2. Bands/artists that I have researched:
While designing and creating my three products I looked at a range of different artists for
inspiration. Throughout this evaluation I will be referencing The Killers and Florence and
the Machine, drawing out aspects of their visual styles and strategies and comparing
them to my own I did look at other artists and bands but these are the artists that I
looked at the most in my planning. All the artists that we looked at are indie based music
like the genre my band is.
3. My products
I made a music video for the song ‘Teddy Picker’, I also made a digipak and
website for the band to go with the video. I was working in a group of three but we
decided to each produce the video and digipak individually and construct the
website as a group.
When making the website we looked at different colours that would look effective
together, create a brand identity for our band. We settled on black and white but
wanted some colour throughout to blend a minimalistic aesthetic with enough
colour to ensure visual impact on a shop shelf or online shop page. I looked for
different effects that I could put on the text and the logo to add colour and elected
to use an effect that added red and blue to the text/logo. This effect looks very
retro and gives a 3D look to our website, it also works really well with the main
theme of black and white, creating a blend of moody, serious monochrome and
lively, sharp tones. I took the colours from the website to use on my digipak
(which was black and white with a hint of red and blue here and there), when we
were getting the footage we had both red and blue lights on to follow the colours
of the website however when I made my own video I turned it all black and white,
to ensure that there was a uniform identity based around monochrome plus red
and blue highlights across the package of artefacts.
4. Florence and the Machine
From Florence and the Machine I looked at the digipak, website and music video for
inspiration for my own products. The fonts used in her website are consistent
throughout each page but are slightly different to the font used on her digipak, the fonts
i used are all quite similar, if not the same, on all products in order to create a similar
impression of a brand identity recognisable to consumers. The colour scheme is also
the same throughout each product of hers, in her website and her digipak the colours
are quite simple and minimal like the colour palette in her music video, I took this idea
and wanted a simple colour palette throughout all three of my products as i wanted to
give Paradox a similarly minimal serious aesthetic that connotes musical integrity rather
than frivolous, disposable pop stylings.
I looked at the different ways that she has incorporated intertextuality into her music
video, and used that to see if I could also have intertextuality into my own video. I also
looked at how long each shot was and how many shots were in her video so that I
could see what kind of editing rhythm suited tracks of particular tempos, I also looked at
the killers music video to see this too. In all her products we looked at what things were
included in her website, music video and digipak, so that we could then make sure that
we had also included everything in our own products so that they met industry
standards.
5. The Killers
I also looked at The Killers website digipak and music videos for inspiration.
Once again the font on the killers website is continuous throughout each page
like my own, however it is not the same on all the merch; the font is different on
different tops to what it is used on the website itself and the digipak.
Interestingly, The Killer’s have used the same font for their band name
throughout their career, making the band instantly recognisable from their style.
The dot work font looks like a name up in lights, linking them to the glam rock
they hybridise with indie music. I would maintain a consistent font for Paradox
too, reinforcing their identity for the long term
We looked at some different songs of theirs when we were originally deciding
which song we were going to use for our own video, we also looked at and took
inspiration from their website. We looked at their layout of website, what was on
the different pages like for example their page which has their photos on of the
band, we did use some idea we had while looking at their website and used
them on our own, we liked how each page was laid out with a clarity and
simplicity that made it very user friendly and easy to navigate.
6. Incorporation into my own products
All three of my products link to each other through the use of colours (black white, red and
blue, fonts (similar and the same fonts on each product), etc and work well together. The
colour scheme all links together and is the same, my video is in black and white, my digipak
is mainly black and white with some colour throughout, and my website is also black and
white based with colour throughout, bringing a gritty, authentic and raw monochrome realism
to each product and a uniform brand identity to the band. I tried to create a brand identity
throughout my website, digipak and music video for my band, based around the indie rock
genre, I did this through props (typical props seen in indie videos such as instruments) and
costume (band members following quite an indie style) on the music video and through
looking at different conventions in real band websites and digipaks and incorporating them in
my own products. The clothing style, urban environments, emphasis on skilled musicianship
and low key style all combine to make the band seem indie, edgy, gritty and the opposite of
vacuous, empty pop genre bands.
I have taken inspiration from the products I have looked and used it in my own products
without copying them exactly, for example I looked at the layout of some of the pages on the
killers website like their store/merch page, and looked at how I could use that in my product.
Like I said earlier I also looked at both The Killers website and digipak to see what different
aspects I needed to have in my products and did the same with products from Florence and
the Machine.
7. Social Media
Social media is used on a daily basis in this society. People use it to stay up to date with
their friends, family and people who they admire like celebrities and artists it is used more
now as technology has updated and allows people to contact those who they can't talk to
face to face on a daily basis. For the purpose of my production however, it is the use of
social media as a promotional platform that is important.
Artists use social media to advertise their new products and also to keep their fans up to
date with news and with updates of their music. Most of artists social medias are also linked
with spotify or sound-cloud or with somewhere where their fans can then buy/listen to either
albums or their singles, ensuring the media platform is both informative, promotional and
sales-driven.
Spotify, and other platforms where you can listen and buy music, usually have ads in social
media which will show different musicians and their newest music, this gives people on the
media new artists to looks at and also gives new artists a chance to grow a fan base, with a
real opportunity for buzz around a new band to spread virally among interested consumers.
I showed one social media in my video, instagram, this was how one of my characters saw
the bands poster and then sent it and messaged her mother to ask if she could go see the
band. My hope was to show that Paradox are both a band with an ‘old school’ live act
approach and a modern band too.
8. synergy
Synergy is the cooperation between two or more parts of a system so that the combined
effect is greater than the sum of their separate effects.
Most artists will be asked to either write a song for or sing a song in an upcoming movie,
usually disney, this song will then most likely be released by that artist and then will also be
used in the movie, the song will also be released by the company, example Disney, in a CD
of the films songs.
When creating my products I used synergy, I included a shop where fans can purchase
merchandise, I included the song on the first page of my website and there is a consistent
theme throughout, linking each product, we used the same color scheme and tried to make it
fit the indie genre. I included the bands logo, which is quite minimal and simple so is easy to
remember, on each product allowing the audience to recognise the band and link each
product together.
One example of synergy could be with the MINI countryman advert that uses a song by an
indie artist called Jake Bugg called ‘Lightning Bolt’, this allows the song to be promoted as if
people like the sound of the song they will research it and listen to it and possibly other
songs that artist has released.
