Website research - Content

In this post, I will show the next stage of my Website research. This research will be based around the content that can be find on existing artists web pages. These pages will be based around the same genre that Milburn are classed in "Indie Rock". Example of pages that usually are present are home pages and contact pages for example.

Home
The most used page on a website is the Home page. The home page is usually the first page that appears to the user once they have clicked on the link to the website. A Home page that i have looked at is on Jake Buggs Website who also creates Indie Rock Music. His Home page looks fairly simple but there is actually lots of content when the user looks closer. The first major content that stands out on his page is the social networking links that can be seen. They are contained in little circles with there notable logos that the audience should recognise. Examples of  these social networking sites are Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. This is a very common convention that artists use in the present day. It allows fans to interact with each over about there artist, they could even interact Jake Bugg himself vie Twitter. Having links to YouTube is also smart as this promotes Jake Buggs music, as fans can view many of his music videos if the click on the YouTube link.

Other content that is used in the home page is news. Here the user can scroll down and find all the latest information such as upcoming Gigs, new albums, new music videos and so on. This is useful as the user does not necessary have to scroll through the other pages on the site. On his home page, we can also see a banner at the top, this banner gives the user information on his newest album titles "Shangri La" saying is is available to purchase now. If the user clicks on the link it takes them to iTunes where they can purchase the album. This is useful as the artist can make money as well as promote his work at the same time. The banner is actually on evrypage and changes to many different types of advertisement related to Jake Bugg.

Gigs

Photos 

Contact

Releases

Editing Using Final Cut

In the above photo, i have added an effect to a clip at the end of my sequence. The effect i added was a fade in at the start and then a fade out at the end. The effect was rather easy to implement. First i highlighted the start of my clip, i then pressed control and T on my keyboard, the same process was completed at the end of my clip. This added the fade in and fade out effect. The scene that i added it to shows a long shot of a pathway which ends my sequence.

Above shows the place where my clips were placed once they were imported into final cut from the camera. This area makes it easy to drag and drop my clips into the timeline and then edit them.

The image above shows the edited footage for the start of my track, around 35 seconds in.

The next screen shot, shows me browsing through the effects, the effect i was looking for was a colour change. Part of my clips will be a separate time period to the others, so around half my video i would like to be in black and white. To add this effect, i went to color corrector, i then dragged it to my chosen clip.

Once i dragged it to my clip, the clip becomes highlighted. To change the colour i then double clicked on it.

When i double clicked the clip, the clip appears separately on the left, i then clicked on color corrector at the top. The above image shows what appears. Here the colour can be changed to what ever the user desires. To change it to black and white however i just dragged the saturation bar all the way to the left.

The above shows what the visual look like when i completed this process. As you can see the colour has changed to black and white. This was very useful and quick to apply to my video. However if i want to add this effect to another clip, i actually don't have to complete the same process again. Instead there is another method which is much quicker.

Above shows the quicker method. The middle icon with the hand shows how i do this. I went back into color corrector on the clip, i then selected this icon and dragged it to another clip that i wanted in black and white. I completed this process for all the clips that i wanted in black and white.

The next editing technique i added to my clip was change of speed. The change in speed that i wanted, was to slow down time. I managed to do this by double clicking the particular clip, clicking on the motion bar, scrolling down to speed and changing the speed. This slowed to clip down once the percentage was dropped. I used this on many clips throughout my video, the speed various depending on the clip. I used this in my clip, because it adds more focus into what is going on in the clip, hopefully the audience will be able to highlight these moments.

Risk Assessment

Call sheet

Web page research - Style

Part of this project, I am required to design a website for my band. This is required because websites are very useful in terms of promotion. Before I design my website for my album, I need to gather research that will give me ideas in-terms of visual style and navigation. The band that I am creating the music video for is Milburn, so I will analyse 5 similar bands in-terms of genre and compare them later.

Arctic Monkeys - (http://www.arcticmonkeys.com/)

I will first start by analysing the website for the Arctic Monkeys. They are a good starting point because they have a similar music style to Milburn, they also come from the same city of Sheffield and are currently one of the most recognizable bands in the country. I think it is also relevant to start with them as I am taking a slightly same approach to my style of video as they do, these styles can be seen in a previous post that I have completed.

The Screenshot to the left shows the general home page for the bands website. The first notable style of the website seems to generally use the colours of black and white ( black for the background,white for he text. Firstly this is a smart way of separating the text and backgrounds so the viewer knows what is going on on-screen. However i think the main reason this is used is that many elements of the bands new album consist of black and white styles. 

This can be seen firstly with the Album cover for 'AM'. The cover has the same
colours white and black, it also implicates a white zig zag line which can be seen on the home page of the website.

This can be seen in a music video by the band for the song 'do I wanna know'. The video shows a black background with a white guitar string that is in sync with the music.

As you can see from the above, the Arctic Monkeys have started a theme that can be seen throughout their work. They use a range of blacks and whites that are easily recognizable to the audience, so when they see this style they will know it is something to do with the band. This could be a style that I implement on my website, for example i could take a certain aspect from my video and implement it into my webpage and digipak.

Navigation

The navigation on the Arctic Monkeys site is rather simple, but simple is sometimes good for a web page as some web users may struggle to use complicated sites if they are not used to using the internet. Their site is very simple to use and the most inexperienced person on the internet should mange when browsing the site.

The above screenshot, shows the simple navigation bar that can be seen at the top of the Arctic Monkeys website. This is the main bar that allows the user to browse through the main pages. over navigation on the pages includes links to pacific pages, for example if one was on the releases page, there is a list of albums/singles that have been released by the band, if the user clicks on one of these, they will be taken to a separate page that details the album/single. This can be seen throughout the main pages with video, pictures and much more.

The above shows the gig link at the top of the page. When not highlighted, the link remains black (left). However when the browser highlights the link, it changes to white (right), this can be seen above. this is an interesting way of making the page interactive to the audiences. It has also kept to the black and white theme that the Arctic monkeys are currently using throughout their work.

The Strokes

This style of navigation could be useful to use for my webpage design. Keeping the navigation simple will attract more of a broad audience increasing the popularity of the webpage. I also like the colour change when the navigation is highlighted. However i would use a range of colour to make the page more stylish and interesting.

The next website that I will annotate is the band the strokes. This band is also similar to Milburn and the Arctic Monkeys, so I think it would be a good idea to research websites that are the same genre of music. First I have taken a screenshot of the homepage of the website. This is the first page the audience see when they enter the site.

The home page uses only three types of colours, red for the background, which is very eye-catching for the audience. Black is used for some of the text present, this is the banner "home" this shows the audience which page they are on. black is also used to highlight the title of the band in the top left "the strokes". Like the Arctic Monkeys the strokes site share themes that can be seen throughout the latest work.

The website shares the same colours and names as the album design. This is a common convention that artists use in the work. It allows the audience to recognise an artist work, for example if a user saw the strokes website and then the album, they would beadle to easily tell that the album and website are linked.

Digipak forms and conventions

Forms

There are many different forms of digipak that are available to purchase or design. Digipak are unique to traditional jewel cases because there are many ways to form a digipak, they can have any number of panels that fold out, these styles change to suit the particular artists. During this lessons we were given a number of existing digipak to annotate the various features.

This is a digipak by Seth Lakeman, the album is titled freedom fields. I like the artistic style of this digipak, the colour contrast that highlights the artists face is some-think that i would like to use for my design. This digipak does not have only UV coating however, which means it will damage quicker.

This digipak has to panels, when opened one comes out at the left. The left holds a CD that is slotted into a card board slip. The right side features the main CD that is fitted into a plastic case, this is usually the only place plastic is used on digipak.

This next digipak is from the band the Beatles, This is one that stood out for me because of the wide rage of colours that are used.

When opened, this digipak opens slightly differently to the one above, first it opens into two sides with where the CD can not be seen. It features band art to the right and has a cardboard slot where the album notebook is places, which contains the track listing and various over things.

The right side then opens again that shows a very good picture of the band. A plastic slot can also be seen where the CD is placed.

Overall the digipak that i have looked at all share similar conventions. They all have these plastic slits in the digipak where CD are placed, this is usually for a bonus disc, whereas the main disc is placed on the plastic CD slot that is more of a traditional way of holding a CD. I would like to include both a Plastic holding and a Card slot. This is because i will include a bonus disc and the main Album CD.

Digipack Planning

Disc Area

Front Cover

Back Cover

Inside Front Cover

Digipak Research

Digipak

A Digipak is a sort of book style outer blinding, which is usually made from card store or paperboard. The style of a digipak can open side ways or upwards, this depends on the style that is intended. A digipak also contains plastic trays that are inserted, these hold the Chosen DVD/CD. Digipak are most commonly used for CD, there are usually created for special editions, such as a performers special anniversary. An example of a digipak can be seen below -

Jewel case

A jewel case is the most traditional method of selling a CD. They are different to Digipak for a number of reasons. Firstly they use much more plastic that is intended to protect the inside of the case. The plastic is see through so the inside content can be seen. A jewel case opens up with only to sides inside, This is different to a digipak because they can open with many sides folding out. An example of a jewel case can be seen below -

Pros

There are many benefits of using a digipak rather than a traditional jewel case, these can be seen listed below -

• Digipak enable artists to have multiple pages in there digipak, this allows them to illustrate art that is related to them. They can also have multiple images of the band/artists which is used in many digipak. 
• The production of digipak can also be beneficial evronmentally. this is because they are prodomently made from card or paper board, many recycled materials can also be used.
• Digipak use 60% less plastic than jewel cases.

Cons

There are however some disadvantages of digipak, which are listed below -

• Digipak are traditionally more expensive the make when it comes to production, which effects the cost when a buyer comes to purchase the item.
• They can also be very easy to damage, this is due to the fact that they are either made from paperboard or card, over time rare and tare will form if not properly looked after, however The material can be coated in UV coating which slow down the process of rare and tare.

Overall digipak are very popular in the music industry today, I think this is down to both commercial and productive reasons, Less plastic is needed and in some cases not at all, this is beneficial because the cost of materials is cheaper, also the less plastics are used is more beneficial to the environment. They are also very artistic which allows the artists to express certain themes of the band. They are more appealing to customers as well because of the artistic feel.

I think if there was a genre of music that would not favour them, it would be classical music. Are think this is because the genre of music is not necessary about certain themes like band art and pictures of the artists, it is more about the music, so this genre tends to use jewel case instead.

Prop List

Below a list of props that i intend to use in my video can be seen. These props are what i plan to use, however this may change, for instance i may decide to add props when i come to film.

• Cigarettes
• Lighter
• Mobile Phone (use of video camera)
• Alcohol
• Clothing

Cast and crew

I plan to use many different crew members and characters in my video. As i am the only member in my group from my class, i am using my friends and a couple of family members to shoot my music video.

Crew

Cinematographer - There will be many people using the camera in production of my video. There will be many because my friends and family are only available at different times of the day and week. I will also use the camera in my music video, this will be done when i am not need to act, which will happen multiple times throughout my clip.

Director - I will also take role as director in this production. I will use my storyboard to instruct the crew and cast on how to take the specific shot.

Cast

Main character - I will also take the role as the main character in the video.

Secondary character - My friend Liam will take on the secondary lead in this video, he will play the main characters best mate.

Other character - There will also be many other characters throughout my video, this will include background character and organized cast, which will mainly be played by my friends.

Animatic

Storeyboard

Request Permission

Above an email can be seen that i was required to send to the record label who own the rights to the track "when the sun goes down", the record label that own the rights is Domino records. The link below shows proof of the contact page on the website. I have contacted them so i have permission to use the track. I have also stated that i do not wish to use the track for commercial reasons, only educational.

Lyrics

Lo Lo & Behold
Time has taken it's toll
You say that your in control
So now's the time to be bold

Lo Lo & Behold
Time has taken it's toll
You say that your in control
Well i don't know

Lo Lo & Behold
Time has taken it's toll
You say that your in control
So now's the time to be bold

Lo Lo & Behold
Time has taken it's toll
You say that your in control
Well i don't know

Lo Lo & Behold
Time has taken it's toll
You say that your in control
So now's the time to be bold

Lo Lo & Behold..

Ideas From Existing Music Video

To create an idea of how i want my video to be structured, i have researched and taken ideas from existing music video that i would like to use in my video. These ideas include cinematography, mise en scene, editing and narrative. Below my finding can be seen that show what i have find and why i would like to include this in my video.

The main idea that i have come up with in my video is to include a sunrise and sunset at the start of my clip and at the end. When this came to mind their is a particular way in which i want this to look. I would like my main character to be in these shots as the sunrises and sets. The sunrise and set however will be speed up so it syncs in with the time frame of the video. The character will be stationary at this point and will not move that much. Below a screenshot from the Oasis music video for "Stop Crying Your Heart Out" shows the shot size that i want, it also shows how i want my character to appear on the screen.

In my video the background will be much different from this, The character will be looking over a field with the sun rising in the distance. Below an image of a sunrise can be seen, it shows what i hope mine will look.

                        

I will now disscuss the type of mise en scene i have find from exsisting video which has given me ideas for my video. Firstly their is a unique setting that i plan to use in my video. This setting is seen in many music videos that are around today, this is mainly british artists rather than american artists due to the access to the location. Below this setting can be seen in detail.

I would like many of my shots to be in a built up area, due to the location that i live in a rural town area would be perfect. The character will walk through various streets and alley ways. Their will also be a sense of direction as i will always shoot from the left side of the character so the audience can tell when he starts to walk back in the opposite direction.

Another location that i want to use will in a household (see above). I will most likely use my own as i want to shoot the character waking up at the start of the clip and then falling asleep at the end. This will be the only time that i will use the household as my setting.

Rationale

I have decided to choose this track for a number of reasons; firstly I am a fan myself to this band and really like their music. But the main reason is the lyrics that are associated with their music and how a very interesting visual style can be created from them. Many of their video has a story associated with them, these narratives are commonly played by actors in their video and this is the style i want in my video, lyrics that are associated with the visual narrative. The reason i have chosen the track (When the sun goes down) is for many reason. One of the first reasons is that when i was looking for a suitable song for my video, i came across this and had an idea of including a sunrise and sunset in my video that will eventually be speed up and filmed by myself.

The track also has a distinctive mood to it, it first starts off chilled and calm and then around 40 seconds in changes to more of a upbeat sound once the instruments are combined. I also chose the arctic monkeys because of their various music videos. Not all of their music videos are related to the lyrics, what i mean by this is the visuals do not link in with the lyrics. I also want to use this style because it keeps the audience interested in the clip, because they are not sure what is going on but will try to see what is going on so this will keep their attention focused on the music video.

Costume and artist image

Costume

For my costume, i will use my own style that i already wear daily. This clothing however is modern so fits in well with the time and genre. In this post i will show specific clothing that is used in my video, as well s style that will be worn by my over characters.

 

The above images show the clothes that i will wear in my music video. They are very relevant to fashion today. I purchased these clothes new from Burtons Menswear and River Island. The look is similar to the bands to a degree, However the band have not been together for the past number of years so there is a similarity, but i added more of a current feel to my characters clothing.

The Above shows the typical clothing that was worn by the band. As you can see it was everyday clothing that is popular with a lot of men, this is the theme i will try and achieve.

Audience Research 1

Amazon

Amazon is a good way of finding out what the audience like. First i went to the amazon website and find the track that i have chosen (oasis- little by little) once i find my chosen track, which can be purchased vier a music download or an audio CD. It also shows customers what else other customers who bought the track purchased. An image of this can be seen below.

The results suggest that many people who bought this are also interested in many other bands that are in the same genre of the arctic monkeys. They included The Libertines, The Kooks and Franz Ferdinand which type of music all has an element of  indie rock. Amazon also shows customer reviews which have been received from the customers who have purchased the single. This is a good way of finding out what other people thought of the track.

Youtube

Another way of finding the target audience is youtube, Any single that is released that has a music video can most likely be find on youtube. It is similar to amazon in that it gives suggestion to viewers when they are watching a video. It is located on the right had side of the page. It mainly gives suggestion to over tracks buy the band but also over bands which included the killers and the kooks.

This shows that my music video needs to be aimed and fans who like the genre indie rock, as this is the main style of the Arctic monkeys and the over bands that are suggested.

Recently the popularity of the band has grown massively. This is partly to do with their new album (AM) which was released on 6/09/2013. The band however headlined at the popular British festival Glastonbury 2013. After they performed here, their spotify streams increased by 329%. see source for more details. 
http://www.gigwise.com/news/82691/Arctic-Monkeys-increase-Spotify-streams-by-329-after-Glastonbury
This suggest that the fans of the band are very active in terms of streaming the bands music from the internet, This could be a good way to share my music video once completed. Below an image can be seen of the crowd from the glastonbury gig.

As you can see, the majority of the crowd seen in the image are young, this could be because festivals are most popular with the younger generations but the band are quite popular with younger people.