Creative Critical Reflection

 Following a political and sociological ideology string is something I aimed to circle my artists promotion package with. After thorough research into music videos that held a visceral thought process and often reflected on something troubling in society and then reflecting on it in their work I knew it is something close to my heart. That being said, taking inspiration from local artists like Bayaan and internations artists like radiohead who weren’t afraid to talk about uncomfortable topics I chose to stick with the Indie Genre that through its convention has an unconventional rebellious streak.  

Taking a closer look at my media product and promotional package we recognise my deep-rooted attempt and desire to bring forth the subject of subjugation to a higher will in a society. No , I do not mean God ( I wish I did). This higher will alludes to the norms and values and traditions in a society that are regarded as the word of God. Young adults in Pakistan  who make up  my key demographic find the idea extremely relatable as Pakistan is a country infused in culture and while it has it’s shining moments ( literally- we have a habit of adhering to a dress code of gaudy and and sparkly as if our life dependent on it- and yes we love it ofcourse) it includes it’s repressive elements that remove identity in a deterministic power move that matches Marx in its potential to include all humankind one umbrella. This lack of diversity and lack of acceptance to anything individual is a huge component of everyday life observed in Pakistan ranging from lack of acceptance of a woman in ordinarily male roles to a fixed marital age that doesn’t budge. To show all this in my video I used symbolic references throughout my video engaging in using different objects to portray my idea instead of taking an ordinary approach. 

Starting off with my location i used a factory to portray and sing along with the marxist and societal idea that each human which might as well be a usable product must be produced with the same qualities , norms and values instilled in them with any thing else with a defect being discarded in the hypothetical and literal bin of “rejects”. THe metallic and cold feeling of my location is also ten reflected in my branding where is use a metallic logo for my artist and my front cover which projects my artist has  dark background which almost look like an old cement wall that has been scratched over by thousand of little hands with little impact almost like a million long list of individuals who tried leaving their mark by being themselves but were jus buffed out and blurred. The logo and this dark imagery posted on the artist’s instagram  engaged my audience with what the final product might feel like and allowed them to see the indie convention of using dark and grey imagery often seen in arctic monkey’s instagram or even the Strokes.

My opening scene, which shows a  white sheet swinging from metal bannisters , hits at a cultural religious practice in Pakistan of burying our dead wrapped in a white cloth. The white cloth is wrapped exactly like that and I used to signify birth instead of death is something that goes back to the ideology of a deterministic approach to individuals in a society where from birth separate identity is marked for death. The music video follows on a dark and uncomfortable string that does not shy away from the brutality a person might suffer conforming to something they did not choose. 

Another prominent thing that advanced my promotional package was the colour scheme of red white black and grey. I used white tulips and red ink to create disturbing scenes where the white tulip was marred with red stains and red drops to create an affect of the “red hand” of society disturbing something clean and pure and creating an abomination and perversion of the real aspect of humans. BY using a conceptual idea interlinked with few performative clips i did not actually shy away from the indie genre of creating something bizarre , symbolic and non-linear in nature by using  ink that i i dripped with a syringe in my mother’s sink recording it with my Nikon DSLR d7100 and the colour grading it to use as transitions between my cuts and as opaque induction of the ( read : evil ) red in scenes where this was not present ot connect the scenes graphically together and to continue the symbolic idea of a the red destroying something by creating contrast ( red handprints on my actor’s costume and red blots on the surgical wrappings over the mouth and eyes). As they say the eyes are the window to the soul , by covering them with surgical wrappings and blotting red on them to create the idea of a filtered and corrupted inner identity. I used similar colours on my digipak ( grey background , black cd , red tulip , white net) and continued to use them on the instagram in other ways ( creating a poster for  my tour dates) and by using a dull colours the outlook of the instagram feed seemed minimal and dystopian which followed convention of indie rock genre. Moreover by using a  tulip in my video and naming my album ‘tulips in a cup’ AND CONSTANTLY USING IMAGES OF  A tulip on the merchandise for the fans , the back cover of the digipak and the cd it created a sense of branding that tied everything together.

 

One way i largely stuk to conventions found in ordinary indie music videos where the artist sings in an obscure location with fog hiding the face a hand held camera footage minimal closeups and a lack of a star image in  media products that focus on symbolic objects relatable d to the album to be featured on merchandise instead of an artist's face. Alongside that I used aesthetic grainy footage that created not only a link to the sparse resources at hand for indie artists but also aided to the ideology behind the video by creating something uncomfortable to view. However, some conventions that I drifted from were using the closeup in my digipak front cover that indie artists usually do not employ in their work to avoid bringing the focus to themselves and creating a star image persona. Similarly by creating a logo for the artist similar to red hot chilli peppers i drafted away from the usual indie convention but found it an important part of creating a brand. Likewise in observance with the rule breaking ( rebel rebel ) I created merchandise for my artist  in light colours and even an orange colour to appeal to a diverse demographic and engage with the audience.  

 

To talk separately about my audience engagement since that is the purpose of creating my media products ; to publicise and promote my artists to an audience. This particular task was done and found in each every aspect of my product from publishing my video on diverse platforms  ( youtube - deezer- vimeo) to sharing my posters and teasers regarding my single and album on instagram with varied art and informal captions that helped me build a closer relationship between the artist and the audience. From there started a string of events where I shared more visceral moments of the creation of the music video and then sharing my work and teasers across the platform  through the sea of stories. Moreover by using hashtags on the Aartists twitter profile and instagram pots i gave the audience a chance t not only view the work but create their own social media posts from pictures with merch to twitter text posts about it publicising the work and engaging the audience at the same time.