Sunday, March 31, 2019

PHOTOSHOOT!

Hey Blog!

I am so pleased to announce that I have finally gotten the pictures in form the photoshoot that I mentioned in my last blog post. The whole process was so much fun and really somewhat of a learning experience for me. in the future I'd love to pursue an actual career in music so while doing this photoshop ti was able to learn sort of the process of how a photoshoot works.

We didn't have any locations to use for the shoot because I was on a low budget so iahd to improvise. Basically all I did was take somewhat tablecloths and nail them to the wall. Then I used some lights that I have in my house already that are adjustable and made them be different colors. I used these lights in order to create some cool effects with the lighting that eventually turned a product that I was really happy with.




Saturday, March 30, 2019

States Interference

Hey Blog!

So you'll never guess whats been going on with me! As you know, I live the busiest life known to man. Lately I have been non-stop booked with my extra curricular activities and a bit distracted by my college acceptances. Luckily though have been able to (for the most part) continue on my course of progress with my project. Right now I am in the final creative planning stages and am moving on to the execution process. I have my website layout finished so now ill be more focused on branding.

I want to dive super deep into my research for my whole branding process and have found some really helpful links with good information on the important specifics to my brand, so I'll be linking those below. Other than that though I have conducted a photo shoot with a good friend of mine for the photos that I'll be using on my website and digipak so I'll be blogging about that whole process once I get the pictures in. That's all for now.


Until next time,

Kyleigh,.

Monday, March 25, 2019

A DAY FULL OF RESEARCH

Hey Blog

So today was a huge research day for me. Today I sat online for basically three hours and just scold and scrolled while trying to get some information on branding and distribution. It was may more informative than I thought it was going to be and actually made me realize that $K is more so in the R&B genre than synpop so that will be how I intend to brand her. I researched about target audiences and the importance of and internet presence, as well as the emphasis that should be placed on marketing a new artist to the right audiences. I ended up finding a bunch of links to informative chat websites where real industry professionals talk about challenges they personally have faced or that they've seen others face and it was really helpful and informative when it came to my website and also for answering questions for my CCR. I'm going to be linking below some of the websites I'm talking about. At this stage I feel really comfortable with my progress. Although I haven't much physical work on my products yet, I think is just as important if not more, so it was good that I had today to just sit down and get informed.

https://spinnup.com/uc/blog/artist-branding/
https://newartistmodel.com/promote-your-music/
http://www.musicthinktank.com/blog/7-music-marketing-truths-all-musicians-should-know.html
https://www.slideshare.net/Trampezium/conventions-of-a-pop-music-video-26096998
https://bandzoogle.com/blog/17-ways-to-promote-your-music-online
https://www.helpscout.com/blog/psychology-of-color/
https://source.nationwidedisc.com/five-tips-for-designing-your-cd-packaging/
https://www.verywellmind.com/color-psychology-2795824
https://cyberprmusic.com/social-media-music-marketing/
Also this is a little sheet I made to help planning. I took some notes and copied the most helpful links on here 


Until next time,

Kyleigh.

Thursday, March 14, 2019

My Website

Hey Blog

I've begun the process of creating my professional promotional website for the project

I want to keep it really minimal and reflective more so of my personal narrative rather than using flashy and unnecessary design elements. Having a user friendly website is essential in today's day and age. I also want to ensure that when consumers use the site its accessible and actually usable on mobile devices. 
I want to also be sure to include a feature where visitors of the site can directly stream and download music from my stream/ download platforms. 

Tuesday, March 12, 2019

Out Sick

Hey Blog


This week I had planned to get back on track after Mamma Mia and being away....HOWEVER
that is far from what occurred. I unfortunately had to reschedule with my videographer/camera man because he too has an aice media project to do. He plans to film this weekend so we tried to plan for Friday. I'm not sure if that is going to work out for us but I am trying o stay stay optimistic. At this point I have begun my creative process for my website, and continued my branding research. Tomorrow I'm making a brand identity chart that I will put in my blog tomorrow. For now I haven't really made any advancements progress wise. Everything is off to such a slow start and its beginning to worry me! I'm optimistic but at this rate I'm beginning to run into the same issue I had last year with reliability and being forced behind schedule because of other people's lack of punctuality. I will send further updates about progress in the week.

until next time

Kyleigh

Saturday, March 9, 2019

Back on Track

Hey Blog

As Mamma Mia has drawn to a beautiful close after 4 successful nights (including two sold out shows) I am glad to say that I'll be getting back on track in the upcoming week. I have begun coordinating with my friend the photographer that I mentioned before who is going to be helping me shoot the gallery images for my website and digipak and the music video. We plan on shooting everything this upcoming weekend before I head off to the State Thespian festival and we go into spring break. As you know I plan to have all the shooting done by the time I leave for states, that way the only thing I have to worry about is editing and detail work. I gave Matthew (my videographer) some insight into what exactly I wanted from him this weekend. Basically on Saturday and Sunday we'll be shooting some basic clean images in front of a backdrop at one of our houses. Then for the video shoot we might go on location to the beach near where we live. Nothing is set in stone yet location wise but I do plan to have a clear schedule for the day just so were not lallygagging and wasting time all day.
I'll let you know as I go into this week what exactly we plan on doing this weekend.

until next time

Kyleigh.

Thursday, March 7, 2019

Blog Colors and Theme

Hey Blog!


As you know this is a very busy week for me. I am using this hectic time to focus only on the smaller aspects of my project. That's why today I have decided to use my previous research about color and the effect it has in people's mood and on branding to redesign my blog theme. At first I had initially planned on creating a promo package for a hip hop artist. Thusly, I wanted my blog theme to fit along the lines of a hip hop theme. Therefore, this is what my original blog looked like.

However, since I've begun this journey of self discovery through the branding process of myself and my image I wanted to incorporate my knowledge of color and its effect on mood and branding combined with the knowledge of myself and how I wish others to view me. I want to create a blog that I reflective of the topic and also reflective of myself. Ultimately this is what I came up with for the layout and color scheme of my blog and I have to say....... I absolutely love it. 


I'm not sure if I'll love this layout and design until the end, but as of right now I think this is perfect to represent the vibe I'm going for. If anything changes I'll be sure to update you!


until next time 

Kyleigh.

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

A Surge of Inspiration

Hey Blog!


Today I am extremely excited to announce that I have been struck with an incredible surge of inspiration!
So far this week I haven't really had much time to focus on the project but as I had some downtime today I cam across something that immediately made my mind flourish with ideas. I was on my phone scrolling through instagram when I saw a video that made me feel sooo happy. (I'll link the video below)
The feeling that I got when watching this video made me feel such a strong sense of happiness and pleasure that I can't even explain. This feeling that I experienced is something that I want to incorporate into my work. I want viewers to watch my videos, or visit my website, or come to a concert and experience a similar sense of overwhelming positive emotion. The graphic and vivid colors used in the video I think is what may have caused me to feel so happy. Because of this theory, I took to the internet to discover the knowledge and theory behind the use of colors and the effects they have on consumers. https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/psychology-of-color and http://www.ignytebrands.com/the-psychology-of-color-in-branding/ were two great sites I found that explained thoroughly the importance that color choice has in the world of branding and marketing. I found from these sources that the colors that make people feel the most happy are Yellow and Orange. 
I plan on using these colors a lot throughout my website and CD/ print packaging as well as in my video. I hope to be able to convey feelings of happiness within my consumers!

until next time,

Kyleigh.

Tuesday, March 5, 2019

Staying on Track


Hey Blog!

To get ahead of the curve I am going to be making a production schedule for myself that will outline my goals and checkpoints for my progress. Because the due date is April 14th, I have to make sure that I have a clear schedule that keeps me on track. My ultimate goal for this project would be to have the entire project completed before the end of March. This first week is going to be focused mainly on preliminary decisions like artist/genre selection and getting to know the brand of the chosen subject. After that I'll be diving head first into the creation process.

What I am most looking forward to along this journey is learning more about myself. I know that last time I was able to see how much I could do in the sense of creating a film opening, but because this time I had the opportunity to select a topic that interests me, I think I'll be able to create a final product that I am extremely proud of. I think I'll be much more enthused this time around and more motivated to create a final product that will not only impress others but impress myself.
AHHH! I'm swelling with excitement just as I write this.

Below I'll attach my production schedule and if anything changes I'll be sure to update you!




Until Next Time, 
Kyleigh. 

Monday, March 4, 2019

Clean Slate

Hey Blog!

This week is going to be a very busy one for me! As you may know from my last years blogs, I am very active at school, participating in various sports, clubs, and performing arts. This week is the opening of Mamma Mia, a musical of which I've been in honored to be in the cast. This week is going to be totally focused on the show and making sure everything with that is perfect. It's been a long and enduring process so I'm very excited to finally get to perform and show everyone how hard we've been working.
However, just because it's show week doesn't mean that I'm going totally off the grid. I do plan to continue brainstorming ideas for branding and continue researching my genre. By the end of this week I plan to have solidified my final inspiration and sort of centralized theme toward my website and photo shoot theme. Hopefully by the end of this crazy and hectic week I'll be able to completely focus on this project and move my progression along a little faster. I'll be back with more updates later in the week.

until next time,

Kyleigh.

Sunday, March 3, 2019

Possible issues

Hey Blog!

So this week my family and my best friends and I booked our senior trip for over spring break! We are going to Cancun, Mexico! I am so excited. Only, there's one little tiny problem. The week if this trip is directly following another trip that I'll be taking for school. My theatre troupe and I will be traveling to Tampa, Florida to attend our states thespian competition, which I am also very excited for. These two trips are taking place in the last two weeks of March which are going to be critical times for the completion of this portfolio considering our due date is the first week of April! 😟😟

I am planning on creating a detailed schedule for the video production and editing as well as the photo shoot to get content for the website and digipak. Everything has to be done as soon as possible so that I don't end up being extremely behind schedule. I plan to bring my computer with me over my vacation so that I will still be able to do some work and keep up with my blogs. More updates to come.

until next time,

Kyleigh.

Saturday, March 2, 2019

Making Moves

Hey Blog!

After deciding on the subject of my promotional package I have already started planning everything I want for my website and video. I know for certain that I want everything very colorful just for personal reasons. For my genre which can be described as Synpop or trip-hop, I will have to do some research on what color schemes sell products in this genre. I'll attach that below once I have the time  to sit down and do a little reading.

I have already reached out to a friend of mine who said he was willing to help me shoot the video (under my direction of course) and he gave me a really cool idea for a video that was 100% promotional and artist focused.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-ZWftuOgT0
I love how understated and downplayed everything feels in this particular video and that is exactly how I want my video to turn out too. I want a very relaxed and almost effortless vibe when it comes to the content of the video. All of the production tools such as cameras and lighting are all things that my new videographer has access too. We actually got into contact with the creator of the video above to find out how they filmed it and got names of all the equipment that was used. We plan to fit sometime within the next couple of weeks so stay tuned!!

until next time,

Kyleigh.

Friday, March 1, 2019

First Feedback Day


Hey Blog,

Today we had an awesome feedback session in class that was extremely helpful. We started out helping each member of our groups (just like last year) by giving them feedback and ideas that would help improve their blogs and overall productions. When it came to be my turn to receive feedback from my group I was a little nervous to tell them what i had come up with so far. I described to them my intention of using a song that I would write and produce and then use someone else's image to develop a brand identity. As I described my idea to them, they immediately disapproved of my idea and could tell that I was not at all enthusiastic about my plan. My group ultimately convinced me to use my personal artist profile for my promotion package.
 For about about two years now I have been writing and producing my own Syn-Pop/ R&B music under the artist name "$K". I was apprehensive at first of using myself for the project because I didn't want it to seem as though I was trying to  take the easy way out by selecting myself. However, my thinking was quickly changed after today's feedback. My group assured me that choosing myself to do the promotion on myself would not only be more impressive, but it would be more fun. They went into detail about how the production process would be made easier because I will ultimately require less dependency on others for my information and production process. However, the trouble that comes with subjecting myself is making sure that I document my process extensively to show that I am the one doing the work (for example in the video production).  Allowing the opportunity for self reflection would make for a much more interesting and thorough project that fully embodies the likeness of myself. Also, the challenge that comes with trying to depict my brand accurately will show more commitment to the project and my passion for the music industry because I will have to view myself from an outsider's perspective, both my strengths and weaknesses, in order to build a brand that goes beyond how I perceive myself.

Overall ,I am extremely excited about the path that I'm on. Now that I have solidified my subject, it's going to be smooth sailing from here on out. My next steps are going to be creating a production schedule as well as redirecting the focus/look of my blog so that it fits more inline with my brand and genre.