Website first draft

Chris was assigned the task of creating a first draft for our website as he has good skills and is very familiar with WIX and so was enthusiastic about taking on this task. 

Here is a link to the first draft of the website that Chris has designed

He came up with the band name 'B-side label' which he believed was alternative, however not too wacky. I think that this name is good however, I am not sure whether it fits with the star image of the band as much as we would have liked it to but it is a good start point. 

The imagery that Chris has used is based off our initial idea of using robots to represent the band. I think that imagery he has chosen works well for the star image of our band as well as working well with the USP of the band. My only concern is that it may look too science fiction like and therefore not reflect the electro swing genre effectively. 

This is the first draft design for the homepage of the website which is what the users will see when they first look at the website. Chris chose an abstract photo of a robot which has a science fiction style to it and he decided to put a black and white filter onto it on order to make it fit with the 1920's style of our campaign and therefore it ties in nicely with the digipak design. 

I really like how the homepage looks but I think that it may be slightly too simplistic and plain and it may not attract the audience's attention due to the lack of colour and unique style. 

He also added in a biography section in order to provide the audience with a range of things including a general introduction to the band members with hints as to what their star image and USP contain. The biography also contains information about the genre of music they create, promotional tools for their latest album and most importantly their latest single which we are promoting; 'Beatophone.'

I like the design that Chris has come up with for the first draft of the website as I like the colour scheme and the imagery that he has chosen. However, I do think that it may be slightly too simplistic and minimalist but for a first draft I was very impressed. 

CD Digipak first draft

Due to the fact that we were each assigned with different task to complete this week in order to get the tasks completed in a more organised fashion, Evelyn decided to take ion the role of designing the first draft fro the CD Digipak as she has the best skills with Adobe Photoshop and so she would do the best job at this task. 

Here is Evelyn's design for the first draft of the CD Digipak: 

The design that Evelyn has come up with is nothing like we had discussed and so it was quite a shock when she first showed it to us, however I do like it and I think for a first draft it is very impressive. I think that the colour scheme works well with what we have been thinking about and it reflects the genre well but I would like to see the next draft include the imagery of the robot that we have discussed as a group. 

Here is a video showing the process that Evelyn went through in order to make the design using Adobe Photoshop:

Audience Feedback

We have decided to get some audience feedback on our music video to see what the strengths and weaknesses of the video are. This has helped us to see what additions and changes the test audience have suggested for our product and it allowed us to see whether the audience's views are similar to our views.

From the audience feedback we received we were able to see that the audience thoroughly enjoyed our music video and the concept of the scientist mixing chemicals and this causing the time leap from the 1920's to the future was clear and enjoyed by the audience. However, the audience appeared to think that the 3 dancers were aliens during the futuristic section which was not our intention and there were mixed views about the mad scientist as half of the audience said that they liked the scientist and that they wished he had been more wacky and featured more throughout the video, whilst the other half discussed the fact that they didn't think that the actor playing this role was right for the role and that they thought that these sections were quite weak.

The audience also suggested that we could have introduced the futuristic section earlier on within the video and this would have made the two elements even in terms of how much they were shown throughout the music video. Despite this, they all said that they were very impressed with the mise-en-scene and art direction in the video and that the set design was particularly detailed and visually striking. 

I think that our audience feedback has been very useful and I believe that our views coincide with that of the audience and I think that this was a helpful process in order for us to see how we could have improved the video.

Here is the audience feedback video that I created:

Brainstorming ideas for the band name

I have been thinking about some options for the band name as we need to come up with something quickly so that we can include it n our website and digipack first designs. 

One of the first options I came up with was PORTMANTEAU which means a linguistic blend of words. I thought that this would be appropriate as it is quite an ambiguous and obscure word but its meaning ties in nicely with the fact that the band blend elements of the old and new in terms of the 1920's origin of the fact that they are a jazz band but then they combine this with the new by making their music more funky and contemporary. This also ties in well with the band's USP and so i think that this would be a good option for the band's name. 

The next option that I came up with was THE QUANTUM MECHANICS which relates to the theme of time travelling which is explored within the music video we have created. I like this name as it relates to the scientific element of the music video and it also ties in well with the idea o time travel which again relates to the band's USP.  I think that this name might be too long however and so it may not work as well as some of the other options. 

The other option I came up with was OXYMORON as this refers to when two words contradict each other. I think that this could be a good option as the word itself is quite obscure and ambiguous and its meaning relates to the combination of the old and new that the band explore in their USP. I think that this would work well as a band name but I am not sure whether it is too literal and doesn't leave enough room for interpretation on the part of the audience. 

I think that all three of these options are good possibilities for band names but I think that we are going to need to do a bit more brainstorming in order to come up with something that works really well and fits the USP and star image of our band really well as well as working well with the other products that make up the band's music campaign. 

Last stages of editing...

We are coming up to being in the last stages of the editing of our music video which is great news. We have been cutting clips together, syncing them up, choosing clips and changing clips throughout the editing process and we are now at the stage where we are about the colour grade our music video and then it will be finished and ready to show to audiences. 

We have decided not to create a rough cut of our video as we thought that this would not be very helpful as we wanted to just get started with a really good version that was carefully and professionally edited and so we decided to spend more time on getting it right the first time around so that we didn't have to create lots of rough drafts and rather just one really good cut. 

The next stage of our editing process is to colour grade the entire thing so that it looks cohesive and so that the various elements which used different colours and lighting look good together. 

When we have finished the editing of our music video and we have a final product we are going to screen it to a preview audience and record their feedback so that we can see what the strength and weaknesses are according to the audience and this will help us to make some last minute tweaks, additions and changes depending on their suggestions before posting it on YouTube for audiences. 

I think that this audience feedback will be very useful as it will help us to identify strong and weak areas of our music video and will hopefully aid us in creating the best video that we could possibly create. 

Conventions of Websites

Due to the fact that we are going to be creating a website for our own band using WIX I thought it would be appropriate and useful if I did some research int the conventions of websites and had a further look into what a website involves and how it is used a s a promotional product as part of a music campaign.

A website homepage is the first page of the website that users will come across and this page usually contain s links to other pages, such as a merchandising page, tour dates and band biography. 

Websites contain information which publicises and promotes the artist image and a range of information and images to an audience or a fan base. Often this is organised into what Boyd has termed co-option - the invitation to join the community and take part. 

When creating the website for our band we need to consider how it is going to present the band's star image as well as their USP. Through my research, I discovered that media marketing of the pop star image have become iconic and famous and iconic images have helped retain the popularity of existing and legendary artists. 

All music websites are about promotion and information provided to the audience. They fall into three main categories; promotions of a single or album release, promotions of a tour or live appearance, merchandising - posters and t-shirts for sale. I think that our website is most likely to be promoting the album that we have created as well as some additional elements of upcoming tour dates and merchandise that is available to purchase. 

A website's home page is usually the most important page and it contains various elements. These conventions provide information in their own right or offer the audience the opportunity to interact with the page, share it and navigate to other parts of the page or website. Although the content varies on different home pages, there are similar conventions which are used such as the fact that the layout of many websites follow a similar pattern or template. From my research, I found out that any variations are dependent upon the purpose of the website and the needs of the target audience. 

From looking at a variety of website homepages from different genres I discovered that they all consist of the same visual and technical coding that are stylised in different ways to reflect the  star image represented and the brand that the band want to promote. 

I would like to take on board the things that i have learnt through this research into the conventions of websites when creating my own website and it would be great if we could allow the website to reflect the star image and USP of the band as well as help to promote the artist and the other products (album and music video) that make up the rest of the music publicity campaign. 

CD Digipak planning

We have been continuing to plan the Cd Digipak and in particular we have been considering the colour scheme that we could use as well as what the robot imagery would look like.

I think that the colour scheme for the website and digipak would be in the colour spectrum of black, copper and gold due to the fact that these colours are  warm and represent the 1920's era well and also tie in nicely with the colours used in the music video. Additionally, I think that these colours go well together and I think that they will work effectively for the CD Digipak as well as possibly being successful colours for the website as well. 

This is the colour scheme we are thinking of using across our music publicity campaign

Here is the robot design that Evelyn created as we were trying to see whether the moustache would work effectively for the robot or whether it looks too childish and out of place. However, we decided from this that it doesn't matter whether the robot has a moustache or not as we think that the design we have chosen for the robot may not be as effective as we had initially thought. 

Therefore Evelyn has decided to try and design something completely different for the first draft of our CD Digipak and she is thinking of going down a more mechanical route with this design. 

Developing ideas for the digipak and website

We have been developing our ideas for the digipak and website and considering how we can make it tie in better with the star image of the band as well as how can we make it more aesthetically and visually striking for the target audience. 

One of the things that we discussed as a group was the imagery we have chosen for the digipak and website and we discussed whether the robot appeared too cute and childish and whether it was reflective and appropriate for our band's star image. We talked about how the use of the mustache made his appear too innocent and like a children's cartoon character and how this wasn't what we were going for and so we decided to adapt the imagery and make it more robotic and less cute. I think that the less cute version of the robot will work much better are conveying the star image we have com up with for our band and it will also work much better at attracting the right audience for the album and website. 

Here is the new imagery we have come up with for the robot

We have also been thinking about how we can adapt the website idea to make it incorporate the new, less cute version of the robot and how we can make the website appear more sophisticated and professional than the first draft that we did. 

This is the first draft for our new website idea

We decided that we could use the same imagery for the website as is used for the digipak as this would help to link the two products together and create a cohesive campaign. We thought that we could use the imagery of the robot for the side of the website and have it fading into the black to make the website a bit more mysterious and exciting for the audience. I think that this will work effectively for our website as it will reflect the star image we are creating for the band. 

We have then been considering ideas for a colour scheme for the website and we have been thinking about using quite muted, simplistic and basic colour scheme as we think that minimalism will work well with the star image of the band as well as the fact that this will match their organic image. We are considering using black for the background and then metallic colours for the image of the robot as well as the text on the website. I think that these colours will compliment each other well and I think that they will reflect the USP of the band effectively. 

Thinking about the Star Image and USP

After starting design the digipak and website for our band I have been thinking about what kind of star image we are trying to create for the band as well as what their USP could be and how these could be reflected in the music publicity campaign.

When considering the band's star image I thought about how I wanted them to be viewed by their audience and how I wanted them to come across in their products. I think that their image should be youthful as this will make them more attractive for their target audience. I also think that it is important that their star image reflects the fact that their are creative, imaginative and original and that their music and ideas are expressing something new and current and this will attract audiences. 

I have created a word cloud to try and brainstorm some ideas for their star image

In terms of the band's USP I think that is probably the fact that their music is rooted in 1920's jazz and despite this they are able to put a modern twist on it by adding elements of electronic music making it more contemporary and therefore more engaging for modern audiences and fans. I think that this is very special as they are continuing the use old instruments but they are making current and up to date music. In my opinion, our idea of using a robot as imagery for the digipak and website fits this well and I think that it is reflective of both their star image and their USP.

  

Researching the Thai langauage

Due to the fact that we ave come up with the initial idea of using Thai for the album name I decided to do some research into the Thai language and what the letters look like. 

We are currently thinking that our album name is going to be BOLT in Thai.

I think that the Thai language looks very illustrating and the letters appear very stylised and I found that the letters almost look like art in themselves rather than letters. I think that the use of Thai could work really well for our album artwork as it would be quite ambiguous and it would provide something different for the star image of the band. 

Here are some images of the Thai language and alphabet:

Researching Robot Drawings

Due to the fact that we have decided to go with a drawing of a robot for the front cover of our album artwork  for he time being I decided to have a look at some images of robot drawings online to get some inspiration. 

Here are the results from researching into robot drawings:

Here are some robot sketches that I found online:

Here are some images of cute robots that I found online:


We would like our robot to look cute, funky and also have a bit of a 1920's style to him such a having big rounded glasses and a mustache as shown in the initial sketch that we have drawn. Here is the sketch that Chris and I came up with for an initial idea of hat we want our robot to look like: