Research: record labels

Research: wikinomics

Wikinomics from katiefaint


This is a presentation that I have done with a partner about the theory of wikinomics and what effect it can have on the music, film and news industries. Wikinomics is relevant to my music video because   the indie genre is known to consist of mostly small bands and artists signed to small independent record labels which are likely to have a smaller budget than their larger counterparts in the pop genre such as Sony and Universal. This means that videos often have to be shot and distributed for a very small budget, this used to mean that music videos for very small indie bands very few and far between as they were an unnecessary expense. However with the creation of web 2.0 sites like youtube have boomed and have made it possible for small indie bands to produce and distribute their own videos for a very small cost. This is because youtube allows for the free distribution and viewing of videos so a band doesn't even need to be signed to a record label in order to produce and distributed their own video and gain publicity. However peering has also negatively effected the music industry and indie genre as the indie genre is a niche genre so does not make huge profits in relation to sales of  songs (compared to genres such as pop) and so the illegal downloading of songs has cut this already small area of profit. This means that the artists have to rely much more on the sale of gig tickets in order to make money, this may actually be less of problem for this genre rather that genres such as R&B as it is within "indie culture" to go to a lot of gigs regularly and spend a lot of money on gig tickets. As well as this the sale of vinyl records has rapidly increased with in the last 5 years reaching its highest sales since 1991, with over 3.2 million record being sold. This is sale of vinyl is particularly prevalent within the indie genre and so some what combats the illegal sharing of music online.

Research: Chris Anderson Theory

The long Tail- Chris Anderson


Today I have been looking at the long tail theory by Chris Anderson and looking at how it can apply both my foundation portfolio and my advanced portfolio. Both my foundation portfolio and my advanced portfolio focus on the genre of indie music. This is a fairly niche genre and would be toward the long end of the tail (yellow section on the graph) as it is not as popular as a genre such as pop or R&B. Both my music video and music magazine would have  a guaranteed audience of people in the indie subculture who would watch or buy my product.

Research: summary of conventions of a digi pack

Summary of conventions of a Digi pack

·      It is conventional for a Digi pack to have 4-6 panels. I will be creating a Digi pack with six panels

eg Dark circles digi pack has 6 panels 

·      Strong house style- I will create this by using the same font, colour pallet and themes throughout my products.

strong house style seen on bombay bicycle club digi pack

•Copy right laws on cd and back cover, Logos of record labels on CD and back cover

top image: dark circles back cover showing copy rights laws and record label logos 

bottom image Alt j cd showing copy right laws

·      Image of the band on the inside panel rather than front cover- the band are not represented as celebrities that are idolised by fans. They place the importance on their musical talent and creating aesthetically pleasing artwork that works well with the theme of the album.

alt j digi pack- band are ownly shown on inside panel

·      The Digi pack must work well with the other products that produce and be in keeping with the style of my music video. This will help me create a strong sense of brand identity and continuity.

research: dark circles digi pack textual analysis

Dark circles textual analysis from katiefaint

research: digi pack analysis A different kid of fix by Bombay bicycle club

Analysis of A different kid of fix by Bombay bicycle club digi pack

The album uses art on all panels of the digi pack and does not feature an image of the band once. The audiences attention is very much drawn to the art which seems to emulate both an old fashioned anatomical drawing and William Morris print. This creates an aesthetically pleasing and unique look to the art. The fact that the album cover uses art instead of the photography of the band adheres to conventions of the indie genre as the image of the artist themselves is not prorated by the audience, they are more likely to prioritise the music made by the band. 

A theme is created by using the print used in the front cover on the cd itself and letting the front cover design run on to the back cover. This can only happen because the album is in a digi pack format so a separate spine is not required. 

The digi pack adheres to many codes and conventions such as using a bold clear font at the top of the front cover to show the albums name and a clear vertical listing format with track numbers and names on the back cover of the digi pack. As well as this the name of the record label that the band are signed (universal island records)  to is present on the back cover as well as the barcode and website addresses for the band's twitter, Facebook and website. This would appeal to the young digital native target audience that will be buying the bands products as they are likely to use social media a lot to see their favourite bands activity. 

On the front cover of the album the band has used their signature font/logo to show their name (bombay bicycle club) this would be instantly recognisable to fan of the band. 

After looking at this digi pack decided to research a music video for a song from the album. I looked at lights out words gone. The music video shows a dance class which has little correlation to the album artwork. 

this is a link to the music video for the song lights out words gone

What I have learnt from analysing this Digi Pack

I would like to use a lot of art or photography on the panels of the album rather than photography of the band themselves. 

I would like to use a logo or identifiable brand font on my album cover. I will also use this on all of the other products that I produce to create a strong brand identity. 

I will also but a barcode, website links and the name of the record label of the brand on the back cover of the digi pack. 

Research: digi pack research

I have spent lots of time looking for genre appropriate digi packs in order to inform my practice and production of my own digi pack. By looking at real products I am able to identify the codes and conventions of the digi packs and then adhere to them when creating my own. I am finding it very hard to find digi packs.

Production: ancillary products drafts

These are some mock ups of a front and back cover that I have made in photoshop. I created the marble effect from dropping some blue ink in a sink and then photographing it. I think the effect reflected the title of the song well and went well with the blue tone of the video. The track listing and band name has been cut out of the image, this is skill that I learnt from a youtube video and i think that it looks fairly effective but i am still unsure about the design.

Research: how to place an image in text in photoshop

After looking at alt-js live album cover and how the text was cut out from a phot i decided to try and emulate the style my self. I did not orginally have the skills to do this so i have since watched the above youtube video and taught my self how to do it.

Research: Alt j live album digi pack

This is a digi pack of a live performance by alt j. On the front and back cover is a paint swipe which is taken from the bands album This is All Yours. This paint swipe is also seen on the actual CDs themselves. The blue and white colour pallet of the outside of the digi pack is continued on the inside as the photos of the bands live performance that are featured use blue and white lighting. The names of the songs are on one one of the folding panels of the digi pack. The letters are on a white background and are cut out of a part of the album cover from This is All Yours. The track listing lay out does not adhere to codes and conventions of a digi pack as the track names are usually set out in a vertical numbered list, not in one big block. I really like this effect and I think that I would like to incorporate this look into my own track listing on my digi pack

Research: beginning to research into digi pack

These are some album covers produced by artists with in the indie genre that I would like to look at in order to help me design my own digi pack for my artist. Most of these album covers do not include a photo of the artist on them. This is a convention of the indie genre as more often than not album covers are more similar to a piece of art/photography accompanying the album, rather than a platform to promote star image (Andrew Goodwin) which is far more common in other genres such as pop. I would like to adhere to this convention and not include a photo of my band on the cover of my digital pack. I really like the simple but visually pleasing photography used for the Bloc party cover and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. In terms of typography I like the small spaced out font used by the Maccabees and the square layout of the Bombay Bicycle Club album. I think I will also be influenced by the Thr!!!er album cover as I think I would like to use a photograph relating to the water due to my songs title.

Production: More album cover mock ups

 These are somme more album cover mock ups that I have done in photoshop. I have taken inspiration from willie J healy's album cover

Production: ancillary products album cover test

 This is a basic test of an album cover that I have done in photoshop. This look is inspired by Alt-j's album Relaxer. I have used an italic font and a black and white border which can also been seen on the cover of relaxer. This version of my cover is not finished and I am going to play around with it some more in photoshop before i can decide whether i would like to use it or not.

Planning: Risk Assessment

Risk assessment for filming

When planning my filming I have had to think of the risks of different aspects of my video. Some of the things had to think about include:

·      
High Risk - risk for actors: I made sure that the actors that I was working with had experience using the smoke grenades and that they only held the grenades for 30 seconds at a time maximum so they couldn’t cause any harm to their hands. This was quite a high risk so I had to monitor it carefully and check the actors were comfortable doing this. I also made the actors a practice run wearing protective gloves to make sure the grenades did not get too hot. 

·      
Moderate risk - risk for actors and director: I also had to be weary when filming in the pool as the the surface was slippery and my actress had to swim in clothes so she had to be a good swimmer. I made sure that the actress that I worked with was a confident swimmer and was comfortable in the pool. I also ensured to film shots that used the pool side before it was too wet and slippery. I also had to be careful when using the camera equipment when filming in and around the pool as not all of my cameras were water proof so i had to make sure that I was not distracted when filming around the pool and that any equiptment that did have a protective case had it on, i also had towels on hand. 

·      
Moderate risk - risk for director and actors: when we were filming in the woods we had to check the ground for any tripping hazards as my actress had to run for quite a few of the scenes in the video. To prevent tripping i checked the areas before we shot scenes where we had to run and I moved any branches that were in the way. I also made sure that the actress and I were wearing sutible foot wear.