To accurately market our song chosen, which fell under the more hardcore and heavy rock genre, we had to complete a variety of brainstorming and initial factors to begin working. Our song, ‘blind’ by Korn, is a heavy and intense song discussing the depressive nature of the narrator, and we took many hours attempting to craft the perfect image of the band who would represent the song. After receiving our song, we all listened to the song together, read the lyrics, and began to discuss music videos that could accurately represent the message and tone of the song. The group worked for multiple class periods in this discussion process, and decided upon a young artistic rock band with a concept album showcasing the concept of the lead singer's progressive fall into a darker mental state and abuse of substances. The brainstorming process and careful consideration of our band, which we named ‘aloof,’ a project in which was created by producer and lead vocalist Ben Stone (also my name!). Challenges mostly began in this area, as we struggled to find an identity for the band that accurately represented both what we wanted to create, and the song chosen itself.
As my group and I figured out more of the specifics surrounding the band, we began working on the actual physical productions of the project, such as video ideas and storyboards, refining our document and images of the bands singer, which would serve as the face of the band, and the powerpoint presentation itself. Research about other similar modern punk and rock labels was conducted, with bands such as Turnstile with a 2020 release being included in our research formatting chart. We discussed the desired public image of the band, such as if they should be perceived as a more intense and dark band, or a more casual ‘friends’ type of band in which they would simply create darker music with a lighthearted public image. In the days spanning from the initial beginning of the project, the band was truly formed and established as a more casual band who took off in popularity from a viral performance, and conceived their debut album as a conceptual work detailing the singer's issues and mentality.
In the days leading up to the due date of the project, more concrete efforts for production took place. An album cover concept was drawn, detailing a chaotic abstract image, and a tracklist was created. Music video storyboards were drawn, showcasing an artistic and storytelling combination of a young man's experience and addiction to drugs. An instagram for the band was created, and the powerpoint surrounding the marketing was edited and finalized to show the various marketing techniques and similarities related to other bands researched. The group all separated work, such as merch design, video editing, social media creation, and other powerpoint responsibilities, to prepare for filming. As of writing this, the powerpoint is still undergoing production, and the video is being prepared to be filmed and edited, with the storyline and shots all planned out. Below you can see a photo of the brainstorming document, in which we continuously planned the process of the video and band.
