A2 Ancillary Research and Planning

Digipak 

A digipak is a special type of CD case which has a lot more to offer than an original CD case. A digipak usually consist of "gatefold" paperboard or card stock folding with one or more plastic trays to hold the CD's. Digipak-style packaging is often used for CD singles or special editions of CD albums.

Conventions of a digipak 

Front Cover - this is very important as it draws the target audience in and makes the digipak stand out against others on the shop shelf. The front cover usually consists of picture of the artist/band or a meaningful image to the artist or the album.
Track List - This is usually at the back of the CD as the customer in the shop will only look at the front and back cover.
CD - All digipak's will contain a CD and a space for the CD to go in, this is because the whole point of the digipak album is so the consumer can listen to the artist's music. The CD is usually designed in the same theme as the digipak. Some digipaks will also have an image underneath the CD so when he CD is out the theme is still continuing through.
Visual Presentation - This is very important when it comes to designing a digipak because this attracts the audience. The presentation on the digipak could include a colour scheme matching the target audience or even the tone of the album. For example an album about love could be designed with the colours red and pink as these connote romance and also matches the genre.
Barcode - the barcode features at the back of the digipak and will be in one of the bottom corners, the barcode is very important when it comes to making a digipak because the item can be sold and identified, sock controls and pricing.

·         The record label and their logo is always on the back of the digipak so that the consumer knows what label the band are on, and this also promotes them as well.

·         Copyright information will also be found somewhere on the digipak for legal reasons.

Website addresses might also be on the back of the digipak so that the buyer can go on the band's website and find more songs or albums by them. A link to the record labels website will also be on the digipak at some point so that the consumer can find other artists that have a similar sound to the chosen artist, and it is also promotion for their other acts. This is called synergy and is commonly used by companies to sell their products by using other media platforms.

All digipaks must have a spine with the band name, album and sometimes record label on, so that if it is sideways people can still see what it is. The from image will also contain the band/artist and album name, so that it is easy to identify them.

Many digipaks also include special or never before seen photographs, a lyric booklet with lyrics and thank you's from the band to family, friends and the fans, and sometimes might include posters, stickers or post-cards. These will be a continuous theme throughout the digipak, linking in to the album artwork.

Finally, digipaks will combine all of these features to adhere to their genre's conventions. For example, an artist such as Katy Perry (from the pop genre) would probably have her name really big at the top of her album, with a large picture of herself. It will probably use girly colours such as pink, purple and red because her target audience are female and most likely enjoy these colours. A band such as Slipknot (from the metal genre) would probably use darker colours such as black, grey and white and their artwork might be just their and the albums name, or an abstract picture, because this is what their target audience like and most importantly want.

Arctic Monkeys - Josh 

Arctic Monkeys Album is called "Favourite Worst Nightmare" and the colours on the digipak go really well with the title; the main colours of the digipak being dark to represent night. The Bands name and the name of the album is in yellow which i believe represents street lights to show that it is night time. The image used is a normal photographic picture taken of houses in a street at night with all the lights off, however they've also used artwork to edit into the windows of one house. The whole point of making the album looking dark is to represent night time because that's when people have nightmares. If we look in the windows its bright and looks like a nightmare, the bottom right window looks like it has some kind of monster in it which is screaming causing them to have all the lights in the house to be turned on because they're having a nightmare, this also makes that house stick out from the rest of the houses which have lights off because they are sleeping. 

When you open up the first panel from the front cover the next panel has got a picture of the back of house which also have all the lights on, this picture is just in focus to the back of that house and not the street. This is to continue on the theme from the first cover throughout the rest of the Digipak. The back cover at the bottom they have the song list in order but they haven't wrote the numbers for the song list which shows that they are unique. On the spine they have the Artist name and the album cover in the same style writing as the front cover, they also have their record company logo on the stem, this is so when its on the shelf it sticks out to the customer.

Arctic Monkeys inside cover matches the theme of the outside cover, inside their are 3 photos which connect to the theme on the outside. Outside the digipak its the outside of the house but inside the digipak the pictures are stuff in the inside of the house. I think this is very smart at the digipak is basically a house with the inside being inside and the outside being the outside in the streets. The colourful background represents the "favorite" part of the song title, and the image on the disk looks like a monster and in the pictures there are some evil things this represents the "Worst Nightmare" part of the album.

Jonas Brothers: Rebekah

The Jonas Brother's Album cover adheres to the conventions, with it having a photograph of the band, the band name and logo and the album name. It's interesting how they have incorporated the names and logos within the image to make them link clearly with the theme. The band are centred allowing them to be the main focus, with there being no other people visible it also makes them stand out more. The theme that I believe will run through will be the bright lights, dark rainy atmosphere the front cover represents. The main colours used are black and red as they seem to be heavily used in this genre of music.

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 The second panel has the same theme running through it, with the bright lights and the dark and rainy atmosphere, if the theme didn't continue the digipak would be confused and it's purpose wouldn't be understood as the album wouldn't be reflecting what the band wants to show. The use of different panels allow there to be a selection of different pictures which are showing the theme the video wants to suggest. There is also some details written in the corner of what special features you can access through either putting the CD into your PC or entering a code. This includes a 30 page booklet with photos of the band etc.  







The CD case is simple and brings all the main colours of black and red together with the CD being red and standing out on the black background it sits on. This also links to the theme as the colours have been continuously used throughout to create the image the band wants.








The back panel is simple and shows a tracklist of all the songs the CD holds. The black background has the band's logo watermarked on to give the audience a final reminder of whose CD it is. It also has the rest of the conventions including the barcode, small print, record label and other little details.

Fall Out Boy: Amy

 

An example of a pop-rock digipak is Fall Out Boy's Infinity On High. Released in 2007, this limited edition digipak retailed for around $20 and came in limited numbers. It is a four panel digipak, and has a specific dark blue colour scheme. As you can see, it contains a CD, lyric booklet and 'tarot' cards.

As you can see, the album artwork is quite strange and different to typical pop-rock albums, where an image of the band or just their name might be used. This cover features a sheep with wings, a false moon and a bedroom. This might be related the the album title, 'Infinity On High', meaning this is what it feels like when you are 'high' on drugs, although the band do not typically represent this. The band name is at the top and in the centre, and is in a medium, curly white font. This is actually the bands logo, and they used this for many years including their live performance DVD, before updating it in 2013. This means that fall out boy fans can easily recognise the band because they know the logo and it is iconic. The album title 'Infinity On High' in written in the same white colour, but smaller and in a different font. This might be so that it fits in with the scheme and artistic direction, whilst still linking to the band name. There is a large sticker in the right bottom corner, stating that this is a 'deluxe limited edition package', telling consumers that this won't be around forever and could become increasingly rare and valuable, as well as that it contains the hit song 'This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race'. 

When the digipak is opened there are two panels seen, one containing a flap where the tarot cards and lyric booklet is kept, and the other containing the CD. Both panels are black with little white stars all over it, and these colours means it connects with the white font on the front of the digipak. Both the tarot cards and lyric booklet contain never before seen photographs of the band, as well as lyrics and who was responsible for each job whilst creating the CD. On the right hand side the CD has the same band name and album title combination from the album artwork. It is dark blue and again this is a running scheme throughout the digipak, with a pattern on the left of it in a darker navy blue. This looks like ink running through water, and gives a dream like effect and could reflect what the songs will be like. Underneath this, there are two websites, one to www.falloutboyrock.com and www.mercuryrecords.com. Then, there is the copyright to Def Jam Music Group, the Fueled By Ramen record label logo and the Decay Dance record label logo, which one of the band members own.  This is all written in the same font and colour scheme that 'Infinity On High' is. 

When the CD is removed, a photograph of the band looking into a 'mirror' is revealed. It appears that they are in the same location as where the album artwork was taken, as if it is a special kind of house that they have stumbled across. The band's reflections are the other band members, so where Pete should see himself, it's actually Patrick. This was an exclusive photo shoot and can only be seen by people who have brought the digipak. 

On the back of the digipak another picture of the band is shown. This means that before the consumer buys the product if they are unsure who Fall Out Boy are they can turn it over and might recognise their faces. Unlike typical digipaks, this one doesn't list the tracks. This might however be in the lyric booklet or on the tarot cards. Typically though, it has the website links, record label logos, barcode and and FBI Anti-Piracy Warning, meaning that it's illegal to copy and distribute this CD over the internet. The logo of this warning is also featured, and once again the font is the same as the album title itself, and this is a running theme throughout the digipak.

Band Logo Handout - Josh

Research what recording studio would produce an artist like yours and then decide which is the most suitable and why. - Amy

Fueled By Ramen

In 1998, Fueled by Ramen released a self-titled EP from punk-rock band Jimmy Eat World and was instantly a success for both the band and the record label. Many of this record labels albums and general discography have become very popular, including Fall Out Boy's 2003 album Take This To Your Grave, which was certified gold. Other successes include Panic! at the Disco's A Fever You Can't Sweat Out, which was eventually double platinum-certified and their debut album. Over the following years, the record label signed more and more artists and bands, and eventually teamed up with Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz to co-produce artists from the record label DecayDance. In 2009, Paramore's third album Brand New Eyes debuted at number 2 of the US Billboard 200, selling 175,000 copies in it's first week and becoming Fueled By Ramen's fastest selling album in the labels history.

DecayDance Records

DecayDance Records was founded by Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz in 2005, and was originally an imprint of record label Fueled By Ramen. It is now an independent record label and has a large discography of many artists and bands of various genres, including rock, rap and hip-hop. 

Super Records

Super records is an independent record label operated by English band McFly. It was formed in 2008 and has signed several artists including McFly, McBusted, James Bourne and Matt Willis. When the record label is more successful they hope to sign more artists and bands.

Syco Music

Syco Music is a record label founded by Simon Cowell in 2002. They have the exclusive right to sign artists from The X Factor and the Got Talent series. Current signed artists include One Direction, Little Mix, Olly Murs and Union J. 

Hopeless Records

Hopeless Records is an independent record label which was founded by Louis Posen in 1993. There artists are mainly from the alternative-rock or pop-rock genre, but stem to various genres of metal. Recent artists and bands include All Time Low, We Are the In Crowd and Yellowcard. 

Conclusion

The best choice for our band is probably Fueled By Ramen because the majority of their artists are pop-rock and have a lot of contacts with other bands and record labels. This means our band would fit in with this genre and could play shows or be the opening act to this record's other more popular acts.  Other record labels such as Syco would be okay for our band to be part of except they aren't very popular in other countries such as America and focus mainly on English artists, whereas we want our band to have worldwide success.

Research band logos for your genre. What do you notice about them? Similarities? Differences? Conventions? What ideas do you have your band logo following this? - Amy

This band logo is from pop-rock band Boys Like Girls. It is very simple and easy to read, with both the words Boys and Girls being in a bolder font than Like. It can easily be changed colour wise and the three words can also be stacked on top of each other to fit the merchandise or album where it needs to. 

Panic! At the Disco's logo is quite whimsical and suits their lyrics which is also quite abstract. Like the Boys Like Girls logo, it is black and white, but the font is detailed and complicated. I don't think either of these logos would be suitable for our band because they are quite boring and as our band is called Scarletta (the Latin version of scarlet) so we would like to incorporate some sort of colour, specifically red.

  This is Fall Out Boy's 2013 logo. As you can see, they have decided to use a picture with the band's 'initials' FOB instead of their name. Their design has a crown at the top of their logo, which might signify that they think that they are the 'Kings of Rock Music', because they have become increasingly popular after they returned from their hiatus this year. We preferred the picture style but still would like our logo to have colours as we find black and white quite boring and think our band's brand image is fun and young.

This is the logo from pop-rock band My Chemical Romance. They have many logos but we chose this one because we liked the circle design. Like the Fall Out Boy logo, they only include the bands initials because the band are very much known by MCR rather than their full title. The way they have incorporated the arrows into their design works quite effectively but has little to do with their band name or brand image. A continuous theme we have found with the pop-rock genre is that their logo's are mainly black and white, but as stated before we really wanted that pop of colour.

 This band logo is from pop-rock band Blink-182. This logo is the perfect example of what we wanted to achieve because it is bright and colourful, not to mention eye catching! This logo doesn't directly say their band name but any fan can recognize this and instantly know who it is. We wanted to achieve this with Scarletta because I think this symbolizes popularity and success. The colours of this logo are opposites (blue and pink) and could signify the colour stereotypes of males and females. This could mean that the band write about relationships between a boy and girl and from listening to their music it is evident that this is correct. 

Our Band Logo / Conclusion

For our band logo we wanted it to be similar to the Blink-182 one, with a picture and brightly coloured. We decided upon a 'world', where there are red islands that are supposed to be countries joined together to make a heart on a blue background which is the sea. There are several green islands on the outside of the heart and this shows how popular they are and that fans from all over the world join together to enjoy the music. The red islands also connects to the band's name Scarletta, which is something that we really wanted to achieve for our logo.

Different Stockist: - Josh 

iTunes is an online software created by apple which keeps your music which you have recently bought or downloaded in a media library. 

Theres lots of things that can be done on iTunes by using the iTunes store. on the iTunes store customers can buy or download music, music video, television shows, films, iPod games, audiobooks and podcasts. 

iTunes first opened on the 28th April 2003 and has been one of the most popular places to buy music ever since. iTunes has had the biggest rapid growth of online downloads and buying music. iTunes offers over 28 million different products including songs. The iTunes store has made a massive amounts of money since opening, with it making $1.4 billion since 2011 and by October 2011 it has sold 16 billion songs. 

iTunes would have a lot of benefits for distributing our album, one of those being that it would be so much easier for the customer to just buy the album on the software and have it straight away to listen to, rather than waiting for it to be delivered. Also iTunes has taken majority of the customers from the competition as it is up to date all the time with the latest technology and people find it so much easy to use.

HMV  sells millions of CD's each year. Last year (2012) HMV estimated that they made around 40 million transactions worth around £20 a time. 

They were founded in London, England on the 20th July 1921, but since then it has become one of the biggest entertainment retail stores in the world. HMV sells a wide range of things such as; DVD's, Video games, books, magazines, posters and most importantly CD's.

HMV did have 273 stores in 8 countries but due to liquidation majority of the stores have had to shut down and the rest are still in process of shutting down, this is because of the stores are loosing out on business to shops online as most people find it easier to just order something from their home than collecting it from the nearest store. Due to this HMV has now gone online where the selling still continues.

Due to HMV's background and history it would still be a good place to distribute our album because people are aware of HMV and trust the company with their orders because of how long its been around. It is also still one of the biggest music stores in the world. 

Play.com is a very successful online retailer for many products, buts its most common one is CD's and MP3 downloads. Play.com specialise in the music business and our album would distribute well there.

Play.com was founded in 1998, it is one of the first online stores that targets the UK. It also is the second biggest online retailer in the UK according to Hitwise. In November 2006, Play.com got ranked second in the "Hot Shops List" by IMRG and Hitwise.

Play.com has 7 million registered customers and a catalogue of over 8 million products, this shows they get a lot of business that's why they would be good for album.

Play.com is a jersey-based online store which sells a wide range of products, including; DVDs, CDs, video games, books, gadgets and MP3 downloads.

Play.com is a worldwide online shop which is is extremely successful. So i think that our album would sell well there as it can be sold as a CD or downloaded as an MP3. They sell every music genre possible and sell them all around the globe.

Conclusion: We have decided that iTunes would be the best stockist to distribute our album as it is the fastest online selling growth in the world. iTunes is also everywhere you can get it on your Apple phones and other Apple products or on your laptop/computer it is the fastest way to buy music and it is where people first look to buy products. Also the "Top 40 UK charts" are based on the amount of sales done on iTunes so that's another reason for it to distribute our album, it would also advertise it better than the others.

Worst Album Covers: - Rebekah 

Adverts

An advert is something a music Artists use to promote themselves and their new album or upcoming single. 

Where would you find them?

You can find adverts all around, but they are usually portrait so they can fit perfectly on an A4 piece of paper to be put in a magazine. Magazine's are the most common place to find a an music advert and especially in music magazines such as NME and Q. You can also find adverts in newspapers, billboards and busses.

What are the conventions?

• An advert will always have the name of the artist and the name of what they are promoting, whether it be a single or an album. 
• Release date so the viewers know when to buy
• Majority of Adverts will have a picture of the artist itself or some have a picture of something meaningful to the album. 
• The primary image will be a picture and will connect with the theme of the album
• Most adverts pictures will be the front cover of their album or a picture of the album on it
• The artist symbol is always on there
• An advert will always have a link to the artist website so you can find out more information about the album or the artist.
• Some have star ratings or quick phrases/quote from newspaper - some sort of review
• persuasive language 
• Most adverts will have the logo of the record company  on and some may also have the link of the record company

Analysis of some adverts

Katy Perry - "One of the boys"

This album advert uses a lot of conventions with one of them being persuasive language with the words "Includes the 1 smash hit". Her name is written in big pink letters which is a very girly convention which shows fun, this will be appealing to Katy Perry's target audience and it also matches the pop genre. The use of blue is used aswell for the title of the album "one of the boys" this is clever as blue is known to be calm and a "boys" colour and as she is claiming to be "one of the boys" she is using a boys colour.

Rihanna - Rated R

This album advert isn't the best of adverts as it doesn't represents the right genre. Rihanna is a pop genre artist and her advert looks more like the rock genre with the use of colours and black and white. The font used is also edgy and not stereotypical pop. However the good thing about her poster is that her name and other people featuring in her album names stand out so we know instantly who it is. There is also a massive picture of her on the front which is the first thing we see. Her logo is in the top corner which she is known for so when the audience see that logo they will know its her. So the audience can see who it in in 3 ways. Her hand in the photo is robotic just like her music. Also on the advert we can see her record label logo, her website and her album name; however I don't think her album name stands out enough.

Plan B - "The defamation of Strickland banks"

Plan B's advert is very plain and simple just like him because he just concentrates on his music. The way he is a grey suit and an old fashioned microphone is set out like the 50's to show how he was inspired. The red and white bold writing is good as it stands out of the black background and we can see it clearly. Also the use of persuasive language and the fact he has used loads of different magazines and star ratings shows that his music is listened by everyone so he is creating a wider range platform for himself. its good that he has put a picture of his album in the corner so its easy to identity it in the shops. He has usd the normal conventions by having his website and his company logo on the poster.

Kings of leon - "Kings of leon"

This advert matches the genre very well through the colours as it is dark and rocky, they've also used a creative picture of the band for the advert. This picture stands out and makes the audience take full detail of what it is and what its about, which grabs your full attention, this then makes you read everything on the advert so you know all the information. This advert advertises three massive singles they have released, so for the audience too see these three brilliant singles on one album, it will make them more likely to buy it. The writing is big and clear so you can see who the band are, the album name and when its out. It also has a picture of "play.com" on the advert so the customers know where they can purchase the album from.

Ellie Goulding - "lights"

Ellie Goulding's advert is very simple but clever. The link between the graphic and the title work perfectly. She uses yellow lighting and the huge picture of her which is identified straight away by the consumer is glowing just like lights and that is the name of our album. This also works well with her background as it is black just like night time when you need lights on. She has a quote and a star rating from a popular business called "The Fly" which helps the audience want to buy it more. She also has star ratings from other famous business'

Advert of my own choice - analysed  

Arctic Monkeys - Humbug - Josh

The advert is in black and white which is a stereotypical indie genre convention. The main focus on the advert is the big picture of the young girl dancing. The picture is quite abstract and in ballet art form. This is showing us that this is the proper way to dance, Arctic monkeys are saying that their album is to be taken serious and they are showing the proper way to write music. This is also why they have written the number one hit in the picture as they are saying that song is done the "proper way". They have star ratings from two magazines which are both Indi magazines, this will be more appealing to the audience as they read the magazines. They mention their hit single and an unheard track which makes the album a lot more appealing.
The bad things about the advert is that there isnt a picture of the band so we cant establish who it is by first look, however they over power this with their name being in big bold writing at the top which stands out. they also don't say where the album is available  to buy. The advert also miss' out the little details such as their website and their record label logo.

Panic At The Disco: Pretty Odd- Rebekah

P!ATD album advert is very typical of them, the band themselves are very creative with both music and mise en scene in videos and album art. This album represents there album clearly with the entire image being the front of the album, I like this idea as it means you don't have to insert a picture of the album and there is a clearer link between the album and advert. The logo changes depending on the album. This logo suggests that the music is fun and happy with there being use of pinks, greens and oranges. It also is fairground inspired again making you feel happy, the images of flowers makes you also think of summer spring time when the sun is out and having fun. The advert is clear and shows the important things in a white font at the bottom of the ad.

All Time Low-Don't Panic- Amy



This is the album advert for All Time Low's digipak 'Don't Panic'. As you can see, it features their album artwork which is a giant monster going to attack all of the people/zombies in the town. This is ironic to the album title which is 'Don't Panic' because the citizens are clearly distressed. It is a very colourful advert made up of reds, greens, yellows and blues, with all of the text such as the band name, album title and when the release date in which letters so that there is a clear synergy and it stands out. All Time Low's logo is in the top centre above the monster and it appears that they have something to with the invasion: either they are here to save the day or to take over the world. This could be applied to their music because it might symbolize how their music is here to 'save people', either emotionally or from listening to other bad music! It could also be interpreted that the band are here to take over the pop-rock music industry and change the genre conventions/music the way they once knew it. At the bottom of the poster there is both where the album is available to be brought (from HMV) and the record labels logo to the left. 

Brand Image - Arctic Monkeys - Josh

Arctic Monkeys logo is very plain and simple and never changes, Arctic Monkeys use synergy with the logo and use of colours are the same on everything that they own; Merchandise, Albums and websites. 

The band logo:

• The colours used are simple because they are black and white, which can be used in any merchandise because anything goes with black and white. The logo can be put on anything 
• The logo is 'Wavy' which connects to music because its like a sound wave.

Name of the band:

• Arctic Monkeys band name came from the guitarist Jamie Cook who thought of the name in secondary school. Lead Singer Alex turner said; "I've no idea where it came from. It was Jamie's fault, he came up with it and he's never even told us why. If he even knows, he's keeping it a secret from me."

Arctic Monkeys new album "AM" which stands for "Arctic Monkeys" matches the bands colour scheme which they have created, its plain, simple and black and white. The "AM" logo is made up of sound waves which is clever as it is an album they are producing, in the middle of the sound waves it has AM written in the waves to continue on the sound wave theme. When people see the sound wave they instantly know its Arctic Monkeys album.

The Website:

On the Arctic Monkeys website The band logo is on every slide and doesn't move. This is so the viewers are constantly reminded they're on their website and its an easier way to get from page to page. The website colour scheme matches the colour scheme they have set on everything else with it being a black background with white writing all over it.

Merchandise:

Arctic monkeys have a store found on their website where they sell different kind of merchandise. They sell T-shirts and Jumpers for both Men and Woman and in all sizes. They also sell things like badges, song books for their songs, posters, gig programmes, keyrings and more. This is so their consumers can wear their merchandise and feel part of a "community" 

All Time Low - Rebekah 

Logo:

All Time Low's logo is simple. The black on white provides a contrast in colours whilst not being overpowering with bright heavy colours. By using simple colours as this it can be kept to suit all the band's albums and merchandise. The logo holds a style of being artistic, which may be saying a lot about the band’s music. The font curves in then out with the word TIME being the main word, almost as though it has been created to be like a speaker bursting out the music, this point is supported by the speed lines that surround the logo. The small doodles- the exclamation mark, the stars and the skull represent the immaturity of the band themselves.

The band’s name is taken from the song 'Head On Collisions' by 'New Found Glory.' They were influenced by the sound of this band. It's a little depressing and could be said to link to the target audience who will be moody teenagers.

Merchandise:

All time low have a store found on their main site holding all their merchandise, like most bands they sell band tees and other accessories including wristbands, hoodies, hats and posters. They even sell things especially for the festive times including wrapping paper and Christmas cards.

Media:

All time low keep fans up to date in various ways including Facebook, Twitter and on their website plus other forms of networking. They don't appear to be in the news very often to create bad press.

Panic! At the Disco- Amy

Panic! At the Disco are a pop rock band originally from Las Vegas, Nevada. They formed in 2004 and have released 4 albums and 2 live DVDs and CDs. The band was originally made up of four teenage boys, Brendon Urie (vocals), Ryan Ross (guitar and lyrics), Spencer Smith (drums) and Jon Walker (bass). The band went though many changes over time, with Ryan and Jon leaving the band to work on side projects early into the creation of their third album, Vices & Virtues. When the band formed they had a reputation for sleeping around with many people, especially fans. This might have been because the band had suddenly become a success, even though they were only 17/18. Then, when they're second album Pretty.Odd came out it was rumoured that the band had frequently used Cannabis whilst recording and performing, and even an instance of cocaine.

The band even wrote a song about cannabis called 'That Green Gentleman', meaning it got a lot of bad press from some critics, especially as a lot of their fans are only teenagers. The band is now made up of Brendon, Spencer as before, with bassist Dallon Weekes joining them. Other bad press include the song of their newest album, Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die where one of their songs is called Nicotine and encourages the use of cigarettes. Also, band member Spencer Smith has recently been into rehab for the misuse of hard drugs and alcoholism, although it also made a lot of people -especially fans- proud of him for admitting that he needs help.

The band's logo changes depending on which album it is above is their most recent one. They're logos are usually quite whimsical and this fits with their lyrics which are usually very abstract and strange. They are usually brightly coloured, for example he red one from their album Pretty. Odd. This also links to their previous album A Fever You Can't Sweat Out which was a similar deep red colour. The font changes for each letter of the name and this might signify how none of their songs sound the same, especially from album to album. It also reminds me of the circus and the band had circus performers at their Live in Denver DVD. Their actual name seems to have no relevance to their albums or songs, apart from being quite strange, again linking to their lyrics.  

Their website usually has the same colour scheme as their current album, with many pictures of their frontman and singer Brendon, as well as link to buy their albums. Tabs on the website include News, Tour, Music, Videos, Photos and Store- in order of importance. Each website has its own relevant link to other pages and websites, for example on the 'tour' tab you can be directed to places to buy tickets.

Brainstorming ideas for band names and brand image:

We brainstormed ideas of how we wanted our band to look from the research we had conducted. We also thought up some band names which we found difficult as we didn't know what type of thing we were after, we then decided that we needed to use the colour red in it and thought up some other colours for red and came up with scarlet. We later found that the Latin for scarlet is scarletta and this is where the name was derived from. This also included the type of merchandise we would give the band and how they would be presented through the media.

Feedback:

"The band names ideas you initially came up with are too rock with them being Skeleton Key and Humanize. Your chosen band genre is rock pop I think you need to have a name which reflects both of these elements."

"I think by using the colour red in your name you are symbolising what the band is about and some of the themes their songs may be based around.""I think that the other bands that you are looking at are good and fit with your genre, and really like the idea of incorporating the color red into your band name as this is shown continuously throughout your music video. I don't think your name should be too abstract though.""I think that your website needs to be more than just scarletta.co.uk, as you can't tell that they are a band and if I just saw the link I wouldn't assume that it is the band, it could be a number of other companies. I think something like scarlettamusic.com would be much more appropriate.""I really like the album title because I think it reflects the pop-rock genre and works well with the song list you have created." 

Did we agree with the image we gave our band?

Our brand image was always going to give the band a look where they were down to earth, clothes that allowed them to look cool but have a level of formality. The look we wanted them to have allowed them to be smart casual without them being in full on suits or tracksuit bottoms. We wanted them to wear clothes they would feel comfortable in whilst still keeping their image smart and giving off the impression that they are a band serious about their music. This look would make the band look less immature especially with them being so young, whilst still keeping tem fun and fashionable. After researching bands in our genre it is clear that our brand image was right for the band as many bands in this genre go for the same kind of look. 

We asked a handful of people within our target audience to look at our brand image ideas to see what they had to say, this is what they came up with:

"The band names ideas you initially came up with are too rock with them being Skeleton Key and Humanize. Your chosen band genre is rock pop I think you need to have a name which reflects both of these elements."

"I think by using the colour red in your name you are symbolising what the band is about and some of the themes their songs may be based around."

"I think that the other bands that you are looking at are good and fit with your genre, and really like the idea of incorporating the color red into your band name as this is shown continuously throughout your music video. I don't think your name should be too abstract though."

"I think that your website needs to be more than just scarletta.co.uk, as you can't tell that they are a band and if I just saw the link I wouldn't assume that it is the band, it could be a number of other companies. I think something like scarlettamusic.com would be much more appropriate."

"I really like the album title because I think it reflects the pop-rock genre and works well with the song list you have created."

From this we agreed that our research was correct and our brand image was suitable.

Songs for our Album:

Songs for the Album:

1. Rainy Day 
2. Love Will Take Over
3. Mr. Brightside 
4. We Need To Talk
5. Hummingbird
6. The Machine
7. Shooting Stars 
8. Cant You Wait For Me?
9. Georgia (Bonus Track)

Digipak

We created out own digipak individually so we could all show our own creativity, we then showed it to the each other and the rest of a class to receive feed back.

Me:

I designed mine like this because i thought it suited the pop rock genre and the type of music well. I also made all my panels flow through the whole digipak to continue on the theme. I used the idea of a love heart as majority of the songs in this genre are about love, this is how i came to designing the band logo of a love heart in the world as it is sharing you experience with the world through music.

Bekah:

Amy's design:

 For my design I decided to go with a classic pop-rock style digipak, with many pictures that had significance or a link to the track list, as well as a creative design. My front cover was a bench on the top of a hill at night time, signifying how their 'In The Middle of Nowhere', which is the album title. The dark blue colour of the artwork ran throughout the digipak as a form of synergy, appearing on the back cover, CD and the other panels. I thought that this really tied the album together and made it look genre appropriate and eye catching. The font is large and simple, and I wanted this to relate to the songs that I can imagine the band making. My digipak had two track lists- one on the back of the album so that consumers can see what it contains before they buy it, and one on the inside of the digipak, next to a photograph of an anonymous boy and girl walking together through the rain under an umbrella. This was supposed to allow the buyer to see the tracklist as they read the 'Thank You' panel to the left of it. The picture of the couple also links to the first song on the album, 'Another Rainy Day'. In my digipak design I included photographs of the band and their instruments as if they were recording the album because I thought this would make the consumer feel very connected to the band. On the back cover there is also another picture of the band, and I decided this because the album artwork didn't contain a picture of them, so people who didn't know the band by name, they could identify them by face on the back.

Amy's Feedback:

Amy's design had a running theme throughout and this was nice, however we found that the colours we had decided should be important weren't used, for example red (hence the name scarletta.) Another thing we found is that there was two track lists which were unnecessary. However the panel where the band are playing their instruments was nice as it shows the band car about their music.

We got some feedback from this idea and found that we needed to link the theme into themes found in our music video, and our music video has no signs of stars in it. This meant we had to go back to the drawing board and see what themes we have in our video, we used a brick wall throughout with it being consistently used on the stage and through the narrative. We then created our final design based on this.Final:
Our final design is based on the idea of a brick wall, we kept many of the panels the same from above however just changed the way some of them looked and the design behind it. Whilst still keeping the star theme as important to the logo- the world- we thought the brick wall needed to be more prominent. We decided to have the band standing in front of a brick wall for the front panel and having this image bordered by the starry sky. The back panel has been changed to just a wall with the name of the songs written over. The panel with the images of the band playing their instruments we have made the pictures bigger so they are clearer. The rest of the panels are the same.

Adverts

just like the digipak we created our own individual adverts continuing on from the from the digipak design, however we created a poster based on our second idea first as we didn't have feedback from that one yet.

Me:

I designed my poster like this because it matched the digipak idea we had at the time. I wanted to take a picture of the city lighted up from on top of the hill because i thought it connected with the album "in the middle of nowhere". However because it didn't connect with anything in our music video so we had to change our digipak and our poster idea.

Bekah:

Once we received feedback from both our digipak and advert it made it easier to think of a better idea, so we designed a digipak and then a poster similar and matches the digipak, this is our final design:

Amy's Design:

Amy's advert was clearer and linked to the theme, all the conventions were adhered to. However the band were too small, and with them being the main attraction was a problem. Also it seemed some people were confused by some of the elements- the streetlight and bench as they didn't see any links.

Digipak:

Posters:

conclusion: The final advert is basically just the front panel of our digipak with the added conventions with the ratings and persuasive language, the release date and where it is available. Researching album adverts I found that the artist takes up a large proportion of the space, I think this is important so that the viewer knows who the band is. Another important thing is the text should be clear with the important parts such as band name and release dates standing out and larger than the rest of the font. The advert also links to the album design which is why we have chosen to design our album as we have.

Jar Advert - Draft 1

Jar Advert Final