CR Essay:

Critical Reflection by

Shehlizeh Omer

For Music Promotion Package

“In the Stars”

The music video represents the universal social issue of grief and mental health struggles, particularly among young individuals, by portraying a girl coping with the loss of a loved one. This representation aligns with contemporary media’s increasing focus on mental health awareness, challenging past conventions that often overlooked or romanticized grief. The music video uses various cinematic techniques to authentically depict the protagonist’s emotional turmoil, ensuring that the audience can relate to her pain and struggles. The use of flashbacks serves as a powerful storytelling device, allowing viewers to witness the contrast between past happiness and present sorrow. Flashbacks are not just a storytelling device but also a tool to build nostalgia, they are an example of fragmented narratives in post-modern media.

These fragmented memories emphasize the protagonist’s psychological state, reinforcing the lingering nature of grief. In doing so, the music video challenges traditional representations of mourning, which often depict a linear journey from loss to acceptance. Instead, it presents grief as a non-linear process, where the past constantly interjects into the present, making healing a complex and ongoing experience. The use of mise-en-scène, particularly the color grading and lighting, further enhances the film’s emotional depth. Warmer tones in flashbacks symbolize moments of happiness and love, while the present-day scenes are characterized by colder, desaturated hues that signify emotional numbness and isolation. This deliberate color contrast helps the audience distinguish between the protagonist’s past and present, reinforcing the central theme of loss and memory.

Additionally, the cinematography employs close-up shots to capture the protagonist’s facial expressions, emphasizing the rawness of her emotions. These close-ups allow the audience to connect with her pain on a personal level, fostering empathy and understanding. The film’s use of sound, particularly non-diegetic music, plays a crucial role in amplifying its emotional impact. A melancholic score accompanies the protagonist’s moments of solitude, mirroring her internal grief. The occasional silence, or diegetic sounds such as deep breathing or ambient noises, further accentuates her isolation, making the audience feel the weight of her emotions. This careful selection of sound elements ensures that the film resonates with viewers on an auditory level, reinforcing its emotional depth.

The branding of the music video is created through a consistent use of visual and thematic elements that tie together its promotional materials, cinematography, and narrative structure. The recurring motif of memory, represented through flashbacks and symbolic imagery, is central to the video’s identity. The marketing materials, including the poster and trailer, align with this branding by maintaining a cohesive aesthetic. The poster, for example, features a faded or double-exposed image of the protagonist, visually representing her struggle between the past and present. The title and tagline are designed to evoke a sense of nostalgia and emotional weight, ensuring that potential audiences immediately grasp the video’s core theme. Additionally, the trailer strategically utilizes fragmented editing and selective dialogue to create intrigue while maintaining the melancholic tone of the film.

These elements work together to establish a recognizable and emotionally compelling brand identity that differentiates the music video from other narratives on grief. These videos often use long takes, minimal dialogue, and ambient soundscapes to create an immersive emotional experience, influencing the stylistic choices of this project. Additionally, research into media theories, such as Stuart Hall’s Reception Theory and David Gauntlett’s Identity Theory, informed the video’s representation of grief. Hall’s theory suggests that audiences interpret media texts based on their personal experiences, meaning that viewers may decode the protagonist’s grief differently depending on their own encounters with loss. Some may view her struggle as a deeply personal and accurate depiction of mourning, while others might interpret it as an exaggerated portrayal. Understanding this helped shape the video’s narrative, ensuring that it remained open-ended enough to allow for varied audience interpretations.

Gauntlett’s Identity Theory highlights how media helps individuals shape their sense of self, meaning that audiences who have experienced loss might see themselves reflected in the protagonist’s journey. This informed the decision to depict grief as a continuous process rather than a resolved conflict, making the narrative more relatable. Furthermore, research into genre conventions revealed common tropes in music videos about loss, such as the use of dream sequences, letters from the deceased, or symbolic objects representing the loved one. While some of these conventions were incorporated, others were intentionally subverted to create a fresh perspective. For instance, rather than relying on external elements such as letters or voiceovers to communicate the deceased’s presence, the video focuses on the protagonist’s internal world, using non-verbal cues and fragmented memories to convey her struggle. This departure from conventional storytelling ensures that the film offers a unique and introspective take on grief.