Rationale and Flat Plans

A2 Media project rationale

For my media project I chose to do a music video for a small indie/rock band titled The Montagues. The song I chose (titled ‘Don’t Go) contains rather melancholic and moody connotations, so this theme was expressed using a rather basic and limited colour scheme such as grey and black. This colour scheme is also similar to that used, conveniently, in the bands’ logo, as seen below. 

Despite that white is not normally associated with moody themes, it would be the best choice for text especially, as the text will be against dark backgrounds, so to avoid difficulty when reading the text, the font will be white. This will provide a colour scheme consisted throughout the project; in the video, logo, the website and the magazine advertisement. The right side of the web page would be used primarily for download/iTunes links. This section would be white so that it draws the attention of the audience. On the Maximo Park website, there is a red banner on the top of the page where the links are located. This helps to draw    

attention to the links as it is highly noticeable. This is something that could be used for my website, instead of simply having the text contrasting with the background without the use of a banner, similar to what was done on the Artic Monkeys web page. The layout was laid out after examining the websites of other indie/rock bands, namely Maximo Park and Arctic Monkeys. Both of these websites have a very similar layout to my flat plan. Both of the websites have the video for a single in the centre of the page, and immediately draws attention. It is also interesting how the Maximo Park website is rather colourful and has a black and white video, whereas with the Arctic Monkeys’ website, the website is primarily black and white, yet the video is in colour. This technique helps the video and the website contrast, which creates even more attention. This is a good technique that I would also consider implementing in my own website. For my own website, I considered having news updates below the video, however after examining the Maximo Park website and how it uses a very noticeable banner for it’s news updates, I have considered using this technique instead, as it will draw more attention compared to the initial idea. The Arctic Monkeys’ website uses similar techniques that I would intend to use in terms of the colours and placement. The links to the website sections is located at the upper section of the page, and is below the second most eye catching part of the page, the band name, which helps to draw attention to the link. The iTunes link is also next to another eye catching part of the page, which helps to draw attention to the iTunes link itself. This is very similar to the layout that I plan to use for the magazine advertisement, as the band name is located at the top, the focus of the main image is the centre, and the song name and external links are located at the bottom of the advert. The Maximo Park website uses a good technique to advertise their album. The colour scheme generally consists of red and white, but the album is in a bright pink which draw a lot of attention, this is another strategy which could be implemented into my own website.

The layout on the website was composed in a way that the music video would be the centre of the page, and so it would immediately draw the attention of the page visitor. The links that would be located at the top of the page would highly contrast with the background colour in such a way that it would also draw attention, intriguing the page visitor to explore other parts of the web page. This also applies to the magazine advert, as the website links are located below the song title, a secondary focus of the advert, which would also help to draw the reader’s attention to the links.

The font used for the advert and website will be relatively standard, although it may be different for the links on the top of the website. Changing the font may draw attention from the video or other parts of the page, so they will need to stand out. The font would need to look very informal, but not so much that it would look inappropriate (such as Comic Sans or Papyrus), as a formal and standard font (like Times New Roman or Tahoma) would not appeal to the target audience. The colour scheme used for the advert will mostly consist of grey and white, keeping with the consistency of the other parts of the project. The target audience would be primarily students aged around 17-25, who mostly listen to indie/rock music. A lot of indie music tends to generally be about common aspects of young peoples lives (especially since a lot of indie bands consist of this age group) including relationships. The song that the music video will be used for is about the break-up of a relationship, hence the moody and melancholic themes.

The inspirational texts I have chosen are ‘The Undercurrents’ by Maximo Park,and ‘MY KZ, UR BF’ by Everything Everything. ‘The Undercurrents’ is the most similar of the two in terms of the themes and connotations. It features a grey colour scheme and is about relationships. ‘MY KZ UR BF’ is similar in the way that the lyrics refer to past events in a relationship. It also focuses specifically on the female in the situation, similar to the song to be used for the music video. Both artists produce music in the rock/indie genre, and have a similar target audience to my own.

Because the music video, website and advert all adhere to the standard conventions of the indie/rock genre, it will highly appeal to the target demographic which consists of young students.

Magazine Advertisement flatplan

Band website flatplan