Music Video Feedback - Survey

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Digipak

Front Cover

Album Tracklist

CD

Credits

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Personally I feel, this image is representative of our artist, since the artist itself does not appear on the front of the digipak, just like other artists in the same genre such as Coldplay, Arctic Monkeys, Bastille etc. And rather they opt for an abstract image, than a set up shot of the artist, displaying their organic side.

The symbols of the clouds and the plane wing connotes that the band are travelling, this connects to the album title 'Trouble in Paradise'. The images of the clouds and the plane symbolises paradise and freedom, however since there is a black and white overlay the image, it denotes that something bad might happen, this is a use of foreshadowing.

It also relates to the artist being a 'Hapless Romantic' or unlucky in love and really illustrates the emotional side of the artist, which the audience will buy into.

The use of colour for the bands logo means that it stands out from the rest of the image, it also relates to the music video since it is a single paint smear, and in the music video our lead singer is a 'Painter', ultimately building a cohesive package throughout my product.

The use of Red/Pink invokes passion and romance also relating to the lyrics of the song and the artist's name 'Hapless Romantic.' This will attract the female audience however isn't restricted just to teenage girls since the image used is mature and professional meaning that an older generation or a young teenage boy can easily listen to this as well.

I also created a Deluxe and Vinyl Edition of the album, the only main difference is the colour of the accent, in the Deluxe edition is Gold. and in the Vinyl Edition is Turquoise.

          

Original Photograph

I made the shot black and white to focus on the form, texture, shape and composition of the image. There is a subtle change in tone and colour, which portrays a whole different colour in reality, and that what makes monochrome images effective.

I then made the image square so that it can be easily made to fit the digipak cover, I did this using the crop tool on Photoshop and using the ratio 1:1 so that it creates a perfect square.

Also on this image it includes the branding of an airline company, using photoshop I edited this out so that the viewer is unaware of the brand.

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For the Album Tracklist I used a shot of a crumpled up piece of paper as the background for the image, this relates to the music video in which the lead singer crumples up images of the girls he doesn't like.

Also on the tracklist page is the record labels logo, and documentation including copyright and licensing.
Alongside there is also a barcode, all albums must have a barcode to be sold in shops, also the use of a barcode allows for a record label to easily find the number of albums sold by that artist.

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The CD insert page is an image of a mountain range, again this relates to the emotional side of the artist, and relates to the album cover of the clouds as both are from a high angle.

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The Credits page is a silhouette of the artist, this was achieved by going around an image of a side profile in photoshop and filling it in with a block colour.

Many other artists have used this technique to conceal the band members identity, some examples include Naughty Boy single covers, and the Dead Leaves album cover:

Images for Digipak

I took an independent photoshoot without any other member of my group, since we all had to create an individual digipak ourselves.

I took these photos from my personal camera at different periods of time throughout the year, with the soul intention of using it for my artists digipak.

Therefore these images are of higher quality than would have been produced if we would have created a photo shoot, which would have seem fake or set up, this would fit more with my artist since I wanted to produce a synthetic artist with organic elements, such as making and producing their own music and not wanting their appearance to be the only selling point.

The images I created do not include the artists presence, nonetheless there are many other artists in the same genre who do not appear on the front cover of their album.
For example Coldplay, Kaiser Chiefs, Arctic Monkeys, Maroon 5, Alt-J, Royal Blood and Bastille.

Mainly these artist are bands with the lead singer being the only presence throughout the music video, this is displayed in our music video project as well.

However I will use images of my artist in the inside the digipak

Audience Feedback - Focus Group

We had a group of peers come watch our video to give some critical feedback. We gave them a survey with a series of questions.
Example of Responses from our focus group:

Music Video - For Critique

If you are unable to watch the above video please go to the following link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3HVV2V9_Po

Naming my Artist

I researched similar artists in the same genre as ours to see what their band name is like and how it was created. Artists including Maroon 5, Coldplay, Clean Bandit and Arctic Monkeys.

Most of the artist similar to ours have a name that is formed of two simple words, as such I will create a unique name made from two words.

Maroon 5, uses a colour in part of their name, as such I plan to use the name of a shade of colour as part of the artists name such as Navy, Indigo, Cyan, Teal

Also these bands have contradictory words, which adds a sense of intrigue for the audience. Therefore if the colour is a shade of blue, then the connotations that are made from using this colour should be contradicted with the other word used.

Those who write slow and downtempo songs usually use cold connotations in their name to reflect their work, to symbolise their depressed sombre lyrics. However those artists who write upbeat and cheerful songs have warm and colourful connotations in their name.
Therefore our artist is more likely to have warm coloured connotations since the song we are using is positive and cheery.

I also found that the artists name doesn't reflect the bands personality and style, such as Clean Bandit, which sounds like a gangster/R&B style group who are actually a band that only use orchestral instruments in their music. Therefore I can be really creative with the names, and any connotations from the words used will not be used to prejudge our artist.


Some example I created include:

• Indigo Sun
• Navy South
• Bitter Summer
• Dirty Saint
• Tropical Winter
• Humid Nights
• Organised Chaos
• Indian Summer
• Trouble in Paradise
• Hapless Romantic

I conducted a survey with my Target Audience on what they thought the best name for our artist was, and they thought that 'Hapless Romantic' was the best fit.

This also relates to our song since our narrative in the music video is our artist being unlucky in love and the band name 'Hapless Romantic'

Like other artists in the same Pop Genre including Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith and John Mayer all seem to tell stories about past relationships through the medium of song.

The name 'Hapless Romantic' is also associated to the target audience since the artist we are creating needs to be relatable to the audience. Since the target audience is Teenage girls, they will be probably going through the same situations as our artist.

Example Websites

One Direction are a synthetic boy band, their main audience members are teen girls which is highlighted in the layout and overall imagery of the website.

The first landing page is of the band in a face on shot with the One Direction Logo pasted atop, then the name of their most recent album is underneath 'Four' and then a hyperlink for the user to purchase this album.
If left on this image for a long time, the shots of the images change fairly quickly in a series of collages, displaying to the fans their childish and cheeky personalities and also adds a sense of depth to the website overall feel.

Further down the page the user if left with hyperlinks to different sections of their website, including: Music, Band, Tour, Journal, Shop and Merchandise.
If hovered over, the hyperlinks change through a series of fonts, which makes the website feel more interactive.

Down the page the user is overwhelmed with a large picture of the bands new music video, with a short description on one side of the page and a rather large play button on the other.

Then embedded into the page is a feed to the bands Instagram account, and a highlight from the 'Journal' section of the website, where the user is advertised to "Read More" of the article
Then a music section advertising the bands most recent album, then the bands next tour dates are displayed with a 'Buy Tickets' button.

The user is also encouraged to subscribe to the bands newsletters, to find out major news in the lives of the most successful boy band in recent times.

Another hyperlink to the bands gallery is joined with a link to the bands twitter feed, which has also been embedded into the page.

Lastly at the bottom of the page the user is finally able to listen to the bands music through various different platforms, there are also numerous links to the bands social media pages including: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Soundcloud, Spotify, YouTube, Instagram and Google plus

And also right at the bottom of the landing page is the artists record label, privacy policy and the ability to toggle the language which is seen on the page.

Social Media links and footer at the bottom of the page including Record Label, Language Toggle and Privacy Policy

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To contrast with the very synthetic boy band artist that is One Direction, I chose to look at the artist, Alt-J website, hoping to find the similarities and differences between these two different artists websites.

They are an indie band, however they relate to our artist since the artist is not featured in their music videos or on their album covers, and rather opt for a faceless and abstract approach.
The imagery of the artist used on both their album and throughout their website could be seen as childlike and abstract since the image is of coloured paint. This adds a sense of innocence to the bands personality.

The website homepage is very clean and relates to the artists album with imagery of the paint splattered.
The links on the first page include News, Live, Music, Shop, Sign Up. Once hovered over they have a different colour.
Underneath the links to the website they have links to social media and online media pages, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, SoundCloud, Tumblr and Spotify.

The News, Live and Music links automatically moves down the page where the contents is located, however the user can scroll down the page themselves without having to click a link.
However the Shop and Sign Up links take the user to a different webpage opened up in a new tab.

Other artists in their News section would include an embedded feed from their social media, however this artist feels though this is unimportant and feels like this is not actually news.

The next section is their Live concerts they are playing, it appears in a list with the most current show first, and also includes a link to where you can purchase tickets.

The SmartUrl website which allows the user to find
different ways to listen to the artists music

The Music Section, lists the artists songs on their most recent album, the user is then given the option to purchase through iTunes, CD or on Vinyl.
On certain songs which have been previously released as singles, once clicked, the user would be directed to a SmartUrl page where the user is given options to listen or watch the song or music video through various services such as YouTube, Vevo, Spotify, Rdio, Beats Music, Deezer, Google Play, Xbox Music etc.




At the bottom of the page it has the artists copyright, links to the artists record label, the websites privacy policy and terms & conditions.
And lastly there is a link to the website creator

Similarities	Differences
Highlights of content on one main page	1D – Links to different sections of the website for a more detailed look Alt-J – Directs you to items on this one main page
Interactive links to main pages including: ·      Music ·      Tour/Live ·      Shop ·      News/Journal	However these are in different orders for each artist. 1D – Also have link to merchandise
Interactive links to Social media pages including: ·      Facebook ·      Twitter ·      SoundCloud ·      Spotify Sign up to the artists’ newsletter for fans to receive major news happening to their artist.	1D – Pinterest, YouTube, Instagram, Google plus - These links are placed at the bottom of the page since their music isn't placed at the forefront of their careers success. Alt-J – Tumblr Instagram is a place where images are used to tell a story, and since 1D are sold on their looks, this is a perfect way for them to reach their fans, which may not be quite right for Alt-J.
Takes full use of the whole screen, adding to the viewers experience	1D - Large pictures of the band members
Buttons to purchase tickets for their upcoming events	1D - Twitter & Instagram feed embedded as part of their news
Able to play music video, stream and listen to music at a click of a button	1D – They are the face of their brand, not the music they create Alt-J – are faceless and use colour and imagery used on albums as a means of connecting to their fans
At bottom of page: Record Label, Privacy Policy	1D – Able to Toggle language