Teacher feedback on overall project

Feedback on our website:

• Branding needs to be throughout, a picture of the band on the banner needs to be added
• Photos need to be edited to make them interesting/quirky
• Replace Behind The Scenes photos with Promo Shots and only put Behind The Scenes photos in a Behind The Scenes gallery

Video:

Narrative-

• Scene of the person trying to buy the guitar is not clear, possibly cut that out and simplify the storyline

Performance-

• More Close Ups of Shobnam
• Cut to Shobnam before narrative shots
• With the shot of the mum coming in for Daniel's narrative, show Daniel first

Further feedback on the Music Video:

• Many of the band shots have too much space around the members, crop the shots
• First vocal shot needs to be big, maybe from the front, let the shot last longer
• Grading takes time so we need to allow time to grade
• Start the guitar shot earlier

Photoshoots

Our group had two photoshoot days. The first one went well we decided to categorise our shots into: Group Shots for shots of the entire band, Duo Shots: for shots of two members of the band together and Solo Shots: for individual shots of the band members. But, after gaining feedback from our teacher we saw that the group shots and duo shots had too big a gaps between the members. So, we organised another shoot day and printed out copies of some of the shots from the previous shoot so that the members could do the exact same poses but closer together. The feedback on our solo shots from the first shoot was really good so, we didn't focus on them.

Here is an example of a group shot from our first shoot that was too spaced out:

Now here is the improved version of the shot:

There is a real difference in the two shots as in the second one, the three of them have the visuals of a band and seem more united than the first one where Daniel was more distanced from the others.

Here are some other successful shots:

The last one is the band posing for the album cover. We wanted to make the look of them staring up "defiantly" and we tested out purposefully having space between them.

Narrative shoot feedback

Outdoor shoot 2:

After we had finished our second outdoor shoot, we came across the following issues:

• Lack of realism with busker seeing posters - Audition posters would usually be pasted all over a wall, not one randomly on a fence. This had to be re-shot the following week.
• Narrative sequence with someone trying to buy the guitar isn't clear - We simply didn't use this sequence and (Spoiler Alert) made a much simpler one of the busker just looking at his lack of money and looking dejected. 

Bedroom shoot 1

This test shoot was more a lighting test. The indoor lights were quite dim, and the natural lighting was not enough for our shots, therefore we used a portable lighting kit. The shots were successfully lit, however the narrative was slightly off as we did not have access to a drum-kit as we wanted.

Bedroom shoot 2

The lighting had already been decided and we had also decided to use an "imaginary" drum-kit to add to the meaning of our music video about the character having the dream of drumming. We also played with this footage and the actual performance drumming to convey this message. Furthermore, Aidan's mum was prepared to act as a parent in the video, and gave a realistic parental performance. We all directed the shots, giving her feedback when needed and the shots were realistic and successful. The feedback was:

• Well - lit
• Portrays meaning well and makes sense
• Good performance from both actors

Solo shoots

At times where all our group members were not available, we stuck to filming solo performances.

The hardest thing to keep constant was the lighting. Even though we had a lighting map and the colours and intensities of each and every light noted down, sometimes they did not look the same as before.

Performance shoot issues/Feedback

Some of our shoots were double booked, so we had to re-book or work around this. This meant that we had less time than we had originally though, so we had to work quickly. From previous performance shoots, we'd received the feedback:

• Lots of camera movement - good
• Improved performance from all 3 performers
• Better group dynamics
• Good lip-sync

We often experimented with handheld, and the result was shaky footage which we ended up using as it looked very conventional for music videos, especially of the rock genre, which often has very shaky fast-paced footage and editing.

Some of the targets we received were:

• More CU shot types (both faces and instruments)
• Too much distance between characters
• Lighting too dark at times
• Characters not lit properly (or dark faces)

In the end, we took all this into account for further shoots, and most of the final edit footage is from these later shoots.

First shoots

Here are some snippets from our shoots:

We started off by filming our solo parts in the music video. Sometimes, not everyone in the group was available for a shoot due to other A2 lessons, therefore we had to work around this.

Everyone filmed equally, and we encouraged each other's performance. Aidan and Daniel were especially keen to drop a beat.

Also, all of us have had experience setting up both our lighting set-ups using the lighting deck, electronic controls, and manual positioning.



We have an official The Defiance Drum decal!! All of us were quite keen to get started on performing.

Website flat plan

After the research we'd conducted on websites, we held a group meeting to discuss the basic ideas for our own website. 

We made this basic flat plan for home page ideas:

I then created a digital copy of out pencil flat plans:

This gave us the basic layout for the home page we wanted, which we could then reference when producing our website.

Website Research - Creating Synergy

Whilst researching websites similar to our band we saw that a lot of them had a very synergistic campaign online to make it stand out and to allow audiences to remember their website clearly and to be able to distinguish it. It also helps the audience to familiarise themselves with the band and they can recognise their brand in multiple places.

For example we looked at Evanescence's website:

The homepage has a consistent purple colour scheme running throughout it. The above picture shows the website's banner. Then the next picture is the rest of the website:

The use of the same colour throughout keeps the website simple yet appealing which is what we hope to achieve on our website too. Our music video has three prominent colours during the performance: red, blue and purple so we hope to use those colours to signify band identity in our website. For example, the drummer has a red backlight in the performance so if we use red on the website we could make links to the drummer and this would be a part of his constructed image.

Another thing we noticed was that there is a consistent font on their website:

This keeps it simple and consistent. The chosen font is easy to read and bold. We plan to use the same style of font on our website.

What we found interesting on this website was the use of themes. The main purple homepage background was 'glittery' and gave the impression of stars. This theme is similarly used on their merchandise page:

Here it is a blue, night sky dotted with stars. They have kept up this theme of stars and light as it matches their album theme and cover too:

This taught us that we should make strong links between our album and website appearance wise as it allows the audience to draw links. It is clear that the website is promoting the album.

Social media and Interactivity in Websites

There are various techniques that websites include to interact with the audience. This is so the audience is able to have a connection with the band in some way. Through research onto websites the main ways in which music video websites are interactive are ways in which you can connect through social media and purchase merchandise in an online store page. Below are some of the screenshots from some of the websites we looked at and how they show interactivity.


Interactivity through Social Media and Links

On all the websites, there were various links to Facebook and Twitter and in some cases YouTube channel links,Google plus links and more.

Social links on each website

Screenshot from Paramore's website that shows links to each social media page and to youtube channel.

Screenshot from The Script's website showing many links including google plus and Itunes.

Screenshot from Train's website. Loads of different social media links and other ways to interact such as by listen or purchasing music on Spotify and Itunes





Interactivity through Store

Every music video website we had a store which sold merchandise about the band, which provides a sense of connection between the band and the audience. However some websites sell different styles of merchandise than other others depending on what style the band had.

On the left hand side above you can see a website screenshot of merchandise from the Paramore website and on the right hand side above you can see a website screenshot of the Train merchandise page. 

Paramore's merchandise had a wide range of different types of merchandise such as T-shirts the most standard form of merchandise, but also more unique merchandise such as the still into you necklace and 3 Bars Patch show in the picture.

Train's merchandise was far less unique, focusing just on one type of merchandise- clothing, and specifically T-shirts. As train are quite a popular band with a wide audience ranging from adults to children the merchandise available is quite simple and bought by a wide range of people just like the wide audience range.  

The merchandise for The Script is varied like Paramore's but is unique in that the merchandise as lots of visual connections with the band through the pictures it uses. The script band members are very popular as well as the music.


Interactivity through extras

In addition websites include lots of extra content on their websites in the form of videos and pictures, some of the websites also had options to join and create an account for the website. By having using this feature it creates further interaction by the audience being able to comment on the post made on the website.

Above is a screenshot of the extra videos you can watch on The Script's website. There are many different images on the website and a newsletter page.

This is a screenshot from Train's website showing the option given to sign up and become a member, and showing how you can join discussions of different post throughout the website.

This is a screenshot from Paramore's website of some of the extra pictures related to the band. The option is given to also post your fan photos to create further interactivity with the audience. Like on Train's website you are also able to sign up and create a user account. This is shown in the top right in the red circle.

Music Artist website research

In order to plan our own website, we decided to look at music artist websites in general to identify conventions and styles. The websites of different artists differ mostly depending on their genre and target audience.

Home pages

This home page is mostly plain, with just a few images of the band. This promotes that the band are not the "bouncy" kiddie type, but a serious and sincere artist. From the dressing style of each member you can tell the alternative rock/soft rock genre. Their latest album #3 is the main advertising, and as live performances are the first thing we see below the banner, we can understand that the target audience are the type of people who enjoy gigs and like to interact with the band itself.

Alternatively, this home page is dark with hardly any advertising. The main image is a pair of Nike shoes, therefore the target audience may be teenage males who aspire to be like Tinie Tempah. 
Less so than the more interactive audiences of The Script, this audience may prefer this music genre to satisfy the gratifications of personal identity etc, while the other homepage suggests an audience who prefer social activities.

Female fronted rock bands:

The Paramore website has Instagram quite largely on the home page. This might suggest the target audience are social-media crazy teenagers most likely. There are many pictures of Hayley Williams the lead singer and more of the band altogether underneath. The website is gaudy and loud, therefore attractive to the younger audience group.

Similarly, the music video is the first thing we see on the Evanescence website, therefore fans may prefer to interact with the band.  This is also what is implied by the "recent news" just underneath the banner and like The Script website, fans may want to see when live concerts are etc.

In fact, the banner is not a static one, the pictures change between a set, and each leads to a different

part of the website. This make it more interactive for the audience.

Headers:

If we look at all the above websites, the headers are somewhat similar as they have options to interact via social media. With teenagers and young adults as their target audiences, these are the majority of social media users, therefore it is an appropriate and effective way to interact with fans.

Recent news of the artist also features on every page, again updating the audience, and encouraging interaction using social media regarding news/upcoming events etc.

Footers:

 The footers repeat the menus, keeping a consistent font and also offer social media options and information. Sometimes, there are link to contact/press/feedback/privacy pages, but not much attention is dawn to them as they are directly at the bottom and a lighter and smaller font. Lastly, the copyright information and institutions are credited at the very bottom of the page.

Main Features:

The menus themselves have a consistent colour scheme which is synergistic with the artist identity and rest of the website.

The main features might be present on a music artist website are as follows:

-Home

-Blog

-Videos

-Photos/Images/Gallery

-Music

-Store

-Community

Conclusion:

Social media is crucial to target our audience, therefore options for Facebook likes, or a Twitter widget will be useful for our own website. The colours will also have to be consistent across our entire brand. and font is important to connote our style as well to synergistically tie our branding together across all platforms.

The bands appear to have one (ore more) image as their banner, but simpler backgrounds, therefore drawing attention to the imagery. Often, a music video is available on the home page, perhaps the debut song, so this may influence our own website as well.

Track List

After deciding that we wanted the whole album's theme to be about not giving up and facing the odds, we came up with a track list that we believed would suit that theme:

Album cover flat plans

Sketches of ideas for Album Art

The singer is positioned in the middle with the guitarist and drummer either side. There could also be a background behind them either a real setting such as a street wall or a designed coloured background.

The inside panels could just be abstract art, however we are also considering how we could relate this to band identity. We could tie it in with a colour scheme connoting "Ascension"

Album cover background ideas

After already knowing what kind of style we wanted for our album cover, twe thought that the background was important to connote our genre, without dominating the image. For this reason, we chose something subtle, not bright in colour, and which adhered to a more serious rock image.

Background

We wanted a smoky background for our album cover front image. The smoke rising suits "Ascension" as the title, and represents "Rising from the ashes" which is on of our band messages, and them of our debut single "Unbreakable".

The idea od flight works well with our lyrics of being "unbreakable" and "take me where I've never been". Our research into smoky images encouraged us to work toward something similar to the top left-hand side image of the light above the smoke.

Ideas for album cover aesthetics

Before we can plan an album cover, we brainstormed the types of imagery we thought would look good and be appropriate for our band. The following are some of the ideas we came up with.

• We could have ourselves in on the album cover, and lighting could show the dark side as well as the good side of the band members by having one side of the bands faces in darkness.  
• The name of the band and album will be in a bold large font preferably in the centre of the cover.
• The colour scheme could be dark colours such as black and navy





Half in shadow

Inspirations/ Ideas

Using our ideas above, we can now finalise plans for the album cover (in posts to follow)