COMP 3: Final Piece

A Level Media Studies

In this post, you can find my group's music video, digipak, and social media page. This blog is written by me (Sharon).

Music Video

 

Use this link in case the video is removed from YouTube: *LINK*

Digipak

Front Cover

Inside-Left

Inside-Right

Back Cover

Mock-up (credits to: Timo)

Social Media

Here is a link to our live social media account: https://www.instagram.com/kiaraa_music/

Interaction with fans/audience (1) on this post.

Interaction with fans/audience (2) on this post.

COMP 3: Critical Self Reflection

 A Level Media Studies

Here is my critical self reflection on the music promotion package. This blog is written by me (Sharon).

According to the brief set by Cambridge, students had to create a music promotion package. My group decided to create a fictional pop star called Kiara and covered the song "Feather" by Sabrina Carpenter. You can find the links to my groups' blogs in my team introduction post. In this essay, I will be looking closer into our pre-production, production, and post-production.

To ensure that we'll be passionate about working on the genre and the song, we diversified our research into different genres of music videos which eased our decision on whether the product would be narrative-based or performance-based, and to which we could apply most of our creativity. Our mission was to deliver the message of how she feels much lighter and free after breaking off her relationship with her ex-lover. Our extended research on pop music videos assisted us with the typical genre conventions in pop music and whether to conform or subvert. One of them is having an element of 'love' in the narrative that draws the attention of our target audience, teenage girls, that we will conform to. According to Steve Neale's genre theory, a text must conform to the conventions enough to be recognisable, yet subvert them enough to be different and interesting. So, to subvert typical 'heartbreak' pop music - some of the conventions are sadness, heartbreak and grief - we kept the overall mood fun and amusing, instead of a despairing and miserable atmosphere throughout. To accurately represent social groups of teenage girls and Asians, we surround the issue of heartbreak and her post-breakup life accompanied by her girlfriends - a common and relatable issue in every teenage girl's life. In this case, the issue is represented positively as it exhibits the star living a better life with her girlfriends by her side. To further target the audience precisely, we cast all-Asian performers. Demographically, Asian audiences can empathize more with the performers and relate to the meaning as they feel represented. Asian women and/or artists are normally under-represented in the Western music industry, and when they are featured, they are often fetishised and hypersexualised. According to Post-colonial theory, this othering can have a negative effect on people from these groups, and positive representations will help avoid double-conscious thinking that may be present. Moreover, we had many elements to our planning, including a moodboard, which helped us get an overall style and move in the same direction. The screenplay supports the organization in the later production and the storyboard gives us a gist on the music video's flow. We planned on a template for the social media posts that will follow our overall theme of bright, summery, and lively. This will help us take pictures that align with this theme and edit them accordingly for social media and digipak.

The production stage includes a vast number of media languages to take into account for our theme of 'freedom'. Throughout our 4-day filming, we took pictures of the star in different poses, angles, and in all locations for the social media page and digipak. These pictures and locations reflect 'freedom' since most of our locations were nature-based, such as the park and the beach. Incorporating a low angle of the star's figure over-looking the blue sky represents her power and strength (female empowerment) after cutting ties and starting a new chapter in life as seen from her white flowy dress which connotes innocence and independence (Fig 1). We recorded a video for a social media post: '10 Questions with Kiara' that can boost audiences' interest in learning about what the star is like on a day-to-day basis - supported by Richard Dyer's theory of stardom of ordinariness. Fans would be fascinated by what the star does during her free time, or what she likes to eat/drink daily, living a normal life. Similarly, the music video has stereotypes surrounding the star's girlfriends and her ex-lover, who is represented as the 'player' trope. We can see that the bedroom has an unveiling of beauty products and tools: makeup brushes, lipsticks, palettes, and hair straighteners. This supports the ideology of 'girlhood' as they get ready together, get their makeup done, and play pillow fights (Fig 2) - what girls do at sleepovers. Portraying the star's girlfriends and 'girlhood' would be through mise-en-scene; bright and pure colour outfits, such as white, are seen throughout, representing cleanliness and beginnings; a new beginning for the star after cutting ties, where her girlfriends wearing white imply that the star is surrounded by purity. The use of camera angles to show the star's relationship with her girlfriends is presented through medium close-ups of them laughing and having fun (Fig 3), and wide-angled shots that expose their freedom (Fig 4). On top of that, we included a stereotypical 'player' as the star's ex-lover, recognized from the mise-en-scene of his monochromatic outfit - a black leather jacket with a white t-shirt paired with black pants, gelled hair, and chunky rings. A medium close-up shot shows him carrying the bouquet of roses to plainly apologize according to the "I'm sorry" note on the bouquet (Fig 5). According to Barthes' cultural code, (red) roses symbolize devotion, passion, and romance in media, suggesting that he's not over her; a cliche that roses come as one with romantic gestures, thus easing the audience to grasp the intention of the scene. Her rejection afterwards with a cocky attitude depicts that she moved on, and wants nothing to do with him anymore as she's living her best life with her girlfriends. The over-the-shoulder shot with the star's ex-lover in-frame illustrates and exaggerates his absurd act of apology (Fig 5). All through and through, it was his loss. To extend the emphasis on the message, she lipsyncs to the chorus in a sassy and bold manner based on how she feels towards her ex-lover and/or post-break-up whilst looking at the camera directly, indicating that she's the one 'advising/talking' the audience (Fig 6). Eye contact, or using a direct mode of address, is a genre convention of music videos, which according to Blumler and Katz's uses and gratifications theory of social relationship, could be a way for the star to create a connection with her fans/audience. Lastly, since our crew consisted of mostly males, despite that we had two girls in the writing room, we attempted to seek more female empowerment. Yet in the end, we had to conform to certain representations of women, such as how women are expected to be graceful, elegant, and that they concentrate on emotions. This can be supported by Laura Mulvey's male gaze theory, stating that women are figures/objects for male characters to look upon, which can be shown through the numerous close-ups that reveal feminine body parts such as legs, and where the star looks into the camera directly.

During our post-production period, we predominantly worked on editing the pictures for the social media page, assembling the digipak, and editing the music video. Regarding the pictures that we took from our 4-day shoot for the social media page, we had to colour grade to match the overall theme and aesthetic of the feed - lightweight and soft - displaying the star's personality of being soft-spoken with a cheery manner. Cursive fonts also connote elegance and femininity, where the white colour represents innocence and purity by implying the same typeface throughout our branding (Fig 7). This allows the audience to associate this typeface and meaning with our product and the star. We had to specifically select lightweight fonts - cursive and thin to emphasize the feeling of  'freedom' for our digipak. We incorporated social media posts in a way that appeals to them, such as holding a Q&A session with the star herself. Thanks to new media, the advancement of smartphones enables audiences and fans to upload comments and interact with the post and the star, even joining live streams. Blumler and Katz's uses and gratifications theory point out that audiences consume media to build social relationships with people they see on-screen. The comments section lets fans reply to each other's comments, and develop social relationships by sharing the same interest. Furthermore, the dance challenge enables fans to participate (create their own content perhaps) and therefore interact under their posts which Henry Jenkins' fandom theory facilitates fans to connect with one another (somewhat of a fanbase). This dance challenge was expected to go viral which can benefit the star's music career from zero-cost promotion and marketing strategy - word of mouth. The music video's post-production certainly involves editing and compiling the clips together, adding filters, adjusting the brightness, and inserting effects such as slow motions (Fig 8). Since some of the clips differ in brightness, we had to modify the brightness and have them all balanced within the clips to show an undistorted flow. The addition of slow motions in post-production assisted in enhancing the chorus of "I feel so much lighter like a feather" used in scenes where the feathers fall on the performers, giving the scene a dream-like effect, as correlating to how the star feels after breaking ties with her ex.

Fig 1 (Digipak 1)

Fig 2 (Music Video - Villa 1)

Fig 3 (Music Video - Park 1)

Fig 4 (Music Video - Park 2)

Fig 5 (Music Video - Villa 2)

Fig 6 (Music Video - Villa 3)

Fig 7 - Branding (Digipak 2&3, Music Video - Villa 4)

Fig 8 (Music Video - Villa 5)

COMP 3: Regulation

A Level Media Studies

This blog post outlines how our music video project was regulated. This blog is written by me (Sharon).

Before we created a music video, we had some rules to follow, which can be seen as a form of regulation or censorship. From Cambridge, we were instructed to choose songs in English or add English subtitles to non-English songs. Avoiding topics on drug use, harmful substances and content, and suicide. Concerns about vehicle safety were advised against.

From the school and our teacher, we must have appropriate content as we go to a conservative school, such as bad language, no explicit songs, and no violence. As our music video will be showcased in school, we are required to ensure the content is age-appropriate since our school consists of students ages 13-18.

We used the British rating system as a guide for how we would create our music video. This system is broken into 5 categories, ranging from all audience ages to adults working for licensed premises only. As we still wanted to target children and ages above, we must ensure our music video would be classified as PG since the music we chose, "Feather" by Sabrina Carpenter, includes swear words. As I was having difficulties in finding the official rating system in Indonesia, I have therefore chosen to use the British rating system.

Note: The permission email was written and sent by Maxi.

To prevent copyright restrictions, we chose to be safe and avoid any further issues, such as in YouTube by sending out a permission email to Universal Music Group (Sabrina Carpenter's music label). This blog post discusses this further.

As we were advised against the car, we did a risk assessment of the usage of cars. This blog post discusses our risk assessment further.

Self Reflection: Applying these regulations to our project really helped my group to prevent any further causes and/or harms that could affect our project as a whole. Such that we knew not to include any harmful objects, or inappropriate scenes when planning the scenes via the storyboard, screenplay, and filming itself. This prevented us from delaying the filming process by possibly planning the scenes all over again if we included scenes that we should not (as mentioned before). I learned that this planning is highly crucial to keep this project on track and avoid any further harm, for instance, by the school restraining our music video from being showcased, or perhaps YouTube taking down the video due to inappropriate scenes and/or harmful objects shown in our music video.

When discussing issue of regulation, the topic of free speech is often mentioned. I do not feel that my freedom of speech was limited due to these restrictions. We were still able to do most of the things we set out to accomplish, and the regulations actually provided a safer experience for all those involved in the shooting (eg. car scene)

COMP 3: Media Language

A Level Media Studies

This blog outlines the media language and visual codes used in our music video. The two (2) main ideas and message that we want to deliver include the star's positive feeling after cutting ties with her ex-boyfriend and the girlfriends' support towards the star. This blog is written by me (Sharon).

Music Video (Media Language)

Here, the transition we used is a fade in and out to illustrate the "dreamy" effect upon the star's 'freedom'. It portrays that the star is having a good time, along with her friends, especially through the long shots which highlight everybody's joy. As well as the pastel-like colour in these scenes resembles the ocean and further accentuates the 'dreamy' effect very well. The first and second pictures above also depict that the star has found happiness in herself after the breakup via a long shot, showing her individuality, hence extending the illustration of her contentment.

The low-angle shot utilized in this scene suggests that the star has somewhat gained power over herself, perhaps after the breakup. It shows that the star has come out of her comfort zone positively (as the low-angle shot illustrates that the star is unaware of the camera itself) by finding her own happiness, one of them being around her girlfriends.

This scene was edited with a slow-motion effect to enhance the moment of delight and joy, as well as to intensify the visualisation of the feathers falling (an artistic effect) which suggests their liveliness.

The two reveals above include the star's ex-boyfriend and the note on the flower bouquet. I believe Barthes' narrative codes of 'hermeneutic code' played a part in these scenes to keep the audience hooked and which could surprise them in a way. Although these reveals took place quickly, it was still a way to provoke the audience's astonishment. We have chosen red roses as according to Barthes' narrative codes of cultural code, they are a symbolic code for 'love' in media. This further suggests that the star's ex-boyfriend is still hooked on her, and it was his loss after all. The third (3rd) picture above utilized an over-the-shoulder shot to give a short glance at the star's reaction to her ex's act of apology while still having him in frame to exaggerate his action was in fact absurd. The fourth (4th) picture shows a close-up of the note on the flower bouquet right after the star took a glance at the bouquet (shown in the 3rd picture) to additionally embellish his ridiculous act of apology to an extent.

The lighting in this scene is shown to be blindingly bright which to an extent conveys the star's feeling of delight, specifically with the medium close-up shot utilized. The medium close-up assists in showcasing the star's emotions (of pure joy) and body language which allows the audience to also feel happy for her. Bright lighting suggests a positive mood and/or message that relates to how the star feels deeply after breaking ties with her ex-boyfriend - full of pride and joy.

Another shot (a long shot) of the pillow fight scene was utilized to further show the star's individuality in finding her own happiness. This can be seen through the placement and framing of the star on camera, that is in the centre. It could also illustrate the star's cheerful and carefree sentiments, and to have the scene appear more lively and energetic with the involvement of the star's friends.

Jumpcuts are used for the park scene above. This could be for the purpose of fast-forwarding their enjoyment of the moment as they get closer and closer to the camera and exciting the audience so they can feel more involved with the performers. A wide shot is utilized to display the star's chemistry with her girlfriends throughout the scene, which shows a lot as she seems to be interacting with them all along. The location, a park, portrays a majority of the green fields and plants surrounding them; representing new beginnings and growth. Additionally, green itself is a down-to-earth colour which corresponds to the star's personality. The 'new beginnings' here show the star's fresh start after cutting ties with her ex-boyfriend and becoming grown. Their white clothing, too, provides a great colour combination with the green park as white connotes purity, which relates to the star's next chapter in life.

Here, a medium close-up shot is used as the star lipsyncs to the camera and the audience, which in a way could be to 'indirectly communicate' with the audience through the lyrics. This could present the audience with a feeling of a 'connection' with the star. Also, as the star does her make-up while still being in her pyjamas throughout, this further provides a deeper connection with the audience as girls would normally share their feelings with their girlfriends comfortably while applying their make-up, as a sense of creating deeper bonds. The dark lighting on the other hand correlates with the lyrics the star is lipsyncing to, which isn't the most positive as it surrounds the topic of the star's unpleasant past with her ex-boyfriend.

A close shot of the exterior of the star's car featuring the star driving and a few of her girlfriends in the backseat with the windows down portrays her individuality after cutting ties with her ex-boyfriend. The star's wind-blown hair suggests freedom and independence as she is having the time of her life with her girlfriends.

We have again utilized jumpcuts in this scene where the star and her girlfriend enter a room with their pyjamas on and exit the room already dressed up in their white summer outfits. With them leaping in full of joy and excitement hand-in-hand, this could also have the audience feel their excitement all along through the jumpcuts. A wide shot is used to portray the girlfriends' chemistry with one another as we can see each of them making their exit and entrance.

The usage of whip pan in this scene (a total of 3 parts) made a significant impact on the meaning of the lyrics as the star asks a question and the camera whip pans to her girlfriends answering the question. One of the questions being "You want me?" and "I'm done" being the answer to that. This energy from the whip pans further shows their chemistry with one another, how much the star's girlfriends support her, and encourages the fact that the star wants nothing from her ex-boyfriend anymore. It also suggests how the star comprehends her self-worth by disregarding her ex-boyfriend in her life.

The cursive and lightweight font in our opening scene I believe directly links to the word/title "Feather" itself. This typeface emphasizes the positive feeling of 'freedom' after cutting ties with the star's ex-boyfriend. Moreover, cursive fonts connote elegance and femininity, whereas the white colour represents innocence and purity.

Digipak (Media Language)

Above is the digipak cover for the star's (Kiara's) first mini album. 

The text "Kiara's 1st Mini Album" was inspired by Korean artists' first releases, so we would like to include that to enable the audience to check a new artist's potential. "1st" also suggests that the star is likely to release more albums in the future which shows her determination and growth in the music industry. We chose the colour green for this text to resemble our inside pages. The cloudy blue sky and the star's white dress connote a white bird flying freely in the sky which aligns with our message of having a free life after cutting ties with her ex-lover (freedom). In addition, the cursive typeface with a white colour also connotes freedom, purity, and innocence. The star's pose (her hands posing elegantly in the air) further implies our message of 'freedom'. This blog further analyses my research on digipaks.

Here are the digipak's inside pages. We chose green as the base colour to connote her down-to-earth personality, and to contrast the front and back pages of our digipak. On the left, the star looks slightly upwards which suggests hope and dream. Her wind-blown hair showcases her 'freedom' and feels lighter after the breakup, the bubbles, and where the tracklist text, too, use a cursive font to align this message.

We used the background of the star overlooking the blue ocean to connect the front page with. The anecdote (a small introduction of the star) gives a gist to the audience on who Kiara is. I believe that this is greatly useful to attract potential fans for a fanbase and is beneficial since this is her first album release in the music industry, hence, making a debut. This blog further analyses my research on digipaks.

Self Reflection: These analyses of a variety of scenes from the music video, as well as the digipak, would assist me in developing my critical self reflection - providing me with extended ideas.

COMP 3: Post Production (Editing)

A Level Media Studies

Here includes the post-production and/or editing process of our music video. This blog is entirely written by Timo.

To begin, I opted for Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2020, a timeline-based and non-linear video editing software application, as my primary tool for video editing due to its comprehensive features and interface I was already familiar with as I have used it for over 3 years. After each day of filming, I established a habit of managing my files by transferring the necessary clips and images from the SD card to my desktop, ensuring a streamlined editing workflow. Once imported into Premiere Pro, I filtered the shots, eliminating any footage deemed irrelevant. The software's intuitive design facilitated the synchronization of clips, with the marking feature being very useful. This feature allowed me to label specific points in the timeline, enhancing precision and efficiency in the editing process. 

Shown below is the overall timeline of the project:

As seen in the image above, the use of markers proved to be very useful. Since I am editing a music video for the first time, the process of doing so requires a new step that was previously foreign to me. Before importing any clip into the timeline for an edit, I needed to sync the scene to the music. This is because a slight delay would be very obvious, especially in scenes where there is a close-up of an actor lipsyncing to the camera, a slight delay of a few seconds would make the product look ugly and unprofessional, which is why I had to be very detailed when syncing clip audios to the song. However, during our filming process, we had a clapboard which made it easier to sync clips, because the audio in the timeline would have a spike because of the loud sounds, giving me a guide on where to cut the clip. An example of this is shown in the image below:

SIGNIFICANT EDITING CHOICES AND METHODS

Colour Grading (Lumetri Color)

before colour grade

after colour grade

color wheels in premiere pro

Knowing that we have a theme and color scheme to follow, I saw that the raw clips were far from the right color to portray what we wanted, with this, I spent hours colour grading the clips to find the perfect balance between warmth, saturation, and exposure we wanted. I believe that the colour grade I created portrays the perfect amount of warmth that is felt when friends get together, just like the scene depicts.

Speed Ramping (Time Remapping)

example of a clip that uses speed ramping (2:43-2:47)

speed ramping keyframes

Speed ramping is a technique of smoothly transitioning between different playback speeds within a single clip or sequence. This allows for dynamic changes in speed, creating visual interest and emphasizing specific moments in a video. This method of editing was done in three steps; in the timeline, position the playhead where you want the speed change to begin. Set a keyframe for the Speed/Duration option in the Effects Control Panel. Move the playhead to where you want the speed change to end and set another keyframe. Then, change the speed value between the keyframes to the desired speed.  You can then adjust the bezier handles on the keyframes to control the easing in and out for a more gradual speed change. Overall, the use of speed ramping was very useful in creating emphasis, and adding drama to a simple action. In the clip above, the girls are seen to be opening a picnic blanket, with speed ramping, a simple action can become very visually pleasing.

Jump Cuts

scene that uses jumpcuts (1:12-1:18)

jumpcuts in timeline

In this music video, jump cuts are utilized to adjust their actions to the pacing of the music. By identifying static points in the footage where minimal changes in framing or camera position occur. I used the razor tool to cut the clips at these jump-cut points and arrange the remaining sections consecutively on the timeline.

Self Reflection: As Timo did a great job in explaining the edits he utilized and editing the music video itself, I (Sharon) have learned that these features used in the editing software assisted in enhancing the quality of the clips and made editing more time-efficient, which was nice due to that we completed the shoots near the submission date. Such that the markers allowed Timo to edit the clips much quicker. In addition, I acknowledged that these features enabled him to experiment with different editing styles, quality, and colours (through colour grading) (which I believe was difficult, but due to technological advancement, it became easier, and more effective in the long term) to see which one of those would suit the overall theme of blue, lively, and a calm feeling to the fans/audience.

COMP 3: Social Media Research & Development

 A Level Media Studies

Here includes all my personal research and development on social media pages. This blog is written by me (Sharon).

Research

With Ariana Grande's social media page regarding her latest release "yes, and?", I've seen that she posted pictures and videos (related to the release) within the timeline of the days leading up to the release until post-release days. Ariana published a post of her being in the production room which helps excite her fans about her upcoming release - this is achieved by word of mouth that spreads the information (greater promotion) to a larger audience/fan base. She has also posted a video teaser on her music video simply a day before the showcase/premiere which could be with the suggestion of reminding her fans that it will be out tomorrow. Several parts from the music videos were then posted on the day of the release with the caption that included giving credits to the director, choreographer, assistant, dancers, and those in charge of hair, makeup, and outfit. Posts after the day of her release contained behind-the-scenes pictures, a thank-you message to her fans, and the song's debut on Billboard. These could intrigue her fans on what behind-the-scenes look like for Ariana.

I like how Ariana presents her overall aesthetic throughout the release of her album which also coordinates with her personal aesthetic when uploading daily pictures.

The footballer's Instagram page has a wide variety of posts: family, award ceremonies, promotions, achievements and celebrations that I prefer best for our star's page. Ronaldo's social media page has no certain aesthetic, which isn't the most ideal for our star's page as we're leaning towards a blue, soft aesthetic.

What I like about these 2 (Ariana Grande and Cristiano Ronaldo) celebrities' accounts is their openness towards their daily lives, such as posting pictures of their friends and family, and pictures of them in their personal times (outside working hours e.g. filming, football matches, stage performances). These suggest Richard Dyer's stardom theory of ordinariness - suggesting that as fans, we like to see their daily routine, and living their normal lives.

Moreover, I had to look into the actual artist's, Sabrina Carpenter's, social media page as well. She gave a variety of uploads, such as teaser pictures of her in the recording room (14th most recent post) to hint to her fans that there will be a new song release, featuring a daily life picture (15th most recent post), a behind the scenes picture and video (12th and 9th most recent posts) with a caption to thank her crew and fans, and a 30 seconds clip (11th most recent post) by the time of the release to further inform her fans to stream. Nonetheless, Sabrina also uploaded photoshoots of her in a magazine (3rd most recent post) to fill up her feed and a promotion post (2nd most recent post) on her fragrance line! She had also started posting photographs from each of her tour locations (3rd to 6th most recent posts) to further thank her fans for welcoming her to their country.

I like how Sabrina promotes herself really well on her social media account, starting from the vast amount of behind-the-scenes, teasers, and clips of her upcoming music video to continue informing her fans regarding the release. As well as her promotion towards her fragrance line with an interesting cover picture inevitably enables the audience to keep on swiping on the post, reaching a final picture of the perfume. She truly seemed grateful to her fans which delivers great manners.

Development

Nayana started off by sketching out the desired layout for KIARA's social media page after discussing it with me (Sharon), Maxi, and Timo. It is seen as follows:

As a group, we wanted to go for the "ordinariness" approach to intrigue fans about the star's daily life and posts that can deliver her persona, such as through the '10 Qs with Kiara' video. We also chose to upload teasers and behind-the-scenes pictures pre-release and post-release to further promote and inform fans about the music video - to reach more audience and to remind fans to continue to stream. 

'10 Qs with Kiara'

This content was heavily inspired by Vogue's infamous '73 Questions' series with numerous celebrities/artists. We believe that it is a great way for fans to learn more about KIARA herself and to further illustrate the star's 'ordinariness' as the questions surround her likes, hobbies, and interests, just as how normal human beings are. One of the examples of Vogue's series featured a teenage pop artist, Olivia Rodrigo as follows:

Hence, we came up with questions that also revolve around how we can showcase the star's personality, and also to simply promote her upcoming release. Below are the 10 questions Nayana made for KIARA which we will record on one of the days of shooting:

1. From 1-10, how excited are you for your newest album?
2. What is your favourite drink to get?
3. What is your New Year's resolution and have you stuck to it?
4. What is your favourite trend from social media?
5. What is the one thing you must have when you go travelling?
6. What is your comfort food?
7. Show us your favourite spot in the set!
8. What is the most precious gift you have received?
9. What is your favourite activity to do in your free time?
10. Lastly, deliver a short message for those who are watching right now!

After Nayana sent these questions to our group's group chat, Maxi revised the questions:

1. From 1-10, rate how excited you are for your upcoming album release!
2. What is one drink you can't find yourself living without?
3. What is your New Year's resolution and have you stuck to it so far?
4. What is your current favourite social media trend?
5. What is one must-have item for you when you go travelling?
6. What is your comfort food?
7. Out of all the spots in this set, which one's your favourite?
8. What is the most precious gift you have ever received?
9. What is an activity you love to do during your free time?
10. Lastly, give us a short message for all the fans who are watching right now!

Maxi then wrote desired responses as our star had no clue how to answer:

1. gotta be a 10! i’ve put in so much work into this and i hope y’all are all as excited as i am!
2. ⁠matchaaa!! (she can hold the drink while were at it)
3. ⁠well, i’ve been trying to get to school on time more often and uhm, thats going about as good as u’d think it is 😁
4. ⁠uhmm, (whispers) dont tell anyone but… the dont go insane trend by dpr ian…
5. ⁠can’t leave this island without my film camera!!
6. ⁠hmm… tough question! i think nothing could beat bakmie after a long day of school though!
7. ⁠oh c’mon, it’s gotta be this absolutely beautiful view, just look at it! (points towards view from house ledge)
8. ⁠actually, i’m wearing it right noww, this necklace was given to me by my dad, back when he was still with us, and i’ve never taken it off ever since
9. ⁠hmm, good question, i think either dancing, or watching musicals have to be one of my favorite things ever though!
10. ⁠thank you guys sosososo much for watchingg, and dont forget to save March 3rd onto your calenders! see you guys soon! love youu! (blows kiss)

However, we did not end up sticking to the responses as we believe it doesn't seem natural of her and it might be time-consuming for our star to memorize these responses. So, our star went on with answering these questions naturally and according to her liking, interests, and hobbies as well!

On the day of filming '10 Qs with Kiara', Nayana was the one who recorded, while I (Sharon) asked these questions in the background.

Here is the uploaded video on '10 Qs with Kiara' on the star's social media page:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by KIARA (@kiaraa_music) 

Feather Dance Challenge

To further promote the star's album release and improve audience/fan engagement, we came up with a dance challenge using the title song, 'Feather'. The following dance was inspired by the existing TikTok challenge with the song 'Feather' as well. We then recorded the dance challenge on our final day of shooting (day 4) at the park.

Behind-the-scenes of Timo recording our star (in the middle) along with her 2 friends by her side doing the dance challenge.

Here is the uploaded dance challenge on the star's social media page:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by KIARA (@kiaraa_music)

 

Teaser

Nayana used Audacity to edit the background sound/music for the teaser video of the star's upcoming music video release. She incorporated the original song, 'Feather', instrumental and acapella versions as well as the sounds of the ocean's waves. Below is a screenshot taken by Nayana of her editing process:

Below is the final sound/music we used:

Here is the teaser uploaded on the star's social media page:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by KIARA (@kiaraa_music)

 

Personal Pictures

As we want to aim for mainly "ordinariness" within the star's promotional posts, we took photographs of her at the beach (day 1 of shooting) and at the park (day 4 of shooting). We also asked the star to send us some of her selfies or any other pictures she or her friends took of her that might fit into the social media feed aesthetic that we are going for - vibrant, soft colours, and bright. These pictures will give fans an insight into what the star does in her free time, who she hangs out with, and more or less her "real" persona.

These pictures were taken by Timo.

 Here are the personal pictures uploaded on the star's social media page:

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A post shared by KIARA (@kiaraa_music)

 

 

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A post shared by KIARA (@kiaraa_music)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by KIARA (@kiaraa_music) 

Self Reflection: Doing the research first thing before planning and developing the star's social media page really helped me get a deeper insight into what an artist's social media page typically looks like before and after releasing an album, song, or music video. As Timo took most of these pictures, I chose which one of those would look best on the star's social media page and which could showcase KIARA's personality best, whereas Nayana did the layout and editing. I tried to take part as much as possible, such as asking the star the questions for '10 Qs with Kiara'. Although I was scared that it would take many takes as I might speak too quickly, so I stayed calm throughout and was able to complete that in 2 takes. One thing I found challenging was unable to expand my creativity in some of the posts, such that for parts that I wasn't able to do anything, I would still be as active in giving feedback, insights, and edits, such as the social media posts Nayana made primarily in Canva. Overall, we did a great job in combining our creativity in assembling these social media posts and this could help us present KIARA's personality of talented, soft-spoken, talented, and lively.