Album Cover

We took inspiration for our album cover from a number of similar artist from the same genre as Roza would be from.

In particular we liked the album covers shown above; from Ariana Grande, Ellie Goulding and The Weeknd. The greyscale theme was consistent throughout these three and this was something that we felt we should carry over to our own album cover.

Another aspect that attracted us to these album covers was the composition. In all of them the artist is the main focus and the album is very plain apart from this.

We emulated this theme for our own album cover on the flat plan shown to the left. As shown, Roza is the main focus of the cover but is positioned slightly to the right. This is so there is space to also highlight Roza's logo. This is anther very important aspect in creating Roza, not only as an artist, but also as a brand. This logo will be present throughout all media products and will make Roza's brand immediately noticeable.

As shown above, The Z in the logo continues onto the back of the album cover, where further information is shown. Also there is a rose inside, behind the CD itself. This is another symbol that will be shown throughout the video and will, again, be related back to Roza as an artist and brand.

Website

Inspirations

We took inspiration from a number of websites. We liked the design of The Weeknd's website as it had simplistic black and white theme with simple tabs for each page and a header with the artist's name; creating a strong brand.

Although we haven't got a lot of content for our website yet, I began working on it and created the general layout. I decided that a black and white theme would suit our artist best, with the only real colour coming from the photos of our artist (that will come after the promo shots are taken). Also, the artist logo is clearly shown at the very top of the website, on every page. This gives it a clear identity.

Following the ideas that I came up with, Josh created a flat plan for each page with what they would contain. He kept this original theme consistent throughout.

Animatic

As we progressed as a group, and our ideas moved forward we produced an animatic. This is a step forward from the steal-o-matic as it meant we narrowed down all the ideas and references that were used in our steal-o-matic into definite shots that would be included in our music video.

As shown in the animatic there are a number of themes that run throughout the video. For example, there is a loose narrative featured in the video, of a seemingly perfect relationship which, as we see it develop, becomes progressively worse and worse, with more arguments. This is shown through a montage of memories from the relationship.

We also see a theme for fire and ice throughout, starting from the opening shot. The melting ice and fire, and burning of a rose shows the collapse of Roza's past relationship.

After reviewing our animatic we found that there was a lack of structure to the performance of the video as there was no real performance bed. Also the narrative was all too sudden and, again, lacked a real structure. In addition to this, the identity of our artist was lacking, and this would have to be portrayed strongly since this was a debut video and album.

Following this, we ammended these mistakes and created a revised animatic.

Steal-O-Matic

Above is out steal-o-matic, which is effectively a moving mood board consisting of ideas of costume, mise-en-scene and the various types of shots that we want to include in our music video. None of these ideas are confirmed and set on, but in the video are other music videos and images that we drew inspiration from. Our animatic is the next step, where out ideas will be more specific to our video and more likely to be exactly what we want to do and how we will do it.

Track

After a lot of deliberating, and many other potential tracks, we finally found a track that we all liked and we felt fitted with the brief of our task and the ideas we all had for the video we wanted to create. The track we chose is called 'Teen Spirit' by SZA.

There were a number of reasons why we opted for this track:

• It falls under the PBR&B genre, one main genre that would be included in the types of artist under our label. Not only did it fall under this genre, but through the artists soulful voice, there are elements of soul in the track. Also there is a Hip-Hop and Dubstep feel created by the instrumental and beat of the track. Therefore it fits well with our record label.
• We felt that there was a gap in the market and in the PBR&B genre for a soulful female, as this genre is dominated by male artists.
• The tempo and general feel of the track is soft and slow, while being intense. Since our group all agreed from an early stage on a very conceptual music video we felt that this idea would work well with this track.
• Despite the slow instrumental, there are parts of the track where the beat kicks in, lifting the track. This means there is less repetition in the track and allows us to use these changes as changes to narrative of the concept of the performance.
• The lyrics are deep and very conceptual. Since they can be interpreted in a number of ways, we felt that this would work well with the conceptual performance video we wanted to create, as well as the involvement of a loose but still present narrative.

Copyright

We contacted SZA, who owns the rights to the track, in order to inform her that we wanted to use the track for our project. We have not yet received a response.

Artist

One thing that all members of our group immediately noticed was the fact that the PBR&B genre is dominated by males such as The Weeknd and Frank Ocean. For this reason, we decided that we should make our artist a female as there was a gap in the market, within the genre, for this type of artist. I also felt that this worked to the group's strengths as Yssy would be perfect for the role; this also strongly influenced our decision.

One thing we found, upon further research into the genre, was that males tend to have more of a Hip-Hop feel, whereas females within the genre have much more soulful vocals.

Name

Once we had this pinned down we came to a slight stand still, as cementing the details of the artist such as name and identity was a very difficult tasks. Immediately I knew that the name would have to be a single word, and something short and easy to pronounce identify. After going round in circles for a while we eventually came up with a name for our artist: Roza. This short, punchy name would remain in the minds of our audience.

Image

When deciding on an artist image we took inspiration from other artists such as Jhene Aiko, Cassie and FKA Twigz, who fall under the PBR&B genre and the general R&B genre. We made some costume decisions:

• Our artist would mostly wear black and white clothing.
• For the shoot photos we would have a range of outfits from dresses and a more formal image, to some more urban styles, as shown above.
• We also decided that our artist would dress in a slightly revealing way, however, not over sexualised.

Record Label

Our record label; Raw Sound Records, is an independent, UK based record label. Despite being independent, we are a UK branch of Universal Music Group and can therefore use their financial and industry support.

We took inspiration from a number of currently running labels in the creation of ours, and based RSR on elements from each.

We used Relentless Records as an example of the type of artists we wanted on our label. Despite their still being a variety of artists, ranging from hip hop, to pop, to R&B, they all fall under a more urban style and genre.

We also liked the fact that they operated under Virgin, allowing them to take experience and use their industry connections. We also liked Mercury Records for this reason.

As a record label, RSR specialise in R&B, more specifically PBR&B, Hip-Hop, Soul, House and Dupstep; and we currently carry, or aim to carry in the future, artists from all of these genres.

Our aim as a label is to work with the best up and coming artists and bands within these genres and turn them into the next biggest and best thing in the industry, without massively altering them as an artist and their creative capabilities.

Our label would include artist such as:

• FKA Twigs
• The Weeknd
• Sampha
• SZA
• Jhene Aiko
• Joey Badass

Audience

As a group, we researched potential gaps in the music market, and found a movement towards alternative music, in particular, alternative R&B.

Primary Audience

We decided that our primary audience would be quite wide, as to not discriminate against any ages or genders in order to reduce our audience and, subsequently appeal to less people. We found, during our group meetings that due to the many elements and sub genres that PBR&B consists of, as shown to the right, PBR&B appeals to a wide range of music consumers as it has elements for everyone.

For example, hip-hop fans, such as myself, may find themselves attracted to the genre due to the production and beat of PBR&B tracks. Furthermore, soul fans may connect more with the soulful vocals of many PBR&B artist.

Secondary Audience

Again, shown through our meeting notes to the right, we identified a secondary audience. This audience consisted of males and females between 16 and their late 20s.

I found through my initial research (shown in a previous post) that older music consumers have already established their preferences and tastes in music, with preferred artists and genres. Therefore, as a group, we decided that it would be easier to appeal to younger audiences as they would be more open to a new sound.

Production Meetings - Research & Planning

Our group have meetings scheduled twice a week, after school, for around 2 hours per meeting. We always have a set agenda for each meeting, which is established and communicated prior to the meeting on our Whatsapp group chat or Facebook group. During the meeting we normally sit around a table, using iPads and more traditional, large sheets of paper to gather our ideas. These meetings mean we have set time together during which we can focus solely on our project.

Throughout the research and planning period we used these meetings to establish the audience, record label, track and artist.

We began with audience, where we identified the various sub genres that contribute towards the PBR&B genre and who they would appeal to, as shown in the image to the right. Following this, we set our primary audience and what, exactly would attract them.

Shown above, is evidence from another group meeting we had, where we established or record label. During this meeting I came up with a possible name and logo for our label, before pitching it to the group. Following this, as a group, we took the logo and name and fine tuned it the rough idea into a real record label. As you can see in the photo above, there is a transition, from left to right, where I began drawing rough ideas, before playing with the ideas, and, eventually, coming to the final design on the right. 

In addition to our group meetings, we also communicate through social media. We use a Whatsapp group chat and a Facebook group where we are able to:

• Arrange meetings
• Set agenda for meetings
• Bounce ideas off each other