DEVELOPMENT - FINAL 'MERCHANDISE' PAGE (NONWORKING PAGE)

DEVELOPMENT - INTERTEXTUALITY COMPARISON

1.'Grease'

1.'Supersoaker' by Kings of Leon

2.'Grease'

3.'You' by Matida

4.'The notebook'

5.'The end of the f***ing world'

DEVELOPMENT - 'THE OUTTAKES'

Within the 'Pink Lemonade' section of my homepage, I feature two matching icons of a slice of lemon which I have filtered to be pink These have been placed either side of the title, creating cross-reference with the music video. The pink lemons are part of the 'brand image' of Henry and his EP, and further link my products, making them cross convergent and help to bring a better, dynamic experience to the audience.

These icons also feature a hidden function which will bring up a lightbox containing an additional page with a video of 'bloopers'. This secret feature is intentionally to show Henry's more relatable and fun-loving persona, connecting with the  target demographic as he also 'just like one of them'. The video will portray Henry in series of outtakes from the process of filming the music video, giggling and laughing as he falls over and dramatically, iconically poses for the camera.

'Easter eggs' are engaging for audiences and used across a broad range of media, for example Disney even uses little cross-references within their movies to excite audiences who now hunt for these little, hidden segments across the movies. This has become iconic to Disney and is thought as a key factor to their brand image and to how they retain audiences. Therefore, I have used this feature to also entice fans and satisfy their desire to connect with the artist.

DEVELOPMENT - 'CROSS-MEDIA CONVERGENCE'

The term convergence describes things coming together. cross-media convergence is the merging of mass communication outlets including print, social media, radio and the internet with the intention of creating a more dynamic experience. The term is both used in media and business within promotion and marketing. In the modern digital age, people can now use a variety of platforms to display what they so wish to the world, reaching further as they present themselves across multiple forms of media to maximise potential reach.

'These multiple of media convergence are leading us towards a digital renaissance - a transformation period that will affect all aspects of our lives' Henry Jenkins

Cross-media convergence is a very important part to product advertisement as well as artist promotion within the 21st century as more people choose to consume media in different formats. Therefore, by using different platforms of media, it will optimise ultimate consumption and interaction. For my own artist, I wanted to show that he uses cross-media convergence (main forms being youtube, Internet and social media), in order to promote his talent and rock-star persona to the mass-audience. These forms of media are extremely popular to the target demographic; the largest demographic group of Twitter users are between the ages of 18 and 29 (37%). 

A popular form of promotion has long been 'word of mouth' which has even adapted within the digital age as people can now share their thoughts, feelings and opinions constantly as well as 're-tweet' what they like. A popular trend is to 'hashtag'. When it comes to social media, the hashtag is used to draw attention, to organize, and to promote. Hashtags got their start in Twitter as a way of making it easier for people to find, follow, and contribute to a conversation. Therefore, I wanted to take advantage of this modern trend, popular with the target demographic, and create three hashtags key to Henry's 'brand' image. By reposting one of these hashtags, audiences will be not only be promoting Henry and his music video, Pink lemonade, but will begin to also feel 'ncluded' in the trend behind him as an artist (identity theory). The three hashtags are '#HENRY' '#PINKLEMONADE' '#PINKLEMONADEMERCH' which are relevant to him as an artist and his merchandising page.

I decided to edit, using photoshop, four examples of how some of the tweets may look. I placed these on the merchandising page where they seemed most fitting as three of the tweets related to specifically the merchandise he has. This samples how Henry can 'hype' up his fans with media promotion surrounding the merchandise. I also posted on his main page, the three hashtags next to the cover of the ep I created so that visitors to the webpage would instantly associate the social media promotion with that of his internet page. This perfectly sampled how Henry as an artist uses multiple forms of media to give audiences a dynamic, cross-convergence experience.

This is how the hashtags now look upon the homepage and the tweets on the Merchandise page.

DEVELOPMENT - WEBSITE FONT

When deciding the theme of my website for Henry I knew it was important to make the Title page boldly flaunt his name. This was a key step to promotion and enphasising the overall brand of 'HENRY' as an artist.

I chose the font 'Avenir' as I found this a very striking font and represents his strength as an artist and how he stands out from others. I created more space between the Lettering in order to stretch across the entirety of the title section and agin create a bold effect. The white contrasts the darkness of the background, assisting it to stand out by contrast. Then, I applied an effect to the lettering which gave it a 3D effect with the red and blue outlining it. This matches the EP album cover which also has this effect on the picture which helps overall to tie together the mis-en-scene of the webpage and Henry's aesthetic.

DEVELOPMENT - FINAL AUDIO VISUAL CONTENT

After editing the videos together, this was the final result of my main audio visual content.



I placed this on my website home page within the 'BIO' section where is could be easily accessed. This decision also came from the factor I attempted to condense my website to two working pages - the 'Home' page and 'Merchandise'. This video fitted well here as the video reveals personal aspects about Henry, adding to his short introductory description.


This is how it looks on the home page.

This is how the video looks on the seperate 'BIO' page.

PRODUCTION - AUDIO VISUAL CONTENT PLAN

MY AUDIO VISUAL CONTENT PLANS

For my online audio-visual content I decided to film Henry in an interview style video. This section I planned to film at the beach where the shots for the music video verse was shot in Bradwell-on-sea. The location was chosen to be here as it I new it would be quiet and there would be less disturbance within the video itself. I made Henry, in this video, wear the same tire from the music video as i intend it to look as though he has simply taken a break from shooting the music video to film little sections for this interview.

I had watched a combination of other video interviews to prepare for this and draw inspiration from in terms of what questions were asked and how the music stars acted.

THE QUESTIONS I ASKED HENRY

• What draws you towards retro music?
• What inspires your music?
• How did you learn the guitar?
• What inspired pink lemonade?
• What inspired the music video?

I felt these questions would give Henry's character a chance to expand for the audience and develop, giving an insight to his past and his personal inspirations. I kept the interview focused around the music video as this is my main project and the centre of all my work. As I encouraged my actor to improvise, I allowed him to develop his own character for Henry. 

HOW I FILMED AND EDITED THE VIDEO

Unlike my music video, I edited this shot piece using IMOVIE which I found interesting to use.

Upon reflection, I decided to cut together the three different times I shot the interview so that the sound quality was the clearest possible and the best answers, with little hesitation or stuttering, were shown. I had encouraged my fictional star to improvise to make the overall video feel authentic. Quickly, I decided to edit out my voice asking the questions, opting to use text on a blank screen so it felt more professional and true to other celebrity interviews.

At the end of the video, I edited in a shot of Henry telling his audience to stream the music video and song. I found this very important in order to represent Henry as keenly interactive with fans and present him to encourage audiences to listen to him.

DEVELOPMENT - SONY RESEARCH

According to the brief, my artist is to be fictionally signed to the famous record label Sony Music. Sony Music Entertainment, recognized as Sony Music, is an American global music conglomerate owned by Sony Corporation of America and incorporated as a general partnership of Sony Music Holdings Inc. It was originally founded as 'American record cooperation' and renamed as 'Columbia Recording Corporation' in 1938, following its acquisition by the Columbia broadcasting company. In 1966, the company was reorganised to become CBS Records, and Sony Corporation bought the company in 1988, renaming it under its current name in 1991.Sony Music Entertainment is the second largest of the 'big three' record companies.

Sony Music have hundreds of artists signed under them presently and deal with artists and bans from a wide collection of genres. Although my artist is mainly aimed to be a pop style artist, I have incorporated a fusion of the indie genre with my chosen song and Henrys aesthetic which would still match the type of artist Sony music has signed to them. I find it fitting that Henry, who compares himself to Elvis, is signed under the same record label as the king of rock also was.

here are a selection of artists I have based Henry to blend with in terms of aesthetic, genre, music and success in the pop industry. I have taken this directly from Sony music website.

• Within this screen grab both Jake bugg and Cage The Elephant are pictured who both can compare to Henry 

• Within this second screenshot is George Ezra and Dominik Fike who are also similar to Henry

• This third image shows the band kings of Leon. This band inspired the music video for Pink Lemonade with their music video for 'supersoaker'.

• Tom Odell is another inspiration that is signed under Sony music for Henry and a very similar artist

DEVELOPMENT - WEBSITE HOME PAGE FIRST DRAFT

HENRY'S WEBSITE
After taking time to edit my website for Henry, this is the result of my home page. The page opens with a bold title in white with blue and red framing the lettering which instantly lets visitors know the site is for 'HENRY' and match with the album cover for his EP which has the 3D, red and blue distortion effect on it. There is a strong sense of interactivity between henry and his audience through social media as there are obvious links to his social media pages and youtube. There then is a shot bio section which can be clicked to be taken to the full Bio page. The next section is the 'bitter squeeze tour' section which can be clicked to lead people to the full list of tour dates. (See individual blog for this section). Below this is an Instagram link to Henrys page. This shows how he is appealing to the mass audience as he uses social media to connect with fans. Beneath this right at the bottom of the page is the details where you can find links to contact his management and bookings. There is also the logo for SONY music, which is the record label he is signed to. I wanted to demonstrate how he fits the given brief very clearly this way.

DEVELOPMENT - INTERACTIVIY

It is important for stars nowadays to interact with their audiences avidly and within the age of social media, this is easier than ever. For this reason, I keenly decided to present Henry as a user of social media, particularly Instagram, twitter and snapchat as these are very popular to the 16-25 years old age demographic who are part of the 'mass market'.

There are 3.48 billion social media users in 2019, with the worldwide total growing by 288 million since this time last year. This proves how important therefore the age of 'digital marketing' has become as its one of the most sought after professions in UK business and on the rise. 

Social media, despite all its flaws, provides an accessible platform for people to promote themselves in a certain way. Therefore, I began by setting up a fake account for Henry to 'use' to primarily see with fans. This helps audiences engage more with the artists and encourages more streams, sales and listeners worldwide due to the globalisation of social media.

Across the website for Henry I added very clear links to different forms of social media to give the impression he is a well connected artist who invests time into his self-promotion and interaction with fans.

As you open the website you first notice links to Facebook and twitter at the top of the page - this instantly shows the interactivity between Henry and the fans and shows he is part of the 'mass' market and interacts with the 16-25 year old demographic.

Under the album cover near the top of the homepage, There are links to multiple social media sites, suggesting he is a wet connected artist. There are logos displayed for: Spotify, Facebook, youtube, Instagram and snapchat. These are all popular with the target demographic.

This Instagram link is a key part to my website as it is the best display of interactivity. At the bottom of the home page this is displayed with a video of the sea on loop which is intertextual to the music video. The visitor to the website can click the link to his instagram 'Vintage_lemon_' which they can then follow. This section displays three images directly linked to his instagram page which, when hovered over, displays the caption. The pain to 'view more' takes the visitor to the webpage to his social media account. This allows audiences the potential to follow and like his images from his tour and helps reach a better level of engagement.