Creative Critical Reflection (CCR) Essay

The song “The Less I Know the Better” describes the bittersweet feeling of love. It tells the story of a boy who has feelings for a girl. However, she gets involved with someone else. Similar to our story, where our protagonist is in love with a guy at the party (her ex), however, that guy is involved with someone else. 

Our music video represents the emotional struggles of teenage girls dealing with heartbreak, specifically how they internalize their pain to the point of self destruction. The narrative follows a teenage girl who has been obsessed with a boy from her high school (he is her ex, however details have not explicitly been shown). After discovering he is with another girl, she spirals out of control, unable to let go of her feelings, despite attempting to move on with someone new. This highlights a common issue among young girls i.e the difficulty of overcoming emotional betrayal and the deep mental toll it can take.

The video centers around the emotional devastation caused by heartbreak, particularly in teenage girls, and how that pain is often dismissed or misunderstood by society. Rather than simply focusing on betrayal, we explored the deeper psychological effects of unprocessed grief and how it can lead to emotional withdrawal, identity loss, and mental distress. Moreover, we aimed to highlight the broader issue of stigmatized grief and the lack of societal recognition for young women’s emotional pain. In many cases, young women are expected to “move on” quickly, while their heartbreak is minimized or seen as dramatic. Our protagonist reflects this reality as her heartbreak is dismissed externally (she acts normally in front of her friends), but internally, it consumes her (whenever she is alone). The climax of the video, where she fully succumbs to her obsession and shows signs of insanity, highlights how unresolved emotional trauma can lead to instability, a theme that resonates with many young women dealing with similar experiences.

Towards the ending, the protagonist remains stuck in her fixation, crying and spiraling deeper into her emotions. This represents how mental health struggles, especially those stemming from heartbreak and betrayal, don’t always have an easy resolution. Many young girls feel trapped in their pain, unsure of how to move forward. Our aim was to highlight how devastating heartbreak and emotional trauma can be for teenage girls, especially when those experiences are minimized or left unacknowledged by society. Lastly, the contrast between the early scenes featuring her surrounded by others and the later moments where she’s entirely alone in her room powerfully highlights how isolation and loneliness may have contributed to her descent into madness

From the start, our group had a clear vision and emotional aesthetic for this project, the ones that reflected heartbreak, obsession, and mental unrest. As the project developed, this vision became the foundation for how all the elements i.e the music video, digipak, and social media came together to form a cohesive and recognizable brand. The central themes of obsession, heartbreak, and mental turmoil are reflected visually and symbolically throughout the project.

Throughout the music video, soft focus shots, vibrant yet natural lighting are used to reflect the protagonist’s mental state. These visual techniques weren’t limited to just the video, rather they were carried over into the digipak and social media page as well. Still frames from key emotional moments in the video were repurposed across all areas, as our purpose was to tie everything together. 

A palette of deep blues, purples, and saturated reds was maintained consistently across the music video and digipak. These colors were chosen to reflect the intensity of emotions i.e grief, sorrow, longing and also helped create a visually distinct identity. A key scene in the music video features the protagonist burning a picture of Heather, representing her inability to move on that became central in the Digipak design as well. Repeating this imagery across the products helped strengthen the overall message.

The protagonist’s isolation and emotional breakdown were also core elements of the branding. Throughout the video, she is often shown alone, lost in her thoughts, or overwhelmed by emotions. This same imagery was carried into the poster, where she’s seen as a blurred, lone figure as it reinforces her emotional state and mirrors the tone of the music video. Having these elements work consistently across the music video, digipak, and digital promotion creates unified identity. It becomes easier for the audience to associate each part with the project as a whole, which is incredibly helpful for branding, promotion, and leaving a lasting impression.

Our music video is mainly meant to connect with an audience of teenagers and young adults, especially those who have experienced heartbreak, emotional betrayal, or obsession. The main focus of the song and story is on the emotional aftermath of a heartbreak, something almost everyone in this age group goes through at some point. We wanted the audience to not just watch the video, but rather feel it through the lens of our protagonist. Her spiral into obsession is dramatized, but it’s rooted in real feelings that young people often don't know how to express. For this reason, the majority of our viewers fell into the 15-25 age group, and many expressed that they related to the video on a personal level. Regardless of this, the music video can be viewed by anyone. 

The editing plays a huge role in keeping our audience engaged especially through the fast paced and engaging shots in the beginning that grasp the attention of the audience and keep them hooked. The video uses quick cuts, dramatic lighting, and moments of raw emotion to engage the audience. In addition to this, we kept the ending a little playful, where the audience is free to interpret what happens to the protagonist. It ends the same way it started, i.e it shows all the happy moments from the party. Which keeps the audience wondering whether she ever moves on or remains in the vicious cycle of heartbreak. This keeps the audience hooked as they try figuring out the ending, which therefore means that they’re still thinking about the video even though its over. 

The social media page was where most of our audience engagement was evident. We posted snippets of the editing process, behind the scenes, and coming soon reels which kept the audience excited for the release of the music video. This excitement was evident through the comment section of the “behind the scenes” and “coming soon” reels being flooded. Moreover, our audience was also sharing our reels on their private stories, which attracted even more attention to the video. After the release of the music video, people started sharing their thoughts and interpretations, and we saw a lot of discussion around the video, which was really exciting to see and exactly what we were aiming for. 

From the very beginning, our project was shaped by research into how mental health, heartbreak and obsession are portrayed in the media. Those areas really interested us as a group and we wanted our music video to revolve around those themes. Initially, we planned to start the music video the cliche way i.e the traditional structure of a linear break up story, however after many discussions over it, we decided to explore the emotional side of break up and its after effects. 

In a few scenes, we pushed the saturation of the visuals to an exaggerated level. This heightened color intensity wasn’t meant to look realistic, but instead to reflect the protagonist’s distorted emotional perception i.e how everything feels overwhelming and surreal during moments of emotional crisis. This style challenges typical conventions of clean, performance driven music videos. In addition to this, we intentionally shifted the lighting drastically throughout the music video. It ranged from natural lighting in outdoor shots to dim, moody lighting in the bedroom and bathroom scenes, and also relied on colored effects of blue,red, and purples to make the protagonists solo scenes visually appealing. This instability in lighting reflects the volatility of her mental state and moves away from the consistency usually seen in mainstream music videos.

Another unconventional choice was having the protagonist frequently break the fourth wall. In moments of emotional intensity, she looks directly into the camera, pulling the viewer into her breakdown. This creates a more intimate, uncomfortable connection with the audience, which blurs the line between performance and reality. It’s a bold choice that’s not typical in music videos. In our case, breaking that boundary added to the rawness and discomfort we wanted to evoke. We realised that this approach makes our audiences feel captivated by the protagonist and drawn towards her grief. 

Our research into music video direction also guided us in how to visually represent symbolic moments. A key example is the burning photograph, a recurring image in the music video, digipak, and social media. Rather than relying on literal symbols of heartbreak (like tears or broken hearts) we used abstract, emotionally loaded imagery to give the audience space for interpretation e.g burning of the photograph. The same colors were used across the digipak and music video e.g blues and purples which were chosen intentionally to represent themes of sorrow, grief, and emotional conflict. 

Research played a big part in shaping our final product. It helped us make better creative choices, and in the end, it really paid off by helping us produce a strong and impactful music video.