Research: Artist Websites

Artist Websites

The purpose of an artist website is that the website can be the main source of knowledge; e.g; events, fan meet ups, new songs and albums, concert dates and links to different social media pages. An artist website is functioned and designed to attract fans and consumers in buying the producer's products.

What I expect

 For me, what artist websites need to possess would be my attention. After catching my eye with its external design, I would see if the site can answer all my questions or not. Does it take me to events and concert dates? Does it sell tickets so that I can get the chance to go watch them live? Do they sell merchandise, preview new songs and albums?. The site needs to be able to be my number one "go to" source instead of finding out on social media or places like Reddit etc. Whenever I would critique on an artist website, I put myself in the shoes of a "number one fan"and experience how they feel.

KENDRICK LAMAR

The expectations can be seen on Kendrick Lamar's website www.kendricklamar.com:

Firstly, the homepage on the website has many links that can take me to pages categorised from music, video, new and store. Also, it provides all the sources that can make me stay on this site for hours to find out information. Also, it features what is new and hot currently at the moment in the main slidebar. 

As you scroll down the home page, there are even more links of; upcoming albums, preview of new music and also, collaborated works that are frequently updated to the audience and consumers. My personal favourite would be the collaborated works of Kendrick Lamar with Kobe Bryant. The reason is because not only does the site attract Kendrick Lamar fans, but it also attracts basketball fans like myself; attracting more viewers and consumers.

Firstly, below this is the news page o  kendricklamar.com. On this page, there are articles both old and news to update audience on what has happened and what is going to happen that has got to do with Kendrick Lamar. There are a myriad of events that Kendrick is trying to present and sell to his audience from community events and album releases. All of this can be seen on the News page. 

Supporting the news page, there is an upcoming tour date as well for fans in the USA or around the world. Currently, as you can see, Kendrick is going to have a concert coming up in Texas USA. This is also effective because the site acts as a calendar as well and it helps the site become the main source of information for the viewers. 

On the website, there is also a page that keeps photos of events and fan photos being sent online via social media or other platforms. Moreover, whenever there is a promotion with albums or other products, information will be present via this web page. There will be photos being advertised to inform the viewers. Moreover, I like how the photography page also attracts the viewers with emotional and "artsy" photos which are perfect for saving onto computers or phones as desktop pictures and backgrounds. 

I got this background from kendricklamar.com. The website really does attract audiences

The purpose for having a music page is to give a taste of what Kendrick's music sounds like or does it fit to a consumer's interest or not.  Previews promote songs which eventually, if consumers like and want to download Kendrick's music, they can buy albums on iTunes or order digipaks online at the [store] page. This page functions as a money vault for Kendrick Lamar and his record company, because it is promoting his art and also help support the external factors of a digipak and boost the internal factor of Kendrick's album which is a safety in case the external looks of a digipak cover does not attract the audience.

New music videos are uploaded on this page.

Merchandise such as albums can be bought at the store page. It also has a link that can send you to iTunes to download the album digitally as well. Online stores are first come- first serve. Therefore, there will be out of stocks and restocks of products. As a result, there will also be countdown clocks that alert fans in buying the album straight away.

PHARELL WILLIAMS

Pharell's official website is also similar to Kendrick Lamar's. But what differs between Pharrell to Kendrick is the influential styles; Kendrick is more rap, with black monotone backgrounds, whereas to Pharrell Williams, his website is more graphic and pop artsy which matches his "Happy" singing style. 

Furthermore, Pharrell's web page hides media intertextuality as well; his home page is similar to the startup of an online game called Agar.io. The site s also very colourful with different colours that categorise the pages. 

Similar to Kendrick's, Williams presents his Recent news, new songs, albums and upcoming events. However, Pharrell Williams' website also has categories like Art and Design, Fashion etc to lure in a wider range of audiences. Pharrell has many fashion lines and friends who are artists who makes art pieces related to himself. Artists such as Daniel Arsham who makes sculptures and Adidas who collaborates with Pharell Williams in his NMD shoe design and his signature Adidas shoes. 

This is a great way to attract audiences like "Sneakerhead" and Artsy people who enjoy witnessing modern art. Product is also present on Pharrell's website, furniture, bicycles and other products are sold on his site as well. 

In conclusion, a good artist website for me is a website than can keep the audience's attention. Like a music video, an artist website needs to give all the information concisely and also attract the audience with its pages and wide range of products, photos etc. An artist website must outclass websites like Wikipedia, Reddit, Facebook and Twitter as sources of information. It must be a "go to" site for information for the fans. Furthermore, these websites need to look good and have a colour and layout appropriate for the genre's target audience and MUST always try and ATTRACT a wider range of audience other than fans of their own genre. 

Research: Album Covers

Designing Our Album Covers

On this lesson, we designed our own album covers. We got the picture, name of album and name of artist from different websites.

Picture: We were told to select the third picture from the random page of tumblr.

Name of the artist: We were told to go on wikipedia and press the random article button. The article title that appears on the tab would be our Artist name.

Name of the Album: We were told to go on randomquotes.com and type up the last 4 words that were on the last quote of the page.

Add that all together and voila an album cover! 

I combined all the things together using Adobe photoshop and here is my final product.

Evaluation

The album cover that I had made would be something that would perfectly fit in the Country Music Genre. The name of the artist and the title of the album felt really deep as if a country singer thought up of this type of music. Furthermore, the background picture seemed dramatic and peaceful as well as if the entire album is about the recollection of past love events. 

When I let my classmates write down their thoughts about my final product, they all agreed that it had a country or a chilled vibe. 

via GIPHY

Research: Uptown Funk Evaluation

Final Product


Evaluation 

 This music video was a success for me. Our group achieved the goal in making a parody of the original, regarding part works that all looked like a parody. However the road to making this music video was rough. A one minute music video that even made me depressed at times.

1) Preparation

Preparation was one of the flaws in making this music video; the crew had different free periods which resulted in film times being delayed. Moreover, during the week of the filming, crew members were sick or had extra curricular activities outside school and did not come to school to film or did have time to.

2) Dancers and singers 

Dancers and singers were hard to find. There were a few people who had free periods during our media lessons, and those who did have free periods were either too shy to be on camera or were busy with their college applications and general schoolwork. As the deadline came near, there was a point where we just had to use our classmates to take the footage and become dancers (even our some of our own classmates were shy to be on camera, which made me frustrated and worried about the completion of work).

3) Props

George, the person who had to play the female walking past had to get women costumes and heels. However, the women costumes were too small to fit him which resulted in the final product being improvised and not achieving what the team wanted in the beginning. Moreover, the blazers that were used were not enough for all of our dancers.

4) Lost Footage

We did not have enough footage for the entire one minute section of uptown funk. The entire team had forgotten some of the short scenes that were suppose to be taken. As a result, we had to edit parts of the bloopers that "happened" to accidentally synced with the rhythm of the music.

5) Framing 

Camerawork wise, we zoomed in too much which as a result, cut out a few people from the film. We should have taken the video using either a wide lens or stepping back from the original position. 

6) Resolution and Brightness

The footage was too bright and too glitchy. Next time, we need to save the footage as a 720p or more.

7) The shutter cuts

The shutter cuts which were suppose to transition the intro to the first verse didn't go as smooth as the original due to the background colours of both frames being too different. If we had to do this MV again, I would take the "Awhh" scene in a brighter room and also with either a green or light blue back ground. Also, I would film the duo stare scene inside or beside a wall rather than filming it by the balcony with greenery from trees that had too much detail, confusing between the 2 scenes. 

But overall, the improvisations made the remake better and was the key in making a prefect parody music video

Research: Uptown Funk---> Comparisons between the Official and Remake

My Version vs Original

Here is the final edited video that we had made:

And the one below is the same but with footage comparison to the original Uptown Funk

Disregarding the dancers and myself who is imitating Bruno Mars; the main difference would be the camerawork of the video. Lighting in the remake version is brighter than the official music video and also, we did not have a colour-list who colour corrects all of the video during post production which will take a longer time to finish. Furthermore, the shots of the remake were less accurate to original, although the types are the same but the length of zoom were different, some shots were more zoomed in e.g: the "Too Hot!" scene which pictured myself (Bruno) appearing closer and also blocking the dancers from the camera.  Lastly, the maximum resolution between the two videos are completely different. The remake has a max of 480p whilst the original has a high definition maximum of 1080p.

The cuts for the remake were too direct. It did not have a pan movement nor a sudden half second black frame. It was quick and precise, a given example would be the shoe and the high five cut; we achieved the correct cut motion for the second high five, however, the first was too quick that a hand swing wasn't present in the frame. For the shoe cut, the remake did not pan the camera slowly after the cut, the camera was still aiming in one direction for the remake rather than panning. Moreover, the alignment of shoes in the remake were close to each other and some weren't synchronised as well than others.

Overall, I was happy with the outcome and felt that I had achieved my goal in making this remake a parody.

Research: Editing Uptown Funk

Editing

It took 2 days to edit this music video. Throughout the editing, I relied mostly on the mark tool which I used to mark the different cuts and beats of the original version and apply it to our own remake footage.

Moreover, some parts of the pieces of footage were too fast. As a result, I reduced the motion using the speed and duration tool. To make the footage slower by half a frame, I would reduce the speed and duration from 100% to 50%. Vice-versa, if I wanted to increase the speed by half a frame, I would increase it to 150%. I did this with a few pieces of footage to match the rhythm of the music to the footage and cut.

Here is a timelapse of the editing process:

Research: Uptown Funk Remake

Uptown Funk Remake

Uptown Funk, a song that was popular throughout the world since the beginning of its release. Now, the song reached the view count of over 1 billion because of its Jazz feel, powerful vocals and smooth dancing. Our task is to make our own version of Uptown Funk during the week.

Team Members and Plan

Crew

Pearl: Cameraman, props
George H: Girl, Editor, props
Pooh: Director, costumes, Bruno Mars

Planning: Pearl created up a shot sheet of all the cuts along with rhythm to 1) indicate how many cuts there are. 2) to identify each action the actors and dancers had to follow along and 3) for editing purposes.

Shot Sheet 

Filming

Location 

All of the filming occurred at the sixth form centre. The two main locations for our team were the balcony outside of the sixth form centre and by the cafe.

Door: we used this part of the location to do the first verse of the music video because it was similar to the scene of the first verse in the music video with an "urban", "uptown" look. Also, the door scene was like there to make the audience feel the attraction of the women led those dancers and Bruno Mars to walk out of the cafe and sing.

Balcony: Used for the "observe" scene, the balcony is a perfect spot for filming that particular scene because the actors can mimic the actions of the real footage.

Filming

The process took a total of 2 days to film. On the first day of filming, we filmed the introduction part and the transition scene from the intro of the music to the first verse. On the second day, we filmed the first verse and the chorus of the music which surprisingly took less time to film even though the duration of the first verse compared to the intro was greater. However, the intro had a lot of shots that we had to cover so it took more time. 

Bloopers

ENJOY!

Research: Digipaks

Digipaks

what are they?

Like what the word "digipak" says, it is literally a packaging for a digital content which is audio and in tracks. Basically, it is what the public would call an "album cover".

There are five main points for the purpose of Digipaks

1) attract consumers: Digipaks are the main key to an artist selling their hit songs. It is considered the "first stage" to gain there consumers, so the artist or the digipak designer who works under a certain artist should make that first impression to lure in buyers. If the artist produces good music but has a bland and dull album cover for their digipak, the chances of getting the maximum amount of consumers will decrease. Therefore a first external impression is key.

2) Not "put off" consumers: this point supports the first point

3) Genre specific- appeal to target audience: Artists of the same genre follow similar styles to their digipak covers. An example would be Adele; she sings songs that are easy to listen, as a result, the digipak cover that will attract her audience would need to be dramatic or have a deep meaning to it (Black and White with her closing her eyes and doing a dramatic pose). On the other hand, if it were a rap artist; the digipak cover would be flashy to an extent and would have either: money, girls, cars, rap clothing or even at times a dramatic photo in the front of the cover.

 album covers that are easy to listen

Clearly rap album covers

4) Brand development- star persona

5) Be attractive as a physical product: needs to be "eye catching for the audience

Taylor Swift

The albums that Taylor Swift produces can clearly show the change in both her style and her growth from being a teenage country girl to a Californian success who made it to the red carpet. As a result, she undergoes changes in looks and style of clothing to communicate to the audience

 Album 2006: natural look, country style, girl next door, innocent, teenage, handrwritten signature

Fearless: More grown up, signature again, hair spread, more confident, handwritten personal

Speak Now: signature, dress more mature, still a little disney princess,

RED: Red lipstick, face is covered, straight hair more serious, less introduction to herself, famous, more target audience

1989: Birth date, polaroid, initials, very personal, hipster vibes, lips only no eyes

Calvin Harris

Again, Calvin Harris also clearly shows his growth. However, he highlights his growth in terms of style of edm music and also his fame, from being that dj who made disco music, to a superstar who is known for his unique edm style.

I created disco: pop, bright colours, retro look, home made theme

Ready for the weekend: Beautiful lady, similar signatures, closeup, now not his face because he has a team.

18 Months: New style, not a lot of work in picture, wide shot now, turns away from camera to show independence and style now. New font

Motion: Futuristic, change in music genre, motion, figure in fabric.

Nicki Minaj

For Nicki, it was a little weird; Nicki Minaj showed her evolution through the changes of her alter ego: Roman. She begins to let go of Roman at her latest album but other than that, her style of music is the same.

via GIPHY

Pink Friday: odd, barbie, parental adviory so fake, dimensions are wrong,

Roman Reloaded; lots of makeup to resemble roman and her transformation to her alter ego, pink, girly

Print: she's gone, no more nicki, print, roman's print

Research: Counting Edits

Edit Counting

The main key to a good and thrilling music video are the myriad amount of cuts that are in the entire music video. The more the cuts, the more interesting your music video would be. The reason why music videos have a lot of editing is to match the musical rhythm with the edits and to transition scene by scene in order to prevent the viewer from going into boredom in seeing their favourite artist shot at one angle or level. Here are different music videos that have different numbers of editing.

1) P1-01: My Neighbour's House- (8 edits in 40 seconds)

 A piece of work done by former A-Level Media Studies students. It is not one of the best music videos out there coming from mostly the quality of the visuals but also the amount of cutting and editing of the video. It doesn't bring any attention to the audience.

2) The Cribs: We share the same skies- (23 edits in 40 seconds)

This music video was more interesting due to its number of cuts and the way it was edited using black and white filters and a green screen of the band travelling along the road. Compared to the 1st music video, this one had more "mood" and mainly its editing helped set the tone.

3) Who's That Chick- Rihanna ft. David Guetta (approx. 60 edits in 40 seconds)

Well known for her music videos and how she presents herself in her videos, most of Rihanna's videos have fast cuts to show her intense motion.

4) Rap God-Eminem (approx 60 edits in 40 seconds)

This song, not only known for its quick and fast lyrics, but also a music video that can turn you sideways. During the first 4o seconds, it has approximately 60 to 70 cuts. Eminem uses that many cuts to let the audience recognize that there will be fast sick lyrics in this song and it hypes the audience up from the beginning.

Research: Editing Get Lucky

Editing a Music Video

At one lesson, we edited a remake of the Pharrell Williams song "Get Lucky" ft. Daft Punk. I used the remake video of a student in the UK. Basically, music video editing is all about accuracy and precision. The aim is to match the video with the music lyrics and beat. 

 The life saving main tool that help me a lot in identifying the music and video was the "marking" tool. I would mark parts of the video that fit the lyrics of the music. 

This is the mark tool

What I did was mark certain times of cuts and lip sync movements that matched the tune. For example, the sentence "Like the legend of the phoenix". I would mark the time where the guy moves his lips to make the "L" sound, then would drag the video into my main editing bar to do cuts and movements like seen below.

I found this task easy because of the editing software Premiere. However, there were often challenging moments when I have to get the beat and rhythm of the music correct. Furthermore, the lyrics and music are sometimes dragged in a tad bit early or a tad bit late, and it is challenging to rearrange the video and music sequence to match the correct time.

Here is my final product!