Similar student video

Our teacher showed us this video from a previous year, they used a similar concept to us in that the girls are preparing to go out to a club. They also had a short dance sequence that we will also have. I think I costumes and makeup in this video make it very visual and more enjoyable to watch, however the camera angles and shots are more limited than we will use.

digipak research

In our group we each researched digipaks of artists similar and different. below are the presentations that we created.

The first focuses more on similar bands like The Saturdays.

Here is a more general one that frankie created based on a wide variety of artists.

This one is based on artist similar to Sweet Nothing..

Here is one that focuses on Similar artists albums and singles it goes into detail on a selection of different Digipaks by the same artist. all similar to Sweet Nothing.

Record Label research.

In order to make our digipak look professional, we had to include a record label. this would be included on both our album and our website. we needed to identify who our record label was so that we could state who had the theoretical rights to our music. Frankie did some research into the record labels of bands similar to ours like Little Mix, Neon Jungle and M.O. She descovered that both little mix and neon jungle both were under the same record label, Sony Music Entertainment, as both of these bands have very similar styles to ours we though that it would make sense if they were to be the label our band was listed under.

Little Mix are also with a company called SYCO this is owned by Simon Cowell, but as we werent formed from a talent show or any other talent competition it would not fit our band to be under this as well.
Neon Jungle are with RCA records they release a range of different music from country to pop. Looking through some of their other artists we found that our band would fit well within this record label, so we also chose to go with this.

Magazine research and changes made

Magazines are an important product to an artist, without them audiences wouldn't be as familiar with them, they would also struggle to connect with them as other than tv and online they wouldn't know much about the band on a personal level. Before creating our magazine article, it is essential that we research into which which magazine is suitable for our target audience

Frankie has taken on the responsibility of creating the magazine article, this was because out of all of us she is the only one that still studdies english language, it also helped that she wanted to go into a career around journalism. We were considering choosing the magazine 'Company' for our interview as we found out that it appeals to a younger audience than Cosmopolitan but still shares the same features however after researching into it we found they stopped producing it last year.

We then thought that Cosmopolitan would be good to choose as Frankie reads it said they often show interest into the latest fashion and music which is what our band portrays.

Instead of an article we are going to make an interview in order for our fans to get to know us better which is important for any new artist.

After doing further research we found that Cosmopolitan magazine is not suitable for our target audience as it is aimed at adult women. So we had to focus our research on teenage UK pop magazines. We found BLISS which is UK based and suitable for our target audience but the last issue was produced in July 2014.

Seventeen is a magazine perfect for a new upcoming teenage pop band but it is produced in America which is unsuitable for a new band as they have to become well known in their home country before going international.

Frankie then found 'Shout' Magazine which is suitable for our target audience, UK based and still being produced so we went with this one.

Group Timetable

Here is an image of our group time table this was created to show when (during school hours) we were free, we created a couple of these as out availability was constantly changing due to jobs and clubs. The image shows the latest one, this is of the deadline week. We also used colours and codes to make it easier to understand. For example the :) smiley face represents when we are all free and going to work on the project. in black pen our names are written this is showing when we are each individually free, in some periods more than one person would be available, we arranged it so that when ever possible only one person at a time would be working on the one thing meaning everyone was doing something and we would be able to complete it quicker. The person who is due to come in in the period their name is shown, is highlighted in green the other is free to spend time on other subjects. Also written in the boxes next to the names in pink lettering is the name of the task that has been set by us as a group, for example under the smile on Tuesday it states that we would be working on 'website changes' and the 'Digipak' this was very helpful as it meant that we didn't acidentaly spend more time on one thing and neglect the others. At the very bottom of the sheet it states when then deadlines are and what they are for, this was helpful as it showed exactly how long we had to work on things. 

updates and changes made to our website

We added a sign up page in order to keep our fans interacting with our band and to make sure that they are always kept up to date as this is an important factor

photoshoot inspiration (little mix)

After a group discussion we decided that we needed some different photos to use for our website and digipak. This was because the images that we had didn't really unite us as a band and as they were taken at the start we were now more sure on what we had to do to make them successful.

We researched possible poses that we could do in order to make this look successful, we came across this one from little mixs newest album 'Get Weird' we took inspiration form Little Mix because they are a youthful, girly, pop band similar to ours. We liked this photo because they are positioned close to each other so look united but they are all posing differently which portrays their individual identities within the band which is what we want to portray. We also liked how they are sitting on a sofa as this looks relaxed an friendly. 

This is one of our photos from this photoshoot which we edited and used as one of the panels for our digipak. 

Digipak

After a lot of research we decided that our digipak is going  to be colourful and bright. this is to represent who we are as a band. we also wanted it to contain synergy throughout our music videos and our website. As a band we not only have one colour to unite us but one to represent us each individually. On our Digipak we wanted to show these, so that our audience could then further relate them to the artists. We took influence for this from artists like JLS where each member is represented by a colour. as you can see in the collage below they are often seen wearing their colours this is so that the public becomes more aware of them the more they see them. the colours they wear are also reflected on their album covers (bottom right) and merchandise. We attempted to represent something similar to this. on their album cover you can see that they are all united as a band by them wearing the same shade clothing and facing the same way, they all have the same expression and framing. although they aren't shown in their colours the audience know who is associated with what colour, we wanted our audience to be able to do this.

Here is the first draft of our digipak it is incomplete as it is only the first draft, as you can see we have used three main colours throughout the digipak these were Purple to unite us as a band as it is the colour associated with sweet nothing. Pink as the colour associated with Sophie the girly member of the group (myself), Orange the colour associated with Frankie the edgy member of the group, and Blue the colour associated with Liv the sassy member of the group.

1st Digipak Draft

2nd Digipak Draft

Final Draft

Magazine

This week Frankie has been working on our magazine article. 

here is the introductory cover this will be featured mid magazine introducing the following article about the band.

this is an interview with the band 

here is a competition in which readers can enter to win tickets to see the band.

Website Feedback

In class this week we held back from all of the editing, photoshop-ing and website making and looked over everything we had done in our groups and everything everyone else had done and gave everyone feedback on it all. We Looked at everything individually picking out points for improvement and things we each thought were going really well. 
We looked at all of the websites, here is the feedback that we received based on our website as of the 1/12/15 (based on the feedback we have decided to make some changes).

Here is all of the feedback based on what went well about the website... 

-   Love the website, lots of work has been put into it which shows. I like the extra girls tab with band info. This is very effective because it lets the target users feel more involved and its more personal.

-   I like the homepage, makes the band look really good

-   I like the merchandise, good variety

-   I like the animations used throughout the website

-   Very good layout and the photo on the front is good.I like the way the name of there band appears.Very good movement on the other pages.

-   Good in depth information about each individual artist.

-   I like the gallery and it suits the genre very well.

-   The front page for the Sweet Nothing website is very clear and easy to use with a good quality photograph that gives a clear band image.

-   The countdown to when the music video is released is a good touch and looks professional.

-   The page where there is information about the band members is excellent with profiles on each member gives the viewer extra information about the band and this gives everyone a better idea about the band.

-   The gallery has a number of high quality photographs which are good because they show how the music was made.

-   The tour dates page is very good because it links you to Ticketmaster and this is a good touch because it looks professional.

-   I think that the Sweet Nothing website is the best one so far as it looks the most professional.

-   The sassy photo is cheeky and fun

-   *The page links to the other and is charming and joyful.Would it kill for some background on these saucy ladies. C'mon ladies

-   The moving background on the tour page is witty and clever. It brings sparkle to an otherwise mediocre tour page.

-   The gallery is short but efficient. The photos should vary in location and perhaps add some details girls.

-   I am pleasantly surprised by the store page which was solid in all areas.

-   This is a very professional looking website and has good use of the countdown towards the music video release which i think looks effective.

-    'The Girls' page is very good with the use of changing pictures when you hover over and also information on the girls when you click the pictures.

-   The picture on the front page looks very real and easy to believe they are a girl group rather than just 3 randoms doing a media project.

-   As soon as you open the page you are immediately drawn to the background as the photo of the girls stands out through the use of the flash effects on it.

-   I enjoy the moving background on each of the pages and i also think its very clever how the images change on 'The Girls' page when you scroll over them. This helps show the bands image very well, portraying the quirky characters they are. 

-   The home page is very effective, especially the picture of the group which is very high quality.

-   I like the countdown clock on the home page.

-   The girls page using the rollover images is a very nice effect

-   The gallery has very well taken images

-   Like the home page because it's really simple but eye catching and girly which already conveys the type of girl group they are.

-   The countdown is a nice extra.

-   The page for the girls' bios is really effective. Bio's all make sense. 

-   The background looks good.

-   Links to all their social media pages along the top is good. 

-   Their store is good and works well. 

Here is the feedback based on what we could improve on...

-   Need to finish 'Our music' page.
-   Merchandise doesn't fit the target user, too boring, needs more colour.
-   Moving background takes the focus away from actual website, maybe change the opacity of the colour to take the attraction away.

- Colour needs to match digipak more.(Really good website though.)

-   The store can be improved I think in the sense of the cart and maybe a discount?

-   The countdown on the front page should be larger and draw more attention but overall an overwhelming website page.

-   The girls page is clever and inventive apart from Frankie photo which is a different quality and needs improvement.*

-   Social media aspects are good but the insta could use more pictures. FB is blocked so no comment.

-   Gallery needs improving but store makes up for it.
-    I would critise the 'our music' page as they say the music video is on the page but it is a default video.

-   'Our music' page needs to be completed

-   Store needs more work with more detailed items

-   Tour Dates page is very basic

-   'Our Music' page is incomplete.

-   There needs to be information on each member of the band other than just pictures of them, other than that there's nothing wrong with it!

We then gave them a mark out of 10, here is what people gave ours...

9/10
8/10

8/10 

8/10

7/10            

Promotion

In the days leading up to the release of our music video we wanted to use our social media accounts to really build a buzz about it. We looked at ways different artists do this as found that Justin Beiber used this technique for his single 'what do you mean?'.

We chose to use to this to promote 'Light Me Up' we asked our friends to pose with the poster with the #lightmeup to encourage people to talk about it on Twitter and instagram.

Magazine Research

Magazine research from Frankie16

Track List

We took inspiration from the bands i had already researched and their albums; Little Mix, The Saturdays and Neon Jungle. They all had a different number of songs on their first album, we decided to go with 12 as it is still a lot of songs which allows our audience to really get to know our sound and decide if they like it or not. we tried to not make the names of the songs to complex so they still appeal to our audience. after further researching we found that these were not all suitable, therefore we changed a few of these and included one feature track Te Amo ft Soraya. we believed this would help to widen our audience as we are a new band by teaming up with another artist.

MTV interview

We filmed this interview for MTV to allow our fans to find out more about us and give them more information about the upcoming video. It allowed out audience to get to know the band members better and see more of their quirky personalities.