Analysing websites- Theoretical framework

Website Analysis

Website 1- Boy Pablo

https://www.boypablo.com/

This image shows the homepage of the artist's site. The aesthetic is very reminiscent of the promotional artwork which I previously analysed. The design is very simplistic and it has a very interesting layout. The background is a plain sky blue and so the white link icons on the page do not create much of a contrast. The focal point on this home page is an artist's representation of the musician, where he can be seen in casual clothing with very laid-back body language- this almost mirrors the tone for the entire site. When each link is clicked, it extends the homepage downwards to reveal the selected department. The "tour dates" and "shop" section of the website follow the same theme of colours and font and the others are just links to external sites such as Youtube and Spotify. It helps to promote the artist as every aspect of the site reflects the artist's style and allows the audience- via the "bread crumb" approach- to access the other media products the band has created.


Website 2- Sia

https://www.siamusic.net/ 

This is Sia's homepage. It displays the title of a music collaboration project which goes by the name of "LSD". This is something only the fans would understand as it requires a pragmatic knowledge of the artist. It may confuse the audiences who are visiting for the first time. It is a very colourful homepage, where the artists' logo holds pride of place at the center of a photographic background. Those in the photo are in very elaborate costumes. These outfits, paired with the obvious connotations of "LSD", are represented as "hallucinations" with their outgoing aesthetic. It also helps to express the style the artists like to go for with their music. The links at the top of the page connect the artist's different media products. These links are very small, however, "SIA", the artist's name, is in a larger more distorted font and it could be said that this represents the individualism of the singer.

Website 3- Cavetown
 

http://www.uk.cave.town/store

The opening page of this site is the shop department which suggests that the artist values sales as one of the main objectives of their website. It scrolls down quite far and this completes the background art (the art mirrors the style of their new EP's artwork). It is a very playful design that would imply a young audience, although, in reality, this isn't true. The language used on the website is very minimalistic, it is very limited throughout. As a result, the site conveys a lot of meaningful imagery such as the vinyl covers and digipaks. The title "CAVETOWN" at the head of the page is very bold despite its bland approach of extreme sans-serif. The typography of this heading is red. The most common semantic fields that this colour connotes is that of: Death, violence, hate and anger. This establishes a powerful juxtaposition between itself and the overall art style. It sells the artist by creating a tone which is consitent throughout the entire site.

Website 4- Rex Orange County

https://www.rexorangecounty.com/ 

It is clear that the opening page to this site is never the same. I would strongly guess that it changes whenever the musician releases some new work. I think that this is a creative approach to promoting products. Not only does it ensure that the audience will always be updated when visiting the site, but it provides a constantly changing aesthetic which benefits regular uses as they will not get tired of the layout. Relative to most, his page is very limited. Often when a homepage is short, it features an abundance of links to compensate, however this one does not do that. It contains the commonplace social media handles and an online merchandise store, and nothing else, by means of external links. This could mean a lot of things, yet I would like to guess that it shows the artist's confidence in his work, he trusts that the audience know his style and do not need much excessive content. I think that the heading entitled "REX ORANGE COUNTY" is very appealing. It is displayed in a heavily serif font which often connnotes an established brand/artist and, in this case, a contrast is created given that the artist in question is in fact recent and less-established (he does still have a big fanbase, though).

Website 5- Brockhampton

https://shop.brckhmptn.com/

The homepage on the website, as seen previously, seems to follow a seasonal theme where the layout and design for the page change whenever a new album is announced/released. At the time of viewing, the latest EP was an album called "Iridescence". I believe that the band has done a good job of visually portraying what they stand for as a group. The colours are mostly dark however, there are hints of brighter colours throughout. The tones are not conventional and is hard on the eyes in places. This may suggest that they embrace imperfections and want to be unique, to stand out and the website does just that. The page has no clear title or heading but displays their latest album cover. On the album cover, there is a pregnant woman who shows little body langauge or expression as her design follows the regular thermal imaging colour scheme- masking her appearence. She has almost been de-humanised.There is a side panel giving access to all external links (such as blog, shop and tour dates), the composition of which does not follow the norm. It has been hidden away in a thin and small, pale font. This could imply that they are hiding it from their audience, but it follows the theme of being "edgy" and "quirky" and it also encourages the viewers to pay close attention to the detail on the site. It sells the artist by creating an uncommon image that can instantly be linked to themselves.

What I have learned

This process has made me look at popular artists and their websites in different way. I have begun to appreciate how simply altering the layout, composition and style of a site can play with signs and create symbols and meanings for the audience.  I have been fascinated by how some popular artists have done this and look forward to developing my website with this research in mind. Intend to include a few instances of imagery and symbolism that can work towards a greater meaning behind the video/song.

Research into the Genre

Research into the Genre

Pop Music- Background of the genre

Pop music (also known as popular music) originated in the United States and United Kingdom in the 1950s. Until the 1960s, pop and rock were almost the same genres but then they drifted apart as time went on. Pop music is often very eclectic and takes influences from multiple other genres such as: latin, dance, R&B and hip hop; therefore it is not scrictly an official genre or style of music but one that is produced to cater to audiences who enjoy all different types of music- hence the name "popular". This is also why the vast majority of the charts is made up of pop music, today. Pop music follows a very basic structure of: verse-chorus-verse-chorus and heavily relies on melodic tunes. Popular music often requires an effective hook to be successful. It could be said that, with contemporary pop music, songs contain more of the "hook" and less of a build-up which was the case pre-21st century. Some have argued this is because modern audiences are more impatient with certain entertainment.


key players in the genre

Popular pop artists today include: Drake, Ed Sheeran, Ariana Grande, Post Malone and Bruno Mars. All these artists perfectly demonstrate the current style of the genre. Both Post Malone and Drake take a more rap/hiphop approach to their music but this is a very  fashionable trend in pop today. Popular bands, today, include: Coldplay, Maroon 5, One Direction (until they disbanded in 2016) and 5 seconds of summer.
 
 










In the past, popular bands such as The Beatles, Queen, and Pink Floyd dominated the pop (and rock) scene. These bands prove the success of pop and its influence on the public; these bands are so iconic and still have a big impact on today's media, such as "Bohemian Rhapsody", a biographic movie about Queen, released in 2018.

 
 







Conventions

Music

The song "Bohemian Rhapsody" by the prolific British rock band, Queen is argued by many to be the best song of all time. It was a very innovative piece of music which completely revolutionised the pop music industry. It clearly demonstrates the main, underlying convention of pop music which is eclecticism. The song exhibits (in order): an accapella/harmony, a ballad, guitar solo, operatic section, hard rock section and a slow outro. This has influenced a lot of music today. In addition to the song itself, the band released a music video which is thought to have been the first of its kind. One of the few conventions seen in "Bohemian Rhapsody" that has not stuck around is the length of the song. Most pop songs nowadays are quite short, 2-3 minutes on average. As already mentioned, modern pop songs contain a verse-chorus-verse-chorus structure with melodic tunes and catchy hooks. Although, artists today are not afraid to sometimes break the norms and worry about their song failing.

Videos
 
First of all, a lot of pop music is upbeat and fast, so the editing reflects that with quick shots and straight cuts. However, equally, a lot of pop music can be slow, in which case the editing mirrors the steady pace of the song. In other words, the video is always cut to beat with the song. Next, a lot of artists today like to create a lot of meaning with their music and videos. Therefore, music videos can use mise-en-scene and camera angles (most often done with close-ups and mid-shots to display expression) to convey some sort of story. Occasionally, music videos contain segments, either at the beginning or the end, that help to piece together a storyline. These do not utilise the song in the music video but, instead use non-digetic sound and dialogue.

          

What I have learned

This task has proven successful as I have built my knowledge on the genre of my brief. I feel that it is important to possess a deeper understanding of the style that pop music is. With my knowledge of conventions, I look forward to experimenting with pop video tropes in order to create a deeper connection with my audience.

Research into a marketing package for an artist (video, digipak, posters, TV ads, magazine ads, website)

Marketing Research

Boy Pablo- Soy Pablo

I have chosen the artist Boy Pablo and the marketing of his latest EP, "Soy Pablo". This is as I like the aesthetic that has been created throughout the material and I am also a fan of the band and believe it could tie in with the brief of pop music.

This is the official album cover which was the last material to be released, on the day of release. It follows a very simple design which features the lead member of the band in a hand-drawn art style on a light blue background. It is a very straight-forward, effective idea that can be distinctly recognised by any fan of the artist. Even down to the colour scheme, the style is consistently mirrored throughout the vast majority of the campaign.

The following two promotional pieces work together in advertising the merchandise that the band has released alongside the new album. As can be seen in the photos, the album art is what carries the products, being printed on items of all kinds. I like the simplistic nature of the way everything is advertised and, as seen in the photo to the left, the artist has just recycled other promotional material and put some simple text over the top (which really compliments his musical style), detailing the new merchandise. Also, it could be said that with the way this piece has been presented, it almost builds a "hype". This is where various segments of a final product are released in the build-up to an event/release.

The video above is a short clip that promotes a "hotline" campain that the band set up to further publicize the upcoming album, more so for the existing fans. The video contains an unreleased track from the new EP. The style of the video reflects the band's appeal very successfully and it pairs with the following piece of promotional material:

The repeating colour scheme is present in this piece. It is once again simplistic and exhibits strong synergy with the video as the same graphic was shown at the end.

This piece of material promotes a tour in the artist's home country of Norway. The colour scheme is once again present but an orange font is utilised for the first time throughout the campaign. The clean sans-serif font can still be seen, though. His record labels are displayed at the foot of the poster which could lead the audience to other artists and albums etc.







Overall, I would say that this process will help me when I begin to create my own promotional material. It is useful to see how artists produce their own content and develop it through a campaign, linking it all together- I find this quite interesting. This has given me a few more ideas about how I will approach the project.

Research into other students' work

Research into other students' work

Student 1

Philip Creasey 2013

The background research surrounding music videos and examples by professional artists and directors was very strong. The student demonstrated a good understanding of music videos. He clearly showed what he wanted for his own project with the analyses of famous names in the industry and their previous works.

However, aspects of research such as the mind map appear to be a weakness as it looks quite vague. The mood board also looks like it does not serve a strong purpose. 

For planning, the student produced various sketches which, once again, presented a clear idea of what the music video was to look like. In addition, a questionaire was made that appears very thought-through with strong questions and the right audience.

Overall, the development of the project was decisively presented and I think that anyone would be able to understand the process that led to the final elements created. I believe that the music video is the strongest aspect of the complete project. The research and planning sharply reflects the final draft and so I think it must have been a success. The digipak and magazine advert do not have the same flair, in my eyes.

         

Student 2

Edward Barker 2018

This student researched a wide range of things that would be in his music video, even down to details such as font. This was all presented well on the blog and it can be seen that this benefited the effectiveness of the final piece. The video has a very impressive aesthetic which complements the visuals very well. However, the content of the video, for example the acting, was often a bit confusing and repetitive to me as a viewer given there was not much context going into the video. I understand that this is a drawback with all videos but the storytelling must work from the beginning, so that was a weakness in my opinion.

(Due to technical issues, as of the time I am writing this, I cannot access the candidate's digipak and magazine advert)

        

What I have learned

By investigating the work of past students, I have been able to gather a picture of what a good blog should include. I have enjoyed seeing the ways in which the candidates have presented the progress of their projects and now I understand the value of demonstrating clearly how I build up to my final piece(s).

Shot count analysis chart (30 seconds)

Preliminary Task

The Brief

Our task was to create a shot-by-shot recreation of (60-70 seconds) an existing music video. This was to be chosen from a list. The music video we collectively selected was "Who's Laughing Now" by Jessie J. We chose the video because, firstly, we felt that our school suited the style of the one in the music video. Secondly, there were roles that everyone was willing to take in the video. In addition to this, it was a track that was familiar with the group and this was to make it easier to "sing" and complete the task without it feeling like a chore. I feel that taking on a project you feel genuinely passionate about is important as if you do not have the honest desire to deliver a good product, it will be reflected in the final piece.

The plan set out for us was as follows:

Period 1 - intro to course and choice of tracks & storyboarding
Periods 2 and 3 - planning and some filming
Periods 4 and 5 -filming and editing
Period 6 - editing

We all had to individually take part in the different roles required. This includes: directing, shooting, acting and editing. We managed to follow this part of the brief.

Planning

When planning, we discussed areas such as costumes, props etc. (mise-en-scene) and casting each role in moderate depth however, eventually, when it came to filming we did not follow much of this preperation. This was largely as we did not focus enough on timings and did not anticipate the attention-to-detail that was required. As a group, we will learn from this mistake and shall be able to improve upon it next time around. This part of the task proved the importance of good preperation.

Filming

The filming, despite the lack of preperation, went successfully and we finished with the shots we wanted. As a group, I feel that we worked efficiently and didn't have too much difficulty or disagreement on each of the shots. Given that it was a shot-by-shot remake, I would say that there is little improvement to be done with the shots. Although, it has made me think about how and why some different shots/angles are used.

Editing

The editing of our video showed to be a very laborious task. It did not take long at all to get used to the relevant features and parts of the software needed. However, once we were in the motions of trimming and piecing the clips together, it took a while. I have certainly learned some new skills which will prove useful if I take on a project surrounding film. I did not use many tools to make this video as the camera had captured the shots how we wanted, no visual effects were needed, either. Also, I have been familiarised with how a music video should be edited (so that it is fast-paced with an abundance of quick cuts - and animated transitions are mostly ineffective).

Final Product

Evaluation

Overall, I would undoubtebly say that the assignment benefited me, granted it did not follow the original plan. So, although our team-skills/planning may not have developed as much, I have built technical abilities that will go a long way when independently creating a music video of my own. The operation of mechanical equipment can be tough and I am glad to have a head start. Overall, I am pleased with the outcome, although given more time and background knowledge it could be even better. I will ensure that when I'm doing my own project, I will have a very detailed plan of filming.