Identity For My Artist

When it comes to musical artists, each one will want to present themselves in their own unique way so audiences can identify them for certain things. For example, the way Lady Gaga dresses and the way Amy Winehouse styles her hair - this can link in with Andrew Goodwin's theory as this is in relation to his 'Star Image' feature about how artists will have their own unique feature that everyone will know that artist by. It is said that image is now beginning to overtake music as this is what people like to see visually rather than actually concentrating on the song which is why it is important for me to create an identity for my artist. I will need to construct an identity for my artist so her fans will know how to identify her and can detect how she is different compared to other artists to present what makes her unique. Since I have not yet created my storyboard, I do not know exactly what I would like my artist to be wearing or what I would like her name or logo to be like, so instead I have created some mood boards to express what kind of things I could possibly use in my music video and how to present the artist as an individual towards the audience. However, these are just some ideas for now; after I have created some mood boards I will generate a finalised idea about all of these features as I will know more about how I have presented my artist and how I have made them appeal to people.

Some of the important features that help represent an artist as an individual include;

• Genre/Sound

• Costume (including hair and make up)

• Visual aesthetic for logo/album art/poster etc.

• Instruments Played

• How the artist addresses the media/fans 

• Artists Background

• Artists Management 

These are the main important features that will help me in creating an identity for my artist. I am going to talk about the majority of these features in relation to my artist in more detail below - however, there are some I am not going to talk about like 'how the artist addresses the media/fans' because at this moment in time my artist does not have any fans and is not communicaing with the media, so I would not be able to talk about this in more detail. Nonetheless, the features I am not able to mention will not be important in relation to my music video and I need to concentrate more on features like clothes and font styles for the artists logo. Again, I will not be making any final decisions on what my artists identity will be until I have created my storyboard because after I have constructed this, I will then know what I would specifically like my artist to look like - nonetheless, I will establish a style for my artist, which will regularly be seen being worn by my artist.

Genre/Sound

The genre I have already chosen for my music video is Pop Punk, which is a sub genre of Punk, so I am planning on adhering to this genre of music for my artist throughout their career. However, the original artist of the song I have chosen to use (Avril Lavigne) can often be seen fitting into other genres as well, such as the sub genres Pop Rock, Punk Rock and occasionally just the main genre Rock. Due to this, I think I will have my artist merging with similar genres every so often, but she will mainly be associated with the sub genre Pop Punk or just Punk and this is what I would like people to categorize her as if they ever mention her name or someone asks what genre she plays. Underneath I have created a mood board to present what this type of genre looks like visually and how it will represent my artist.

Here is my mood board:

By looking at this mood board you can see that this genre of music represents dark features, which is why my artist will have to wear dark clothes in all of her products and should be in dark locations in the music video unless the point of the music video is to contradict the song and should be presented in a different way. However, if there was a Pop Punk song which was upbeat then brighter locations could be used, but the video could possibly just be darkened by effect to present that it is a Pop Punk music video and still has some darkness to it. After considering this mood board, I now know that my artist will need to be identified and put in the category that all of the things on my mood board are put into; I need to ensure that my artist could be placed onto this mood board and would look like part of it and the genre that is represents. 

Costume

The clothes that a certain artists wears will always express who they are as a person because they are wearing the clothes they feel comfortable in the most, so if someone saw a person who was dressed in full black, they would probably suggest that person likes Rock or a genre similar and if someone saw someone wearing pink alongside other bright colours, then they would suggest that person likes Pop or Dance music - however, this is not always the case as people could wear dark clothes even if they like Pop music and vise versa, but most of the time peoples dress code will conform to the genre of music they like and this is the same when it comes to artists. It is said that image is now taking over the whole concept of music and fans look up to certain artists because of the way they dress and this is understandable because people like to see others who dress in an attractive way because it is different and unique, but also some artists often manage to get their fans to dress in the way they do which can often promote the artist more. 

In relation to my artist, she will frequently have to be wearing darker clothes to represent this genre of music as this will entice the right audience and also present what genre of music she will fit into. If I wanted to, I could also make the clothes that my artist wears seem different to the usual as they could be the same colour, but could be strangely shaped which people will find interesting to look at and then will stay engaged when watching my artists music video as they will think what she is watching is so bizarre. On top of that, I do not know whether I would like my artist to have heavy make up on regularly or not because often it could seem quite distracting or unappealing which may not help when trying to gain a larger target audience, also I would like my artists to have a casual hairstyle to present that she is just an ordinary person and does what other people do too. Below I have created a mood board to express what type of clothes and styles I could possibly use for my artists, again this is just what my artist could wear in general and is not my final decision for what she will wear for the music video.

Here is my mood board:

In this mood board you can identify that there are a range of different styles of clothes, but they are all similar in a way as they all represent Pop Punk, or they all can if you style them in the correct way. When people think of Pop Punk they will often think of dark clothing, but you will often see certain artists wearing different colours as well like green and white which adds more colour the their style and can often make them stand out more. Again, at this moment in time, I am still considering what my artist will wear for the music video, but some of these clothing examples will help me in figuring it out. On top of that, I have also looked at an array of make up styles; I could either have my artist wear heavy make up or only a little, but this will depend on whether I will want the scene of each music video to seem casual or not, because for the performance I could have the artist wear a lot of make up and for the narrative I could only have them wearing a little as it is less likely the artist will be wearing heavy make up on a casual day. During the narrative scenes I would want it to look like it had not been planned, whereas with the performance, I will want it to look like it has been planned as the artist will be directly addressing the audience and showing their emotion because they know the camera is there, but in the narrative they will pretend that they don't know the camera is near them. 

Furthermore, there are also a range of hair styles and jewelry that my artist could possibly include in her outfits, but again this will all depend on the situation and whether it is a casual scene or a planned scene. By dressing in this kind of style, the audience will know that my artist is part of the Pop Punk scene because these types of costume I have displayed would fit in perfectly with the previous mood board about the Pop Punk genre. Moreover, it is said that artists should try not to restrict their image to one genre and should try and mix it up a bit to express their personality - however, I do not think this applies to my genre because you would never see someone from the Pop Punk genre wearing all pink as it would completely go against the conventions of Pop Punk; also people wouldn't be able to tell that my artist is from the Pop Punk genre if I tried to change their unique style just to appeal to other genres and it would be better for me to appeal to the audience who I know like this genre and then anyone who may like my artists music or style from a different genre could become part of my artists audience/fan base and can like her music, but also music that they like from other genres.

Visual Aesthetic For Logo 

A unique logo for a certain artist is essential because it expresses the personality of the artist because if someone had a sharp and rough looking logo, then it would represent that they are hardcore and don't really care what they do as they will do what they want, but if you have a soft, bubbly looking logo, then it would represent a pleasant and fun artist. The logo that has been created for a certain will often be seen on all of their products, including posters and albums which is why the logo that has been chosen will need to be right and will represent the artist. This could be hard for my artist because her genre is quite rough where you would often see sharp and bold logo's, but the lyrics for her songs are emotional and melancholy which may represent that she has a softer side, so I could try to create a logo that is both rough but soft at the same time. In addition, since I have not yet finalised my storyboard and costume ideas, I don't officially know what type of logo I would like to use, so I decided to go onto a website called 'Dafont.com' and looked at some font styles I could perhaps use for my artist. The fonts I have looked at are not my own creation, but when it comes to constructing my digipack and poster I will create the logo myself but may use some ideas from the fonts I have found from this website. Before looking at any fonts, I had to create a name for my artist and below I have created a quick presentation to allow you to see what names I have thought of, which I have chosen and why.

Here is my presentation:

Here is an image to present the fonts I found which I think could possibly be used for my artist:

When looking at possible fonts I could use I had to think about who my artist is as a person and how the logo will represent them. My artist is in the Pop Punk genre so will have to have a dark and sharp logo which reinforces the concept of this genre - however, the song my artist is singing presents that she can often be emotional, which presents her weaker side to the audience and may express that it would be better to not have such a sharp font and could perhaps use a softer one. By looking at these fonts you can see that there are a wide variety as some are quite bold and engaging whereas others connote more of an innocent tenor, but still present a darker side. Some of the softer fonts shown present more of a feminine side which I think would be beneficial because it would mean the look would appeal towards both the male and female audience, meaning my artist could potentially have a larger target audience because the audience could find the logo appealing and it also expresses that my artist is from the Pop Punk scene. I have not yet decided which font I would like to use as a template - however, when it gets closer to the time I will be creating my logo, I will look back at these fonts and try and see which would suit my artist the most. Furthermore, each of these fonts have the authors name written above them in red, so I will know which font to look for if I want to use one of these when I begin to create my own logo.

Instruments Played

In some genres it is often conventional that the artist will play their own instruments - for example, if someone is in a Rock band you would expect them to play guitar, drums or something along those lines - however, if someone was a Pop artist, then you wouldn't expect them to play their own instruments and would usually notice that they have other people who will play the instruments for them. In the Pop Punk genre, it is stereotypically known for artists to play their own instruments, which is why I have decided to make my artist play the guitar themselves. In my music video I have already constructed an idea where my artist will be playing the guitar during the performance scenes and this will reinforce that this is the Pop Punk genre and that my artist can play their own instruments. In addition, I may also have my artist holding a guitar for the digipack and poster as this will present continuity between the products and present that they are meant to be together. The audience will generally see someone in this genre with an electric guitar, but it usually depends on the style of the song and as my chosen song is quite slow, I will have my artist playing an acoustic guitar instead of an electric because this is what is played in the song. The use of these type of instruments will help create an identity for my artist because it highlights that she is a professional, is able to make her music herself and can play all the instruments herself which will make her songs more meaningful and relatable for the audience because they know that it is all originally coming from her.

Extras

Some other ways I have stated that my artists identity could be created include; how they talk to their fans and the media, what their background story is and also who their management team are. When it comes to how the artist talks to the media and their fans, this presents the artists identity because it will demonstrate how the artist will approach other people and how they treat others because if an artist was horrible and mean to people, then the audience wouldn't find that artist appealing and wouldn't want to be a fan of them or listen to their music because of the way they treat other people. However, if the artist was really nice to their fans and the media then more people will like them because they will think of them as a caring person and may look up to them as an idol. Moreover, I cannot really create an identity for my artist in relation to this because they don't genuinely have a fan base yet and are not talking to the media, so this cannot be looked at in more detail - however, I am sure my artist will be caring and considerate to the media and their fans because they have been through a lot themselves which can be witnessed in their lyrics and the artist would want her fans and the media to be happy as well. Following on from that, the artists background could help in presenting their identity because if someone came from quite a poor background then their audience may want to do more to help the artist because they know where they have come from, but also what they are capable of achieving. Again, I cannot really present this in relation to my artist because due to my artist not legitimately being a real person, they do not have a background, so I cannot show what has occurred in their past. When talking about my artist in relation to management, the better the management an artist has, the more likely they are going to be seen by audiences and people will hear about them because they will be spoken about frequently.

Overall, I now know how I would like to style my artist and how they would be perceived by the world, but all I have to decide is what I would like my artist to wear and what I would like them to do in the music video. Once I have created my storyboard and am certain what locations I want to use, I will then think about costumes and makeup and how I want my artist to blend and fit in with the location or whether I would like her to contradict the location and wear clothes that go against the style that people would expect to see in the music video. Either way I am pretty certain on my artists style, but I now just need to consider how she is going to be portrayed in the music video.