This is the Critical Reflection Essay for my Component 3 Music Video project.
For our Component 3 project, we chose the Music Promotion Package brief, producing a music video, social media
page and digipak for our artist “Kika Laene”. Using “Shapeshifter" (2025) by Lorde, in the electro-pop genre. We
constructed her embodying emotional resilience and self-discovery, targeting female 18-24 year-olds experiencing
toxic breakups.
Branding refers to the general perception that an audience has with a media product or artist, created through a
consistent and recognizable message across different platforms. In music promotion, branding is essential as it allows
audiences to instantly identify an artist, understand their values and form some kind of emotional connection, which is
important in a focused electro-pop market. For our promotional package, branding was a key consideration from the
beginning to ensure that our products such as the music video, digipak, and social media all align to present our
fictional artist Kika Laene.
We used consistent visuals and specific styling to reinforce Kika’s brand identity. To enhance the electro-pop genre,
we focused on a controlled color palette and directional lighting from the front which symbolizes hope because bright
light has positive connotations of hope. This visual approach is further reinforced through the digipak design,
particularly on the front cover where the double-exposure effect visually represents the idea of being more in the
“Shapeshifter” atmosphere. The blurred second figure creates a sense of emotional identity conflict which links to the
song’s theme of transformation after a toxic relationship. The repeated use of deep blue backgrounds contrasted with
yellow typography creates a strong visual branding, making the album instantly recognisable. This same blue and
yellow color scheme is carried onto the tracklist panel and subtly flowed into the social media posts/page, ensuring
cohesion and relation across platforms. (image 1 & 2)
On the instagram page, the grid layout carefully alternates between professional editorial style images, professional
shoots, and some behind the scenes content. This balance constructs Kika as both aspirational and authentic which is
crucial in contemporary electro-pop branding. This consistent makeup styling, particularly the symbolic facial details
(glitter, gems) seen on the digipak and profile picture further enhances her recognisable image. (image 3)
Before producing our final products, research played an important role toward our pre-production process. We researched
electro-pop artists and existing digipaks to understand these typical genre conventions. Through analysing artists such
as Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n sweet, two things we learned from this were that electro-pop digipaks frequently include
minimalist layouts and strong central framing of the artist to reflect emotional intensity. This influenced our decision to
position Kika centrally on the front cover with a dominant blue palette. However, we also wanted to avoid creating a
conventional static image which led us to experiment with a double-exposure effect. Our research showed that many
album covers focus purely on aesthetics, so we developed this layered visual to symbolize identity conflict and
emotional instability, making our design more concept-driven. (image 2)
For the MV research, we analysed how electro-pop narratives often contrast emotional highs and lows through lighting
and color. This directed our decision to use bright, dreamy filters during romantic parts and desaturated blue/dark tones
during toxic arguments. During early rough cuts, peer feedback suggested that the emotional contrast wasn’t strong
enough, which led us to intensify the color grading and increase foreshadowing between past and present scenes.
This showcased the narrative more clearly and enhanced the emotional impact. Overall our research process allowed
us to both follow electro-pop conventions and make our creative adjustments to clearly show our transformation by
combining research with experimentation. This research process helped us make more clear decisions rather than
relying purely on each other's aesthetic preferences.
Our social media page went through a major shift during the production process. At first, we presented Kika Laene’s
ordinary, sunny and bubbly personality by posting behind-the-scenes photos and casual everyday content, initially
aiming to reflect her own personality. Until we received feedback from an actual singer/artist who is fortunately
Lamiya’s sister, saying how our page looked more like an influencer account rather than a new artist. This made us
question whether our Instagram was truly supporting the identity we had constructed for the Shapeshifter music video.
Which is why we decided to completely restart the page by researching artists such as Lorde, Charli XCX and Kanye
West and noticed that their Instagram feeds are often centered around their current album era. Instead of mixing lifestyle
content with promotion, their pages visually reflect the mood and concept of the album they are releasing. This
influences us to shift from more green-toned, casual imagery to a more dominant blue color palette that aligns with
our euphoric persona of Shapeshifter, which is what we initially wanted to go for.
By rebranding the page, the social media became an extension of the album’s emotional narrative. The consistent blue
visuals and professional posts allow our target audiences to immediately recognise the tone of the theme and emotionally
engage with our transformation of toxic relationships. For our target audiences of young women ages 18-24 years,
experiencing toxic breakups, this focused aesthetic creates reliability and emotional validation (conform). Overall, the
shift strengthened audience engagement while reinforcing Kika’s credibility as a new electro-pop artist
In our music video we wanted to represent young adult relationships as emotionally intense and dramatic, especially
the way teenage and early adult love can feel dreamy at first but unstable later on. During the romantic and “pretty”
moments, we used medium close-ups of the female protagonist to clearly capture her happy expressions and beauty
(image 4)These shots are added to show how she appeals/exists in his thoughts during the big running scene, especially when
combined with slow motion. This makes the relationship seem dreamy and idealised but also reflects how young love
can feel exaggerated and overwhelming.
In contrast, the fight scenes were mostly filmed using long shots, such as the sofa scene where they sit distanced from
each other and the argument scene in the corridors. The physical space between them visually represents emotional
distance and disconnection that foreshadows, from them being so close together on such a large couch (image 5 & 6).
By keeping thecamera further away during these conflicts, the scenes feel colder and less intimate. However, after the corridor fight,
we included one tracking shot that moves closer to her face. This moment shifts from distance to intimacy, allowing
the audience to finally see her emotional reaction and vulnerability. (image 7)
In the studio lipsync scenes, we used a steady/fixed medium close-up framed from the top of her head to slightly
below her shoulders. This framing clearly captures her emotion while presenting her as more mature and composed.
Overall, our products represent young women as emotionally expressive but strong, and young relationships as
passionate, intense but sometimes can be unstable.
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