Final - Promotional Package

This blog consists of my groups final music video, digipak, and social media page. This blog is written by me (Rara) 

Music Video

MV Gdrive Link: The Weekend

Digipak

Front Cover

Inside-Left

Inside-Right

Back cover

Mock-up

3D Mock-up 

Social Media 

Link to our instagram social media account: Cinta Kyle

Audience Interaction

Question box (story/highlights)

Final - Critical Self Reflection

Here is the critical reflection for my Component 3 which includes a music video, digipak, and social media. This blog post is written by me (Rara).

1. How do your products represent social groups or issues?

2. How do the elements of your production work together to create a sense of ‘branding’?

3. How do your products engage with the audience?

4. How did your research inform your products and the way they use or challenge conventions?

According to the brief set by Cambridge, students had to create a music promotion package consisting of the music video, social media, and digipak. My group decided to create a fictional pop star called Cinta Kyle and covered the song “The Weekend” by BIBI. You can find the links to my groups blogs in my team introduction post. In this essay, I will be delving deep into our pre-production, production, and post production.

We conducted extensive research across various music video genres to passionately pursue our creative vision. This process refined our conceptual framework, helping us determine whether our final product would adopt a narrative or performance-based structure. Our aim was to maximize creative potential and ensure a cohesive artistic output. Central to our mission was portraying a dualistic persona within our artist, embodying the contrast between innocence and assertiveness in romantic relationships. This aligns with Levi-Strauss’s Binary Oppositions theory, where contrasting elements drive narratives, creating tension and engagement.

Through analyzing pop music video conventions, we strategically conformed to and subverted key dynamics to craft a compelling love-themed narrative. Targeting teenagers and young adults, we applied Steve Neale’s genre theory, balancing convention with innovation. Traditionally, women in love narratives are portrayed as euphoric and idealized. Our artist, Cinta, presents a more complex persona, oscillating between vulnerability and assertiveness, challenging gendered stereotypes while reflecting a modern view of relationships. By doing so, we engaged with evolving gender discourse, emphasizing female agency within romantic storytelling.

Steve Neale’s notion of genre as repetition with variation influenced our creative choices. We included conventional close-ups of emotions, synchronized dance sequences, and high-energy montages while challenging the passive portrayal of female leads. Cinta’s assertiveness counters the pop trope of female dependence on male validation, aligning with Laura Mulvey’s Male Gaze theory. By subverting this norm, we reclaimed agency for the female protagonist, allowing her to shape the narrative and challenge expectations within mainstream pop culture.

Our research on Asian representation revealed prevalent tropes in romantic narratives, often slow-paced tales of heartbreak. We diverged by introducing a "player" persona, challenging the underrepresentation of Asian men as confident in romantic contexts. By centering Asian characters, particularly Asian women who are often sidelined in Western media, we aimed to counteract marginalization. This representation not only corrects historical underrepresentation but also appeals to our target demographic.

Furthermore, by incorporating an Asian-led love story with a bold, confident female lead, we sought to normalize the presence of Asian artists in global pop culture. The predominance of Western beauty standards and Eurocentric narratives in the music industry often results in the exclusion or stereotyping of Asian performers. Through our music video, we challenged these norms and expanded the scope of representation.

Applying Blumler and Katz’s Uses and Gratifications Theory, we understood that audiences seek personal identity reinforcement in media. By featuring an all-Asian cast, we strengthened connections with Asian communities, allowing them to see themselves reflected in the narrative. In the digital age, social media amplifies audience interaction. Comments, likes, and shares provided real-time feedback, helping us refine our approach. Active audience participation in media consumption, as seen in Henry Jenkins’ participatory culture model, further supports this interaction.

During production, we integrated various media elements to convey feminism, love, and young adulthood. The artist’s name, "Cinta" (Indonesian for "love"), anchors her branding. Red, symbolizing passion and romance, visually reinforces this theme. Her "innocent" persona wears soft pink pajamas with plush toys, while her "player" persona dons bold red attire, aligning with Levi-Strauss’s Binary Oppositions theory. These visual contrasts drive the narrative and enhance engagement by creating clear symbolic differentiation between the two personas.

Red is a recurring motif across Cinta’s digipak and social media, creating a dominant reading (Stuart Hall’s Reception Theory) of her as an artist intrinsically tied to romance. Symbolic codes, like lipstick kiss marks and a heart-shaped logo, reinforce her flirtatious persona, drawing from Roland Barthes’ semiotic theory. The digipak follows conventional pop music packaging, ensuring familiarity while maintaining uniqueness. The incorporation of vibrant imagery and romantic symbolism creates an intertextual reference to classic pop artists, reinforcing genre expectations while crafting a distinctive identity.

Dyer’s Star Theory shaped Cinta’s public persona. He suggests stardom is built through relatability and unattainability. Her social media blends curated imagery with behind-the-scenes content, fostering parasocial relationships where fans form deep connections despite the one-sided nature. High-fashion photoshoots juxtaposed with casual vlogs enhance her appeal, increasing fan loyalty. This dual representation of celebrity both as an aspirational figure and as someone seemingly accessible aligns with contemporary audience expectations of authenticity in media personalities.

Post-production focused on refining Cinta’s social media presence, integrating personal and professional content. Her daily routines, like exercising and singing covers, alongside childhood glimpses, align with Richard Dyer’s Star Theory, portraying her as both extraordinary and relatable. Engaging directly with fans through comments and Q&A sessions fosters intimacy. This interaction aligns with Marshall McLuhan’s "global village" concept, where digital platforms create instant connections and community. The use of Instagram Stories and live-streamed Q&A sessions allowed for real-time engagement, further reinforcing her authenticity as an artist.

Utilizing short-form content on TikTok and Instagram Reels maximized reach, leveraging Henry Jenkins' participatory culture, where audiences actively engage rather than passively consume. Encouraging user-generated content, such as dance challenges and lip-sync videos, deepened audience investment, making them co-creators. This interactive strategy extended the campaign’s longevity and strengthened audience connection with Cinta. The use of trending audio and interactive hashtags further reinforced digital virality, positioning her within the broader social media landscape.

Our promotional strategy also incorporated cross-platform marketing, ensuring Cinta’s brand was consistently represented across YouTube, Spotify, and social media platforms. Collaborations with influencers helped amplify visibility, following the trend of influencer marketing as a key tool in digital branding. This strategy capitalized on the shift from traditional promotional methods to influencer-driven engagement, particularly effective among Gen Z audiences who prioritize peer recommendations and digital word-of-mouth.

The construction of Cinta’s identity extended beyond the music video into carefully curated content across multiple digital platforms, ensuring consistency in her artistic vision. This multimedia presence was crucial in solidifying her star image, demonstrating the importance of transmedia storytelling in modern music marketing.

Our project represents a theoretically grounded approach to music video production, branding, and audience engagement. By balancing convention and subversion, challenging stereotypes, and prioritizing representation, we crafted a product that resonates deeply with its target demographic.

Link gdocs for CSR (just in case the text is off):https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-qMh1h-wRNUk3dAmMk55njJrt0_BnRCc_dRLa8Bp0jE/edit?usp=sharing

Audience Feedback

This post explains how we showed a rough draft of our music video, album cover, and social media page to some members of our target audience in order to receive helpful feedback. This blogpost is written by all of us (Chelsea, Kalista, Rara, and Audrey).

The purpose of a screen test is to gain audience feedback about our work and see if there are any improvements that can be made. We decided to use Google Forms to create a survey to share with our audience because of the platform’s availability to collaborate online and allow sharing to others which made it easy for production and distribution. This online platform utilisation is also quick so audiences are more encouraged to engage with our survey.

We divided our questions into sections in relation to different components of our product. 

Here are our questions: 

Section ‘Music Video’:

(Several short snippets from our music video are shown) 

1. Do you relate to some of the elements in our product? 

2. What message do you think we are trying to convey from our concept?

3. What is the most memorable scene from our music video to you? 

Section ‘Digipak’:

(Images of our digipak cover and inspiration pictures are shown) 

1. Which digipak are you attracted to the most? (1/2/3)

2. What is the most appealing feature from our digipak?

3. How likely would you purchase our digipak from its cover design? (On a scale from 1-5) 

4. What do you want us to include in our digipak? (Lyric book/Artist personal story/Posters/Stickers/Other)

Section ‘Social Media’:

(An image of our star’s Instagram profile is shown) 

1. Choose 3 words to describe our star “CINTA”

2. Do you prefer our social media to be professional or intimate? (All intimate/Mostly intimate/Mix of both/Mostly professional/All professional)

3. How would you like to communicate with the artist on social media? (Instagram live/Interactive Instagram stories & posts/Online meet & greet/Responsive towards comments/Responsive towards DMs/Reposting mentions/Other) 

We chose these questions because these servers will lead us to knowing our target audiences better and if our concepts align with what they are expecting and engaging with. We included members of our target demographic in the screen test to ensure that the feedback we receive is appropriate. Finding people for the screen test was easy because we had lots of connections and people who were already anticipating and enthusiastic on our project. We specifically chose our audience to be non-media students in order for us to grasp more feedback from a wider perspective of consumers rather than other producers. We want to understand how our music video appeals to the actual target audience hence we tested it out to other seniors. We had incorporated feedback from previous media students (alumni) on our screen test who had experiences with Media Studies hence they are able to decode elements and our intended meaning to further analyse it. 

Here are the drafts that we showed audiences for the screen test: 

Music video (compilation of rough snippets): https://youtu.be/yXV2x3ienro 

Digipak cover sketches:                          

Digipak cover inspiration pictures:

Instagram profile:

 

Google form link:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd8Tp1WgTbEH85P17N8IB-LtqTwXZa2-ZnA5NbuWkUMwPpMRg/viewform?usp=header

Here are the RESULTS from the audience feedback:

View link: https://www.canva.com/design/DAGfm1d5UAc/2BfURXX-AuEPU6MZeenzBg/editutm_content=DAGfm1d5UAc&utm_campaign=

designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

Embed link:

AUDIENCE FEEDBACK RESULTS by chelsea tirta

From the feedback we learned that our genre conventions fit the target audiences that we are aiming for as most of the audiences are able to decode the message that we are implying through our music videos. With teenagers being our main target, audiences now know what they find appealing and interesting in our MV. Moreover, through asking opinions from our audiences regarding the design on digipak, what are the audiences expecting about the content of the digipak, as well as how they want to interact with the star, this helps us in creating a product that is aligned with our target audience's demand. 

We initially wanted to conform to the pop genre conventions of digipaks as their music albums usually consist of a close up shot of the artist with a plain, colored backdrop. However, after compiling feedback from the participants, we found that they preferred a shot subverting to the conventions. Many of the respondents chose digipak design number 2 which included the artist facing a mirror instead of looking directly at the camera. We understand that our audience wants elements that aren’t conventional as they want something that is new and interesting to them.

This screen test was a useful part of our process because it allowed us to reach our target audience on a personal level. By engaging directly with viewers, we gained invaluable insights into their preferences and expectations. This feedback was key in shaping our creative decisions, ensuring that our final product resonates deeply with our intended target audience. Additionally, the screen test assisted us in confirming our project's vision was relevant and valid by making sure our message and visuals were aligned with and relatable to our target demographic. As our project is still in progress and not fully completed, it is crucial to receive constructive feedback at this stage to prevent incurring extra costs for reshoots and edits after the project is published. This way, we can tackle any issues in advance.

Self Reflection: In order for our message to be decodable and can effectively reach our target demographic (teenagers - young adults), it is helpful to conduct a audience feedback. This allows us to collect comments and feedback from audiences as we get to know what our target audiences prefer to see and what they expect to see in our music video. The form was created by Chelsea I helped distribute this form as well as evaluating the result we recieved from our audience. Even though this task actually took a long time to accomplish I was happy to see the positive remarks it got as our audience was also giving good feedback and insight allowing us to put more emphasis on our narrative which we were aiming for. We used the knowledge we received to maintain consistency in our branding as we knew our audience already understood the message we were trying to convey. So after making adjustments we found that our social media page gained lots of engagement as not just from our personal mutuals but people on the internet would follow and interacts with our account.

Post Production - Editing

Here is our editors (Chelsea) editing process. This blog is written by (Chelsea)

To edit the music video, I used CapCut that is compatible for Macbook, this is a free editing app for PC designed for beginners (like me) and experienced creators which offers a variety of tools for both basic and advanced editing tasks to create high quality and visually appealing videos. CapCut also has an online version that is meant for novice editors and doesn't require downloads or installations; nevertheless, I got the installed version on purpose in order to edit offline and organise my files better. Below are the process of my editing sequence in this presentation file: 

- editing view link:https://www.canva.com/design/DAGegcZMnDs/_Yb1y3BU_D5rLDK6-Sr6gQ/edit?utm_content=DAGegcZMnDs&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

EDITING by chelsea tirta 

 - revision view link: https://www.canva.com/design/DAGhSdtHidU/61cd8IdYdzMxmlSIng_mKg/edit?utm_content=DAGhSdtHidU&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

EDITING REVISION by chelsea tirta 

Self Reflection: Our editor Chelsea did a great job in putting our ideas together, since I gave my insights of what too add or remove Chelsea was very patient in taking in those critiques. She explained the edits she utilised well as its easy to read and understand. Because we didn't have that much time too finish this with everyones busy schedule of exams and we also had no the time to meet together to finalise everything. We understood that we mostly needed to fix our MV's colour grading so it looks brighter and more visually appealing. As Chelsea added other effects such as the heart to keep our mv aligned with our overall branding of "love" I (Rara) learned that these effects and features added really help enhance the overall theme and mood of the MV which is more upbeat, fun and feminine. 

Production - Behind The Scenes

Here is my teams behind the scenes footage. This blogpost is written by all of Chelsea, Rara, Kalista, Audrey 

BTS DAY 1 by chelsea tirta

BTS DAY 2 by chelsea tirta

BTS DAY 3 by chelsea tirta

BTS DAY 4 by chelsea tirta

BTS DAY 5 by chelsea tirta

Self Reflection: This was actually quite fun to do when I made the first 2 days, but as we got to day 3-5 it got too repetitive which made it seem boring to me. I even got stuck on what to write because the days we shot our music video was very far apart from one another, making me forget what we did during specific scenes. But since we had almost all the pictures and even videos from each day it helped me recollect what we had done. This BTS allowed me to look back on the process of how I got to my final music video, seeing how we as a team carefully choose to do a certain movement or acting pattern to match the narrative of our music video. And since I played the role as the camera man I had to know how to direct our star well, we wanted it too look as natural as possible so we let our star improv some scenes. But we should've checked the equipment and location before hand so that we know what was broken and if the location we picked was too crowded. But in the end it all worked well as we found other ways to fix our issue which is by having a second location already set in place. 

Production - File organisation

This is our teams file organization for our music video project. This blog is wrtitten by Kalista 

My team mates and I used several apps to communicate, combine our work, and to make everything organized and easy to find which  really helped us on the process of exporting clips. Our primary mode of communication was WhatsApp, which we used to coordinate with our cast and crew. This platform allowed us to quickly spread information, schedule shoots, and resolve any last-minute changes, making our process more efficient. To further enhance accessibility, we created a WhatsApp community group, ensuring all key updates and discussions were centralized in one place.

Since we had different side cast members scheduled on different days, this system was particularly beneficial in managing availability. Whenever uncertainties arose regarding which actors were available for a shoot, the group chat helped us clarify and adjust our plans accordingly.

File Management & Storage

Beyond communication, we utilized Google Drive as our primary storage solution. We systematically organized our footage into dedicated folders, including:

• Screen tests – To review performances before final shoots.
• Raw footage – To keep unedited clips accessible for editing.
• Behind-the-scenes (BTS) content – To document our production process.

By consolidating everything into a single drive with well-labeled folders, we significantly improved accessibility and changes speed. This structure allowed us to locate and manage our files efficiently, reducing delays during post-production.

Overall, this organized approach played a crucial role in ensuring our smooth collaboration, minimizing confusion, and increasing our production workflow.

Self Reflection: Having this file organisation actually saved a lot of time for my group. Even though it took a long time to set up at first, we can easily share our finalised works or coordinated with specific actors/actress to know which day their available as we can coordinate the location, time and outfit after everyone has agreed on the specific date. This minimises miscommunication between cast members and production crew as if anyone has a question they can easily ask in the messenger app "whatsapp".  We also had our photos and videos organised on gdrive which allows for easy access to download and pick the image/video needed instead of scrolling up thousands of times to find just one "BTS" picture. I helped add the clips I recorded onto gdrive so my team can have the final say on what clips to use this also eases the process of editing for our editor (Chelsea) as if she lost one file she can easily go back to it.  So I fond this to be very helpful as I belive our structure is already well organised, but if I had to change something I would seperate each picture with its own folder of what day we shoot it just to make life a little easier. 

My Artist Persona & Brand Identity

My group decided on a persona for our star to be reflected in our products.

Here are some questions provided by my teacher to help us construct an identity for our star 

Here is my groups idea 

Self Reflection: This was actually a pretty fun task to complete as it involved our group to discuss more about how we want our artist to be portrayed through the products we were going to produce. It made us communicate more with one another about what we want to include and avoid so that we were on the same page of what theme to follow, in order for it to reflect our stars REEL & REAL persona. Since we decided to use a mind map to map our ideas, it gives us a visual guide and key pointers of what our artist persona will look like. I initially thought that this process was simple, turns out we had many factors to consider in order for our artists brand identity to flow cohesively with her own persona and the products reflected by it. As according to the Genre Theory by Steve Neal a text must conform to conventions in order for it to be recognisable yet different enough to be interesting, hence why we decided to follow what most female pop artists do incorporating both the artists professional and personal life in order for audiences to still recognise that our star is well known yet still connecting with the audience through personal photos of herself and engagement on social media. 

Digipak: Research & Development

Here is my digipak research & development for our artist. This blogpost is made by me (Rara) and my teammate (Audrey) 

Here is the research for digipaks conducted and reported by Audrey. 

In order to create a digipak, we must understand what a digipak is, including its conventions (especially in the pop-music genre). 

Here is our research on digipaks:

What is a digipak?

A digipak is a style of packaging commonly used for protecting a CD/DVD of an artist’s album. This packaging is mostly used for CD singles and its limited edition of an artist’s album. There are two types of digipaks; regular digipak and a jewel case. Digipaks are commonly high in manufacturing cost although their resistance is low due to easily disintegrated material which is cardboard laminated in UV and plastic. Whereas, a jewel case is made out of injection-moulded polystyrene (transparent plastic) which makes this packaging more durable. 

In this case, we were tasked to create a jewel case version of digipak which includes 4 panels.

Here are the conventions and features of a whole digipak:

Front cover

• Image of the Main Artist/Band: Pictures (mainly close-ups) of the star to present them directly to the audience. This gives the album an identity.

• Album title: For audiences to recognise.

• Artist name: Identity of the star.

• Label logo: Identity of record label.

Back cover

• Images of the star: Pictures to present the album in a certain way (according to the intended reading), gives a sense of identity to the album.

• Tracklist: Information for the audience regarding what’s included in the album.

• Special features

• Barcode: Commonly seen in the back when it’s up for sale.

• Institutional information (copyright): Gives audiences information about ownership and restrictions on copywriting.

Spine/Binding

• Artist name

• Album title

• Record label (logo)

• Reference number

These conventions are commonly used to give identity for the audience.

Inside

*All are optional

• Institutional information

• Song lyrics

• Artist/band posters or images

• Postcards

• Promotional information

• Merchandise information

• Website information

Institutional information

These are the copyright notices for the album which includes record label, production company, composer and producer credits, media company, distributors, reference number, year of publishing, and artist information.

Through these outlines, we have a sense of direction for what to include in our digipak. We understand which conventions to include and which elements to subvert based on our own intentions for the album’s readings.

This is the resource we used to find the information:

codes and conventions of a digipak

Next is the research on the dimensions of a digipak so that we are able to create the digipak precisely in sizings.

It is important for us to research the dimensions of a digipak in order to create one. Here are images of the sizings that we found on the internet.

For the creation of the digipak, we are gonna utilize a designing app called Canva which includes the sizings of an album cover (1400 x 1400 px). Whereas, according to our research, the front cover (album cover) would be (125 x 125 mm). 

To find the size of bindings we must find the scale and ratio with the actual (in mm) width to be 10mm and the height would be 125mm.

This would result in the sizing of the binding (112 x 1400 px).

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Here is our research on pop album digipaks conducted by Rara and Audrey. 

Apart from the features and dimensions of a digipak. We must know the conventions of an album cover which would then be used as the front cover of the digipak.

Digipak Cover:

General Research

We admire these portrait shots of the artists that feature a medium close-up shot. The usage of a medium close-up shot is so that the star/artist can be featured and presented the most to the audiences. It showcases them and promotes the artist’s image, these are done to create a sense of identity from the star to the audience so that they are more recognised. We believe these are what attracts our target audiences. A generic mise-en-scene would be the usage of vibrant colors in the pop genre. As those are digipaks from the pop music genre, they must represent the music and songs in the album through the cover. Since pop music is an upbeat style, it is most suitable if it gives a depiction for the audience that it would be vibrant and colorful. We also liked Sabrinas Carpenter's “espresso” album (1st on the top row) as the pose gives a flirtatious vibe which we were going for. On the other hand we also like Gracie Abrams “The Secret of Us” album as the text is more readable while still giving the album an elegant look due to the cursive font used and the colour yellow which connotes it to being more pure and soft. 

However we did not really like these album covers as it goes against our whole message and theme. As most uses a middle or long shot and mostly portrays their artist to be more distant. Especially for Beyonce’s album called “cowboy carter” (2nd at the top) it uses excessive amounts of props. The colour for most of the albums were also quite dull making it seem more sad and melancholy. 

Extended Research:

Main inspiration:

1. Ruby - Jennie

Ruby, JENNIE’s solo album, was one of our main inspirations for our digipak cover. This digipak/album cover properly balances the proportions between colors which interest us as it highlights the color red as it pops out from the dark, plain backdrop. This will attract the audiences’ attention to the use of a striking and bold in contrast to the dark and solid backdrop. The color red was presented nicely in a way that it effectively conveys the color theme without overflowing the cover. The color red also connotes empowerment which gives a confident vibe. Commonly, red is associated most with women specifically meaning that a demographic for this album would be confident women. This cover, however, subverts the conventions of a pop music album due to the unconventional usage of both a long shot and a close-up shot. According to Neale’s Genre Theory, a media text has to be similar enough to be recognised by audiences by conforming to conventions, while being different to remain unique and appealing to attract audiences though the subversion of conventions. Jennie utilised the subversion of generic medium close-up shots of herself as the star to remain unique for the audience. This reflects the content of the album itself, which promotes uniqueness and being unapologetically herself, or self-empowerment. The album title and the artist name is also included and written in a cursive font, this may connote femininity as women are more likely to enjoy these. Cursive fonts connotes elegance and class which would be understandable for why women tend to enjoy cursive. The usage of a cursive font also reflects the album and the star’s persona as JENNIE is represented as a classy, elegant, and feminine figure throughout her music career. Moreover, the shot of the star is taken from a lower angle which makes the star appear more dominant. This effect creates a confident tone of the star, herself, which would be a consistent delivery of her reel persona as JENNIE in her music career is always presented as a global ‘IT girl’ hence a confident woman.

2. Rosie - Rose

This album cover piqued our interests from its eye-catching album title. The usage of the color red represents love which is a common connotation from the media, this is used to represent the content and themes in the album. This color was used smartly in contrast to the soft, golden-hued background, this effect made it pop out to the audiences’ eyes which may capture their attention easily. The album title, ‘rosie’, is used as it is the artist’s name/identity, the boldness of the text and how it captures the audiences’ attention creates a bigger focus on the artist’s identity herself. It labels how the album is called ‘rosie’ and revolves around the star. Moreover, the usage of the sans-serif font creates a modern aesthetic which may appeal to a newer generation of adult women. Again, we really liked the usage of the red color as it creates more focus towards the text and gives a feminine touch to the album from the connotations given. The artist’s pose is relaxed and has a direct mode of address due to the dreamy stare and vibes from the star. This creates a connection between the star and the audience allowing a deeper connection through the mode of address and it also creates more engagement from the audience themselves.The lighting and tone of the album cover which consists of warm colors and hues evokes a romantic mood and a hint of melancholy, this may represent the album in general as it may reflect the emotional tone of the music. This album conformed to the conventions of a pop album from the usage of close-up shots of the star’s face. This technical element (camera shot) is used to present the star to the audience while creating a connection in between. We really liked how the album cover shows a sense of vulnerability of the star which may reflect how her persona in the media is portrayed.

3. Short n Sweet - Sabrina Carpenter

We really liked the pose from Sabrina Carpenter’s ‘short n’ sweet’ album. The star, Sabrina Carpenter, posed in a very seductive and elegant way which connotes feminism. A strong confidence and empowerment is set by the posture and how the star directly gazes at the camera. This can also be a direct mode of address from the star and audiences to create a strong emotional bond and deeper connection which allows engagement. The over-the-shoulder gaze from the star also highlights how minimal her clothing is in the album cover which is provocative implying adult contents and mature issues are included in her album. This further means that the target audience would be an older demographics, preferably young adults to adults of age 30. Her makeup and style gives a retro vibe which would be a consistent theme of her brand reputation. Carpenter’s brand/star identity is vintage yet modern, as her music and music videos are popular for her recurring theme of classic Hollywood or 90s model. Especially, bringing a very feminine look which is what the star is known for; flirtatious persona. A red lipstick kiss mark is seen on her shoulder which is a symbol of love and passion which are the themes of her album, songs. The kiss mark stands out due to the bold color (red) which contrasts the whole color theme in the album cover which makes it very eye-catching to the audience. The color blue in the background is very calming which may be the intended reading of the usage of the color blue. It may connote peace and relaxation which reflects how the songs in her album are. Regardless of the pop genre, her songs aren’t too hype or upbeat which is conveyed through the music album cover by the usage of the color blue. We found that most pop music albums rarely includes any texts (title of album and artist name) as they tend to focus on their star in the front cover. This means how they are portrayed in the cover affects how they are presented in the media along with their reel persona as proven. From knowing the artist, audiences may recognise the themes and tones of their songs due to the representation itself. This album cover conforms to that convention so Sabrina Carpenter fans can recognise her album.

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Here are some pictures of pose ideas I (Rara) found on Pinterest. 

We chose these pose ideas as we want to convey a direct mode of address from our star by looking directly at the camera. This allows our artists to have more of a personal connection with their audience. Moreover, we intend to bring a very feminine tone to our star as it is her persona, which is why we looked up elegant and flirtatious poses associated mainly with females. We also want to create a dominant reading of confidence and self-empowerment from our artist’s album and persona. We didn’t decide on a single pose as it is better to have a range and variations of different poses for backup. We want to experiment and see how it looks as the cover before setting a final choice, hence trial-and-errors.

Back Cover:

Our research on the digipak's back cover includes pop female artists. Here we can see that most albums' back covers have a tracklist with a barcode and production company/credits. We used these ideas as a rough draft on what theme our artists' album (Cinta) will be like. Depending on the tracklist and the overall colour scheme, pose, and design of the back cover, it includes elements that make people understand the star better, as some have a general overview of what the album is.

Binding/Spine:

We weren't quite sure on how to develop this part of our digipak. So in order to gain more understanding we found a picture of Taylor Swift's albums spine lined up together, where we found a digipak binding usually consisting of the stars name, album, production company, and a code of referral. And it all uses the same theme from the back and front cover meaning a digipak should have a cohesive theme throughout the outside and inside so audiences can easily know that it's our artist's trademark. 

CD Cover:

Here I (Rara) compiled different artists' CDs that fit the overall genre of our star (Cinta). As some artists usually use a soft colour we plan on using the inspo from Ariana Grande and Sabrina Carpenters digipak (1st & 2nd at the top) as it shows off more of the artists feminine side and personal touch with Sabrina’s kisses and handwriting while Ariana Grande’s is bold and almost neon red which connotes her confidence. 

Other inspirations:

Here we have multiple pictures from pinterest and google of our 2 artists that inspired our star most which are Sabrina Carpenter and Olivia Rodrigo. As our main theme is for our star (Cinta) to be bold and flirty, we decided to use Sabrina’s iconic kiss mark to become the main trademark of our star. 

However, this was our main inspiration for our tracklist page for the back cover of our digipak that we took from Sabrina Carpenter’s ‘short n’ sweet’ album. This piqued our interest due to the simplicity of the design that clearly conveys the message (contents and tracklist of the album) clearly while keeping a creative form of display. The usage of cursive and serif fonts were very classy and elegant  which could really attract our target demographics (women). Another feature we liked would be the usage of texture (leather-like) which really makes the digipak design more realistic and it was just a fun and creative element that supports the whole aesthetic of ‘nostalgia’ conveyed in her album. 

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Development

Digipak Cover Designs:

Weekend by Audrey Soedargo

Binding Design:

Untitled (190 x 1400 px) (112 x 1400 px) by Audrey Soedargo

CD Design:

CD - MG25 by Audrey Soedargo

Mock up:

MOCKUP - THE WEEKEND - MG25 by Audrey Soedargo

Self Reflection: I had fun researching aspects of a digipak since I do like developing something of my own. And since not many artists choose to create digipak in this generation, it was harder to gather information on it especially finding the back cover of a digipak, since most pictures just show the front. But we eventually found some and decided to subvert the typical conventions, so instead of using our artists face we use our artists iconic red colour trademark. But, since me and my teammate Audrey had so many ideas we had many mock up designs that we ended up scrapping since we wanted it to look as professional as possible. I found that no matter what idea we had we just put every single idea on the canva link because we can eventually just choose the best one which I believe is very satisfying because Im very proud of our end result.