Social media tracking

 Here is two different bands and how they use their social media platforms prior to their album release and the activity on their platform. 

First I created a google slides following Avril Leavings activity on her Instagram account before and after her tour of Head Above Water. 

Digipak research into similar genre

 Digipaks are used to help construct the star image of the band/artist, it includes similar themes, styles and colours to the music video. 

For my band's album artwork, it must include either the whole band or the lead singer, or whoever member from the band to represent their image. 

Front: 

name of band (What your selling) 

album name

Parental advisory sticker

Back: 

Legal info

barcode 

number os track list

I have researched into similar album artwork of bands which convey a similar genre to our campaign. 

No Doubt is a pop/punk rock band, their album covers includes the lead female singer representing the band on the front cover. The bold font of the band is centre focus while the album name is smaller further down. While the back is more artistic and doesn't really focus on the whole band. Their album argues a more artistic style and obscure photos.

The bangles is a female pop/rock band, their album cover presents the whole band, the colour schemes of black and pink are similar to our campaign. Their band name is also the name of their album 'The best of the'. It is a simple design however clearly shows the band members, their style and track list on the back. The font is playful and looks as if it has been hand written on, this creates a rebellious effect.

Here is some of a band called 'The Donnas' album covers and a back cover. Their clearly a pop rock band indicated by the instruments which we see them holding in center focus. All the albums show them photographed in, along with some artistic aspects with d to portray a fun rock style. Their band name is in the middle top in all of their albums, with the name of the album written smaller below. On the back cover we see the track list along with another image of the whole band which indicates the main focus. 

Finally, this female rock band called 'Vixen' shows the front cover as a motorbike photographed with a female's heal, the contrast of the manly motorbike and high heel suggests a rock theme. The back cover shows the band altogether with the song list.

In conclusion from researching into similar digipaks related to our genre of campaign They all have imagery of the whole band or the lead singer to represent the bands image and also hints of artistic styles in common. This helps me identify what I will need to include in my digipak design for my band in order to make it clear what genre, style and gender the band is.

Social media campaign

Initially before the internet, artist/bands were marketed through traditional media uses such as radio, tv, posters, newspapers and film. However now the easiest and cheapest way to promote products and artists is through social media platforms, including Youtube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and more. The benefits to using social media means that you can target a specific audience which is most suitable to your product/text. Social media platforms make it interactive and shareable to be shared successfully, and most importantly social media is spreadable. 

Campaigns for bands/artists use social media to create their style, aesthetic, to match their genre of music in order to create their star image. This helps target a specific audience to sell the genre and image to. Social media can be used to sell the product eg an album release, live shows and merchandise of the artist. This results in constructing a artist for the audience to consume. 

In order for the social media accounts if the band/artist to be effective, it must engage, entertain the consumers, not just to sell. These accounts are a formula to disguised market products to the audience while the artist interacts with the audience through Instagram by giving an insight into their lives and lifestyles. usually artists social media accounts become very active before an album release and the presence is high before a album drop, tour or show. 

It is very important that our social media platforms for our band campaign reflect the genre and target audience, the content must contain relevant colours, outfits, styles and aesthetics which are similar to the bands image, this will help us construct the bands star image. Our band will have Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter accounts which will contain related styles, aesthetics and similar bands which they can react with on their platforms. However certain social media platforms are not suited to certain genres, for example TikTok is known as a family friendly, pop style platform where you would most likely discover pop artist promoting their music to young kids on, so TikTok might not be suitable for our bands image.

Test shoot

My group and i organised through Whatsapp to meet up with our cast and we booked the Armadillo practice room to rehearse the song with the whole cast. We asked them to wear appropriate clothing to our aesthetic for the campaign and to bring along their instruments. I organised getting a spare guitar for Connie our guitarist before we began filming. 

We played the song through my phone while Bashy filmed the performance (On his iPhone x) and we changed the positioning of the cast for different shots in order to replicate how we plan on in our final shoot. 

I was in charge for editing this practice test shoot, I downloaded the videos and imported onto iMovie on my phone. I cut and arranged the videos in the right order so that they flow correctly and finally added music over the top. 

I think this test shoot was a successful way of grasping and idea of how our music video will look in terms of band positioning and camera angles, shots and durations. it also gave our cast a chance to learn the song and gain chemistry as they performed as a band, this also helped us see how they all work and look altogether. 

I uploaded this onto YouTube:

Shot List

 Here is our shot list which demonstrates all the shots to take in which set and what action will be taking place at this moment. This is to keep us organised on the day and to make sure we take enough footage for our music video. 

Roles on set

 My group and I have organised each of our roles to participate with our music video to build our campaign for a new artist. 

Director - In charge of the creative aspects of the production. Director will direct where the actors go, what they should do and organise the camera man's shots and angles. The director must keep the shoot day on schedule and ensure the shoot is successful. (Tegan will take on this role)

Camera Operator - I will take this role on set to capture all the necessary shots and click record. I will need to set up the camera, tripods and lenses and also ensure that the colour balance is all correct. 

Art Director - The art director is in charge of the set, props and costumes to make sure it is right. Also they will be in charge of making sure the costumes are ready to be changed into and that they are correct. The art director can document behind the scenes shots on the shooting day. (Adrianna will take on this role) 

Producer - the producer is in charge of keeping the actors, props, instruments and crew all organise and sort out any problems we might face. The producer will deal with any problems on the day and keep us on track. They can also take photos and document behind the scenes on the day. (Bashy will take on this role)

Henry Jenkin Theory

 I have looked into Jenkin's theory of spreadability to share online content successfully. His theory states, 'If it doesn't spread, it is dead' This means that if a media text is shareable and interactive that it can reach a wider audience through social media apps such as tiktok, instagram, twitter and youtube and become popular with views and likes which can lead to it becoming viral. 

He states that there are two ways using technology, one on multiple platforms like tiktok and youtube where it is quicker, cheaper and easier to share a text, rather than a traditional media uses like magazines, posters and books where the advertisement t isn't targeted to a particular audience by using cookies online which tracks your data and shows us adverts which are most suitable to our searches. Traditional media isn't easy to share, or interact with, you simply read it once and move on. While using social networking platforms allows you to share it with a friend, tag them or see that one advert continuously as it is relevant to your preferences, opinions, and tastes.

To ensure that a online text becomes successfully viral, it needs to contain something which interests the audience; values, humour, taste and opinions which are interactive and shareable so that people can like, share and send to others. Technology like this helps connect with the audience and drives revenue to the business through advertising and collecting data from the audiences cookies. 

However, if you cannot share your text or product through social media platforms to engage and reach your target audience then it is less likely to be successful. here is a video from youtube which explains how Jenkins theory impacts social marketing: 

Here is another video which clarifies Jenkin's convergence theory: 

From learning about Jenkin's theory, i can apply this knowledge to my social media campaign and help gain an understanding about how media texts are shared and become interactive and viral through social media platforms easily and cheaply.