We have done more work on our wix website today. Although the above image may look more simplistic than the last, we have created links from all the titles to description pages, and links from those pages back to the home screen. We also changed all of the font on the website to "Monotype Corsiva" - as we feel it is elegant but clear to read. We have decided that until we have photoshopped our images of Dana to include on the home screen we will not decide on a background, although today we explored the options available from the software. We also changed the placement of the main image in order to conform to the rule of thirds.

Album Cover Analysed-Katy Perry

Katy Perry is renown for being promiscuous and flaunting her sexuality, therefore it would only be fitting if her debut album cover for “One of the Boys” represented that.

The cover features a long shot of Katy lying on a sun lounger, they have chosen this shot for specific reasons. Firstly the barely dressed Katy appeals to the male audience as it shows her wearing an ensemble similar to one of those from the fifties era. Furthermore her promiscuity is enhanced by her facial expression, her mannerisms and body position. Her left arm props up her body while she bites a pair of spectacles suggestively with her right hand.

Katy does not dominate the frame and I think this is a very important aspect of the album cover. Many props and ornaments accompany her; one of the most significant and powerful images is the white-picket, which is connoted with the ‘American Dream’ of growing up in a small suburb, having children and growing old. However she seems to be mocking this ideology because her explicitly contradicts the ‘perfect’ lifestyle.

Lastly the font and colour of the writing on the album is essential to add to the artist’s promotion. Katy Perry’s name is in pink bubble writing, which is representative of a young schoolgirls diary or book. I think that this connection with the younger audience adds to her playfulness and youth. The placement of her name is just as important as the font or colour, it is placed high in the blue sky above the reclining Katy

Website Design

We are currently in the process of creating a homepage of a website for our artist Dana. We will be doing this using a free piece of online software called 'Wix'- www.wix.com It is a fairly simple piece of software to use and we have just set down the foundations of the website, below is the rough draft of what we are putting up on it...

as you can see we are only in the first stages of layout, hyperlinking and using music and photos effectively. We have taken ideas from Katy Perry's website which is all focused around her, with several links to: music, albums, videos, photos and interviews...

From the image above you can see that it is very centralised website which concentrates on the artist. Furthermore the amount of links, photos and text.

I think that we have to incorporate all of these things in our own website but at the same time re-invent the standard for female singer's websites.

The quote that we recieved back from the previous website for the hire of a fog machine was £70, on our budget of £100 we felt this was not good use of our finances and so have managed to negotiate a price of £40 from the following website:

www.discoequipmenthire.co.uk

Low Fog Machine - As its name suggests, produces beautiful floor hugging dry ice fog effect by simply adding regular ice.

For our digipack we need to provide an image for the front of our CD single cover. We have therefore researched into similar artist's CD covers in order to identify important aspects and common factors that make a CD cover appealing to certain audiences.

Analysis of Beyonce’s Album cover for B-Day

Beyonce much like Dana is an independent female artist. Again, much like Dana her fan base is predominantly female, yet also appeals to the male gaze.

Her album cover for B-Day has a medium close up image of her. The framing and composition of the image and cover follows the rule of thirds, as the main subject is not centralised yet is still the main focus. ( right hand two thirds of the frame) Her facial expression connotes her independence strength and determination, through her firm jaw and gaze beyond the audience. Her independence is further suggested by her sole presence on the cover, the fact that she is the only person shown revisits the suggestion that she is a strong character.

Her low cut top makes the image and cover appealing to the male gaze, whilst also appealing to her predominantly female audience by making her strength determination and elegance aspirational to women. Her elegance is shown through her lengthened neck and up hairstyle emphasising this.

The title on the left hand side of the cover shows ‘Beyonce’ in a gothic calligraphy font, the font for ‘B-Day’ shown underneath is modern and is also colloquial language therefore demonstrating a contrast between the two words, a contrast between old and new. The slang used relates to a teenage market therefore furthering the age range of Beyonce’s fans.

For our filming on Saturday 7th November we have decided to rent a smoke machine in order to enhance the atmosphere in the bar where Dana will be singing.

We have emailed for a quote and for delivery and returns details from the website:

http://www.smokemachines.net/

Unfortunately over half term we were not able to follow our plans for filming as on one occasion one of our actors had a last minute meeting with his agent, and on our second filming date the person who was supposed to let us in to Powers Bar for filming, overslept and was not contactable.

We have therefore had to re arrange our filming schedule and will in the mean time be continuing with our project and beginning to research into our dig pack and website, whilst also continuing planning for our reorganized filming schedule, which is as follows:

Filming Schedule

Saturday 7th November

11:00 – Arrive at ‘Powers’ bar & set up music, stage and lighting

11:15 – Filming

12:30 – Lunch Break

13:00 – Filming

14:00 – Change Location to Sam’s House

14:30 – Filming in bedrooms

Sunday 8th November

11:00 – Arrive at Camden office location & set up music, props and lighting

11:15 – Filming

12:30 – Lunch Break

13:30 – Filming