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.