Logo Design and Developments/Drafts

I felt it is imperative in order to market the band as a brand to design possible logos in order to promote the band on my ancilliary texts and give them a brand identity, trying to keep the design somewhat simple and maybe adhere to conventions to prevent being ostentatious/pretentious which would give the band bad publicity. It is also important for me to bear in mind that the logo must be effective aesthetically, incorporate some conventions, include a bold typography that clearly signifies they are a rock band, and the logo must be of a size that means it will easily fot within the confines/dimensions of profile pictures on social media - as this is now how bands go about promoting their music. It is famously documented that Arctic Monkeys promoted the entirety of their music through the use of MySpace, through fans sharing their music online rather than the band promoting it, which is why aspects of promoting the band on social media should not be overlooked.

These are the provisional designs for my logos, I feel I have designed them in a way that makes them reflective of the band (taking into account their brand image and the music itself). This is why I have chosen to place the band name in clear, bold and simple typography across the head stock of a Gibson Les Paul guitar - this form of iconography works well is it is reminiscent of the type of image Guns N Roses represented. It also happens to be the model of guitar played by the lead guitarist of the band which would find favour with the artist, but it also signifies that the band are a hard rock band as it is clear through the logo that they utilise such instruments to create their music. This makes the logo incisive, almost concise - it expresses the essential features of the band through one logo which will give them identity. 

In terms of semiotics, this logo seeks to reach its audience through the use of iconography as it is essentially an icon: it bears a real picture of a guitar that has been adapted to display the band's name. This is why I chose to use a guitar for the band's logo - I wanted to make use of iconography in the band's work and therefore I have used something real (qualifying it as an icon) but edited it to make it slightly more abstract. This logo will probably find favour with a niche audience who play guitar themselves and so will recognise the importance of the logo and it's suitability which will entice them immediately if they enjoy hard rock/indie rock music i.e. this logo would bear significant discrepancies if it was used to represent/promote an R'n'B artist.Therefore, it is immediately decoded and given meaning by those who recognise what it is.

This logo is a variation on the first one, it is slightly more detailed, however it compromises boldness and size of the typography which could make it easy to be overlooked and difficult to decipher the name of the band on posters/adverts/digipaks etc. This is why I will probably not opt for this logo to promote my ancillary texts as it does not have enough of an impact and it is not clear enough that it is a band logo it looks more like an image with not enough meaning - this is why I am either going to opt for a good aesthetically pleasing typography or use the first 

First Draft of Digipak

This is the first draft of my digipak. Despite the fact that it features locations that feature in my video the digipak as a whole as lots of room for improvements. For a start, there are clear discrepancies between the first draft of my video and the first draft of my digipak - this is not a binary opposition in anyway, this is just a poor first attempt at a digipak whilst becoming accustomed to software (Adobe Photoshop CS3) and also a lack of album cover research has led me to make a fairly lax, uninformed first draft of my digipak. The front of my digipak features a very bare, and meaningless picture accompanied by a typography that is incredibly basic and no logo. I felt at the time that putting pictures of locations with the omission of the protagonist would create ambiguity, however it just makes the digipak seem irrelevant in comparison to the video - this is a point that my teacher alluded to: just as there must be continuity in the video itself, there must be an element of continuity in the video and the ancillary texts produced with it - like many products, they must match in some way in order to be identified as the same brand. This is the most important improvement I need to make to my digipak, I need more relevant photos (featuring the protagonist) and these need to be adapted on Photoshop CS3 so that there is a monochrome effect applied to the photos to match my video and overall desire to achieve that raw undisguised 'indie' effect in my work. I also intend to put other effects on the cover of my digipak however I am undecided as to what at this point.

It is also notable that the back cover looks out of place and should not be featured on the album cover, since this shot never actually features at any point in my video it was merely me trying to be adventurous with the cover, however, as I have found out in my research, minimalism is the key to creating effective artwork on a digipak for bands of my style (indie rock/hard rock). Therein, I will be making a plethora of changes to my digipak.

Another thing that I need to include which I have not done are track listings on the back cover of the digipak - this is a key component to the digipak as when potential consumers pick up an album and ponder over buying it, they will instinctively flip the album over and analyse the back of the album to see other songs that will feature on the album and also examine the artwork featured on the back cover. In essence, I would say that the digipak has no definitive meaning and it does not give the band an identity by which they can be recognised. This has lead to a change in my planning, I realise now that I should develop an appropriate logo to help construct a brand identity and open up further marketing oppurtunitites for the artist.

The changes should be as follows:

- Take new photos featuring the protagonist
- Use a monochrome effect on the photos and adapt contrast to suit
- Feature track listings on the back of the digipak including all other songs that the artist intends for the album
- Use more fitting typography to suit the artist
- Develop an appropriate logo to accompany this typography and gain the band recognition also using semiotics.

First Cut/First Shoot

The shots in the video are the result of my first shoot and are an incredibly vague insight into how my video will end up - I still need to take into consideration narrative theories and adaptations such as colour correct and lighting in order for the video to be completely finished and seen as a marketable product that will represent the band's brand identity in a positive way.

This is the (unfinished) first draft of my video and upon review it is clear that it needs a significant amount of changes in order for it to gain top marks and give the artist any credibility. The video is unfinished and so needs enough footage to fill the entire song, this is probably the first problem that needs to be addressed. Secondly, in certain parts of the video (notably 00:40 - 01:20) the video clearly lacks continuity as a result of lax directing and poor editing - these are problems that will have to be rectified in my second shoot.

It is also apparent that many of my shots are very prolonged which is a direct result of poor editing - I should have cut these to make them shorter so that I could intercut with a plethora of other shots to keep the video interesting, as upon feedback from my teacher I found out that despite the fact the footage fit well in time with the music (cutting took place in time with the guitar riffs and the drum loops) the video dragged on and was quite slow and predictable which made it boring to watch. My teacher, however, did comment on how he liked the mise en scene (locations and the way the girl is presented as isolated through the fields) and also the props such as the coat she wears - which as I said I wanted to use to make the video somewhat comparable (analogous) to "The A Team" by Ed Sheeran. It was also brought to my attention that when the typography is displayed on the screen during the opening sequence (reading "The Fight by The Case: Edited, Directed and Produced by Joe Grogan") it should be displayed in the same typography as the typography used on the digipak and magazine poster/advert to make the video more authentic.

My main priority is collating enough footage on premier to be able to fill the song - my teacher said (as I suspected) is better to have surplus footage than a lack of footage as it gives me more creative freedom if I have more footage to work with. We decided it would be a good idea to film the subject scrunching the note (which she is seen reading at 00:15 seconds onwards) and throwing it in anger using a combination of ECUs close-ups and mid shots (I pondered the idea of a canted angle) to work concurrently with when the song culminates - when the guitars get louder and become more distorted and the vocals become more aggressive. My teacher also informed me that I may need to use Premier Pro software or After Effects in order to tweak the lighting in some scenes as at times the lighting of the video makes the video appear dull.

Locations

In terms of locations, they must adhere to the themes/codes and conventions I am employing in my video, so I have chosen to use a plethora of locations scattered around where I live, in Iver/Iver Heath. These areas comprise of very open landscapes that will only reinforce the insignificance of the protagonist in my narrative, which is a theme in the song which I intend to emphasise as much as possible. I am also going to film in a series of cul de sacs to obtain footage. This is essentially an extended metaphor for what the protagonist is enduring throughout the narrative. By using residential areas and fields open to the public I am being sure to avoid incurring extra costs, for example, London Underground have the right to charge £300 for a two hour permit, which would have adverse effects on other areas of my music video i.e. the mise en scene and props etc. Therein, I have taken a more frugal approach to my film making, not only because it will save me money but because the locations I am using seem more suitable for the content of my narrative.

This is a shot of the front of the house that will be used to film the opening/end scenes and also used for the establishing shots, it also sets the scene and gives a brief insight into the life of the young girl - it is set in a cul de sac in a suburban area in a house that connotes that she is a fairly ordinary middle class young girl. This goes someway to describe the socioeconomic background of the girl and gives the audience a concise insight into her everyday life. I will adapt this by adding a series of effects such as low key lighting to place an emphasis on the melancholy theme of the video through the use of some editing software (Adobe Photoshop).

This shot emphasises the fact that the next shot is likely to take place inside the house which causes the viewer to invest interest. It also gives the reader an insight into the socioeconomic background/class - indicating that she is a young middle class girl who lives in a suburban area. This also sets the scene for the beginning of the video preventing confusion - it also effectively discloses roughly what time of day it is (morning/afternoon) and that it is not late in the evening. However, despite the fact it is not late in the evening I will be using after effects to tweak the lighting making it more low-key, giving the video a slightly more sinister effect.

This location/shot emphasises the distance of the walk and gives a very good perspective, this effect will only make the subject/actor appear more diminutive and more isolated, which is an effect that I am aiming to achieve as in my video one of the main themes is isolation and melancholy. By using low-key lighting and more open areas (in less industrial locations) the locations will seem somewhat more bleak and bare which, again, is an effect I am striving to achieve as I believe it is relative to the ideologies in the song. This shot in conjunction with a high angle shot will reinforce

Likewise, the use of a cul de sac to play on the notion of perspective will help emphasise the lonely connotations in the video and create the illusion of making the subject more diminutive than they actually are, constructing meaning through the use of lonely, frail and weak/insignificant connotations. The fact that the girl walks through these seemingly obscure and secluded locations reinforces the idea that she is dealing with rejection from a lover or a friend, and feels she has been ostracised as a result.

These locations are going to be made more gloomy by utilising specific tools on Premiere during the post production process, most notably a black and white effect and using the colour correct tools. The field itself also looks quite sinister and due to the magnitude of the environment, it will help me achieve the effect I want of making the girl appear smaller and more isolated, lonely.

I certainly intend to include various close ups and ECUs in order to capture the expression of the girl in order to convey the girls emotions more clearly, allowing the audience to empathize with her - ambiguity is a feature of my video, but this principle cannot be stretched too far or else it will lead to confusion and I will not be able to build meaning through my camera work.

This alleyway plays a key part in my narrative: it serves as a means of escapism for the girl (and hopefully for the audience when taking into account the uses and gratifications theory) and shows her stumbling upon a large open field in which she feels she can run which serves as a means of catharsis and hedonism she hasn't had. This, again, will represent the importance of binary opposites in my video showing the contrast in the girl's mood. The heavy foliage in the alleyway is another reason I chose it to shoot this particular scene - there is certainly something very mysterious about the alleyway and it comes across as obscure, it will also look far more intriguing when adding contrast on Premiere Pro and also colour correcting it - this will show it in a more low-key manner which is another feature I am aiming to emphasize in the video. By filming in more accessible, realistic locations it renders the video with a sense of verisimilitude/realism which is exactly what I want - similar to the music video "Robbers" by The 1975 directed by Tim Mattia - it is this rawness, this strong and completely undisguised method of production that interests me and so I will be referring to such videos as an archetype, almost as a basis to my music video. This could be seen as a sort of intertextuality,: the meaning of my text is being shaped by elements of another, a notion introduced and advocated by Julia Kristeva.

This bleak field will work fantastically well in conjunction with after effects such as higher levels of contrast and possibly low key lighting. The field signifies negative connotations and embodies some of the metaphors in the song such as pain, misery and dulness/lack of youth - this field severely lacks vegetation and is exposed to the elements.