Production
In terms of production, there were three parts to my work. The first part was the website in order to build up the fanbase for the artist, and from my research into artist websites, I found that the social media site Tumblr was the most popular basis for many alternative artists, due to its simplicity, was of navigation and adaptibility in order to cater to the needs of the fanbase. Initially, I gave my respondents the choice of three designs, in order to figure out which one they preferred better, which one was more accessible for them.
 |  |
|---|---|
 |
More people preferred the first design, with the colour scheme having been picked specifically to match the banner that I had already created (this was made while I was trying to see what the font would look like against the same kind of colour scheme that Halsey used for Hopeless Fountain Kingdom). The problem with this, however, was accessibility, as some devices were unable to view the site, meaning I had to recreate the website. The new website was created on Wix, keeping to the same colour scheme elements that I had previously used on the original Tumblr version. You can view the site here.
The second part of production coincided with making the website, and this was the digipak. Overall, I mainly used Adobe Photoshop in order to create the 6 panels needed for the digipak itself. The first panel took the longest to make, as although I was wanting to go for a two tone image, I wanted it to have a specific effect. I used an online tutorial to make my image into a threshold layer, then adjusted colour in order to make it a coloured threshold, then overlayed it with another layer that had the same effect done to it, just using a lighter colour.
The last image was also quite time-consuming to create, as I decided to input various photos of my friends and I into Polaroid-style frames, linking to the music video with regards to the "memories"/retro-style imagery used around the breakdown of the song. In order to make the images look as though they were old, I had to change filters on them using the Curves tool, some images also requiring brightness and contrast changes due to the darkness of them. I changed each channel individually, in order to ensure I could control the effect of the imagery itself. Below is an example of the settings I would typically use, on an online version of Photoshop called Pixlr, which I also used if I could not access Photoshop. The settings are the same as if I was using Photoshop, so there is not much change.
The last part of the project came in the form of my music video. This was the longest process out of all of them to complete, due to the initial difficulties of filming. People were unable to film so I had to do what I could in terms of filming. Initially, I was planning on my music video taking place at a sort of house party, to match the mood and lyrics of the song, but changed it to a "day-in-the-life" style video to show that the people I was friends with were, in a way, my own heaven. This involved filming card games, a squadron parade night and filming some scenes at home in order to make it authentic, as well as using old videos that I had already taken on Snapchat, to truly capture the real side of my friends, and not just a staged version of them. For editing, I used Sony Vegas Pro 13, as I had used the software before, and could easily apply audio and image effects to manipulate the video into how I wanted. This especially came in handy for the breakdown, where I used multiple layers, in order to have the overlay of my trainers being tied and the two videos of my friends in different situations, then fading that to the car drive, which I felt was effective due to the smooth transitions used. Below is the video itself.