Classwork: Technical Elements

Here is a summary of what we have been learning in class. We learned about different types of Technical Elements in media.

Camera

A camera captures images, and different shots and angles show emotion, size, and perspective.

Camera Angles

Effects

Long Shot: Shows the full subject and setting.

Extreme Long shot: Shows the subject from afar.

Medium Shot: Balances subject and setting, often used for conversations.

Cowboy Shot: Focuses on the face or details, shows emotion or importance.

Close Up: Focuses on the face or details, shows emotion or importance.

Extreme Close Up: Highlights tiny details and intensity.

POV: Shows a characters perspective, creates immersion.

Over the Shoulders: Shows one character from another's viewpoint,  creates connection or tension.

High Angle: Makes the subject appear powerful or dominant.

Dutch Angle: Creates unease or tension.

Establishing Shot: Provides location and contact, often helps set a scene.

Here is a video of what my teacher gave us to get a better understanding of Camera Angles:

Camera Shots

Fixed	Camera remains static	Calm, peace, normal
Push in	Camera moves slowly toward subject	Brings the audience closer, more involved, getting more serious.
Pull out	Camera moves slowly away from subject	Takes audience away from the action, leaving a character. Detaching from subject
Pan	Side to side, camera fixed	Reveal information, mirrors natural head movement of the audience.
Tilt	Up and down, camera fixed	Same as pan, just a different direction
Dolly	Camera moves around freely	More immersive, we are moving inside the subjects world, we feel part of the action
Tracking	Camera moves around on tracks	Similar to dolly, but smoother.
Crane	Taken by a camera mounted on a jib/crane that moves up and down.	Reveals the epic size of the setting, landscape.
Handheld	Camera is shakey	Very natural, immersive. High energy
Zoom	Zoom	Brings audience closer to budget. Draws our attention to something.

Heres a video I made of my understanding of different camera shots:

Sound

Sound in media includes dialogue, music, and effects to create mood, tell stories, and add realism.

Type of Sounds

Description	Effect
Diegetic sound	Sound that can be heard by the characters within the media text.	Add a sense of realism. Reveal information to characters (and then audience)
Non diegetic sound	Sound that can only be heard by the audience.	Enhance meaning, create an emotional response in the audience
Trans diegetic sound	Sound that transitions from one to the other.	Creates a link between the audience and the world. More immersive

Heres a video of what my teacher gave us to get a better understanding of Sounds:

Sound

Non-Diegetic Tones

	Description	Effect
Melodic	Positive and pleasing connotations	Enhances a positive scene. Create positive emotions in the audience.
Discordant	Harsh and unpleasant connotations.	Enhance negative scenes.  Create suspense, tension, anxiety
Contrapuntal	Has an opposite tone to the on-screen visuals.	Adds deeper meaning to scenes. Insight into the character's thoughts. Maybe they seek pleasure in doing bad things.

Here are music videos that best represents these type of Non-Diegetic Tones:

Melodic

Discordant

Contrapuntal

The idea of this music shows how its upbeat, happy music contracts with its dark and serious lyrics.

Mise-en-Scene

Refers to the arrangement and design of visual elements within a framework or a scene.

Here is a video of what my teacher gave us to get a better understanding of Mise-en-Scene:

Editing

The process of selecting and arranging footage to create a cohesive and engaging story. 

Long Take vs Short Take

Here is a comparison of how Long Take and Short Take editing looks like:

Continuity vs Non-Continuity Editing

Continuity Editing	Non continuity editing
Straight cut (cut) Eyeline match  Shot /reverse shot Cutaway / Insert  *Match cut	Cross cut (parallel cut) Flash back Flash forward Jump cut  *Match cut

Reflection:

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

GDrive Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RioFwh6nffjjbqU17qNb_sjTPRntlDCy/view?usp=sharing 

DigiPack

Social Media Page

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 is where it was done by my friend and this was a job that we also needed for our Comp 3 project. The issue behind this blog is that there is a lot of things to write about because there are detailed information that helps create the Digipack of our artist so the progress and the process of making it was quite long and it took a while to get it done fast. So for the solutions I suggest that we should work it all together but have someone only working on that blog so that first we have the same vision and so that it makes it easier to plan out ideas without having disagreements in the making process.. in the future this helps influences how to be more independent and shows that being creative is important because most of the work now is mostly towards arts and designs.