Artist Website Inspiration

The Arctic Monkeys have a layout for their website that I feel is a perfect template for any artist.

This bar at the top of the website gives the user the option to view a number of different sections of the website, each to do with something different about the band. I will use a similar bar on my website as I feel it makes it easy for the user to navigate the website and find what they are looking for. 

This is a picture of the homepage on my website, inspired by the Arctic Monkeys:

I only made a few of the buttons as I would be unable to create other pages such as a fans forum and a store as Jessy is not a real artist with fans or merchandise.

Artist Website Influences

I have looked to take inspiration from other artists websites to help me construct my own website for Jessy. Kanye West's website is interesting to look at for inspiration as it is kept very simple, even after updates. It is usually just a single page with no links to any other area of the website, consisting of his newest singles and some of the singles of the artists who are signed to his label. However, the website was recently updated to display only the music video for Tyler, the creator's new song IFHY. Despite this not being a promotion for Kanye West's own music, I think that the website is effective as it leads the user to watch the video straight away as there is nothing else to distract him/her. I will use this for Jessy's website on the video page, however I will have other sections of the website available about the album and tour dates, etc.

Here is a link to Kanye West's website:

http://kanyewest.com/    

Filming: Day 1

Our first day of filming went reasonably smoothly; we planned most of the shots we wanted to get done and added a few more unplanned ones so that we had a good amount of footage to choose from.

There were a number of things that we had to do make sure of before we started the filming:

• The performer brought with two outfits suitable for a music video
• The lighting was set up correctly (we decided to include the lights in the shot to add something different to the shots rather than just having a plain white background
• The camera was placed the right distance from the rest of the set to get the perfect shot
• We placed an X on the ground for the performer to stand on 
• The music was being played over the speakers for the performer to lip sync to
• The monitor was set up so that some of us could see the shot clearly as it was being filmed
• Set up the GoPro camera for the time lapse intro shot

We began the filming with the first shot of the performer standing, singing the introduction. This took several takes to get a successful shot as the performer had not learnt the lyrics as we had asked her too. After a while however, we got a good shot and we were able to move on as the lyrics are the same throughout the song.

We repeated that section of the song a number of times, with the performer in different positions and outfits. We shot the clip from a side view mid shot, side view extreme close up, and straight on extreme close up. We also filmed a shot of the performer sitting on a chair. All of these shots were necessary as it would be boring for the viewer to just see one angle of the performer, and there would not be much to edit. I came up with the idea for the performer to stand in front of the lights, in order to make a silhouette. This shot could be used for the few seconds after the time lapse shot and before the singing starts.

The transition shot between the studio footage and the party footage was in fact rather challenging. We had to decide how we wanted to create filler footage during the build up to the drop in the son. To do this, while maintaining excitement in the video, we turned off all of the lights in the studio simultaneously and turned on a strobe light while our performer was appropriately dancing to the build up. This adheres to the conventions of a house music party video.

The filming went reasonably smoothly, with only minor obstacles to avoid, such as setting the right speed for the strobe light to be captured well on the camera, but other than that it was very successful.

New party location

There is another party coming up in the next few weeks that we have permission to film at, however it is fancy dress. The fancy dress theme does not comply with the theme of the video, although we have made the decision to compromise and film it anyway. We have taken heed of our mistakes from the first party, and mounted a light on the GoPro camera. Hopefully this will give us better results.

Complication with our party footage

We ran into a massive stumbling block in regard to our party scene. Our deadline was fast approaching and the footage we shot at the party came out far too dark without unnatural light. We initially thought that the lights from the party would be enough to illuminate the footage but this was not the case. The entire scene needed to be filmed again.

Luckily there was another party coming up just 2 weeks later which we were able to film at.

I felt that this mistake was very avoidable as it was obvious that a dark room would not have sufficient light to get good shots. When I watched over shots from 'Project X' it is clear that there is a very bright light used to film all the closeups. The GoPro camera has a case which allows you to mount a light on it; we will use this for the next party.

Risk Assessment

There will be a number of potential risks that we must consider when filming our video. These risks are different for our two locations.

Risks in the studio:

• tripping over wires
• spilling drinks on the equipment
• not standing on the infinity wall (it will break - potentially dangerous and expensive)

We will manage these risks by setting some rules for inside the studio:

1. Be careful where you step
2. No drinks allowed near the equipment
3. No one near the infinity wall other than the performer  

Risks at the party:

• slipping on spilt drinks
• people bumping into each other
• drunk people (unlikely to be a risk) 

These risks are harder to manage as they are unpredictable, therefore all we can do is just ensure that all spillages are dealt with and to stay out of the way of other people.

Digipak Research: Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

The digipak for 'My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy' by Kanye West is very unique and interesting to take influence from when creating my own digipak.

This Digipak opens up into four sleeves, each containing something different.

This is a picture of my copy of the digipak fully opened so all the sleeves can be seen. If looked at carefully, these drawings form the name Kanye West- the name of the artist. It is clear that much thought was put into the planning and detailing of this digipak as every small area is covered by some form of art relating to the artist or the album.

When the two outer sleeves are folded inward it can also be seen that it says the title of the album on the left hand side, and the track list on the right hand side - all cleverly drawn in a similar style to the name of the artist above.

The left hand sleeve contains the album booklet containing album credits, lyrics and other pictures. The left centre sleeve contains the five interchangeable album artworks, as can be seen below.

These pieces can be slid into the sleeve, which has a small window from which the artwork that is at the front can be seen.

The two right hand sleeves are used to contain the CD and the 30 minute 'Runaway' music video DVD.

This digipak is very interesting conceptually, however I could not create something like this myself for my digipak as I do not have several items that would take up several sleeves worth of space. However, the idea for an interchangeable cover is one that I may use for inspiration.