Monday 26 December 2016

Creating my Logo Draft 1

This is my experimental logo design. To create this design I have used Photoshop.
To help me with my logo I have used this tutorial



For my logo I have used a photo of my artist from the photoshoot we did. I then layered it under the forest image I took of the forest I have filmed in for my music video.




Bellow is my outcome of my fist logo draft.


Saturday 17 December 2016

Ideas for Digipak2


This is The Weekends Trilogy digipak cover. It is simple and complex at the same time. Usually when the artist is featured in the album, he/she makes a direct eye contact with the audience. This digipak really stands out from the others as it features a simple background and an image of the artist. It also intrigues the audience as the women behind the artist is blurred and we don't get to see her face which leaves the audience wonder who she is. The title is simple white bold for the artist name and white bold italic for the album name.


This is John Legends Album cover where we can see black and white image of John. I think That I could use similar effect for my digit as it is a good may of representing the character with the mask in my music video. The white bold title really stands out because of the dark background. 



These two images are the logo which I might use for my digipak. It is quite simple and straight forward. For my digipak I could use this image and the photo of my artist which would look similar to The Weeknds Digipak Cover.




Ideas for my digipak

These are some ideas to have for my digipak.


For the front cover I am planning to have prism effect which is often used in Electro pop genres.
Since my artist uses a lot of pastel colours I thought of having similar colour scheme as the Ghost Hotel digipak. 


This is Demi Lovatos digipak cover. On the front cover we could see Demi covered in silver paint while covering herself up. We can't see any straps on her shoulder which makes gives the illusion of objectification. The cover of the album is quite simple as it is only Demi in front of the white background. 
In silver font we could see the writing "DEMI" which matches the paint on her body in the photo. Her make up is simply but at the same time dark which creates a clear chrome like theme of the album.

This is a digipak front cover of Maroon 5 for their single Maps. This is a simple cover as it features only a single background with a bold white title over it. I think this is a quite good idea as it allows the audience experiment with the background later and make a signature for their brand. 
  The image on the left is taken from one of the fan pages on twitter. This shows how Maroon 5 connects with the abidance though the image. Image on the right is one of their merchandises. I think that this could be useful in my future work as I could use the pints for t-shirts and bandanas just like Maroon 5. Instead of printing the name of artist and photo.




Wednesday 14 December 2016

Sample Scene 3

Audience Feedback

Sample Scene 2




This is my second Sample scene. I showed to my classmates and filmed their thoughts on it. I have already corrected the bits on which they have mentioned.

Tuesday 6 December 2016

How I used Lightroom

To edit photos of my artist to match the website theme I decided to use Lightroom.
I have not used this software before partly because it is new.
Bellow is a video of how I edited my photo.


Website draft 1



This is my first website draft where I have used the image which was provided by the WIX website. I thought that this image would suit Halseys conventions. I kept it until I got to do a photoshoot of my artist.

Bellow is a video showing my website with the new image and settings. On the first draft I noticed that the menu bar didn't appear in every page, therefore I have decided to change it in the second draft.


Monday 5 December 2016

Starting my website



In this video I will be starting my Halsey website. I have not used WIX before so this was my first go.

Sunday 4 December 2016

Taylor Swift Digipak Analysis

1989 - Taylor Swift 

I think that some elements of this digipak make it clear to the audience what the genre of this album is, while other elements do not comply with the expectations of the genre. The font used appears to be handwritten, which gives the cover a personal, intimate and DIY feel. The cover image is in the style of a polaroid photography, which shows a possible influence from a past decade- the title of the album reinforces this. The artist's full name is not written on the album cover- it simply says her initials 'T.S'. As the artist is so well known and iconic, she needs no more than this. Only half of the artist's face is shown in the cover photo, which also supports this. Her red lips are clearly visible, showing iconography reminiscent of her predecessing studio album 'Red'. The neutral colours used for this album cover don't follow genre expectations- a pop album would typically use a bolder colour scheme for its cover in order to reflect the style of music. The artist is not presented sexually in the cover image, which is another thing that sets this album cover apart from the expectations of the pop genre.

Front Cover
The area behind where the disc would be placed shows consistency with the print on the artist's sweatshirt on the front cover. The image on the left continues the personal/DIY feel that this digipak has, and shows a continued use of polaroid style photographs. The photo shows the artist looking directly into the camera, which emphasies the intimate and personal style of the digipak. The neutral colour scheme is continued from the album cover. There is no legal or recording information shown.

Inside 

This disc is printed with the same pattern used on the inside of the digipak and on the artist's sweatshirt in the image on the front cover. The font is the same as the one used on the front cover of the album, but in white instead of black in order to better match the background colours. The pattern has an old photograph style tint/filter, similar to the one used on the front cover and inside images of the digipak. These qualities really tie together the digipak, showing consistency and a prominent theme.

Disk
The image used here contains the part of the artist's face that is not present on the front cover, emphasising continuity. The tracklisting shows handwritten numbers yet typed song titles- this makes them easier to read and gives the back cover a more professional appearance, while not eliminating the personal elements of the design. The record label's logo, executive producer credits and legal information are printed at the base of the cover. The executive producer credits are printed in a larger font than the legal information. This has most likely been done as the artist is one of the executive producers, and the artist/label wanted to highlight that.

Back Cover


Artist digipak

The front cover is simple and bold, and really stands out against the background image. In this digipak we can see how the artist is centrally placed. This is the artists debut album therefore, this digipak indicates the importance of branding and iconography to the artist's image and career.

The parental advisory sticker on this digipak is not prominent. This could mean that the artist doesn't want there to a be a focus on the fact that it contains explicit content, and is not trying to advertise the album in this way. However, having this label on the cover gives a particular impression of the artist to the public of somebody who is not conforming to the typical expectations of a young, up and coming female pop artist, and is not afraid of telling the world her perspectives.

The cover has the worn look of an old photograph, giving it a more personal feel. The presence of pink tones and clothing in the photo gives a distinct feminine feel to the cover, which arguably contrasts with the presence of the parental advisory sticker.

The inside of this digipak shows that the colour scheme is consistent throughout. The font used here is simple and bold, and similar to, if not the same as the one on the front cover of the CD. The image on the right has clearly been taken from the same photoshoot as the front cover, which demonstrates continuity throughout this digipak. On the left side, there is along list of thank yous, yet no information about where record was recorded.

The font used on the dist of this digipak are the same as the ones used on the front and back cover, which shows consistency. Legal information from the back cover is also listed here in very fine print.
The colour of the disk matches the overall colour scheme of the digipak, and is plain and simplistic as there is a photo behind where the CD would be placed inside the case. Pink is typically feminine colour, so by using it the artist has conformed. However, subtly to a gender stereotype.

The font used are the same  as those used throughout the digipak, and the image at the top has been continued from the front cover.
These two aspects of this back cover have been included to show consistency and to make the digipak feel more like a whole piece rather than 5 separate elements.
Legal information is written in an extremely small font and at the bottom of the cover there is information about the label but no recording information.

There is also a small record label logo at the bottom which has most likely been included to easily promote the label.




Podcast 9



In this podcast I have talked through:

  • Working on my website
  • Photoshoot
  • Analysing artists digipak
  • Creating a 30 sec sample video
  • Asking my target audience on my 30 sec sample video

Shooting Schedule

This is a planning I have created to help me record my journey. I have mentioned the key locations where I will be shooting at, and will be shooting both narrative and performance footage.



Wednesday 30 November 2016

Storyboard









Control Music Video Sample 1 Colour Experiment

Here I have a 30 sec video for my music video. The first version is in black and white and the second version is in colour.
I have created two versions to see which one of the two my audience would prefer. 

Version 1



Version 2



Monday 28 November 2016

Digipak Analysis e.g.4

Miley Cyrus - Bangerz

The front cover of the digipak includes all the common conventions of a digipak such as: image of the artist on the front and the back. It also contains similar colour scheme throughout the album. 

The audience could see Miley on the front cover looking over her shoulder and looking directly into the camera. Creating a eye contact with the audience to draw them in. Her hand is on front of her lips. We can see in this image how Miley created Male Gaze with her sexual pose as well as her red lipstick to draw in male audience. 


The front cover consists of Miley standing in front of palm trees and a  pink sign "Bangerz".  The connotation of bright colours and palm trees are holidays and warm place. Audience therefore, could infer that its a holiday CD which is fun to listen to. 

There is a narrative played through the digipak. The image on the front starts as her covering herself up but when you turn over to the back she has opened her jacket . 

This is Miley's first album since her dramatic change from Hannah Montana. This is a main attraction to the audience as her music style, clothing and her actions have changed, which attracts wider audience


The digipak comes with a booklet where there are two images of Miley Cyrus. On the left side we can see Miley on the coach wearing a two piece. We can see that her hair is pink because of the lighting as her natural hair is blond. On the left side from her we can see a story behind this album and explanation of what this is this album about. The font which was used in neon pink. The image of Miley Cyrus looks like her hair is pink because of the writing on the left side. 


Sunday 27 November 2016

Digipak Analysis e.g.3

Born This Way- Lady Gaga



The front of the CD cover is Lady Gaga looking directly into the camera over her shoulder, creating a sense of audience connection. The background is black and all the wring made is in white which makes the audience able to see the title easier. 


The back panel is black and has white writing over it, the font is similar to spray painting. The back panel features common convention of the barcode and record labels

The digipak also comes with a small booklet where it includes a story behind this album and the lyrics to the song. 




Friday 25 November 2016

Podcast 8

 In this podcast I will go thought what I have done during this week.
I have started working on my website as well as analysed website from different artists. I have also analysed digipaks and created a presentation about it. I have also created small tutorial and posted it on YouTube on how to embed presentation from Prezi into Blogger.

Thursday 24 November 2016

Digipak Analysis e.g.2

Melanie Martines - CRY BABA




The album is very unusual because it is in a structure of a story book. It is all pink which shows that she is targeting young females and teenagers. The title is made or of blue balloons which has conventions of a baby boy. We can also see the artist finding behind the clouds and crying making it  rain, making her look like a god. The digipak is is a storybook structure which means that the audience will also be provided with a little story with this purchase. This is a very smart idea to make the digipak unique and make it stand out from all the others. On the bottom right we can see a logo of a parental advisory, which clearly shows although it is all pink she is targeting towards teenagers and young adults. 
After reading a little story customer would be able to listen to his favourite songs. We can see how the CD is yellow and has cubes spelling CRY BABY. Looking at the CD non-fan might think that this is a CD for children. 


Digipak Analysis e.g.1

1975
 

The front name of the digipak has a bands name and the album name. The font is white and the background black. It has a very simplistic design. 
The studio setting of the photo and the neon sign style of the title has  connotations of the urban city, and of the artistic influence. The album name is placed in the centre and in bold.
This band is an indie genre and the albums follows its convention

The CD is the same font as the titles of the album. It is all black, the name is covered with a plastic cover making it shiny and visible through a mat background. The CD is very simplistic and does not follow the typical conventions of the CD covers as they tend to have lots of colours, lot of writing and sometimes includes photos. 

This is a back of the digipak. At the back we can see the list of songs, barcode, logos and records company. All there factors are very useful to the audience as it allows them easy access which makes it more attractive them. We can see how they have tried to relate the back and the front thought the neon light. Digipaks usually have the back and the front related to attract the audience and this is an example. 

How to embed presentation from Prezi to Blogger

My tutorial on how to embed from Prezi to Blogger

Digipak

What is Digipak?

Friday 18 November 2016

Wednesday 16 November 2016

Website Analysis e.g.9

AC/DC


They have a variety of languages presented. Which expand the fan bases. They have done this by connecting to Google Translate. They have 8 top links which is too much. The banner is stated quite clearly and the branding is very strong.
They have featured 3 social media accounts; Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. AC/DC has a very strong branding and they do a very good job promoting.

Website Analysis e.g. 8

Bullet For My Valentine 

This website has 5 top links with is a great amount to have. The website does not have a gallery and nothing special about it. It has US, UK, German and French pages of their merchandise. They have provided a very poor branding marketing. We can see the name of the band on the left from the home button. They also have a small amount of social accounts featured on the website. They only have Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Website Analysis e.g.7

Shawn Mendes
Here we could see a splasher page similar to 1975 however this is a smarter way of marketing as it promotes the new album. It is more user friendly as it allows the user either click away to the home page or to press the X button.

The website layout if quite simple and looks like one of the WIX designs. The artists name is clearly shown but hard to see because of the background. There is only one page and the other links send the user to the different website. The social media accounts are clearly stated on the top with all the logos.

Website Analysis e.g.6

Charlie Puth
There are 7 top links and they are reversed. Instead of putting links on the top he put it at the bottom. Followed by his social media accounts. Another example of bad language structure used. Instead of contacts he put in "Email". Instead of having a link called "Home" they replaced it with his name which is a great idea and saves up space. 


For the Photos links they placed some album photos to promote his album but they have also put some informal photos from his social media accounts to interact with the audience more. The layout if very settle and has a form making it easier for the viewer. However there is a bit of luck of branding.

Website Analysis e.g.5

You Me At Six

They have two different shop websites. One is dedicated to albums and the second one for the merchandises such clothing. If you scroll down the website you would be able to see their new music video and tour dates. The structure is very poor and does not have proper links.

Website Analysis e.g.4

The 1975

This is a splash page of The 1975 website. Instead of going to the home page it goes to the advertisement page. This is a good use of Marketing.
This is an example of a bad colour choice. The colours used in this page are very pale and it is hard to see.  We could also see 9 top links which is too much and not the best thing to do.
This is their official website. Again not the best colour choice. As well as having 9 top links. The name/logo on the top left is too light and pastel which is bad for the vision. Also the layout is very simplistic and a great way of presenting their social media which is a smart marketing decision. 

The language used for the links are very confusing to the users. They have written "Love" for their albums which does not make that much sense. 


For the bibliography they had a very small font which makes it harder for the audience to read as well as the colour is not the best and hard to read. They have also put in too much which may put off the user. 



Website Analysis e.g 3

This website is very minimalistic. It has 5 top links. The colours are soft and settled which may be linked to the album. If you click on one of the links it does not send you to the new website it just scrolls down.
We could also see six social media accounts bellow the links.
Only 3 links are featured on this website and the rest send the user to iTunes and other websites. 

Website Analysis e.g.2

AdamAntNet

In this websites there are 6 top links. Merchandise and album can be separated in drop down links. There are six and that includes "Home" button. Looking at this website I can tell that they have to be very careful with language and they way they put it for the bottom "Features" it does not tell anything to the audience and it leaves then guessing what it could be, instead they could just put "Bio". No need to write "Merchandise" it could be replaced with "Store", "Buy Now", "Tat", etc.

Banner, websites usually often change to reflect the latest album. In this example we can see how the Banner does not reflect anything, the font and layout has been done terribly, as well as not being  related to the social media accounts.


This is their global website. In this website you could find 7 top links where they have added "Gallery". This is a better designed website because it does include the social media accounts such as Facebook, Twitter, etc. However, having 7 top links are too much and it is better to avoid it. Having 5 to 6 links is the best option. 

Friday 11 November 2016

Thursday 10 November 2016

Green Screen

For my music video I will be using green screen to achieve a better performance scenes and to create a ring effect for my character with a black mask.

Bellow is a tutorial in how to create the ring effect.



Wednesday 9 November 2016

Colour Correction on Final Cut Pro



In this video I experiment with colour correction on Final Cut Pro using one of the scenes for my Control Music Video. To create conventional electro-pop lighting I have used color correction. I worked with the colors to achieve a colour between pink and purple lighting with is a stereotype of electro-pop music video.

Saturday 5 November 2016

Sven E Carlsson's Theory

Halsey as a “modern mythic embodiment”

For this music video I 
will be performing both of those groups:
performance clip - where I will show the performer singing
conceptual clip - where I will have a separate artist acting to show the performers story.


Music video is a form of audio-visual communication in which the meaning is created via carriers of music, lyrics and moving images. 

The image - By manipulating colour, stove setting, story footage and clothing I can create the right mood of the music video. I will have bright colours to create electopop characteristics. I will be using smoke bombs to achieve those colours as well as Final Cut Pro Colour Correction

John Stewart's Theory

John Stewart's Theory
  1. To create the aesthetics of a TV commercial, I will be having lots go close ups of the performer and create different lighting and play with colour correction on Final Cut Pro
  2. He sees visual reference in music video as coming from a range of sources, although the three most frequent are perhaps cinema, fashion and art photography.
  3. Stewart’s description of the music video as ‘incorportating, raiding and reconstructing’ is essentially the essence of Intertextuality, using something with which the audience may be familiar, to generate both nostalgic associations and new meanings.
  4. The video allows more access to the performer than a stage performance can. The mise-en-scene, in particular, can be used to emphasise an aspirational lifestyle.

The Track

Control by Halsey track analysis.

This song describes the struggle she has as a person with bipolar disorder. She describes being a child in a house and knowing there are monsters lurking. Halsey means this as a metaphor for her own demon and fears. She wants to control the demons inside of her, but the question "who is in control?" means she is not sure it is possible. Halsey sings "I'm meaner than my demons," meaning she believes she can control her own demons. However, the fight with personal demons is something everyone can relate to.


These are comments left by some people on Lyrics page for this song. 


In this video Halsey talks about her mental health and explains why she is upset for people abusing her online for being who she is. 

This person even mentioned that they related to Halsey's bipolar and how she tried to fight it. They even mentioned that they liked the song because of the message they bring.