Ancillary Task - Website Homepage Research

Arctic Monkeys Home Page

This is the website homepage of the Arctic Monkeys.

When I first went onto the website, the first thing that grabbed my attention was the header for the band which read 'Arctic Monkeys'. This really grabbed my attention as the design for it was really interesting and it was big and bold so therefore it was made to stand out amongst the rest of the website.

The homepage also included a silhouette image of the band, which I thought was really original and lead to a mysterious feel about the band, even though people know who they are and what they look like.

Although I felt that the website homepage was very original, I didn't particularly like the links that were included in the website that would allow people to navigate around the site easily. To me, they didn't seem to stand out a lot so that people would be able to easily see that these were the links that they needed to use. I feel that maybe these links didn't stand out because of the colour scheme that has been used throughout the website that is black and white, and these colours didn't allow anything in particular to stand out on the homepage, except the header.

Kings of Leon Home Page

This is the website homepage of the Arctic Monkeys.

I then decided I would look at the Kings of Leon home page. When first clicking onto the homepage, again the header really stood out to me as it incorporated both the image of the band and the title into one, making it stand out even more than just text. I really liked this as it also included colour, which made the page look more interesting.
The homepage also included Tour Dates and Latest News, which I felt were good as people are most likely to be looking at the homepage particularly for this type of information.
When I saw the navigation bar, I felt as if it was slightly too simple as it was just text that once it was rolled over, a drop down would appear, however I felt that the links could have been made a slightly bit more interesting as they were of a simple font that could be found on Word.

Kaiser Chiefs Home Page

This is the website homepage of the Arctic Monkeys.

I then decided I would look at the homepage for the Kaiser Chiefs.
I was really impressed with the way in which the homepage had been designed as it incorporated a live video of the band performing with links. This worked as the video was being played as a big screen, over 9 different little screens. As you scroll over one of these little boxes, the video turns to animation as if it was a TV screen with no single so it was therefore grey and fuzzy with speckles of black. This box then transformed to have a black background and a simple bit of text, which became a link. I thought this was really clever and really original, as I hadn’t seen anything like it throughout my research.
There was also a navigation bar at the bottom of these little boxes, which linked to each of the different pages too so that users didn’t have to use the fancy links if they didn’t want too.
The only thing I felt let the homepage down slightly is that the page didn’t include a header of the band, which is what I would have expected. This means that it is not entirely clear who the website is representing, however it is probably because if you are on the website initially, it is presumed that you would know what band the website is for.

Ancillary Task - Digipak Final Design

This is our final design for our digipack. After listening to the feedback and suggestions that we had made as well as others, we decided we would take some action into changing the digipak so that it looked more like a 'real life' digipak.

Firstly, we changed the images that had been included into black and white so that the images linked all 3 products together. We also created the collage of images that had been taken throughout filming. We also changed the back page of the digipak so that the image was almost like a ball of smoke which then had the song titles on it.

When looking at the final digipak, i particularly like the changes in which we had made to the back page as this changed the design completely and made it look more mysterious and interesting. The text on this page became instantly more readable and altogether, i felt like this page really emphasises the changes in which we had made to get from the initial digipak design to our final one.

Ancillary Task - Initial Digipak

After designing the digipak on paper, we then started to create the Digipak using Adobe Photoshop which was a programme we had previously used, however was able to use many different tools in which we hadnt used before.

This is the original digipak in which Louise had created.

After we had all looked at the design, ourselves, along with our teacher decided that the digipak didn't really go with the rest of the products in which we had created. We felt that the main reason this was is because the images used within the design were in colour and not in black and white like the music video and the images used within the website.

Also, when looking at real life digipaks, we all felt as if our product did not really match up to ones we had previously looked at as it looked as if not much time had been spent on designing it properly.

However, we soon overcome this problem by all adding in ideas that we felt could make the digipak look more appealing. Our first idea was that the images needed to be changed to black and white so that the 3 products all linked to one another as this is a key thing in promoting a product which is what we are doing.

Another idea we added was that little images or screenshots that had been taken throughout our music video could be changed and made into a collage of images. This would add a little curiosity to the digipak as people would want to see the images fully, however wouldn't be able too.

Our last idea was that the back page of the digipak where the Song Titles are added could be changed to be more interesting as it was a slightly boring image, and again didn't really look like it would do in a real life digipak. The text was also difficult to read as it didn't stand out due to the use of colours on this particular page.

Ancillary Task - Digipak Paper Design

After researching about existing digipaks, we decided to start designing the images we wanted to include on our digipak, as well as thinking about the layout and colours in which we was going to use.

This is the front page of the digipak which includes an outline of what we want included on this particular page. From this, we can see that we plan on using an image of a graveyard as the main and only image on this page. However, this draft does not show what colours the image is going to be, whether it is going to be in colour or black and white.

The draft also shows the text that is going to be included on this particular page too. 'The Ghost Frequency' is the main header and 'Nightmare' is the title of this particular digipak. However, as I have said previously, we do not know what fonts are going to be used for this particular page or what colours are being planned to be used. Judging from the way in which this has been drafted, I am presuming that the text colour is going to be black.

This is the draft for the CD itself. It shows how an image of a person (who I am presuming is the main character throughout the music video) is going to be placed on the side in a medium close up so that you can just see their upper body.

Also, some text is going to be included on this CD. This text will be 'The Ghost Frequency', 'Nightmare' and also 'All Rights Reserved City Rockers'. This is a copyright statement that included the name of the current record holders for this particular song.

However, like the previous design, I do not know what colours and fonts are going to be used within this design.

This is the page in which will sit opposite the CD. It shows an image of a person (who again I am presuming is the main character throughout the music video) sitting in the corner which what appears to be candles around them. This image I feel could be potentially a very powerful image, however like all of the other images, we do not quite know whether the image is going to be in colour or in black and white.

All of these designs for drafts of different pages I feel look quite interesting, and could look a lot better on screen. However, i feel as a group we need to sit down and talk about the ways in which all of these are going to be made - whether the images are colour or black and white and what styles and colours the text is going to be. These are quite important matters within this design process.

Ancillary Task - Digipak Research

Before designing the initial digipak, I decided to research into existing digipaks for bands that were remotely similar to the one in which we are promoting.
The Hoosiers - The Trick To Life
I like the design used in this image and thought the colours contrasted well with one another. However, I didnt understand certain elements of the design and found it confusing. One of these features that I found confusing was that their appeared to be some kind of eyes everywhere throughout the CD cover. I did not quite understand why they were here, and what reference they had to the band or the CD/song.

Kings of Leon - Only By The Night
When first looking at this image, I was instantly drawn to it due to its individuality and uniqueness. The contrast of the colours made the image stand out and I wanted to look deeper into it to find out more about it.
However, I found the text to be too small and do not think it related well to the image itself.Arctic Monkeys - I Bet You Look Good On the Dancefloor
When I first looked at this, the first thing I noticed was how young the girl looked.
The colours worked well in the image but the mise-en-scene within the image felt as if it was quite a busy image with a lot going on.

Filming

This slide show shows images of us as a group filming our music video.

Characters and Costuming

We decided that for our music video, we would only have 2 characters. A main character and a 'vampire' like character.

For these characters we then thought carefully about the costumes in which these characters should wear so that they represented exactly what they were without it being told straight away.

We therefore decided that our main character who was going to be 'living a nightmare' should be dressed in 'normal' type clothing such asa long shirt that could be used as a nightdress.

We also decided that our vampire should wear all black clothing as this would make them appear more mysterious which is what we want to show.