Summary of Intertextuality used in website

1.   "I love the smiths" - this is a very iconic quote from the film '500 days of Summer', in which the main character and his love interest, Summer, bond over their shared fondness for The Smiths.       As well as this, the quote has become an infamous 'sound' on TikTok, with over 180,000 videos using it as a backing track, and the most popular video having 36.1 million views. My media literate audience should understand that the quote is from the film '500 days of Summer', but a preferred reading of this reference would be that they know it from TikTok

 

2.    2.  The five albums that are listed as some of the bands favourite and most inspiring, are famous indie rock albums that suit the style of music that LOSBOYS produces

 

3.    3.  The stick man holding the grenade is a reference to the rock band GreenDay whose cover art for their single ‘American Idiot’ features a bleeding grenade that is shaped like a heart. Audiences who have a wide cultural competency will understand this reference to infamous rock band, GreenDay, however for those who don’t, when clicked, the GIF causes a lightbox to appear that explains the significance of GreenDay to LOSBOYS

4.    4.  The playlist that I have made which LOSBOYS encourages their audience to stream is designed to resemble the film posters from the A24 movie ‘mid90’s’, a coming of age about a group of skater boys, whose cinematography and narrative I have used to inspire the music video itself. The audience of A24 is described as media literate and therefore my audience should understand the reference

 

  

Animation for website

 For the header of my website I wanted to animate the band’s name LOSBOYS to create a cartoony and juvenile style, that fits in with the coming of age style music video I have created.

I used FlipaClip to create a skateboarding animation that relates to the video. This was a rather long process that was very detailed as I had to make sure that all of the clips lined up and flowed to create a smooth animation, but I did get there in the end and am happy with the way it turned out.

I converted it from a video into a gif and uploaded it to my website

Animating the music video

I am using FlipaClip to edit the intro to my music video where I have the song title and the band name. This is a completely new experience for me but it’s getting easier and is rewarding once it is all put together. 

I have kept the rough, childlike style of animation that looks hand drawn because it fits the style of music and video (coming of age) and I am hoping to carry on some of these animations throughout the video and at the end. I also think the animation is quite stylised and creates a consistent brand image that is recognisable and will resonate with the target audience.

I still need to add some cross platform convergence by plugging the bands website, merch and social media pages, but I am hoping to do this at the end as to not distract from the song and the band as a whole 
 

Editing my footage

 I am currently in the editing stage of making my music video on iMovie. I have compiled all of my footage and matched up all of the clips to the music, in time with the beat of the music and with the lyrics. I am now cleaning up the edit and attempting some animation at the start and end

Reflection on shooting

Over the summer I spent 5 days shooting my music video footage. The process was tiring especially when having to know what you want for each shot, and getting multiple takes each time. I think because my music video is so fast, I knew I needed to have lots of clips in time with the beat, so I tried my best to film as much as possible so that I didn’t run out of footage. 

 

Filming the skateboarding videos was the most enjoyable as I wanted the footage to be quite relaxed and fun, so a lot of the time I was just following the boys around and filming them doing random tricks. Because the song is so fast, I wanted the clips to not be stationary, so a lot of the time I had one of the boys filming whilst skating to get tracking shots, which look really great. 

 

The videos of the band singing were very hard to get organised but the filming itself was simple. I really didn’t want the clips to get too repetitive and boring for the audience, so I made sure to get multiple camera angles and close ups of each band member singing and playing their instruments. I really like how the location turned out in these clips as I feel like having it in a home with the garden in the background feels very authentic, and matches the vibe of the band being ‘lostboys’, finding their way in the world, but still being young and living at home. 

 

The main way for me to get the narrative across was through the clips of my mum and Hayden. These clips needed to be shot at night to align with the storyline and lyrics, however this meant that the lighting wasn’t always that great. This was the same for the clips at the start of Hayden by the door, as the lighting was unpredictable and would always make the shot too dark. 

The videos at the start of Hayden in his room are extensive because I really wanted to have jump cuts that all fitted nice and smoothly together.

 

The filming in general took a while to get used to and some of the shots are out of focus and a bit shaken, so I did have to reshoot them, but in general I was able to execute my vision and am happy with the results.

Contact sheet

 

Planning: Photoshoot results

 

Planning: Photoshoot inspo

As I’m creating an indie band i want these photos to reflect that. As i can’t bring Hayden, my lead singer, into school, i had the idea of photographing my friends Ollie and Marnie, and having them pose as siblings who are a part of the ‘Losboys’ band. I hope to take some pictures that could be used for merchandising, and some that promote the pair as artists within the band, and would use the images for an about the band page, plugging their own music to promote the ‘indie ethos’ of supporting more underground artists. Artists like Harry Styles do this, as he has a large band with very talented musicians that he has support his shows, so that they can grow their platforms and the audience can expand their genres of listening. 

Here is some of the inspiration i found for my photoshoot 

Generic Research: Charity Organisation

 Charity Research 

After researching different websites of indie record labels/ artists, I found that they often include some sort of collaboration or link to a charity that they have been involved with in some way, in order to raise awareness and make clear their values and ideologies. In the case of XL recordings, they worked with a charity specialising in climate activism, whereas Colony House worked along side a charity tackling child hunger and poverty. 

I found a charity called Arthouse Unlimited which is an organisation that represents “a collective of artists with complex neurodiverse and physical support needs”. Their artists create unique designs that are turned into designer products, that are then sold and 100% of the profits go back into the charity towards supporting the cause and their artists. They have worked with many brands including Urban Outfitters, to create clothing that’s extremely unique and fits the style of their target demographic. Urban Outfitters is extremely trendy amongst my demographic and fits the grunge, street style look that Gen Z aspire to have. Therefore if they have collaborated with this charity, my demographic will ultimately enjoy it too. This charity also worked with Lush Cosmetics, a brand that prides itself on advocating against animal testing and ethical means of production.  

Partnering with this charity would be a great way of aligning the band’s values and ideologies with a good cause, and meeting the views of the 16-25 year old target demographic, who care about social change. My proposal would be to collaborate with the charity to make exclusive merchandise with all sales revenue going back into the charity itself. This cool graphic design style is fitting with the baggy t-shirt baggy jeans trend amongst young people today, and works with the idea of a skateboarding/hip/cool indie artist.

These are some images i found on Pinterest when looking up baggy t-shirt street style. 

Planning: website flatplans

 

Generic Research: Website case study

 Website Analysis

 

Colony House is the band that sings the song I am using and will therefore have a website conventional of the indie rock genre. 

The home page of their website is very simplistic so that the tabs and band name are clear and coherent. They immediately have their new album “The Cannonballers” plugged in the middle of the page, with a long shot of the band during a photoshoot from the filming of their new music video. Their casual clothing and stances make them look down to earth and relatable which I will like to reflect in my own website. I think I will use a candid shot from the filming of the video for this, and have some sort of link straight to the video, allowing immediate access for the audience. They have each tab plugged in a bold, sans serif, all caps font to really push the audience to interacting with their website. 

At the bottom of this first home page it says “Catch us on tour in a city near you”, promoting themselves as live artists and using commercial imperative to emphasise this. They also have this checkered flag motif that is consistent all across their website that links to their new album. 

Their tour dates are listed immediately with links to TICKETS and RSVP, making it quick and easy for the audience to see the band.

Straight below this is a page for the band’s merchandise with T-shirts, caps, tote bags and may variations of their new album on vinyl. They have a few special edition vinyls that I think will be useful to have in order to promote a cult fandom and avid fans. 

In addition to their merch, they have a brand of wine, which is unconventional of most bands. I think this will be inappropriate to do for my audience as it consists of under 18s. I think it would be worth coming up with some sort of niche brand to feature in the video that will be relevant to my demographic, and provide some cross platform convergence. 

One of the tabs links to a page called “EXIST FOR GOOD” which is a collaboration with a charity that tackles child hunger. It would be effective linking to a brand that does charity work especially as one of the Beggars Group labels has done the same. 

They also have a BIO section that has a slideshow of band photos and a long description of who the band are and what they stand for. This allows the audience to connect with their favourite artists and feel some closeness to them