Alleyways tour

On our website you can find out when Alleyways is on tour around the UK. We have also posted up links of where our tickets can be bought such as Ticketmaster.



We posted both the exact date of when were touring as well as our route around the country making it seem like a real bands tour line up.

Production Diary

Production Diary
#1 - 19/09/14
During our first meeting, we presented all of our music video ideas and chose three of them to put forward for our final A2 music video. We decided that we would like to produce a music video for either: Paramore's 'Fast In My Car',  Nina Simone's 'Feeling Good' or Paramore's 'Born For This'. We all uploaded the three tracks to our blogs and spoke about our opinions on them.

#2 - 22/09/14
In today's lesson we decided to produce a music video for Paramore' 'Fast In My Car'. We conversed about our ideas for what we can include in the video such as balloons, the inclusion of my car and silly string. We also began to put together a narrative that would run throughout the video where we are all picked up by me in my car and Ellie, the vocalist of the band, will sing passionately in the passenger seat whilst the rest of the band play their instruments in the backseats.

For our music video, we are hoping to all be dressed in colourful colours and be surrounded by a fun atmosphere. To create this vibe, we will invest in as many bright props as possible.

#3 - 23/09/14
Today we talked about what roles we are all going to play in the production of the 'Fast In My Car' music video. We all decided that our band will be called 'Alleyways'. Jonathan will be doing the daily production diaries, Ellie will be putting together the website, Zahra will be comprising a poster for the Alleyways' EP and I will be researching similar artists. Ellie will also take part in a lip syncing task to prepare her for performing during the video.

#4 - 24/09/14
During today's lesson we began working on our selected tasks. Ellie started putting Alleyways' website together using Wix, Jonathan researched a few similar bands and their digipaks. I helped Zahra  by considering styles that can influence the poster that she is creating for the EP's marketing campaign. I also created a song lyric timeline to help us during production.

#5 - 25/09/14
During today's lesson, Jonathan and I researched some famous music video directors such as Spike Jonze. Ellie continued creating Alleyways' official website and Zahra began designing a poster for the EP release. We have decided to do our lip synch task tomorrow and to take some professional photos of the band to be used in our digipak, on the website and posters.

#6 - 26/09/14
In today's lesson time, we went to the music department's recording studio to film our lip sync task. We all felt that we were particularly successful in producing a good lip sync video and Ellie performed exceptionally well.

#7 - 29/09/14
During today's lesson, Jonathan researched similar artists' magazine interviews. Ellie, myself and Zahra researched similar artists and influences. We all prepared ourselves for conducting a photoshoot tomorrow for our website, digipak and social media platforms.

#8 - 30/09/14
In today's session, we all took part in a casual photoshoot for Alleyways' magazine articles, website and social media accounts. We had to take the photos by filming the different scenes and then saving good freeze frames. However, after the shoot we decided that we didn't like the outcomes that we produced and so we agreed that we would re-do the photoshoot with the assistance of someone outside of the group to take pictures.

#9 - 01/10/14
Today we got George Brewer to help take pictures of us for our press and social media presence. We found it a lot easier to take pictures with someone else's help. We all made sure to dress up for the occasion too in colourful colours to positively benefit the photographs and our image in relation to the sound of our band.

#10 - 02/10/14
In today's lesson, we started our storyboard and began to put together a risk assessment. We also all assessed each other and learnt our merits and weaknesses.

#11 - 03/10/14
We continued our storyboard and finished our risk assessment in today's lesson. We also finished our sheet which features all of the possible obstacles that we may encounter during the production of our music video.

#12 - 06/10/14
We finished the 'Fast In My Car' storyboard and Ellie began putting together the presentation.

#13 - 07/10/14
Today we presented our band and what we have done so far in preparation for the music video.

#14 - 08/10/14
We all began to catch up with our blog work.

#15 - 09/10/14
Today we all completed a Cross-Media Image Consistency presentation each to adapt the way we wish to present our own band.

#16 - 14/10/14
During today's lesson, we ventured out to shoot the beginning of our music video. It didn't go too well as the setting was a little drab for our band's aesthetic. We will require a re-shoot.

#17 - 15/10/14
We all continued to catch up on blog work and filmed the cramped studio performance scene of our music video during our free time after school.

#18 - 16/10/14
Ellie and myself edited the footage that we got from the night before whilst John and Zahra left to go to Barcelona on an Art trip.

#19 - 20/10/14
John and Zahra came back to find that Ellie and myself had completed a lot of work whilst we were away. We had begun to put together a rough draft of our music video. We then filmed for two hours after school in the Drama studio and the shoot went very well.

#20 - 22/10/14
Today we added footage from the shoot the night before to put into our rough draft.

#21 - 23/10/14
In today's lesson, we discussed how we could change our digipak design idea to suit the band more. We concluded that we would have a front cover that did not feature that band, like Ellie's previous idea, but a back cover which does feature us in silhouette. We all agreed that this was a good idea and Ellie began to draw up the design using photos from our photoshoot.

#22 - 24/10/14
Today we continued to complete blog work and allow others in the group to catch up so that we can all be fully focused on the filming at hand.

#23 - 04/11/14
In today's lesson we have been creating a survey to find out what our audience wants from our band, music video and digipak. We also put together the digipak using a template provided on the internet and pictures that we have taken for it.

#24 - 05/11/14
Today we uploaded the teaser trailer for our music video, updated the design of our website and posted about our various social media outlets. We also shot a little footage for a clever sequence during our music video.

#25 - 06/11/14
We created lots of merchandise that Alleyways can sell on tour and through their website. We added further updates such as iconography and widgets. Tour dates have also been posted on the website. We all took part in practicing our editing skills using footage that we had shot the day before. John conducted some magazine advert research to prepare me for making a magazine advert to promote Alleyways' debut EP release.

#26 - 07/11/14
In today's session Jonathan created a magazine advert or poster for our band. Ellie updated our teaser trailer as it was a little grainy. Zahra also created a poster.

#27 - 10/11/14
Jonathan and Zahra were taking part in an Art session all day today but me and Ellie created a Kerrang! 'Introducing' article whilst we weren't present.

#28 - 12/11/14
Today we continued to edit our final music video using all the footage that we have shot so far. We all also conducted a self-reflection on our blogs and thought about what can do to improve them.

#29 - 13/11/14
We continued improving our blogs by researching the music industry and how they treat unsigned artists. Ellie finished editing another sequence for our music video.

#30 - 14/11/14
We looked at the weather forecast to see which days will be appropriate for us to shoot the rest of our music video. We are mostly up-to-date on blogging, research, and planning but we are falling behind with shooting at the moment.

#31 - 17/11/14
During the lesson, Ellie created a presentation on cross-media consistency covering CHVRCHES. They are relevant to our image and sound so it is good for us to investigate them. She also uploaded some edited footage of a sequence that we shot a few weeks ago. She also planned how we will answer the evaluation questions when we get to that stage. Johnathan improved our NME Radar article by making the layout of the text more like the original article. He also changed the photograph as it suits our band image more than the previous one.

#32 - 18/11/14
Today we prepared for tomorrow's photo-shoot and music video shooting. Ellie created a poster, inspired by CHVRCHES, to promote Alleyways' EP release.

#33 - 19/11/14
In today's session we completed a brief photoshoot which we all felt went extremely well. The photos came out stunning and we edited them a little to improve the lighting slightly. We all prepared to meet after school and shoot a few more sequences and shots in my garden.

#34 - 20/11/14
Today we began editing the footage that we shot the night before. We are all very happy with it and have a lot of good shots to choose from. Jonathan also analysed the other artists' websites to help them improve.

#35 - 21/11/14
This morning we continued editing our music video. John uploaded our GoPro Car Test Shots and Zahra analysed our peers artist websites.

GoPro

While heading to my house for filming Jonathan tested to see whether the GoPro footage looks effective and high quality when filming us all in the car together. As shown the footage looks very clear and professional and we will make sure to make use of the GoPro for our final finished music video.

Bonfire Photoraphs

Whilst filming around my house we made sure to get the most out of the bonfire that we made. By using it in our video, website and digipak as the images we captured were so appealing.

The dark background that is illuminated by the fire real helps to fit in with our bands current digipak which is pitch black surrounds that are lighten by small beautiful lights.

Photoshot

Here are photographs from a recent photo shot we all took part in. We made sure to have a mix of smart and casual clothing so as convey or image of being mainstream whilst also having independent roots as we seamlessly cross different looks and music styles. 

Website Evaluation

What was good- I really liked the opening page for this website as it opens with various photos of the artist, links to his social media as well as his tour dates which are all vital things fans will be searching for.

What could be better- The merchandise for the singer needs to be worked on as currently it is only filled with an out of focus image of a jumper with no price tag. Apart from that it is a very well rounded and solid website.

What was good- I thought that the inclusion of a social media sidebar was a nice touch as it allows readers to keep up to date with the artist from the get go. As well as this by including their amazing album cover really helps to sell the artist and he's record.

What could be better- There are a few blank pages such as the 'contact us page' and 'meet Cosmo' page which for obvious reasons need to be filled to make it seem like a professional website.

What was good- I liked that they took the time to conduct several separate interviews of all the band members and post it on their website, as well as this their merchandise page is well fleshed out with various different kinds of collectibles.

What could be better- The website could do with a better opening page as although the teaser for the bands video is good it is the only thing making up the opening page a link to their social media might be well placed here. As well as this the 'about me' section does not really contain a great deal of info on any of the artist.

What was good- I liked the sidebar which linked to the artists social media as well as the gallery that the website had which gave various shots of the musicians in different situations.

What could be better- The album page is quite weak on this musicians website as it only has the name of the album whereas a picture of the album would be a lot more appealing. 

What was good- I really liked the countdown towards the bands first music video I think it gives the website a great deal of originality. I also thought that the opening page was appealing showing of the bands album cover and so forth.

What could be better- Like other websites merchandise needs to be improved on as well as this a gallery is needed for fans to see their favourite artist as well as the members to advertise themselves.

What was good- I liked the image that first appears on screen which is the artist album so the reader is straight away shown who the artist is as well as the album and its availability on iTunes. I think that the gallery is also very well done not to mention the excessive back story of the artist.

What could be better- Obviously the merchandise page needs improving on but apart from that I think its a very well rounded professional website.

What was good- I think that the gallery was very good as it had many photos of the star in several locations, I think the interview with the artist was another nice touch for any fans reading.

What could be better- The front page of the website is a bit bland by putting links or displays to the artist social media would be good. Also things like merchandise need to be added to give the website a professional touch.

What was good- I liked how filled and lively the home page was with tour dates, album info, breaking news and teasers cover it which allows any fans to instantly get what they want from the website.

What could be better- Overall it is a very well done website it could use a few more photos of the star but that's about all.

Editing practice

Here is some test footage from our upcoming music video 'Fast in my Car'. This segment of filming shows some of the effects in post that we are going to use such as black & white as well as slow motion in the hopes of making a better and more well rounded video.

Institution

 Institution

1. Talent

Major record labels spend hundreds of thousands promoting both new and old artist in hopes of selling them to the public so understandably they want some security on the talent they are signing. Due to this fact they insurance themselves by finding new and original talent who's music appeals to large audience. Many labels will simply skip through demos spending under a dozen seconds per CD so these few's seconds must be filled with fast paced and catchy music this is good for our band as our music is very quick with catchy rifts and lyrics which will hopefully be noticed by music executives.

2. Product

Don't waste a load of money on expensive studio sessions when first starting out as an artist there are numerous other ways to record and distribute music nowadays. By using equipment like a non-expensive microphone, a compressor, a pre-amp, some basic software and any form of computer a song could easily be made and shared. Saving money this way is vital for a new and struggling artist and defiantly something to remember for our bands as we try to break into the industry.

3. Placement

After making our product, the next challenge is trying to distribute our song and where we are going to place our record. To be able to get the most publicity and attention for our song we will have to cover several base's and areas as talent agents periodically scan for the latest talent online. These include Soundcloud, Youtube, Band Camp and OurStage fourtantly these can all synchronize with each other so we can keep our social media up to date and fresh.

4. Promotion

Before trying to get signed on a record label a starting fan base is vital. By starting small with friends from Facebook and twitter and through social media and word of mouth our band can become more well know and popular. As well as this by passing out several CD's of our song it would help secure our fan base as more people will hear our band and music. By using a SoundCloud or BandCamp link when submitting our demo to a record label it increase the chances of us become signed as they can see we have a healthy back catalog of music.

5. Trasition
At first you don't succeed try and try again is motto our band will go with as if we don't find success the first time around we will keep contacting record labels and keep working on gaining a substantial fan base.

The above information was paraphrased from the following article written by Ruan De Lange:
http://ezinearticles.com/?The-5-Pillars---A-Success-Blueprint-for-Unsigned-Artists&id=7437243

I found this article extremely informative about up and coming artist and found it really useful to understanding the struggles our band will face and how best to over come them.

Social Media

Here we have set up two pages on different social media outlets Twitter and Facebook to help promote and saturate our audience in our image. This will help us get a following as well as helping to show what our image and what kind of music we are presenting as a band.

Karrang! interview

Here is the aforementioned Karrang! magazine interview that Ellie has made which introduces us as a band to the general interviews. The magazine give a quick overview of the band and the kind of style and music that we bring to the table to help saturate our audience and bring in as many fans as possible.

Inspiration- Karrang! Interview

Here are various several interviews from the magazine Karrang! By researching the best selling music magazine in Britain we can replicate an article about our own band which helps to promote our band to the public. Karrang! Follow mainly rock and punk band which helps to keep in touch with our bands image, meaning any individual who reads the magazine will possibly be a potential fan of our band.

First Draft (Positives & Negatives)

to improve
What to improve on-:
- the dark shots are very grainy. this needs to be fixed if the shots are long, however in quick succession we can probably get away with it
- the colour shots need to have some kind of filter on them to improve the colour: the saturation is very high
- we need more footage to be the base of the video rather than performance

What was good-
-the use of black and white is used well and highlights us as band members
-the various angles that we use are good as we use a whole range such as high, low, close up

Plan to improve these-
We will hope to improve these issues in editing by using various effects to get rid of the grainy effects. 
We will also make sure not to make these mistakes when we film on Wednesday as we have learnt from these mistakes.

Digipac construction

Here is the digipak for our band 'Alleyways'. We all liked and agreed on the idea of linking several different aspects of our band together whilst doing a cross-product consistency task we realized a good look and style for our digipak will be using different pieces of merchandise to make up different our digipak such as our CD cover, our bands poster and the back of our CD as well as our music video all of which follow the same themes and styles such as silhouettes, black & white and the heavy use of fairy lights all of which help to show off our bands image.

Dirty Hit Records

 Here is a prezzi that Ellie has made to help show off our bands recorded label as well with facts about their history and previous similar bands that they have signed.

Risk Assessment

Here are the various risk assessment that we had to fill out in order to conducted our filming for our music video as there are several health and safety hazards surrounding our filming set which we had to be aware of before getting to film as well as knowing ways to get around these hazards.

Editing clip

Here is a clip from a section of editing from our upcoming music video his helps to show the different kinds of shots that we are going to use such as close ups as well as split screens. However there are some aspects that we can improve on such as quality of the shots as in some places it is grainy so hopefully this can be rectified in editing.

Updated Teaser Trailer

Here is the teaser trailer for our bands upcoming album as well as the bands first music video which helps to show us off as a band as well as the kind of music that we produce and the style we are representing. This is an updated version of our trailer due to it being in better quality and the editing being smooth in certain places.

Poster Design

This is the poster for our band that we will put in various locations in the hopes of saturating our image throughout the country to maximize the attention we receive so as people can become our fans.

We will put these poster on billboards, buses, side of buildings as well as various other locations.

By keeping it simple with a black and white background it helps to draw attention to the photo of the band so as our image is out there with the public.

DigiPak ideas

After talking about our digipak and how to change it to fit our bands style and image, we decided to adapt a photo we took will rehearsing for the band ad place into bands digipak as can be seen in the bottom right.

The digipak features a plain front cover, a plain back copyright sheet, a CD and a back cover.

The front cover of the digipak will be a dark and silhouetted microphone with a back drop of a white sheet surrounded by fairy lights. We will also have our bands logo in the bottom right of the cover to let people know who's band it is.

Above is the plain black back of the booklet that stands within the left hand side of the CD case. It reads "DIRTY HIT RECORDS. © 2014 Dirty Hit Records. THE COPYRIGHT IN THIS SOUND RECORDING IS OWNED BY DIRTY HIT RECORDS. FULLY LICENSED EXCLUSIVELY IN THE UK."

Here is the CD cover that we will use in our digipak it will be a black painted CD with two strips of fairy lights coming down from the top. As well as this it will also have our logo and name posted on the front of the CD so people will know who's disc it is. By pasting the fairy lights on the front of the CD it helps to keep in the theme of bright lights next to a black screen which we have done throughout our digipak. 

Alleyways-Survey

Here are the results from the survey that we sent out get a grasp on what kind of demographic is out there at the moment and how we can hopefully fit this into our bands image. From the graph it is easy to see how people who are under the age of 22 have a fondness for pop music as it appears in the graph as the most popular, fortunately our band is rooted towards a progressive pop demographic so this fits in nicely with our themes. The survey also clearly shows us how all the participants in the survey  watch music videos either on TV or on a computer telling us clearly that to get any kind of traction as a new band with have to be uploading and trying to get our music video on the internet and the television so we have an opportunity to be seen. Our feedback also tells us that the audience likes to see their favourite artist in various locations throughout a music video so we will be sure to keep to this dynamic and place ourselves in various situations as a band. 

Overall this survey has helped as all as a band see what certain demographics are asking for as well as how to appeal to a bigger fan-base.

Self-Evaluation

After looking at the peer evaluation from the other members of my group I have taken on board my strengths and weakness'.

1. I am not good at time management and have a tendency to show up several minutes late to a group meeting or class.
2. I need to take more initiative with ideas and input a bit more creativity into the group.
3. I do own a means of transportation and can easily take the whole of the filming team and equipment to our filming locations with relative ease.

What I have taken on board since the start of the project.

-That it is important to form a strong team and group when filming such a big sequence and be sure to share and contribute new ideas.

A major point I need to improve on.

-Have the drive to complete task quickly and effectively.

Alleyways Photo Gallery

Here is the photo gallery from the alleyways website that shows all the band together and helps show our closeness as a band. It also helps to show us on location filming our new single 'Fast in my Car' so as to let our audience know that we are close to releasing our new record.

Fast in my Car-Teaser Trailer

This is the teaser for our bands debut album which is self titled as 'Alleyways'. This teaser trailer also helps to give our fans and other music lovers the chance to have a sneak peak of our upcoming song 'Fast in my Car' which will hopefully entice them to buy our record.