music video provides inspiration for our own project, making it helpful for generating ideas	Someone else in the class is using a similar artist, which could make our project seem less original

5. Shapeshifter - Lorde (2025)

Benefits	Drawbacks
The song has very tense music which is good for dramatic scenes in our music video	The lyrics are quite odd and unsettling which makes them challenging to work with
The theme makes the story deeper and more meaningful not just a simple break up story	The song is quite long, so editing may take more time and require many clips
The song feels unique and not mainstream which can help our music video stand out	The song is not in the pop genre, so it may be less simple and harder to execute
The theme of toxicity matches our vision well	The song doesn’t have an official music video that can be analysed for its meaning or use as inspiration

After considering the pros and cons of each song, we shorten our list and used a spin wheel to help us decide. We wanted a song that best fits our vision and could be used in a similar way to our original choice. The top three songs, David, Shapeshifter, and Ceilings, were all very cinematic and visuals, helping guide our storyline through the lyrics while the melody enhances the emotions we want to show. Since we agreed that any of these songs would work well, we used an elimination round on the spin wheel and finally decided to use "Shapeshifter" by Lorde

"Shapeshifter" by Lorde is a song bout identity, change, and emotional toxicity in relationships. This strongly fits our cinematic vision, as we want to show intense toxic tension while also focusing on personal growth. The song enhances our storytelling because the melody and lyrics support the emotions and visuals rather than distract from them. We want the audience to focus on the narrative, using the music to strengthen the atmosphere. Through our star, we aim to show that change is necessary and possible, she learns from her mistakes and grows into a better person. Her journey sends a clear message to the audience that we should reflect on our actions, learn from our flaws, and strive to become better versions of ourselves. Overall, we were all satisfied with this choice because the meaning of the song perfectly supports our vision and helps build powerful cinematic visuals,

Permission

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Reflection:

Communication & Organisation

This blog will demonstrate how my group and I organise and communicate throughout the process of our music video project.

Our group consisted of three members, all of the same gender and very close friends. For us, organisation and communication are extremely important, especially since we are frequently in contact. Because of this, we used multiple methods to stay organised, share ideas, and support each other throughout the process. This made ir easier for us to exchange thoughts quickly, give feedback, and ask for guidance whenever needed, ensuring that everyone stayed on the same page and contributed effectively to the project.

WhatsApp

The most powerful communication platform we used to stay connected was WhatsApp. It allowed us to easily communicate through group chats, voice chats, and video calls, and even stay in contact with our teacher when needed. This made it much easier to share ideas quickly and keep everyone updated. The app played a major role in bringing our ideas together and supporting our overall teamwork. Without WhatsApp, our discussions would have been much slower, and managing tasks as a group of three would have been more difficult and less efficient. Here are a few moments from our conversation through WhatsApp that highlight how we communicated and worked together as a group.

These are links that we sent to each other in our WhatsApp group called "Media Music Video," where we sent teacher tasks, feedbacks, and collaboration links.

We also used the same group to communicate with Ara (casted actor), updating him on the filming schedule and making sure he understood what he agreed to. We added Gusde (extra help) to the group chat to improve efficiency, so he could understand our plan without needing information to be forwarded to him. We also invited Kirei (extra help) to help us and to send some pictures she took for our behind the scene blog post.

We also used the group chat to share ideas and give each other feedback to ensure that our intended ideas were correctly reflected in our work and to avoid any miscommunication. We also like to go on calls, especially since Lamiya was away and unable to be physically present so we had multiple video calls to make sure we were actively shaping and developing our ideas together.

Not only in group chats, I also had a few private conversations with Lamiya to help guide me with the editing and understand her vision more clearly. This helped me ask questions, clarifying ideas, and making sure the editing matches to what she had in mind.

Apple Photos (Shared Albums)

This app was used to store all our footages through its shared album feature. We used it to upload pictures and videos we had taken, such as behind-the-scenes content, and other memories from our music video project. This feature is only available to iPhone users, so we were lucky that everyone in our group including the actors and extra helpers used iPhones, allowing them to join the share album and viewing videos and uploading their own footages. This made it much more efficient for us to share files without reducing the quality of the videos when someone needed to edit them. It also meant that we didn't have to rely on messaging which could slow down the process and instead all the footage was easily accessed because it was already stored on our own phones.

Google docs

This feature was used to help us store all our work and tasks for the music video project. We also used it as a guide and draft before transferring our work to the blog, making the final version cleaner and more presentable. It allowed us to collaborate in one document so everyone could access it, contributing ideas, discuss, and add their own planning in real time. I personally found this tool very helpful for guiding my planning, keeping tracks of task, and writing notes to remember important points. Overall this feature was very important for organising our work and ensuring everyone stayed on track.

Pinterest

Pinterest was a tool to guide our creativity and inspiration. It is an app where you can search for ideas, view images, and upload your own content. For our group, Pinterest helped us share our imaginations through visuals by finding inspiration and sending it to each other allowing us to combine our ideas and agree on a clear direction. We also created mood boards for a music video which helped us visualise specific moments we wanted to recreate which made it better and much easier to explain our ideas as using visuals was more effective than just describing them in words. 

Note App

This was an app we used on our phones as an off-line version of Google Docs. It made it easier for us to take notes, especially when we didn't have any connection on my laptop or when we're out and wanted to quickly write down ideas. Sometimes we forget to use it because we are used to Google Docs, but we eventually remembered that it was a part of our original plan. In the end, we made sure that Notes app was still an essential platform by sharing what we wrote there in our group chat.

Reflection: This task was quite difficult because we had to find clear evidence of our communication and how we our files throughout the project. We had many discussions through calls but it was hard to prove since we mainly relied on call logs which sometimes disappear or weren't saved making it challenging to show consistent evidence. It was also difficult to go back and find specific docs in reference as we created many files overtime and didn't always organise them clearly at the start. However, many important links were shared in our group chat which made it easier to access them again and use them as evidence. Overall this blog highlights are communication organisation and teamwork and shows how we use social media and online platforms to keep our project connected and on track.

Screen Test

Heres is a screen test we did to choose actors to play for our music video project.

For our music video, we needed to recruit three people to help bring our idea to life. We required a lead female, who would also act as the main star (Kika Laene), a male lead to support the narrative, and lastly an extra male to help with a background appearance. Me and my team members gathered a variety of friends and people we believed would be the best fit for each role. Here is the screen test where each of them introduces themselves:

- video-

The purpose of this was to help us identify the people who were genuinely willing to support and take part in out music video. Many people declined when we asked them to participate, mainly due to a lack of confidence or because they felt too shy to interact with someone of the opposite gender, especially when it involved acting out romantic gestures. Based on the screen test clips, we were able to clearly see who was confident, comfortable on camera, suitable to play the visual roles, and brave enough to step out of their comfort zone. This helped us select individuals who were not only suitable for the roles but also committed to helping us successfully create our music video. Here are the final cast selection, along with pictures showing their appearance and roles in the music video:

- kristine profile

We chose Kristine (Me) as our lead singer because she has several advantages that made her suitable for the role. She already has experience in front of the camera as a young model, which means she is familiar with acting, posing, and confidently portraying a character. This helped her perform more naturally and professionally on screen. Additionally, since no other female was willing to participate or felt comfortable acting alongside the made lead, Kristine (Me) stepped up to support the team and take on the role. This decision prevented delays in filming and allowed us to stay focused on completing the project efficiently without overthinking casting issues.

- ara profile

Ara was the only male actor who was willing to help us with our music video. Even though he and Kristine aren't close friends, it was Lamiya who helped recruit him, as she has connections with fiends outside of school and thought he would be suitable for the male lead role. She was able to get in contact with him, which then allowed all of us to communicate with him and arrange filming for the music video.

- Jordan profile

Jordan was a last minute casting choice because many of the male candidates declined and didn't want to participate. As a result, we had to quickly find an alternative, and Lamiya reached out to one of her friends who happened to be available and willing to help. He agreed to take part mainly because his face wouldn't be shown, which made him feel less nervous and anxious about acting.

Reflection: For me, recruiting people was the most difficult part because creating a love story music video made it harder to find participants, especially since many of them had just met. As teenagers who are not professional actors and are not being paid, it was challenging to convince people to take part. Luckily Kristine (Me) was able to remain professional throughout the process and did not argue or back out when the director guided us to perform actions that might have felt uncomfortable. In the future, we should consider casting people who are already in a relation ship, as it may make these types of scenes easier to perform and less awkward. Overall, the casting turned out well and didn't cause major issues, except for me feeling uncomfortable when watching myself on screen.

Critical Reflection

This is my critical reflection essay blog for my Comp 3 Music Video project.

Our Component 3 project explores our creativity within the music industry through the creation of a music video package. Kika Laene is a persona we developed as an Electro Pop/Pop artist who promotes herself through her music video, digipak, and social media page, using a song and album from Lorde, Shapeshifter (2025). We want Kika Laene to create a strong connection with audiences aged 16-18 (Gen Z), who relates their present lives to her experiences.

Branding refers to the overall impression and consistent identity an audience associates with an artist across different media platforms. It is important because it allows audiences to easily recognise and artist while promoting their values, persona, and message, helping build engagement and marketability. In our project, branding is created through a rebranding narrative, where Kika Laene uses her past identity as a blueprint to construct a new and more confident version of herself. According to the Theory of Stardom, stars are carefully constructed through repeated media representations, and our music video, social media, and digipak work together to maintain this consistency. Across all products, visual similarities such as expressive makeup, bold fashion styling, fixed shots, and a consistent blue and yellow colour palette create recognisable branding. These colours juxtapose her earlier ordinary appearance with her new euphoric and confident persona, symbolising growth and transformation. In the music video, mise-en-scene, costume, and performance shift from casual styling and minimal emotion to confident expressions and stylised makeup (example in figure 1.1), visually communicating the rebrand. This transformation continues on social media where the artist deleted her previous ordinary posts and replaces them with promotional content, achievements and stylised imagery, reinforcing her new identity (seen in figure 1.2). The digipak further strengthens branding through the same colour scheme, expressive visuals, and a symbolic yellow artist logo, which acts as a recognisable code following Barthes' symbolic theory. Additionally, End of Audience Theory suggests audiences play a role in shaping star identity, as the rebrand encourages engagement and identification. Overall, the combination of consistent visuals, narrative transformation, and repeated symbolic elements contracts Kika Laene's brand as confident, expressive and inspirational, allowing audiences to associate her image with growth and self-empowerment.

Our digipak was researched into both pop and electro pop conventions, which shaped how we used and challenged genre expectations. Electro-pop digipaks are often counter-cultural, expressive and visually experimental, using dramatic imagery, extreme close-ups, bold colour palettes and digital visual effects to create a futuristic or electric aesthetic, while pop digipacks focus on emotional appeal, colour, strong star imagery and clear artist branding. We confirmed to these conventions by placing Kika Laene's artist logo at the centre of the design, using expressive euphoric makeup, vibrant colours such as blue, yellow, purple and pink, and extreme close-ups to emphasise emotion and star identity. The inclusion of a logo and consistent visual style supports artist recognition and reflects David Gauntlett's idea that identity is contrasted through media creativity and self-expression which an example would be during her magazine shoots where we can recognise her through her artist logo (seen in figure 2). Although Steve Neale argues that genres develop through repetition and difference, meaning subversion increases recognition, our digipak blends pop and electro pop conventions so that any way subversion of pop, such as dramatic effects or experimental styling, still conforms to electro-pop conventions. Therefore, the product remains recognisable rather than fully challenging genre norms. Research into branding and rebranding had the biggest influence on our project, as we designed the digipak to visually represent Kika Laene's transformation from her past to her new identity. The repeated colour scheme, expressive visuals and logo reinforce her rebrand and connect with her wide media presence, supporting the Theory of Stardom by presenting a renewed star image following a downfall and comeback. Overall, research guided our creative decisions to ensure the digipak both followed genre conventions and strengthened artist identity and audience recognition.

Our target audience is primarily females aged 16-28 who may relate to experiences of toxic relationships and emotional growth. Psychographically, they are audiences who enjoy cinematic, aesthetic content and artists who promote self-expression and healing. Our social media engages them through dreamy visuals, expressive makeup, and emotional colour palettes that reflect Kika Laene's journey, allowing audiences to relate and fee guided by her growth. Engagement is created through promotional posts documenting her rebrand, encouraging audiences to follow her transformation. Although she does not frequently reply to comments, captions acts as interaction by expressing gratitude and appreciation, creating closeness between star and fans ( seen in figure 3.1 ). Hermeneutic codes are used through teaser posts and the Shapeshifter announcement, generating mystery and discussion about her new identity. Additionally, tour announcements and links allow audiences to experience Kika Laene face-to-face, strengthening realism and engagement as fans move beyond the global online community into direct, present interaction with the star ( seen in figure 3.2 ).

Visual similarities across the music video, social media and digipak includes close-up shots, expressive makeup, and juxtaposed blue and yellow colour schemes which reinforces branding and support her persona of growth, confidence and self-love. The social media fulfils Uses and Gratifications by offering diversion through emotional storytelling, personal identity as audiences see their own experiences reflected, social relationships through shared fan discussions, and surveillance by providing updates about her career and achievements. Through the Theory of Stardom, her successful rebrand, awards and promotional visibility make her aspirational yet relatable, while Clay Shirky's Theory highlights how fans influence and participate in her success. The Theory of Fandom is shown as audiences connect with one another through shared excitement about the rebrand, forming a supportive fan community built around her journey (seen in figure 3.3 ).

Our products first represent the social group of an electro-pop artist, Kika Laene, exploring identity, rebranding and recovery from a toxic relationship. The dominant reading encourages audiences to view her growth as a guide, showing how learning from past mistakes leads to confidence, independence and healthier self-identity. High angle shots in social media present vulnerability and emotional weakness, reflecting how her toxics relationship affected her mentality, while close-ups and fixed performance shots created emotional intimacy. Across the technical elements, we juxtapose her past and present identity through mine-en-secene contrasts blue tones in the music video, symbolising depression and emotion lows, with yellow tones in social media representing healing and confidence ( seen in figure 4.1 ). Euphoric makeup, designer fashion and expressive styling further reinforces this transformation. Sound through emotional lyrics and performance conveys grief and recovery, while editing uses match cuts to juxtapose before and after versions of the artist suggesting toxicity becomes a learning experience. Her persona reflects the Theory of Stardom, presenting her as both ordinary and relatable yet aspirational through consumption and success. While emotional pop-star stereotypes are used for genre recognition, they are challenged through independences and active self-representation subverting aspects of the Male Gaze Theory.

The second issue represents toxic vs healthy relationships and the male vs female perspective. Influenced by Levi Strauss' binary opposites, the narrative juxtaposes love and conflict to drive meaning. The dominant reading encourages sympathy for the female character's growth, while a negotiated reading allows sympathy for the males regret. Technical elements continues this contrast by using colour palettes juxtapose artificial blue mores with confrontational yellow conflict, fast editing fragments memories, and longer takes to intensify arguments. Lyric matching and mirrored match cuts reinforces opposing meaning, present toxicity as a stage leaving to separation and growth ( seen in figure 4.2 ). Drawing on Judith Butler's Theory of gender performativity and the Male Gaze by Laura Mulvey, stereotypical gender roles initially appear but are challenged as the female becomes active, independent and emotionally empowered.

Link to CR Google Doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13u5BGbrhiFm3TaYgFE28lHoOxrnZ9LJYzZfz_3oqvik/edit?usp=sharing 

Final Product

Here is our final product for our Comp 3 Music Video project, which includes the MV, DigiPack and Social Media Page.

Music Video

Google Drive Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NB1fEXX7EkdhoeS0j1ymbgLSEbJT_aPe/viewusp=sharing 

DigiPack

Social Media Page

Link to Social Media Page:

https://www.instagram.com/kikalaeneutm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxw==

Digipak: Research and Development

This is our research and development on our Digipak and how it will influence our artist for our music video project. This blog was made by Lamiya.

1. SZA - SOS

Camera
The album cover uses a extreme long of SZA sitting on top of a diving board where we can see a lot of the ocean around the artist. The reason behind this extreme long shot where it makes her look tiny shows how vulnerable and isolation SZA looks. The camera angle is straight and does don't have a dramatic effect which makes the image feel natural and real making it look like a moment caught on camera.

Mise-en-Scene
The only three main things in the Mise-en-Scene is SZA, the diving board and the ocean. The ocean takes up most of the space, showing deep emotions and feeling lost. SZA is sitting with her legs hanging down and her body slightly slouched making her look relaxed and comfortable. The connotation behind sitting at the edge of the board also shows riskiness like she is in between staying safe or jumping into unknown which highlights the emotional state of whats in the album.

What meaning is being created with the different technical elements?
The overall color shown in this album is blue. This plays a huge role in showcasing her emotions because blue represents sadness, loneliness, and calmness. The blue ocean and sky creates a quiet and emotional mood, showing how she feels emotionally and overwhelmed. Which can reflect to audiences or listener to quickly guest that the songs in album are all about deep emotions, personal struggles, heartbreak, and self-reflection.

How does the imagery reflect the star's persona?
The imagery shows SZA as someone who is open, emotional and vulnerable. Sitting alone and looking away from the camera suggest she is thinking deeply and lost in her thoughts, making the moment feel personal. This matches her music, which often talks about love, heartbreak, and self-reflection. She is not trying to look perfect, which shows she is not focused on frame or image but instead, comes across as honest and relatable.

Does the artist have a logo? Is it consistent with their other media?
SZA does not really use a logo. Instead she mainly uses her name in simple and clean text. The bold "SOS" test on the album cover stands our and feels strong and serious, which links to the albums theme of emotional struggles. This style is consistent with her other albums and media, where she often uses minimal visuals and lets emotion and storytelling be the main focus.

How has the album cover influence you?
The album cover influences me because it strongly focuses on the color blue, which we also want to use since our color palette is blue. The use of blue to represent sadness and calm emotions inspired us, as it clearly shows emotional depth. We also like how the meaning of the album focuses on grief and emotional struggles, because our music video is about toxic relationships and the struggles of dealing with them. The calm but heavy mood of the album cover helped inspire us to show emotions in a simple but powerful way.

2. Gracie Abrams - The Secret Of Us

Camera
The album uses a lot of close-up shot of the artist's face. This makes the images feel personal and emotional, as we are very close to her expressions. The close-up framing allows the audience to focus on her emotions and thoughts, making the album feel intimate and honest. Her facial expressions range from neutral and serious to soft and thoughtful which suggest calmness, vulnerability, and deep emotional reflection.

Mise-en-Scene
 Here is only focused are the artist and her facial expressions. The expression look gives soft and thoughtfulness, which shows vulnerability. In the middle image, the two versions of her whispering suggest secrets and private thoughts, which links to the album title. The font used for the title album is a soft cursive yellow style, which feels gentle and personal, which is almost like a handwriting. The simplicity setting keeps the focus on emotions rather than distractions.

What meaning is being created with the different technical elements?
The soft lighting and neutral colors create a calm and gentle mood. The lack of bright colors or strong shadows shows emotional softness and reflection. This helps audiences quickly guess that the album focuses on personal feelings, relationships, and inner emotions. The simple visuals make the album feel private, as if the artist is sharing secrets with listeners. The technical elements also make the emotions feel more honest and real helping audiences emotionally connected to the album.

How does the imagery reflect the star's persona?
The imagery shows the artist as emotional, honest, and relatable. She does not look glamorous which makes her feel real. Her expressions suggest deep thinking, which matches music that focuses on relationships, secrets, and emotional experiences.This matches music that focuses on relationships, secrets and emotional experiences which makes the artist seem open to share personal stories.

Does the artist have a logo? Is it consistent with their other media?
The artist does not use a logo on this album. Instead, she uses the album title in simple text, which keeps the design clean and easy to read. This shows that the focus is more on emotion and meaning rather than strong branding or marketing. The simple font and layout allow the audience to pay attention to the feelings and themes of the album. 

How has the album cover influence you?
This album cover influenced us because we want to use close-up shots and yellow font like this album. The close-ups help emphasis a euphoria and emotional look for our artist. We also like the yellow font, but in our meaning it symbolizes happened and hope in a world where the artist is living with toxic emotions. This contrast helps show how she is trying to find light and positivity despite the struggles she faces.

3. Sabrina Carpenter - Short N' Sweet

Camera
The album uses close-up and medium shots that focus on the artists face and body, which links to the idea of the malee gaze. The camera angles and framing highlight her appearance, skin, and poses in a way that is visually attractive, especially to male audiences. Her body is positioned to be looked at, and the direct or over the shoulder look creates a sense of invitation. This use of camera helps attract attention and makes the artist appear desirable.

Mise-en-Scene
They focuses on the artist, blue and pink color palette, and the styling. The blue background creates a clean and bold look, while the pink vinyl adds a soft and playful feel. Her outfit, hair, and makeup are very styled, showing confidence and femininity. The lipstick mark and the visible skin suggest flirtation and self-expression. The lace and soft textures on the vinyl design add a romantic delicate touch.

What meaning is being created with the different technical elements?
The bright colors, strong lighting, and confident poses create a bold and playful mood. The use of blue and pink suggests both confidence and softness. The lighting highlights her skin and features, making her stand our clearly from the background. These technical elements help audiences quickly guess that the album focuses on love, confidence, and emotional experiences in a fun way.

How does the imagery reflect the star's persona?
The artist's imagery shows confident, feminine, and self-aware. She appears glamorous and in control of how she is seen. Her poses and expressions suggest confidence and flirtation, which matches a persona that is bold and expressive. At the same time, the soft colors and delicate details show a more gentle and emotional side, making her persona feel balances rather than aggressive.

Does the artist have a logo? Is it consistent with their other media?
They did not use a logo, but instead uses her name in elegant cursive way. This font feels soft and classic, which matches the romantic and feminine theme of the album. This style is consistent with her other media, where branding focuses on elegance, personality, and visual identity rather than a bold image.

How has the album cover influence you?

This can influence us through the use of the blue background and the way the artist shows body confidence. The blue background creates a clean and bold look, which makes the artist stand our clearly. We also like how her confident pose and body language show self-assurance. This inspired us to use confident body language in our own project to show our artists growth and strength.

4. Addison Rae - Addison

Camera
Addison uses a mix of close-up and medium shots, mostly focusing on the artist's face and body. The close-up shots make the image feel personal and intimate, while the way she looks toward the camera creates strong eye contact. This draws the audience in and makes her the clear focus. Some angles are sightly posed, which links to the idea of being looked at and admired, helping attract attention and interest from the audience.

Mise-en-Scene
It focuses on the artist, warm colors, and soft textures. The orange and yellow tones create a dreamy and romantic mood. The feathers and sheer fabric shows softness and elegance which makes the visuals feel delicate and feminine. Her outfit and styling are glamorous but gentle, showing beauty without being harsh. 

What meaning is being created with the different technical elements?
These colors create a soft but intense mood. The orange and magenta tones suggest passion and emotion. The soft focuses and layered textures makes the visual feel dreamy and unreal, as if the album exists in a fantasy world. These technical elements help the audience quickly guess that the album focuses on emotions, identity, love, and self-image.

How does the imagery reflect the star's persona?
The artist is presented as glamorous, confident, and expressive. She looks aware of being seen and comfortable with attention, which shows confidence. At the same time, the softness in her expressions and styling suggest vulnerability and sensitivity. This creates a balance persona where she is both strong and emotional, making her feel interesting and relatable.

Does the artist have a logo? Is it consistent with their other media?
The artist uses her name in decorative, stylize text rather than a strong logo. This font feels elegant and playful, which matches the dreamy and feminine theme of the album. This branding style is consistent across the album artwork and vinyl designs, helping create a clear and recognizable visual identity without overpowering the imagery.

How has the album cover influence you?

I like how the vinyl color is the dominant color alongside yellow. This can inspire us to use a strong main color in our own project, such as yellow or blue, to make it more visually striking. The use of the artist's logo also shows how branding can help make an artist more recognizable. This influences us to include a clear logo for our artist so audiences can easily remember and recognize her.

5. Dua Lipa - Future Nostalgia

Camera
The album uses a mix of medium shots and close-up shots of the artist sitting in a car. The camera often faces her directly, which creates strong eye contact and makes her look confident and in control. Some shots focus on her body position and facial expression, which draws attention to her presence and attitude. The framing makes her the clear focus of the image, helping the audience connect with her confidence and star power.

Mise-en-Scene
The album included the artist, the car, the moon in the background, and the colour scheme. The car represents freedom, movement, and independence. The moon and dark background creates a dreamy, night-time atmosphere. Her pink outfit stands our strongly against the dark setting, making her the main focus. Her styling, includes her hair, makeup, gloves gives a retro glamorous look, linking to the albums theme of nostalgia.

What meaning is being created with the different technical elements?
The dark background combined with the bring pink outfit creates contrast, making the artist stand our and appear powerful. The night setting and moon give the album a futuristic and dreamy feel. The lighting highlights her face and body, showing confidence and control. These elements help audiences guess that the album focuses on confidence, love, and self empowerment.

How does the imagery reflect the star's persona?
They presented the artist as confident and strong. She looks serious and focused, which shows control and self-assurance. Sitting in the driver's seat suggest she is in charge of her own life and direction. This matches her persona as a modern pop star who represents confidence and freedom.

Does the artist have a logo? Is it consistent with their other media?
The artist uses her name as a logo in a clear, stylized font. This logo is visible on the vinyl and is easy to recognize. The font branding are consistent with her other work, helping build a strong and recognizable artist identity. This makes it easy for audiences to remember and identify her work.

How has the album cover influence you?

I think this can influence us because we like the confident expression the artist gives. It shows confidence and self-assurance which is something we want our artist to show as well. We also like the blue, midnight scenery more than the pink as it creates a cool and powerful mood. The artist gives off strong vibes, which we want to reflect in our own artist to create a similar presence and attitude.

6. Olivia Rodrigo - Sour

Camera
The album uses mostly medium and close up shots of the artist. The close up framing brings attention to her face and makeup, making the image feel personal and emotional. The camera is straight which makes her look honest and direct like she is facing the audience without hiding. This helps the audience focus on her emotions and expression.

Mise-en-Scene
Mise-en-Scene includes the artist, the purple background, the stickers, and the makeup. The purple background creates a soft but emotional mood, often linked to sadness and vulnerability. The stickers on her face look playful and childish, which contrasts with her serious expression. This shows mixed emotions, such as feeling hurt but still trying to express yourself. The simple setting keeps the focus on her and her emotions.

What meaning is being created with the different technical elements?
The simple background and soft colors create a calm and emotional mood. The lack of props and distractions makes the emotions feel more raw and honest. The contrast between the playful stickers and her serious expression suggest emotional confusion and vulnerability. These elements help the audience understand that the album focuses on emotions and personal struggles.

How does the imagery reflect the star's persona?
The imagery presents the artist as emotional and relatable. She looks natural and not overly glamorous, which makes her feel real and down to earth. The use of stickers and simple styling shows creativity and individuality. This matches her persona as someone who openly shares her feelings and personal experiences through her music.

Does the artist have a logo? Is it consistent with their other media?
The artist uses simple test for the album title and her name rather than a logo. This keeps the branding clean and minimal. The scrapbook-style visuals, stickers, and handwritten elements are consistent across the album artwork and vinyl, creating a clear and recognizable style that feels personal and expressive.

How has the album cover influence you?

We like the simplicity of this album cover, especially the makeup and the use of stickers. It inspired us to use the similar idea where our artist can express herself through her worn style of makeup. This allows emotions and personality to be shown visually without needing a complex setting, making the artist feel more authentic and relatable.

MY EXPERIMENTAL DEVELOPMENT FOR THIS DIGIPAK

    first I sketched out my vision of how I wanted the digipak to look like. I envisioned a couch and our artist Kika to be laying on the couch sideways. I 

Reflection: This blog was completed by my friend and was an important part of our Comp 3 project. The main issue with this blog was the large amount of content required, as it needed detailed information to support the creation of our artist's digipak. Because of this, the process was quite long and it took time to complete. As a solution, I suggest that we should collaborate as a group to share ideas, while assigning one person to take primary responsibility for writing the blog. This would ensure we maintain a clear and consistent vision, while also making it easier to plan ideas without disagreements during the process. In the future, this experience shows the importance of being more independent and highlights how creativity plays a key role, especially since much of the work is focused on art and design.