Institutional Research

For our artist, we produced our own music label called The Magnets Music. This company fits into the indie style of Alex Echo, who is himself an indie artist.

If we used a conventional record company such as Sony or Universal, it wouldn't fit in our genre. Bigger artists, who are globally recognised, would be hired by these companies.

Website Update

This is how our website now looks. The homepage features the teaser video, as the real music video isn't live as of yet. It has links to merchandise, contact, gallery and about next to the home tab. On the homepage itself, we have links to Alex Echo's twitter page, where you can keep up with the latest news about the artist. The homepage does feature a news section, as well as links to Ticketmaster, where the browser could buy tickets for Alex's most recent tour.

Production Diary - Second Half Term

Lesson 1: Megan kept working on the Steal-O-Matic, Dom looked at the questions which the audience were asked and Sarah worked on a teaser trailer.

Lesson 2: Sarah finished the teaser trailer and uploaded it to YouTube. She, along with Dom, looked through all the clips gathered so far. Dom uploaded the interview and posted it on his blog, along with Twitter and Instagram updates.

Lesson 3: Dom, Sam and Sarah continued the editing processes, Megan worked on the Steal-O-Matic.

Lesson 4: Dom edited the last two chorus'.

Lesson 5: Dom and Sam worked on different parts of the video. Sam on the biking footage and Dom on the swimming pool footage.

Lesson 6: All the members of the group looked at all the footage we have so far, we then decided on how to order it. During this, we sorted out what we have left to film in order to fill in the gaps.

Lesson 7: The team organised and filmed another interview with the artist. We needed a new one as the old one didn't look as sophisticated as we would like.

Lesson 8: Sarah and Megan worked on the steal-o-matic whilst Dom and Sam filmed some performance that may be used in the video.

Lesson 9: We all peer assessed all the other groups website, giving feedback and saying what could be improved.

Lesson 10: We looked at the feedback from other groups about our website, and set about changing them. 

Lesson 11: Sarah worked on the website and Dom designed a poster for the digipak.

Lesson 12: Dom had filmed before the lesson and then Sarah was filmed for one final shot. This was then put into the production.

Lesson 13: Work was done on digipaks and the website.

Lessons 14-17: This was deadline week for the first draft. We spent the lessons editing and putting the finishing touches to our video.

Lesson 19: Dom refilled the first 30 seconds of the video to be looked at afterwards.

Lesson 20: The group sorted out the next part of filming, printing off props that will be needed and editing the clips got in the last lesson.

Lesson 21: With the final bits filmed after lesson 20, the group edited the final parts of the video.

Lesson 22: The video is finished, so we uploaded it to our blogs and added extra things to our blog.

Similar Artist Websites, Album Cover and Logo

The Arctic Monkeys have a very similar style to our artist Alex Echo, The stick with the black and white theme throughout a lot of their websites, album covers and even music videos. Immediately you can tell that the band are Rock Indie as the video at the top shows the main singer wearing a leather jacket which is a typical item of clothing that fits into the genre of rock. The black and white theme also helps present the genre.  
The background of their album is plain black, this draws everyone's attention to the writing, links and videos. The website is clear and easy to read with the bold writing which contrasts to the black background. 

Their album cover is very plain but very distinctive, as the band are very mainstream and tour globally, the simple album can be recognised immediately as the Arctic Monkeys. Where as Alex Echo who is a newly famous artist, by introducing him on the front cover of the album we are able to gain fans that are then available to identify his work from just the font, style and voice. 







Their logo again is very distinctive, by using this on all of their work people are able to immediately identify the band without even reading the title but by ackn

First Draft - One Day

Website Feedback

http://www.powtoon.com/show/bU6KarTreoB/alex-echo-website-feedback/

Colour Correction

We noticed that the colour on some of the shots look very dull but we managed to colour correct it and make it sharper using Premiere.

Timeline of Clips

Currently, this is how our Adobe Premiere file looks like. The video is almost completed, and the rest is fully rendered and completed. You can see the green clips are sequences from other files, which have been imported to make the complete video. Some footage such as the second chorus, and the end 15 seconds are all edited in this big file.

Merchandise

We created some merchandise to promote Alex Echo's song 'One Day'. We kept the colours black and white as this the the theme fits in nicely with the whole genre.

Full Digipak

 

The final Digipak construction for myself. The poster is featured in the middle and then the front and back album covers, the CD, the inside left and inside right of the CD

New Website - Draft

We created a new website at www.alexecho.wix.com/alexecho

This new website fits with our genre and artist better than the previous one, using the feedback to help us change it to be appropriate.

This is how the homepage looks at the moment, however that will change before the due date.

Digipak CD

 

After looking at other CD's. I thought our old CD was too plain and boring. Therefore, I updated it with more text and lines underneath, just to add more content to it.

Digipak CD

This is a draft of the CD that will be produced. It is simple, which is similar to the rest of the products.

Digipak Poster

 

 

This is a first draft of the poster advertising Alex Echo. It contains all details such as the name of artist and album, as well as seeing it is a debut album. It also shows he has social media links in the bottom corner, with the correct colour scheme

Digipak first draft

This is the digipak. It has the front and back covers on the left and right respectively. The photos underneath would be on the back of them. This means they are only visible once the case is open. The bottom left photo contains a code to download the CD digitally without having to put the CD in a computer. This could be good for people who download music straight to their phone.

Digipak inside

 

 

This is the inside left of the digipak. It would be situated on the back of the front cover if you opened a CD case. It contains a quote from the most popular song on the album. Also, a collage of the artist facing different directions.

 

 

This will be on the back cover of the album. It contains a digital download code, which is useful these days as most music is used via the internet. This saves buying the album online aswell, or uploading it to your iTunes account. It is a special gift for all the fans of the artist, which will encourage them to buy the album.

Performance First Attempt



 

This is the section of the video which will be at the end. We used all the clips we filmed during the performance filming. Whilst making this, we realised that we wouldn't have enough footage to film both the chorus' with lip syncing. These performance shots feature lots of low angle shots, with the artist looking down at the camera, trying to show off that he is a big name.

Website Evaluations

The website for Grace Star clearly communicates that the audience is for young girls and is appropriate due to the website portraying her character as young and girly. There is a good combination of images, written text, sound and video on the website. The whole website is linked as the font and colours are the same throughout.

The website for Nicholas Alexander doesn't communicate who the audience is targeted at very clearly. However there is a good combination of effects. They have also got a good combination of interviews, videos and magazine/newspaper articles. 

The website for Encoded clearly shows that the audience they're aiming for is boys from the black and white background. To make it better maybe make it more exciting.

This website has a slight comedy feel to it with the props used and the bold writing and colour. However, the website is quite plain and simple, there isn't much going on in the home page. It doesn't really draw me in.

Other Evaluations

This is the marking criteria for the creation of the website:

The candidate is expected to demonstrate excellence in the creative use of most of the following technical skills:

• producing material so that it communicates clearly to the ‘reader’ and is appropriate to the audience, using the conventions of web publishing to enable the ‘reader’ to navigate the material appropriately;

• using ICT effectively to appropriately integrate images, written text, sound and video;

• using conventions of image, video and sound production appropriately and effectively

• accurately using language and register, showing awareness of the need for variety in fonts and text size.

www.gracestarr.wix.com/gracestarr

• The website is very catching as soon as you enter the page
• Links are all clear in the page, but links at the top could be missed as they are small and vanish as soon as you scroll
• Twitter links are good

www.encodedmusic1.wix.com/encoded

• Countdown in the corner is funky
• Dark and mysterious, links are clear
• Grammar in the big font in the middle needs changing

www.hybridbeauty.wix.com/hybrid-beauty

• Links to social media are cool
• Quite boring
• No info about the band

www.nicholas-alexander.wix.com/realna

• Real clear and has a good colour scheme
• All the links are easy to follow and bold
• Headings are different, need to all be the same

www.thycosmo.wix.com/cosmo

• Not a lot of content
• Seems quite happy when the video is black and white/psychedelic
• Like the transitions from pages

www.jamescouleur.wix.com/jamescouleur

• Wording makes it seem as though it isn't run by Couleur. Say 'follow me' instead of 'follow us' etc.
• Pop ups are annoying
• Home page has very little content
• Sophisticated layout

www.alleywaysband.wix.com/wearealleyways

• Really cool layout throughout
• Like the little previews of the song
• Sometimes a bit small/hard to read

www.onlyjaya.wix.com/jaya

• News page has text everywhere
• Good layout, easy to navigate
• Good bio and gallery pages

Evaluation of Website

Each group had to evaluate each others websites for their artist. These are the responses we received for our website.

WWW - I love the homepage and way that the photos wipe to the next looks really professional. The website fits well for a solo artist and the genre of their music. More merchandise (and better quality photos on that page) are needed. URL needs to be changed also.

WWW - the banner at the top is really nice and so is the slideshow of pictures on the homepage.

even better if - it is very plain and takes about a minute to go through the whole website.

WWW - Website looks professional and the font ties in nicely with the genre. I like the idea of having a logo to brand who you are (the magnet) and a banner, be sure to use it in your digipak too!

EBI - Info page is a bit generic in terms of information given. Reword some of it to revamp it. Change the web address so it is Alex Echo and looks professional.

WWW - Love how the pictures slide across the page, looks really professional and clear. Great choice of colours, everything is clear. I like how the pictures link and the same concept is repeated throughout, clear connections. Could do with a bit more on each of the links and possibly change the web address. otherwise really great. 

WWW - website looks professional and the font ties in nicely with the genre. I like the idea of having a logo to brand who you are (the magnet) and a banner. Assuming this goes in with the digipak as well the synergy will be there and it'll get good marks

EBI - some of the pages have extremely large font with a few sentences and not a lot else. Perhaps condense two pages into just one page rather than lacking information. Change the web address so it is Alex Echo and looks professional.

WWW - Alex Echo is good however, their theme is a bit unconventional and not continuous. Echo's identity isn't clear as there are pictures of him with someone else. Lack of content which needs to be rectified.

WWW - Alex Echo's site is professional and fun, and practically screams Indie throughout. The photoshoot is of a high standard and presents conventions of Indie, i.e. colour, layout and typography. There is all of the necessary links, as well as a feed from the social network profiles, keeping fans and followers up to date, creating hype for the single, album and music video. Some videos could be included to complement the photography, i.e. music video teaser, interview etc.  

WWW - I like this website as it is both minimalistic and full of content as it has links and information which the fans would be interested in. The website has a good colour scheme and looks very professional. All of the website works well but there was a problem with the merchandise as the picture quality was very bad. If this gets fixed it will be a very good website for the artist.

WWW - Alex echos website is well done. I like the unique idea of the pictures on the home page. The home page is very pretty and to me looks quite professional. When looking through the website i noticed that they had very little merchandise so i believe they need to work on this aspect of the website. The info page is quite plane and boring, it would be nice to see a wider variety of photos much like the homepage. Although the website is quite simple it isn't in anyway boring. I dont think they need to have loads going on for it look good and i think adding lots more will make the website look too busy and messy. This could ruin the simple beauty that it has. They have also added all their social networks to keep you up to date .

WWW - Good Looking website, nice menu and title, Pictures look really good and also the connect page looks good.

The merchandise needs a lot of work, use a store app in wix and make sure the images arent as pixelated as they are now. Is there supposed to be a menu par at the bottom of the page? looks a bit random.why is Sam is the pictures ? hes not mentioned, especially as he is a solo artist? either the font or the colour of the font needs changing on the info page, too hard to read currently.  

WWW - The layout for this website is great with very easy access to all different pages on the website. I really like the home page with the sliding images going across your screen.There is a confusing part in the gallery as Alex Echo is a solo artist, however there are a few pictures with sam in them posing also, so this could lead people to be unsure who he is. However apart from this I think this website is really strong, ticking all the boxes including merchandise. 

Teaser Trailer

This is the teaser trailer for our video. It shows the artist, Alex Echo, going on stage and the short little clips of him dancing around as though he was singing to a crowd. We made sure we stated the song was coming soon and was in production, as shown by the short clips which didn't feature any lip syncing.

Swimming Footage

This is the footage we got when we went to the swimming pool. We used Sam and Dan jumping off boards and playing around with the camera underwater. I really like this footage as it is very good quality and is good to work with the adventure narrative of the story.

Alex Echo Interview

This is the new interview we recorded with our artist, Alex Echo. It is as though the artist is being interviewed on Radio One, with the logo in the corner. We also added the logos on the microphone, to create more realism. We added our lip syncing in at the end, as though it was a live lounge cover, which is a common feature on Radio One. The interview was refilmed as we didn't think the first one was adequate. This one has better camera angles, the guitar in the background and better questions and answers.

Permission to use the song

We emailed the agent of the artist who sung the song we are using for our music video asking permission to use their song for our music video.

Website Update

This is currently the website. It contains links to important information such as the artists music, merchandise and background information. It also contains the latest tour dates for the artist.

Audience Questions

We had a group of 30 people, of all different age groups from 12 - 60. We asked them questions about where they would expect to find our song, from just the song with no video accompanying it. 

Music Videos are most common online and on TV. There are over 35 TV stations dedicated to music in the UK alone and YouTube is a 24/7 access website which hosts most music videos released ever.

Of all 30 asked, they would classify the music under the genre of Indie. Some were more specific, stating 'Indie Rock'. They would expect a music video from the artist to be featured on TV and online, as it doesn't contain any explicit or controversial lyrics.

When asked if it would be inappropriate to people of a certain age, all participaters stated no.

We then asked if they listened to the radio, with which 80% responded by saying they do listen to the radio. When prompted to state a favourite radio station, 7 appeared, with Kiss FM being most popular. Other stations that were mentioned were Heart, Radio 1 and BBC Essex.

Out of all the radio stations that were mentioned by the questionnaire, the most popular answer to 'Where would you most likely hear this song?' was Radio 1, which is a mainstream radio station.

We then asked the most popular form of listening to music in general. The most popular answer was through an iPod or iPhone. The second was on the radio.

Alex Echo Article

 

 

This is an article on Alex Echo and how he became known  to the music world. He talks about how he started out on youtube and his up-coming album. It would be published in NME, a magazine dedicated to music.

Alex Echo Interview

 

This was a quick interview we did for BBC One radio. As one of our cameras stopped working half was through recording, we will re-film another interview later. There will be other interviews to come were we will talk more about his new single and up-coming album.

Twitter Update

This is an update of the twitter profile. We've used the album cover as Alex's dispaly picture on his profile. We also used a close up of the album cover for the background.

Why did we use a GoPro?

For our video, we thought that using a GoPro would be great to get some action shots. A normal camera would not have the capacity to film quick scenes, nor can it go underwater. The GoPro was really useful when it came to filming the underwater scenes as it gave us the ability to film in a new surrounding which not many people had done before. The GoPro is housed in a water tight plastic case on a stick.

It gives our video an extra dimension, as it is a wide lense. This means you can get more in a shot than normal.

Shooting Location - Carpark

For our opening shots, we will introduce the main character in a car, moving through a car park before then getting out the car and showing the skyline behind him. This will be somewhere in Chelmsford City Centre. We chose this location as it gives you some idea of where the artist is from and also his age, as it shows him being able to drive a car. This shows the artist has maturity, something he would want to portray to people who may potentially like his music.

Shooting Location - Riverside

For some underwater shots, we have decided to use our local leisure centre, situated in the city centre. Riverside Leisure Centre (top picture) has diving boards, which one character in the music video will jump before then passing the camera to another character underwater who will be dressed in appropriate water polo gear and then receive and throw a ball. We have asked somebody who plays water polo to be in the video as it then makes it easier for the crew to film him.

Location for Performance

Shots from the set of our performance location, in our schools drama studio. We had access to all the props and lights, to get the correct atmosphere.

Practice Performance

Here we did a practice performance for the music video. i don't think this works very well as its quite boring to watch as he is just standing there and not moving around very much. Also the frame doesn't work very well. However we did get a chance to play around with the lighting so this benefited us there.

Barcelona Footage

Sarah visited Barcelona during filming which meant we could take advantage of this opportunity and she could film using the go pro. We thought that using a go pro could give a certain atmosphere to the music video. Sarah filmed as if she was sharing the experience with her friends whist showing the viewers Barcelona in the background. She filmed in every location she went to and took some great shots on the plane. Sarah came back with over 5 minutes of footage, this was an advantage because we could use quick cuts of it to fit it down to 29 seconds.

Lights and Lip Syncing Experiment

 This is a short experiment using sound and light. We wanted to also experiment with showing Alex Echo's character and how it would fit into the song and lighting. After viewing this we found out that the lighting didn't fit in with Alex Echo's personality so we are going to have to film again with different lighting and a different backdrop.

Risk Assessment

 

 

 

Gallery

Website Info page

 

Here is some brief information on the artist's life and how hes becoming famous. 

Album Front and Back Cover

 

These are the front and back covers for Alex Echo's 'Mistaken for strangers' album. We stuck with the black and white theme for the album as we felt it fits in with the image we're trying to convey.

Textual Analysis - Ed Sheeran

Front Cover

When this album first came out it was when he was just becoming incredibly popular, as this is was his debut album the front cover is an extreme close up of his face promoting himself and appealing to his female audience. Not heavily stylised cover, however its though his face was manipulated to looks like some kind of drawing, it could connect with the idea of Ed Sheeran being a true artist and selling himself as a kind of romantic, independent artist. The album title ('Plus') is simple and represented as minimalist as well, with the symbol '+'. The orange colour represents his 'ginger' brand. It also adds some warm and passionate atmosphere to the cover that might represent Ed Sheeran as a warm singer (his songs on this album were often emotional), which is attractive for his female audience. The use of a single orange filter also carries the idea of minimalism. The font used is also simple. However, the font used looks like it has been typed by a typewriter which does have connotations of minimalism and simplicity. The cat paw is an icon of his brand since his drunk music video which was very popular and it included his cat on it. It iconic symbol is also on his guitar.

 

Back Cover

Theres no stylised graphic or photograph on the back of the album cover, keeping the idea of simplicity and minimalism conventional of the genre and the artist. The list of the track list of 12 songs, using the same font and colour as the artists name. The back also includes Ed Sheeran's website helping to promote the artist and creating connection to fans.



 Ed Sheeran's 'Drunk' Music Video



 

Our Fan Website

 Here are a few screenshots of our fan website, which updates everyone on the latest news, videos and photoshoots.

 

Drama Studio Arrangements

This is evidence of me asking teachers for availability to access the drama studio, where we will be filming the performance elements of our production.