CCR

 This is the CR for the music video

Intro

We, as a group, chose the music package brief, and our music genre is RnB. We created a fictional artist called Thomas Wiradharma to cover a song called ‘MUTT’ by Leon Thomas. Our music theme is about relationships and breakups, which targets the audience from the age of 17 - 25 years old, where in this age they mostly experience what the actor feels inside the music video. We also make the digipak to look simple but has a deep meaning, showing the actor sitting alone in the dark, showing he is lonely and heartbroken.

CCR 2

Branding is when a music video uses visual and creative elements to build an artist's identity and make them recognizable by the audience. Our branding in the music video and artist is about sadness and cold, as there's a lot of orange and blue lighting, as well as dark lighting, giving the sign of sadness of the artist, the expression and gesture shown by the artist in the music video is really sad and quiet, as also theres only few singing scenes, showing he is really depressed with his break up with his girlfriend. The camera angle also helps to show the artist's branding, like the extreme close-up to the artist's eyes, showing his eyes were blank and looked like holding back his tears, and then from view Long shots in the video showing that he is an introvert and lonely and only has his girlfriend that acompanied him, as theres no other people shown like his friends. Then, the location of our music video is really quiet and dark, only supported by the street's light, showing darkness and loneliness that supports what the artist feeling where he is empty and heartbroken. Then the editing in the music video is really slow, showing every movement and expression of the artist, we also add a drunk filter editing when hes walking in the middle of the road, showing he uses alcohol to calm his mine and forget about what has happen for a while, also the edit where we overlay the photo of his girlfriend and his face, showing flashback of them and make audience to feel bad for the artist. The last product is from the clothes the artist wears, he use black jacket showing darkness and emptiness in his heart, and jeans showing he is messy. With all of these elements and product we can make the artist branding an introvert and lonely heartbroken teenager, from the way he acts and dresses inside the music video.

CCR 4

We do our research mostly from YouTube and Spotify, from artists like Frank Ocean, The Weeknd, Daniel Caesar, and Sza, as they have the matches with our digipak and music video. And the conventions in RnB that were looking are the unique outfit and music video style. For example, the digipak from SZA shows a lot of broken computer and just casual clothes showing like shes just an ordinary person that might feel heart broken just like the broken computer, and our digipak also not really look clear, where its retro and has a few lines in the digipak showing like its a broken camera, the same as the artist felt heartbroken. This will connect to semiotic theory, where it uses signs and symbols to make meaning, where the broken computer shows emotional damage, and the clothes show casual and just ordinary people breaking up, which makes it relatable to the audience. Then the conventions we connect for RnB in our music video is about love, but this is about heartbreak, where it is shown with a close up the expression, and also a long shot shows the actor is lonely and feels broken. Then we can see that the way the actor sings is emotional, we can see from his facial expression is so emotional and depressed after the breakup, and the scene on the road where he is singing while drunk just shows that he is so broken and miserable. Then from the digipak where showing signs just like what Drake's have, and then we show the actor's expression and not hiding his faces just like Joji's digipak, whose expression has a meaning behind it where in our digipak its shows that the actor is in the darkness and feels depressed and empty.

CCR 3

We want our product to attract audiences from the age of 18- 25, who are teenagers. This is teeanager, it's because this kind of case, which is heartbroken, often happen on teenager, so we want to make it relatable to the audience, and also our actor is a teenager; with this, our products will really engage with the audience, as they feel that the actor inside the video has the same case as them which could be relieving for the audience. We also have a lot of motorcycle scenes in the music video, which will really attract teenagers who like motorcycles too. In the music video, we also gives lot of close-ups showing the expression of the artist, which could make the audience feel that they are also inside the music video as they both have the same feeling, it also gives a deep meaning of loneliness, depression, and darkness in the music video. Also, we have our own artist social media, where we post content like what the artist is doing, which could be showing ordinariness, and the audience might also feel relatable when there's the same thing that they do with the artist. The artist also posts where he is with their friends, showing he is a friendly person who is open to their fans too. We also post teaser in the social media, like the Southeast Asia tour, showing that we want to make a relationship with fans all around the world and sing together in the concert. This also could connect to the theory of stardom, where we show our artists in ordinariness through his posts on his daily life, and also showing artists' love lifes in the music video. And we post some memes in our social media showing that the artist keeps up to nowadays memes and has fun with all of the audience.

CCR 1

Our social group will be teenagers from the age of 18 to 25 years old, that experiencing a broken heart and feel empty, in the music video we showing lot of expression from the actor through camera angles like Close-up, showing actor eyes is so empty after the break up, then he rides his bikes to relieve all of the feelings and get his mind off from his girlfriend, and it shows the flashback of him scrolling through old photos of him with the girl showing that he really love the girl. Then the mise en scene is gloomy and dark, also black outfits showing its sadness, and the actor is really empty, as he uses a black jacket and not a colorful jacket like red or white and then there is no jewellery and expensive stuff used by the artist showing taht not only being rich that can make people happy, but love and warm feeling that canmake people to feel happy and strong. However, the social media post is that we can see that he has some friends and posting his daily life. This could attract the audience to enjoy and be attracted to Thomas Wiradharma, as he is a fun person on social media, and is really open to his fans.

Final Product

This is our final product for the music video project.

DIGIPAK (FRONT, INSIDE, BACK) 

SOCIAL MEDIA (GRID VIEW)

FINAL VIDEO 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zPoXC17KB4Y92buoQRE9lQfzV8hFH0k1/view?usp=drive_link

Editing

 This is the editing blog made by Alex

(I couldn't upload it too youtube since it uses a copyrighted song and I'll get a strike and it exceeds bloggers video upload limit)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zGw6gOLg_oswzE7cq1Kjvt7bmxcj_XVG/view?usp=sharing

(Feedback)

For this first edit of the music video we were really struggling on how to implement our ideas from the storyboard into the music video because of our limited resources, and the ending arrest scene was awkward and comparing it to later versions this was definitely the worst

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https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zirU_k-DoOXT1XOvSUyUcIIyzX3UFCmf/view?usp=drive_link

(feedback)

For this second edit we didn't really implement Mr Nicks feedback since we kind of remade the whole music video from scratch, this time I used a LOG filter on some of the recorded footage to make it easier to color grade them in premiere pro later. 

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https://drive.google.com/file/d/12WMKf44Q9KzZJKDueRX7kPcNZivKHSrW/view?usp=sharing

(feedback)

This third edit I finally implemented Mr Nicks feedback into the video as I implemented all of them, and overall the feedback I got for all the drafts of our video was vital in improving them. But for one feedback the show the text messages for longer was kind of tricky because I needed to freeze frame since panji puts his phone way right after the message is sent.

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https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BGNtryNl-1YoAOKxQ-SBMOhSE8epxnJQ/view?usp=sharing

(feedback)

This forth edit I again implemented all of Mr Nicks feedback with lining up the lip-syncing, changing panjis name to fit continuity in the end credits which in my opinion the end credits of the music video is really cool I loved how it turned out, and I implemented more performance clips with the dinner table scene

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--Final Edit--

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zPoXC17KB4Y92buoQRE9lQfzV8hFH0k1/view?usp=sharing

I am very happy how it turned out with some more effects and color grading. This gives me hope that we can talk way more about our video and the meaning held within in our CCR.

Reflection: Ussually on all of the previous project im doing the editing, and now im not doing editing and Im doing the other stuff, and now Alex is the editor, and he did a great job on doing it.

Screen Test

This is our screen test for the music video project. This is the blog that shows the screen test that we did for our music video project and Panji did the recording for the audition screen test.

As for the screen test on the audience, we took our friends to audition for the screen test and try to replicate the artist (Leon Thomas) to see which could be a perfect substitute incase the main artist couldn't be in the video due to problems such as sick or other issues.

This is the feedback questions that were going to give towards the audience, we showed them the video and we had gotten a ton of criticism especially on the editing part of the video. In addition, the acting with the artist needs to be improved meaning that the audience would want more facial expressions for them to enjoy the music video.

FEEDBACK QUESTIONS :

FEEDBACK ANSWERS :

Digipak: Research & Development

This is the Digipak that includes the research on album covers and the development of our album cover for our music video, made by me and Bamz

Camera

- Close-up shot :This allows the audience to clearly see the artist's facial expression and body language which creates a connection of intimacy between the artist and the audience.

- Eye-level angle : This would make the artist appear relatable and it shows the artist to be more dominant or superior which makes the viewer understand how the artist is like by making them feel connected through this angle.

Mise-en-scene

- Props : The golden chalice represents wealth, success and status towards the artist and the contrast between the luxury items (golden props) and emotional expression highlights the 'cost of fame' meaning that when the artist gets popular for a period of time, they would get stressed or tired over it.

- Costume & Appearance : The artist wears a full dark, plain clothing which gives off a feeling of seriousness and maturity. In addition, the artist doesn't wear no excess jewelry or streetwear. Which challenges the stereotypical hip-hop and R&B artist's fashion.

What meaning is being created with different technical elements?

These technical elements combine to show the viewers that there is loneliness despite the immense success of the artist, mature masculinity, heartbreak and emotional struggle. These meanings would align with modern R&B as this genre often explores towards failed relationships, self-reflection and emotional honesty.

How does the imagery reflect the star's persona?

The imagery reflects the star persona as he is represented in a way of being sensitive from his facial expressions and emotionally expressive. This challenges the whole traditional masculine stereotypes and aligns with most modern R&B masculinity where emotions are often valued. This could be linked towards the Theory of Stardom by Richard Dyer as ordinariness of him being vulnerably expressive and based off the black clothing and dim lighting, it gives off this private setting towards the album cover. This would make the artist be known as a normal, wealthy, humble guy despite his global fame.

Does the artist have a logo? Is it consistent with their other media?

No, Drake doesn't have a logo for his music. However, he has a handwritten signature-style text to make it recognizable that it is his which makes it more personal and intimate. Although, his other album covers may have different fonts and texts, his unique artist name becomes a brand as it stands out from other artists. In this album cover/digipak specifically, the signature on the bottom right makes the cover feel more personal. The album cover is consistent with Drake's other media with its lyrical themes, music videos and social media imagery.

How has the album cover influenced you?

From the album cover, it shows me that they use symbolism rather than narrative as it relies more on the artist's facial expressions (mood) and the tone with the dim lighting and luxury setting and props. We could try to replicate the dim lighting to our digipak itself. 

Camera

- Medium shot : This shows Kendrick Lamar and his environment clearly which explain more towards the context of the album cover rather than emotional performance. 

- Eye-level angle : This makes Kendrick look serious and it shows how the viewer could see his expressions and it makes them feel connected with him as he is equal to the audience with the eye level angle.

Mise-en-scene

- Costume & Appearance : Kendrick Lamar is shown wearing streetwear clothes, there is no designer brands or expensive items shown so it shows that he isn't trying to impress people with jewelry and brands but, it makes him seem honest and grounded to his viewers which this links to R&B as most R&B artists often focus on their feelings instead of fashion and showing off.

- Performance : Kendrick Lamar's face looks very serious yet calm and he shows that his body is relaxed but closed this makes him look like he is thinking deeply and he isn't showing strong emotions but holding them inside as this fits the usual R&B conventions as emotions are often spoken and personal.

What meaning is being created with different technical elements?

The meaning that is created from all these various technical elements is that it is very realistic and serious, because of that the audience would understand that the music would be emotional and meaningful which conforms to the usual R&B album covers.

How does the imagery reflect the star's persona?

Kendrick Lamar oftenly reflects the star's persona as being original and make unique album covers. It feels authentic to the viewers as Kendrick always looks independent and grounded while showing his personality through various meanings such as the cover. He is also not the person to flex off his wealth which also shows his past old favorite vehicle in the album cover which shows where he is from and not what he is made of through social media and his songs.

Does the artist have a logo? Is it consistent with their other media?

The artist doesn't have a logo and more focuses on the artist's whole image and personality which means that the artist is the brand as music and emotions matter more than visuals which conforms to our R&B conventions which artists often rely on personality and emotions to be expressed. This is consistent with their other media as each album cover are authentic and different from each other which makes the artist more recognizable which therefore the artist could maintain his consistent brand reputation.

How has the album cover influenced you?

We like how the album cover has the unique feeling of being authentic, so we want to try to replicate that feeling towards our own album cover with using natural poses, real life settings and use minimal colors to produce our album cover.

Camera 

- Medium shot : Tyler is shown from behind which creates a mystery as his facial expression isn't shown as well which makes the audience more curious on what the album songs would be as it could be either happy or sad. This would connect to our album cover as most R&B album covers focuses on emotions, so not showing the face makes it feel more personal towards the viewers.

Mise-en-scene 

- Setting : The setting contains sunflowers, hills, bees and a warm sky which this could have meaning such as growth, positivity, hardwork, peace and emotions. As our genre often talks about love, stress and emotional struggles, these visuals would reflect these themes.

- Lighting : The album cover has warm lighting all around because of the sunset, this means happiness, hope, and emotions.

What meaning is being created with different technical elements?

The meaning that is created with the different technical elements is that it creates a mystery from his face being covered by the bee, which could mean that he is insecure. Which makes audiences feel that the song is about sadness.

How does the imagery reflect the star's persona?

The bright colour, bees, and sunflower showing that tyler is creative and unique person. Also the natural setting show he is a calm person and different from many artist, which his persona is someone who is free and artistic.

Does the artist have a logo? Is it consistent with their other media?

Yes, Tyler uses the bee as a logo, the bee showed in his album artwork,music videos, and merchandise, make his brand is easy to know and consistent in all across different type of media.

How has the album cover influenced you?

We like on how the lighting and setting is where its showing a calm feeling. Also its unique where theres alot of bees and its connect to the background setting where its sunset.

Camera:

- Medium long shot: Showing the full body of SZA, and showing a lot of the surroundings, which is the stacked old computers, where the setting is just as important as the subject in the photo.

Mis en Scene:

- Setting: Outdoor in a natural grassy environment and surrounded by old and broken monitors, meaning that she might be heartbroken, as it's showing a broken monitor on her back. 

- Lighting: The lighting is natural daylight and also soft, giving a calm and peaceful vibe.

What meaning is being created with different technical elements?

The camera uses a medium long shot, showing SZA's whole body and the environment around her, make her look natural. Also the mis en scene is an old broken computer outdoor grassy and casul clothing, making her look natural and showing that she might be heartbroken because of the broken computer.

How does the imagery reflect the star's persona?

SZA persona is real, emotional, and honest, and its really common in RnB, in the picture showing shes sitting in the ground and not posing too much, showing emotional. And makes audience feel shes one of us.

Does the artist have a logo? Is it consistent with their other media?

SZA doesnt use a strong visual on this album cover, she us minimal text and simple album, makes it more meaningful and emotions, where common in RnB where artist prioritize more authentic pictures.

How has the album cover influenced you?

The album cover makes me feel calm , where it makes audience to feel deeper to the songs, and not as usual where the picture here is unperfect different from other female artist, where they make they look rich and pretty on their album.

-Camera:

It uses an extreme close up of joji's face, this makes audience feel very close to him, creating intimidate or uncomfortable feeling, or maybe some audiences could like it to feel really close to joji.

-Mis en scene:

The lighting is low and dark, gives sad and mysterious mood, also background is empty, so all attention go to his face and emotion.

What meaning is being created with different technical elements?

The image use extreme close up of joji face, meaning that he wants to interact closer to audience or express his emotions to the audience. Also its dark and moody making it looks mysterious, and the black and empty background makes all attention to his face.This create meaning of confusion and emotional struggle which common in RnB.

How does the imagery reflect the star's persona?

Joji's persona is introvert, emotional and lonely, where his expression looks like tirerd and emotional, he also not smiling in a confident way or happy which shows hes just smiling because hes shy and not trying to look perfect,this helps make audience connect with him.

Does the artist have a logo? Is it consistent with their other media?

Joji does not use a strong logo on this album cover, there's no text and no branding this makes that joji wants audience to focus more on his meotion and meaning, not for the marketing, this often shown in RnB artist that value feeling in image. Its also cosistent with his MV, lyrics and online image, and shown in sadness and love.

How has the album cover influenced you?

The album cover makes me feel calm but also sad and feel emotional,it also shows that is okay for a men to show feelings, which different from normal stereotypes.

Camera

- Close-up shot : The close-up shows her expressions which in the album cover shows her that she could either be surprised or shocked. The close-up shot also makes the viewers feel like their physically close to Summer Walker which creates intimacy between the artist and the viewer.

Mise-en-scene

- Environment : Inside a car at night this could mean that the artist is having late night drives which could further mean that as viewers they could recognize late-night drives as isolating themselves or escape.

- Costume : The dark clothing and sunglasses makes Summer Walker appear defensive or fashionable which this could mean that she is either going through 'something' possibly a heartbreak.

What meaning is being created with different technical elements?

The meaning created between all these technical elements put onto this album cover is that the low lighting makes the album cover a moody tone. Also, the lack of costume showing except the top of her clothes and only dark sunglasses makes the image feel raw and authentic. This would make the viewers more likely to trust the artist's emotions and this would make the viewers feel connected towards the artist.

How does the imagery reflect the star's persona?

The imagery can reflect the star's persona as Summer Walker's hand trying to block the camera shows her as emotionally vulnerable or more introverted and this challenges when celebrities are usually confident trying to show themselves off which this presents her as being ordinary as viewers may relate to her as they don't want to be filmed in private. 

Does the artist have a logo? Is it consistent with their other media?

Summer Walker doesn't have a logo but she rather keeps focusing on the album cover visuals to make viewers recognize that it is her as she consistently shows herself through most of the album covers such as 'Finally Over it' and 'Finally Over it (The Afterparty)'. This creates a sense of familiarity for the viewers which makes fans feel like it is a whole emotional narrative going on.

How has the album cover influenced you?

This album cover influenced us by preparing the audience for themes of heartbreak, isolation or boundaries through the visuals. This makes the viewers positioned where they are someone who understands pain rather than simply consuming entertainment through the artist's music. Another influence would be that the viewer positioning looks like their in the album cover and the artist's performance looks like their interacting with the viewer. 

Camera

- Close-up shot : This cover uses a closeup shot of Drake's face angled slightly to the side also showing his gaze is directed away from the camera avoiding direct eye contact with the viewers. This creates intimacy making the viewers feel close to Drake's emotional state while the side gaze suggests introspection. 

Mise-en-scene

- Costume : Drake is seen using a black simple hoodie this could mean that he is showing seriousness or maturity. 

- Lighting : The lighting is black and white which clearly shows his facial expressions (neutral) this could make viewers think about what he is thinking and prepare on what the album music would be.

What meaning is being created with different technical elements?

The meaning being created through all these technical elements is that the grainy texture gives that realism feeling, the high contrast lighting highlights his facial expressions which would clearly show that he is serious towards the album. This could be added more by the black and white colors in the album which means seriousness or nostalgia. These technical elements make the album feel more mature and this encourages the viewers to interpret the music seriously rather than for listening.

How does the imagery reflect the star's persona?

Drake is shown as thoughtful and emotional in the album cover and not flashy with jewelries and luxury items, he looks like an ordinary person which connects to the Dyer's theory as he is also a normal human being and not a celebrity only which is ordinary where viewers could relate to his emotions as they may feel that they understand Drake better making them feel more connected to him and his music.

Does the artist have a logo? Is it consistent with their other media?

Drake doesn't have or use a logo for his album covers, but uses his signature makes it recognizable for viewers to know that it is his album cover. This signature makes the album feel personal as if Drake is sharing his story or music directly with the viewers which this style is consistently used in other Drake albums and media.

How has the album cover influenced you?

This album cover influenced us by using his recognizable signature and we would try to apply it to our current album cover as it would make us recognizable overtime by the viewers and make it seem unique to our artist (Thomas Wiradharma). 

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SUMMARY

In summary, most album covers that are in the R&B genre always has the grainy effect towards the whole album cover. Furthermore, all the R&B related album covers that I've researched showed their entire face of the artist on the cover which gives off their emotions. As well, the background of the album cover would show off either a plain color (black, light blue, or grey) would give off a personality of the artist or the background would have visuals such as tv's scattered, a vintage car or vibrant sunset to show the artist's possible theme of what the whole album would be.

TWO ALBUM COVERS CHOSEN  

(below)

These two has the details of what we need in our digipak which contains the grainy effect and the bright lighting on the artist's face. This would also be followed with the signature to make our digipak recognizable for the audience to know who's album it is. 

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DEVELOPMENT

FRONT COVER 

We took photos during our recording sessions to finish up our music video project and we tested our different areas for our digipak. The photo we chose for the front cover after the multiple takes we did. Which this photo would be chosen as our front cover as it had the same effect with Joji's front cover with the grainy texture and lighting on the artist's face.

(unedited)

EDITED FRONT COVER

After I edited the photo and made it more vibrant while also trying to make the artist's facial expression be more visible towards the viewers. This is the result we got after the edited version although there are multiple versions to see which fits our theme of the digipak. 

#1

#2

#3

#4

Teacher's Feedback

The teacher gave us feedback on the digipak and said that it is too red on everything but, from what he saw from the first option. He said that it is good enough as the facial expression could be seen easily by the audience which makes it good and connected to our inspiration from the previous album covers that I researched. The only thing we needed to add is the signature which would complete the overall album cover to add the personal album cover and realism.

This is our finished product, if the signature went a bit bigger it would look off and it would make the signature a bit off as each of our teammate agreed on this one. This was done on a weekend so we couldn't get a teacher's feedback. Overall, this is the front digipak we made from the help of Panji with making the signature.

DIGIPAK CONTENT

These are two of the digipak insides we had to pick from as it had this unique big spacing between the artist and the background which we could use this to put in the typography and make the other album songs to put in.

#1

#2

We picked the first one as it had a more symmetry we could use as a digipak inside cover and we could make the right side of the photo as the CD and the left side as the visuals.

DIGIPAK CONTENT

It was very simple to create the digipak content as we were aiming for aesthetic and try to minimize creating a lot of typography in the visuals as it would ruin on how it would appeal to the viewers. 

DIGIPAK BACK COVER

DEVELOPMENT 

We picked this back cover as our main because, that is the only picture that had the perfect symmetry in the background and the artist we were going for and the other pictures we took in the different areas had bad lighting which ruined the album back covers we were going for. 

(unedited)

(edited with signature)

(edited with typography)

This is the fully developed back cover for our digipak. We had no idea for what could be done on the left side exc ept for the signature which we were trying to always replicate it on the front and back cover.

Reflection: At first Bamz is making this blog by himself, and then Bamz ask me for help to make it done and I help

with doing 3 digipak reasearch, and with that we manage to make it on time, and also Bamz did a great job on

finishing the rest of the blog.