HOW EFFECTIVE IS THE COMBINATION OF YOUR MAIN

PRODUCT AND ANCILLARY TEXTS?

As a group, when we were briefed that along with our music video we will need to create a promotional

package, promoting our ‘new band’ Ultraviolet we decide to create a digi-Pak and Website. We decide to go for creating a digi-Pak as we believed that even though promoting music though physical aspects have been substituted for digital promotion, we believe the who

aspect of a digi-pak holds a more sentimental value than a normal CD. It also allows more of the artist cover art to feature on the product along with more personal artists comments, making the consumers of the product feel

more of a bond between the artists and music. We decide to create a Website as it is a more accessible ancillary for an audience to access more than a magazine advert. The

website would not only help us promote the through uploads of the artists music, but also through

merchandise, tickets for live shows and interaction and links to the bands social media site.

SO WHAT DID I DO FOR EACH PRODUCT? ( DIGI-PAK)

For the creation of our digi-pak, as a group we came first brainstormed all the thematic ideas and themes we want our digi-pak to be based on. Prior to my idea contribution, I had decide to do my own personal research using the internet ( google web browser) to view common conventions, theme and cinematography used for a EDM/House genre digi- pak cover. One digi-pak that stood our for me was Years&Years ‘ Communion’. The digi-pak followed a illuminating rainbow colour theme against a black background. This idea reminded me of a club/ festival vibe, as the sort of colours used on the digi-pak colours are common glow stick lights used at festivals or strobe lights you would see in a club. This linked well into the EDM/House genre as the colours reflected the locations of where the music would be played or performed. I also looked at various EDM artists photoshoots, specifically AlunaGeorge as like our band ‘Ultraviolet’, they are a male and female duo. What I had gathered from their photo shoots were the outdoor locations and spacing between the two within photos, which was important as they don’t portray a intimate romantic relationship and that was what we wanted out band to portray also.

When it came to feedback our ideas into the group brainstorm, I mentioned having an illuminating, club like theme for a few images in out digi pak, along with an outdoor theme where we would be able to use a smoke flare, that I had liked and seen used by various models who had done outdoor photo shoots. I thought it would be a good idea to get a purple smoke flare as it would time into the title of our band UltraViolet. Along with the inspiration of ‘Violet’ within our band name, we decide to have an overall colour scheme of purple, white and black for majority of our products. We then noticed we all had stated similar suggestions of having a contrasting dark ( club like setting) and light ( outdoor) setting. Myself and Phoebe noted how we could use a park for some of the outdoor photo shoot stuff, along with Moriam stating how a garage would be a nice image setting for one of the panels where we can place the track list. So we decided to base our digi pak around those two themes. Moriam then sketched out various images of what we had imagined for our digi-pak. Coming to the conclusion of having a dark inside illuminating club theme and the outdoor, light scene as the outer parts of the digi-pak. After conducting the photo shoots for both the inside and outside cover we uploaded our images to our Gmail group shared folder, which then made it easier for Phoebe access the images. We decide to use Adobe Photoshop CS5 to edit and create our digi-pak as it produces our product images in a higher quality.

Using Photoshop, Phoebe re-sized the images to fit the template of the digi-pak. For the front panel of the digi-pak ( the front cover), she took the image taken at the outdoor photoshoot which included the flare. Myself, Moriam and Phoebe decided to choose this image specifically as we thought the quality of the image was much clearer than the others used with the flare and also because it was a good two shot of Jess and Osa together in a way to promote the artists. As the flare we had purchased was blue and we required a purple one, Phoebe used the hue and saturation tool to alter the colour of the image until the smoke was purple. Then she placed a layer of the original image over the purple hue image and then erased the top layer in the shape of the smoke to reveal the purple smoke. Then she placed the logo ( which is out band name Ultraviolet) we had created using Photoshop and ‘ DA FONT’ website, onto the image.

For the back cover once again Photoshop was used to re-size the image to frame panel for the digi-pak. We chose the outdoor image of Jess and Osa either side of the garage as it we thought that it would be creative to place our track list in the middle of the garage where jess and Osa would be standing either side. For the track list I came up with all the song tittles while Phoebe once again used ‘DA FONT.com’ to create the list, where she then imported into Photoshop and placed it on the garage, also along with the band logo which she placed at the top of the garage. Then from google she saved the images of the record label, copyright notice, QR code and bar code into her file. Then proceed to upload them to Photoshop where she placed the images across the bottom of the image.

For the acknowledgements page , as a group we selected the one of the black box photo shoot images which originally had a green colour to it due to the green strobe light in the room, however by adding a purple filter over the top layer of the image, we were able to turn the image purple. We then used Microsoft word to write the acknowledgements,, then by deleting the background so that it was now transparent, phoebe over-layered the text onto the image of Jess and Osa.

For the back inside cover, this image was imported it into photo shoot and resized to fit the Digi-pak frame. We decided to use the image of glow in the dark paint on the hands as the CD. This was because within the palm of the hands the initials of the band ‘U.V’ can be seen printed on our artists hand. Which was also repeated imagery within our music video towards the end where Osa re creates the hands on the CD cover. Effectively building a link from one of our ancillary products to the music video.

For the right inside over, we choose to use another photo from within the black box photo shoot. The image was once again re-sized to fit the digi-pak panel. We decided to select a close up image of Osa and Jess with glow in the dark paint decorated on their face. We chose this image as it was a contrast from the other mid shot/ long shot images we had already chosen to feature on the digi-pak. it also includes balloons in the background which were also present for the performance in the music video, effectively creating another link to our music video though the image.

For the outside left cover, we had selected an image I had taken of Jess and Osa behind the black and white background. We chose this image as not only did it go with our outdoor/ light theme, it also links to scenes in our music video where the two are seen socialising together. Once again the image was just re-sized to fit the frame selected for our digi-pak panel.

WHAT DID I DO FOR EACH PRODUCT?

( PART2,WEBSITE)

For the creation of our website, as a group we had all decide to use the same theme from our photo shoot, continuing the light ( outdoor) vs dark ( illuminating club like setting) theme. However we did discuss what we would visually like our website to be spaced and designed. To come up with some ideas, and as seen in one of my ‘website ideas post’ I was influenced by the simplicity of AlunaGeorge’s website design. I liked the fact the website was easy to navigate around and also not crowded with pointless information that normally is skipped by viewers, due to the lengthy blocked texts that don’t look appealing. We all liked the idea to have a simple theme as it looks more aesthetically pleasing to the eye, more intriguing to other leading them to want to explore the site. I then sketched out the main page of our website along with a visual summary of what pages we will create for our page. At first we had decide to use ‘Weebly’ to create our website as we all have previous experience on how to design a website using that app, however from looking at the wider variety of choices and layouts on the site ‘Wix’, we decide to use that to create our website instead. Phoebe then physically constructed the page as Moriam and I helped out deciding on the visuals and colour scheme of the website.

For the main page, we chose the image of Osa and Jess taken outside the black and white background, which also featured in our music video and for the front cover of our digi-pak. The shot was an off guard image taken by myself, which we thought captured a natural duo chemistry. It brings a sense of authenticity to the image as it wasn't planned and also makes out to be a very convincing image that a artists or band would take together. We also selected this mid-long shot image as it allows you to see both Osa and Jess through their facial expression and physicality. Their costume adding to the EDM/House artists look as they both correlate in wearing the same thing making their appearance as a duo come across more realistic. Phoebe then created the ‘UV’ logo using Photoshop and inserted the saved logo into the left hand corner of the strip header. We then chose to position the name of the band just below the artists face as we believed it was the most appropriate place to put it, as any lower would look slightly awkward and unprofessional and any higher would hide their faces, which was something we did not want to do. Moriam and I then selected the grey app icons to go along the second liner towards the bottom of the picture as we thought the grey blended in nicely with the colour used for this page. Phoebe then used a purple filter over the image to tie into out ‘Violet’ theme and adding a fun hint to our simplistic main page.

To keep a constancy between each page we decide to keep the ‘UV’ logo in the same top left corner along with the app icons in the bottom right corner. This way the icon and logo were not awkwardly paced in front of any texts or important images.

We decided to create a ‘News’ page as we figured that would be a good page to alert fans on anything new the artists is doing or releasing. For example of this we decided to advertise the Digi-Pak on this page along with the front cover, along with a short text that explains the details of the release and information on the new album. We decide to centre the image and text on the page as we wanted it to be easily eye catching. Also choosing to make the text short so that it wouldn't be bypassed by fans because of excessive amounts of texts that don't look appealing. We decide to use the image taken within the black box by Moriam of the glow in the dark balloons. We selected this image as not only is this featured in out music video, effectively creating a link between the two, but also because it intertwines with the conventions of Club like setting and bright illuminating colours. we chose the text colour to be a dark purple so that it would be able to stand out against the red background along with being able to keep within in our Purple colour scheme.

We also decide on creating a ‘Gallery’ where we have chosen to upload images taken of the artists from their photo shoots to the behind the scenes production of the music video. We decide on creating a gallery page as its a nice way for fans to see images of their band if they do not own any form of social media. We chose not to add any text on this page as it is a page for images and we didn't see text necessary as pictures speak messages for themselves. We chose to keep the pages theme consistent by using a varied image of balloons, which seem to have a more vintage style to the. This intertwining with the ‘House Party’ vibe, and conforming to the conventions of our genre.

The ‘live’ page centres around the bands performance and tour dates. Its a page where fans can have easy access to seeing the band live by booking tickets directly through the hyperlink when they click ‘ buy tickets’, which then takes them to the ticket website. We chose to select an image of the duo within the black box, with the glow in the dark paint on them, surrounded by the glow in the dark balloons. This image also has similarities to the one we used for a panel on our digi-pak. We thought this image would be effective for the advertisement of this page as it gives off a festival/ exciting vibe which is what we want to project their concerts will be like. We decide on the main texts being white so that it would stand out and be visible against the darker background. Where as we decide to keep the title of the tour in purple violet, brining more attention to the band name and making it have a repeated consistency which will help bring significant attachment to the colour to out band ‘Ultra Violet’.

We created a ‘ Video’ page to promote our music video. We chose to centre the video in the middle of the page to highlight its importance and also making it so that as soon as you head to the page the video plays automatically. Once again we decide to keep the colour scheme of our r text, purple along with some white, to help the text stand out from the darker coloured background. We also chose to go with another balloon themed image, once again taken within the black box, but this image has a green tint to it caused by the strobe lights used at the time within the box. This keeping in with the consistency with the other pages so far and also tying links to our digi-pak, where a similar image is used for our acknowledgements page and also during the performance within out music video.

We then also created a ‘Store’ page where Phoebe had created some merchandise with various brand logo’s. We decide to have jumpers, hats, phone cases and wrists bands as they are typical merchandise which fans purchase as they are long lasting and can be worn any time. Also they are apparel that our target audience and secondary target audience commonly purchase. We specifically chose to place the ‘Hands’ on our products as we want it to be a secondary brand identifier for our band. So that when fans or people see the illuminating hands they automatically associate it to the band Ultraviolet. We have once again used the vintage style balloon background for this page as it allows the products to be the centre of attention, as the theme has been used already.

Our last page is our ‘Social Page’ which features an online feed to our Twitter, YouTube and Instagram pages. We have chose to use another outdoor image to send the tour on our site, as we entered our site ( the main) page with once. Although you cannot see the image clearly it is one of the images with the flare, which was also used for our digi-pak front cover. The image also has an overall purple filter to keep the consistency with our purple theme.

As a group whilst planning we had always decide to link both our ancillary products colour scheme wise. We had come up with a main colour purple as our band is named Ultra ‘Violet’, however we did also state to blend illuminating, club like colours to intertwine with the EDM/House genre conventions. However as our brain storming developed more we thought it would be a good idea to use the photo shoot images as background themes for our website, having a different image for each page. We thought this would also be a creative way to build the link between not only our ancillary products but also our music video, which some of the images such as the balloons for the background for the pages, video, live, gallery, store and news. The main page image are scenes from the music video along with our social page being photo going along with the outdoor theme. We wanted to make clear direct links from our website and digi-pak so decide to once again merge the light and dark theme from selecting various other images from both the outdoor forest setting and the black box, glow in the dark paint setting. I think we successfully linked both our products through the choice of using images from our photo shoot. Ultimately that builds the bridge to both products as the same theme, font and colour are used on both products.

WHAT CREATIVE DECISIONS DID I MAKE IN THE PROCESS OF CREATING MY ANCILLARY PRODUCTS AND LINKING THEM TO VIDEO VIDEO? As our duo are meant to be artist from EDM/house genre, we originally decide to keep

their character profile low-key like most artist from within that genre. For example Disclosure, rarely feature on their songs however project their image onto the ancillary products. We wanted to follow this same notion of not having our artists feature in our music video, however on both of our ancillary products. However after a group intervention, after noticing our music video was coming across more a short film rather than a music video with not including any performance, we decide to subvert from the typical conventions of artists music video from this genre and include our artist. This made it easier to now brand our artist visually across all 3 products. On the other hand one way we did stick to the conventions of a House/EDM music video was to re-create typical locations such as a club ( Jess and Osa performing in the black box);funfair ( date with Ece and Abdenour); a house party scene ( Ece and her friends). We also decide to conform to the convention of an EDM/House group by not making the artist the ‘centre of attention’ through having them wear bright coloured clothing and flashy brands. Keeping the costumes minimalistic ( black, denim and purple) we allowed the band to debut their image as ‘ fun, hipster, outgoing but humble’. We did not want them to appear narcissistic like other genre celebrities such as R&B and Hip Hop, but not as stripped away and ‘dark’ like Rock bands. So we decide to make them wear the same costume for all products, a way to project its not all about them, but having fun and enjoying the music. I also think the illuminating/glow in the dark theme across each product also helps brand the image of our artist, as the colours are bright and funky, expressing the vibrant and exciting music from the band as well as their personality. This can also be seen though the poses the take for their photos and even within the music video, short scenes where they are interacting with each other or the camera expressing their vibrant and outgoing personalities.

IN CONCLUSION....

One thing I would like to change would be the text used for our website. I think we could have kept a more consistent boldness, style and size. I feel as the variation in text style does put a dent in the professional out look and style to our page.

As I am within the age group our secondary target audience, I would definitely say I would be attracted by the way the products have been effectively able to capture the visual elements of the genre EDM and House. I think the consistency between the theme and the colour scheme not only represent the band name but also the song which is upbeat, funky and vibrant much like colour scheme choices. Which many EDM artists tend to do by reflecting their sound also through their ancillary products. An example of this is Years&Years a EDM band who for their self titled album/ Digi-pak created a geometric styled cover with the letter ‘Y’ in their band name. Keeping in with the fun and vibrant theme of their music they choose a multicoloured colour scheme which illuminated against their black background. Which we have also followed the trend in having our own self titled album and illuminating album theme, with the contrast between the dark, club like setting and the light, outdoor festival effect.

I could see our products existing outside the project as they all have been created with a level of high quality professionalism that each product can display the time taken to make sure every decision was for a reason and not for the sake of the project. For example we had conducted an actual photo shoot using flares for the outdoor image that we had purchased ourselves, along with the glow in the dark paint and glow in the dark balloons for the inside photo shoot. I also think the way the website has been presented would attract me as a target audience because it is very simple to navigate around and also presents believable merchandise, which also has a featured elements such as the ‘hands’ across all products. linking to the digi-pak and the music video as the ‘ hands’ are both presented in the products. An example of this idea of a constant brand image can be seen with House/EDM band Disclosure, that have a CGI drawn face affect present not only on their ancillary products but in their music videos, which becomes a noticeable trade mark of theirs.