5 Seconds of Summer - Example Website

5 Seconds of summer is an Australian Pop Punk band
The band consists of lead vocalist, guitarist, bass guitarist, and drummer.

The group were originally YouTube celebrities, posting videos of themselves covering songs from various artists in 2011. From there, they gained a small following in 2012 after posting a series of cover versions of popular songs onto YouTube, then rose to international fame when One Direction invited them on their Take Me Home Tour.

The artist also has their own logo and another name they go by '5SOS' this is a much catchier name to go by, and their logo allows them to stand out amongst the other boy bands out there.

Merchandise
Their official merchandise include:

• T-shirts
• Hoodies
• Headbands
• Calenders
• Wirstbands
• Beanie hats
• Tote Bags
• Keyring

Alongside this, you can also purchase bundles which includes limited edition t shirts, posters and Deluxe editions of their album.

The bulk of the merchandise fall below £15 however Hoodies, and Deluxe Bundles can cost as much as £35.

As there are 4 members in the band it means that the fans have the option to purchase each individual band members own item, or they can purchase a pack which costs less than it would to purchase each one individually, this is a strategy to gain even more revenue from merchandise.

Other official merchandise by bands can go up to £50 for a duvet set. This means that 5SOS is directing their merchandise at the cheaper end of the market, otherwise consumers might be put off by the high prices.

The 5SOS store is owned and run by Universal Group.  This means that the record label would presumably receive all of the profits made from selling these products. This is just another reason an indie record label would be unable to compete against the record label giants.

Social Media
Their social media communication includes:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• YouTube
• Instgram
• Email
• SoundCloud
• Tumblr

These allow the artist to communicate with their fans, they are also able to advertise themselves on a global scale, Which means even larger sales.

5 Seconds of Summer, have been reported saying that when they have time off from working, they stalk their own fans. Which means that they can find out what they like and create new media around their advice.

Fonts Colours & Images
The font they use as part of their star image is 'Plastique' it is a font that is based on a type writer and only uses capital letters. This allows for the band to stand out from the other boy bands out there.



The background colours they use on their website and album is black and dark grey, and to highlight options they use White, Purple and Red, this may be used to attract viewers attention. Red and Purple is stereotypically a 'girly' colour, as to attract to the typical target audience.

The images on the website only consist of the band itself, which adds to the synthetic nature of the band. Some of the photos are personal amateur shots, which adds to the relatablility of the artist.

Target Audience
All of this attributes point to the target audience of teenage girls. From the merchandise, colours and social media they use are all targeted to a young audience.

Star Image
The star image of this band, is that they are trying to be a rock/punk band, but also appeal to girls, so they have to use grunge and funky colours so that it fits both criterias.

Organic VS Synthetic
The artist that would have a website like this would be a synthetic artist just because they have sections for Photos, also the social media they use means that they're the face of their music and the audience this website is directed to is pubescent girls.


From this I have gained a clear understanding that I now need to create a cohesive package and make sure that my music video and website link, if I am going to have an image on my CD cover that isn't of the band then i need to reflect the same on my website. Therefore my aim must be to find a striking image that would be un-threatening to pre-pubescent girls that equally sell him as a hapless romantic. At this stage I am veering towards using pastel colours, as I feel they are comforting, warm and non-threatening, everything I am trying to get towards in my artists star image.

Shooting Schedule

Time	Info
10:30	Setting Up equipment at House
11:00	Film Brandon getting ready & Print out model advert (Shots 2-3, 24-26)
11:45	Leave Kim’s House
11:50	Arrive at café location & Set up
11:55	Film at café – Rachel & Brandon (Shots 5-7)
12:15	Leave café location
12:20	Arrive at Park location/Back Up
12:25	Film shots of girl in park (Shots 27,29,30)
12:50	Film Brandon painting – Blank canvas & equipment (Shots 28,31 & Extra shots painting)
13:20	Leave Park/Back up
13:20	Arrive at Garage – Film location (Shots 1,4 & extra setting shots)
13:45	LUNCH BREAK
14:15	Start filming Rachel – Close Up & Walking In (Shots 15-23)
14:40	Girls arrive
14:50	Start filming girls interview (Shots 8,9)
15:20	Film Brandon reaction to arrivals & crunching up paper (Shots 10-14)
15:35	Walking down to House – Lipsycing (Shots 36-37)
15:55	Film at house – Upstairs & Window (Shots 38-40)
16:30	Film point of view – Cuddling (Shots 41-44)
16:40	Film texting – Artist & Girl (Shots 32-35)

Audience Questionnaire

We printed out numerous copies of this questionnaire and asked a large group of teenagers to fill it in for us so that we would gain a better understanding of how teenagers (our target audience) view music videos and what they would like to see in a music video so that we can compare their thoughts and opinions to our music video to see if we have what they are looking for and if there are areas we need to rethink or add more to.

From this we learnt that we needed to cast someone who had the right look for our teenage market. In addition we needed to make sure that our narrative merged seamlessly with our lip syncing because it was all going to be continuous and if it didn't work it wouldn't look proffessional. Therefore our targets are to make sure that our casting is perfect, that we work on how we want our main actor to sing and which shots he will sing, we rehearse with him and make sure we have the correct amount of shots to avoid it being dull because if it is dull it will not appeal to our target audience.

Actor Inspiration

The Artist - We wanted our main actor, to wear casual clothing and not dress up too much.
We based his style on Harry Styles and Ed Sheeran's casual clothing that they wear. Even though both artists have developed a sleeker look as they now have stylists, we wanted our actor to look mainly dressed down.  These two are very influential artists in the music industry scene, and seeing as our target audience are adolescent girls, they would easily identify our inspiration and be able to relate to it.

       


The Boyfriend - We then wanted our 'Boyfriend' to have a suave and sophisticated 'Bad Boy' look, we searched for examples and came across the actor Ed Westwick, and old school style James Dean. James Dean is an icon for the 'bad boy' image, having inspired other people in the media industry including Justin Bieber and James Franco. We found this would be effective as they are influential characters, and fit in well with our target audience.

The Artist and the Boyfriend's actor inspiration both oppose each other. One is a very causal while the other is a particularly masculine look. This is a binary opposition and goes with the representation that Girl's go for the 'Bad Boy' rather than the one that is actually right for them.

                  


The Model - We wanted our Female actress to be styled based on the 'Girl Next Door', examples of this styling include actress Zooey Deschanel and Kiera Knightly in the movie 'Begin Again'. Both of these actresses are very down to earth and not 'untouchable'. The target audience of juvenile girls would be able to relate to this as they are only young and discovering their own style.

           













Star Image
The star image related to this is a casual yet stylish band, that is 'down to earth' and easily relatable, this is shown by the actors inspiration by including other famous people who are known to be 'down to earth' and stylish.

Organic VS Synthetic
The artist is synthetic and is primarily sold on their looks and so the clothing must be stylish, yet not over the top and unattainable. To attract the right target audience of young teenage girls.

Genre
The genre of the band is particularly pop related and so the actors must be stylish and the clothes that they wear should be popular choices.


From looking at actors I have understood that my artist should be both appealing to the opposite sex, non threatening, as i want him appealing to young girls, but also have a nice smile. He needs to have a boy next door look, not overly good looking but equally appealing to them. My target now is to look for a suitable actor and audition them.

Artists Similar to Ours

We have chosen a particular artist that has a target audience of teenage girls. We chose this because they are very popular within the music industry at the moment, since the rise of X Factor and talent contest emulating the talent and looks of new bands, and we decided to take advantage of what is popular right now.

We want our artist to be similar to the most popular artists at the moment, like these ones below :

All these artists are based around their star image and are big in the pop genre. This is similar to our artist. The star image of these groups is based around their good looks and the attraction of teenage girls, which is what we want. All of the groups have the clean cut look, which is exactly what we were looking for.

These boy bands are based on their looks and sold on this ideology, meaning that these artists are completely synthetic.

These artists are represented as innocent sex appeal, which seems to sell alot with young girls.

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CHANGES

I wanted my artist to be more organic and therefore not sold solely on their appearance rather than their musical talents. As a result The Star image of my artist has changed to a down to earth, relatable and attainable band.

Artists which are similar in the way they represent themselves to their audience include:

All these artists are bands, in their album cover they usually have abstract images or symbols, which do not show the artists physical appearance. Also in their music videos they normally have the lead singer only who is seen in their video. For example Adam Levine, Chris Martin, Alex Turner and Dan Smith appear in the bands music videos either Lip syncing or acting a role, while the other band members normally remain anonymous and are not involved in the video.

Star Image for our Artist

As a collective group we decided that we wanted our stars image to be relateable and down to earth.
We also wanted our artist in the video to appear as the 'Boy Next Door', we did this by having him in casual clothing, which made him appear attainable and unassuming. Also we had a scene in which he looks in the mirror before going out, this would portray him as not being arrogant or self obsessed, since he is unsure whether he will get the girl.

Examples of similar artists include: Olly Murs, Sam Smith, Ed Sheeran

Removed from my group, I decided that my artist would appear better if he was in a band. I could easily do this as I wanted my band to not be sold purely on their appearance, and therefore our artist would not appear on the front of the digipak.
There are plenty of bands, where the lead singer is the face of the band, I also wanted to do this for my artist, which is why he is the only one who appears in the music video.

Other artists similar include: Coldplay, Arctic Monkeys, Maroon 5

Performance

Because we wanted our video to be as realistic and naturalistic as possible, we have limited the amount of performance based shots we have. This is because we wanted it to portray real life.


However, there are some shots where our main actor is lip syncing the lyrics. We did this as we wanted to portray that, although our target audience is typically girls, the song can be enjoyed by the male sex too. This also portrays that our song and video is not stereotypically aimed at one age group/sex but can be enjoyed by anyone.
The fact that our main actor will be lip syncing whilst painting, portrays the catchyness of the song, and how it can be interpreted in many different ways, and is left to the audience to decide.
This also links to the genre which is pop, which illustrates the casual and light heartedness of the song.
Star Image
Organic VS Synthetic
Genre




By lip syncing and limiting dance routines, it means that this can be related to other artists similar to McFly such as One Direction.


The artist we are selling is synthetic, the performance relates to this by highlighting the artists features rather than their performance ability, as the artist is sold on their looks.

Target Audience
The performance element relates to our audience as many of the teenage girls watching these videos only watch because their favourite artist is in it, not because it is visually appealing.

The performance can relate to the genre, as boy bands include teenagers that would not feel comfortable dancing. One Direction's Zayn is famous for this by choosing not to dance in the X Factor boot camp.

Another example of Lip Syncing used in a music video is Pharrell Williams chart topping song 'Happy' which features multiple actors walking towards camera lip syncing Pharrell's audio.

From an analysis of music videos there is an element of lip-syncing but there is equally a sense of narrative, at this moment in time I would equally merge the two. It is important for me to convey a sense of our singer as being organic in a sea of synthetic pop acts, I want him to stand out, at this point in time we are thinking of having him as an artist, so that we can demonstrate that he is an organic artiste. If we have him lip-syncing while he is painting we can do cut aways and close ups of him singing as he is painting, that way we can develop a narrative strand alongside the lip-syncing, which would demonstrate to the target audience of teenage girls that he is 'happy go lucky.'

Actors

We have chosen our actors/actress according to the character we want them to play. For the main character, the painter, we wanted him to be quite a casual, typical boy.

We decided this because we wanted to make it as realistic as possible. 

Our girl actress fits into the character we adapted for her very well, because we wanted her to be like 'the girl next door'. This means, very innocent, sweet and simple.


Our final actor is the girls boyfriend. We chose this particular person because we thought he suited the macho look of 'the other guy' and the harsh reality of falling in love with someone you can't have.

Star Image
The star image of McFly is a down-to-earth rock band, we showed this with our actors by using good looking but not unattainable type people, so that the audience can relate to the music video.

Organic VS Synthetic
The artist is fairly synthetic this means that the actors in it should be good looking and attractive to the viewer. Usually the band would be in a synthetic music video as the artist is sold on their looks as well as their music.

Target Audience
All our actors are in the age of out target audience, also as this artist mainly appeals to young teenage girls we wanted to use relatable and good looking actors to attract the audience, and to keep them watching.
This artist can easily be compared to other Boy Bands and their videos. Such as One Direction, The Wanted, Union J etc.

Genre
The actors relate to the Genre of pop, as the actors are attractive and the lead actor could fit in with a boy band.

Email to Record Label

Lyrics - Love Is Easy

Do do do do do do
Do do do do do do
Do do do do do do

Today I'm laughing the clouds away
I hear what the flowers say
And drink every drop of rain
And I see places that I have been
In ways that I've never seen
My side of the grass is green

Oh I can't believe that it's so simple
It feels so natural to me

If this is love then love is easy
It's the easiest thing to do.
If this is love, then love completes me
Cause it feels like i've been missing you
A simple equation,
With no complications to leave you confused.
If this is love love love,
Oh it's the easiest thing to do

Do do do do do do
Do do do do do do
Do do do do do do

Do you, feel the way that i do
Do i turn your grey skies blue
And make dirty streets look new
And the birds sing
tweehe hee hee hee
Tweedily dee dee dee
Now i know exactly what they mean.

Oh I can't believe that it's so simple
It feels so natural to me

If this is love then love is easy
It's the easiest thing to do
If this is love then love completes me
Cause it feels like I've been missing you
A simple equation,
With no complications to leave you confused.
If this is love love love,
Oh it's the easiest thing to do

Do do do do do do
Do do do do do do
Do do do do do do

If this is love then love is easy
It's the easiest thing to do
If this is love then love completes me
Cause it feels like I've been missing you
A simple equation,
With no complications to leave you confused.
If this is love love love,
Oh it's the easiest thing to do

Do do do do do do
Do do do do do do
Do do do do do do
Oh this is love love love love
Do do do do do do
Do do do do do do
Do do do do do do

Location

For our main location, We are using one of our group members garage. It has a very casual feel, and is a perfect environment for a person who needs peace and quite to paint.

Also its grungy and raw astethic means that it looks like a perfect location for a person to be creative.

We are putting an advertisement in the local cafe, which we have permission to use.

This Cafe is perfect since it has a billboard which the viewers can identify instantly

It also has a large glass display at the front of the shop, which works perfectly with our plot.

We are then using the window at the bottom of Kim's house, where the main actor finds the model with another man.

This location is perfect since the viewer can see what is happening from multiple points of view without it getting too complicated, and acts as a vantage point where the artist can see the girl with her boyfriend.


One of our other locations is in the Local Park, however this is determined by the weather on the day of shooting, if bad weather occurs we would need to think of a backup plan.

However this location is perfect since it is a different kind of location from the other sets we have used , and so the variation means that the viewer wont get bored of watching.



Star Image
The star image of the band is a pragmatic boy band, and so having relatable icons such as a Cafe is ideal, as they wouldn't look right dancing in front of a green screen.

Organic VS Synthetic
By setting this in an urban environment it adds an edginess to the music video, which relates to the boy band, McFly as they aren't a normal clean cut boy band that don't have any interaction with their music that they sing, but actually Tom Fletcher in the band writes most of the songs they have produced and has also written for other artists.

By using this setting it adds a sense of realism in this microcosmic world that we have created.

Target Audience
The majority of the target audience would be living in a suburban area and can relate to the locations we filmed in. Such as the cafe isn't really a place you would think you would find a music artist.

Genre
The locations relate to the Genre as many synthetic artists try to use organic techniques to make them seem more organic than they actually are. An example of this is Lily Allen's music video 'Our Time', where Lily Allen has a "night out" where she is seen in a cab, partying and dressed in a hot dog costume.

Animatic

Fantasy VS Reality

With our idea of boy meets girl, falls in love but doesn't get girl, we decided to go against the typical 'rom-com' idea and portray real life events, and show our viewers that they are infact not alone in this situation.

Most music videos/films portray a fairy tale type story, of boy meets girl, they fall in love with each other and end up happily ever after. However, this is not the case, and despite it being harsh, we wanted the audience to see real life events and get a taste of teenage life and hardships.

Instead of doing a 'Cinderella' type story, we have put our own twist on it to show the viewers the reality of being in your teens and the hardships that come with it. We decided this because we wanted to be honest, rather than giving the audience false hope or false 'dreams' to aspire over.

As well as this, the fairy tale type of story is very common, and we wanted to put our own twist on it to get the audience intrigued, rather than being bored of the same story and highlighting the unrequited love.

Lighting

Throughout our music video, we want the lighting to be warm. This is because we don't want to give the audience a wrong impression of the style of our video.

Additionally, because our song is synthetic, we're portraying the pop style with neutral lighting. When Brandon is painting the model, there will be a spotlight on her to portray her importance to Brandon, and to outline her beauty.

However, when Brandon takes the painting to her house to declare his love to her, the lighting will be darker and greyer, to match the tone. This will be a pathetic fallacy, and illustrate Brandon's pain at seeing the girl he loves with another man.

We want to use similar lighting that of the One Direction video 'You and I'. The lighting is natural, but has a cold and dark undertone, illustrating the unrequited love.

We want to conform to the conventions of a music video by portraying the sad elements of the song as a bleaker experience for the audience. This will signal a change in atmosphere, which is in-keeping with a typical pop video.

Audience Questionnaires

To get a diverse range of opinions on music videos, our group went round asking some of our school peers, questions on what they thought about music videos. We chose to interview students in our school as they were easy to gather and were in the Target Audience age range.

• What music do you like?

• What do you look for in a music video?

• How important is the presentation of the artist in the video?

• To what extent do you think the look of their artist will help the music video?

• What makes a music video unique?

• How important is the music video in the selling of a song?

• Why do you watch music videos?

• What do you like about music videos?

• What do you dislike about music videos?

We printed out numerous copies of this questionnaire and asked a large group of teenagers to fill their answers out for us so that we would gain a better understanding of how teenagers (our target audience) view music videos and what they would like to see in a music video, so that we can compare their thoughts and opinions to our music video to see if we have what they are looking for, and if there are areas we need to rethink or add more to.

Target Audience

Due to our song being by a synthetic artist, we have chosen a particular teenage target audience from ages 12 - 20; this is because the boy band fans usually consist of teenage girls of this age.

Our idea, to contradict the song came to us because we didn't want the same old clichéd girl meets boy and subsequently falls in love. We wanted to show the audience the true reality and hardships of love. We have selected 12 - 20 year old because that is the time when people start to become interested in the opposite sex, and start to experience relationships. We wanted to portray the reality of love and all the baggage that comes with it.

We did this because we wanted to have a twist on it, and do something different, and, as stated above, not do the stereotypical love story.

Costumes and Props

Styling

We looked through the web site 'ASOS' to find styling tips for our actors to wear on the day of shooting, we also picked this website as it is a very popular with our target audience,

Main Boy - Painter
Will be wearing a plain white t-shirt that we will splatter with paint. This will portray his hard work and effort that has gone into the painting of the girl indicating his affection for her. This plain attire will also portray to the audience how he is very ordinary, and very relatable to the audience as just an "average Joe".



Main Girl - Model
We decided to pursue our theme of 'the girl next door' and choose a casual outfit. This is to predominately express her features and express more of her facial features rather than her clothing. We also didn't want to portray a materialistic outlook in our video, so we chose something cute and casual, to further show that she is friendly yet not asking for attention.

Boyfriend - Typical 'Bad Boy'

We wanted to express that he was much more sophisticated than the painter. We decided this due to the fact we wanted to illustrate some form of superiority, and masculinity. Therefore we chose outfits that were much more classy, sophisticated and charming.

 



The Artist and the Boyfriend's actor inspiration both oppose each other. One is a very causal while the other is a particularly masculine look. This is a binary opposition and goes with the representation that Girl's go for the 'Bad Boy' rather than the one that is actually right for them.

Props

We would want the walls to be adorned with past paintings done by the artist. And painting paraphernalia including easels, paint pots, brushes etc.

We also want to include a desk/table into the set design so that when the girls come in for their interview, it seems professional and it works in the environment.

This table may be transferable so that it works in the art style room, it could be cluttered with other arty objects such as vases.

We would need a chair/stool for the model to
sit on, as the artist must draw her.