Two Hundred Kings Digipak

This is our front cover for our digipak, we have chosen to make it as conventional as possible for the hardcore genre, we decided to take a photo of the band within the barn, this helps to link the album to the video to create synergy between the products. We set out the composition of the photo so that we had two members of the band on each side of the beam of light, this looks very effective and is a strong photo to have as the front cover.

We have used the same title on our digipak as we used on our website, this again helps to link the two products and also gives us a trademark that helps to give fans something that they will see and instantly link to our bands, this is conventional of a band as you can see from the Deaf Havana's album above.

This is the back cover to our digipak, for this we used a photo taken when filming our narrative, this photo has the box that is buried in the ground and the feet of the male character, these elements help to give the photo purpose as it links to the video which helps to create a visual link. We have again used the same title style for the song names as we have for the title of our website and front cover, helping to create a stylistic element for the band. We have also placed ratings from companies that people associate hardcore music with, this allows people to get a feel for how good the album is without listening to it because they know they can trust their judgement, this persuades people to buy your album, this is an unconventional aspect to hardcore albums, however we feel its an effective thing to have on an album.

Our inside cover is a landscape shot we took at the location of filming, because we thought ahead we were able to get a large scale photo that we could use to cover two panels, we took the inspiration from Deaf Havana's album Old Souls, as you can see below they have covered 3 panels. I feel this picture was a good choice for our inside cover as it is a very bold image and the fact we have used actual images instead of a digital design brings reality to the album and makes it look more visually appealing. It is also more conventional for hardcore bands to use photos of them instead of a graphic design.

We have added a note to thank the label and people we worked with to create the album, this is also common on hardcore band albums as they like to promote the people who helped them get where they are.

This is the front and back cover to our pullout. The left panel is our created logo, we have chosen a crown to link with the band name and then we have added the initials of the band name on it, this has given us a bold and effective logo design. We then used a shot that we took in the barn in which we were all laughing. This photo links with the front cover of the digipak which helps the two pieces link and it also gives of a less serious vibe about the band and shows we like to mess about and have a good time, an aspect that people like to see as hardcore bands don't tend to take themselves very seriously until they are extremely well known,.

This is the inside to our pullout, we have chosen to use this to have the lyrics in, this is an aspect nearly every artist and band do, it gives the buyer and opportunity to really read the lyrics and take in the meaning behind them and also people enjoy singing to songs so it gives them the chance to also do that.

We have produced a spine to go on our pullout, this spine simple has the name of the band on it in the font that we have used all our writing in, we have used this on the lyrics, our band ratings and our message of gratitude.

Two Hundred Kings - Website

WEBSITE LINK : http://twohundredkings.mbdesignsolutions.co.uk/HTML/Index.html

Above is the homepage for our band website, we have tried to stick to strong conventions within our website design, the main one being the pictures in the centre, this is a very important aspect of the website as it gives people on the website an insight into the band and also helps to promote the bands image. Alongside the images of the band, we have added a general information about the band and the aspirations to help provide people viewing the website a good understanding of what the band want to do.

On the left side we have the live Twitter feed, this gives our page viewers a real view of what the band are doing as the band will update this a lot more than a website, it also lets people view the Twitter straight from the website without having to have a Twitter account, making it easier to keep up with the band. This has become a very conventional asset to a website as more and more people are getting into social media.

Our website title and subtitles are all the same font style, we have chosen this specific font because it replicates the music genre which creates a strong link as we wanted something bold to create a more powerful impact when you are on the website, we have kept with the same font to create a style for the band, we have also used this on the Digipak to keep up the image along all platforms. This is a conventional aspect of a website because people associate certain bands with certain fonts or logos, such as on the While She Sleeps website I look at.

This page is our Band Information section,this is the second tab along our button selection, here we have tried to keep it very simple yet informative about each band member and what they do in the band and also what they do in their spare time and a little quote, this helps the viewers to feel like they can relate to the band more as they know more about them on a one to one level, we have accompanied the information with pictures from our video, this helps to show which person is which within the video itself. This is very convectional of a bandpage, however usually bands/artists tend to have their biography and then the band information on one page (as you can see from the provided image), where we have challenged layout conventions and split it between the home page and this one.

For our 'Music Videos' page we have embedded our video into the website, this is a really effective way of imprinting the video into the website and we feel it allows people to stay on the site whilst they watch it and don't get distracted by leading them to YouTube to view it. This is conventional of a band website as it makes it easier for people to just watch the video on the website itself and makes it look overall more professional and visually appealing rather than just a link to the video, an example of this is While She Sleeps' video page, linked to all their videos from both Youtube and Vimeo, all watchable from the website itself.

This is the band merchandise page, this offers our fans the ability to purchase some of the clothes we have designed, band merchandise is very popular for hardcore bands as it gives them a chance to get more money in where it is much needed because they wont get the publicity that large pop artists will and also is a nice way for fans to show their appreciation to the band. Buying merchandise such as t-shirts is also effective as a lot of people like to wear the band t-shirt when they go to see them preform live.

Larger bands will pay photographers to set up a shoot to have people/band members wearing the products, this helps the buyers to see how it looks on and also helps get an idea of how it fits. While She Sleeps have got a picture slideshow above the products to promote all the different clothes in a bold and visually appealing way, we decided to keep our website very simple in that aspect and keep to having the clothes there for you to access simply without being distracted.

This last section of our website is something we wanted to have that wasn't conventional of a hardcore website, its a feedback page that allows people viewing the website to comment on how much they liked it and anything we could improve on it, we feel this helps give a better feeling that the fans are making a difference with the band, creating a stronger link between them.

Posted By Kieran Hill - www.kieranhilladvancedproduction.blogspot.com 

Music Video: Two Hundred Kings - Broken Knees