Brand Identity

As a homework, our teacher told us to try and figure out the identity of our band. I started by doing a few brainstorms:

Here I was covering what was going to be involved in my music video, who it will appeal to, and what genre it is in.

Here I was trying to establish what the Digipack was going to be like. I had to relate this to the band's intended identity. It was at this point that I decided to call the band "GOOD VERSUS EVIL" to give it a more intellectual, philosophical edge - like many songs and albums by the Prog-Rock band MUSE ('Supermassive Black Hole', 'Thoughts of a Dying Atheist', 'Black Holes and Revelations', 'Origin of Symmetry' etc). Likewise, for the Digipack, I want to create a similar kind of name for it. I thought of three names: 'Metaphysical Mayhem', because of the difficulty in differentiating between reality and imagination; 'The Crazy Complex', because of the protagonist's difficulty in coping with his schizophrenia; or 'Schizophrenic Serenity', because of the antagonist's joy in torturing the protagonist.

I think I may go for 'Schizophrenic Serenity' because my music video ends with THE LUNATIC, the protagonist, accepting the 'reality' of the LAUGHING MAN, the antagonist. Whether this is a good thing or not is uncertain. But THE LUNATIC seems calmed and relaxed in his own imagination.

With the poster, I plan to compromise between a scene in my music video and a 30 Seconds To Mars poster:

The crimson colour scheme is exactly what I am trying to achieve. In the music video scene, the LUNATIC is in therapy - the therapist being THE LAUGHING MAN. I would like to have both THE LUNATIC and THE LAUGHING MAN on a red sofa, in front of a red curtain. I'm wondering whether I should put the "GOOD VERSUS EVIL" logo on the red curtain, which will be above the two characters, or not. 30 Seconds To Mars appear not to have done that, which adds to their dark mystery. It is also noticeable that members' dark appearances contrast heavily to the crimson backdrop - making us notice them a great deal more. I may use this method with my own poster.


I also did a word document presenting many of the ideas I've written about already:

GOOD VERSUS EVIL

Brand Identity

PROGRESSIVE ROCK

Since my chosen song is a part of the Progressive Rock genre, I thought I would take inspiration from other prog-rock bands. However, I still want to appeal to a modern audience – so I decided to take elements from modern progressive rock (new-prog). This features bands such as 30 Seconds To Mars, Muse, and Radiohead. One common feature of all their music videos is dark and surreal imagery, often with a conceptual or dreamscape environment. I think this appeals to many youth groups of today, who are more attracted to the darker side.

I want to use the same style of music videos as 30 Seconds To Mars. Their videos are made like short films – with either a narrative- or concept-based framework. “HURRICANE” is a good example of this. They also include many intertextual references of well-known movies within their work. I also want to use a similar mise-en-scene to them.

MISE-EN-SCENE

The make-up will consist of black eye-shadow and black nail varnish. This is what 30 Seconds To Mars does to appeal to an audience more attracted to the dark. It also has a rebellious side to it, since it is not common for men to wear eye shadow or nail varnish. This carries on the spirit of rock n roll.

However, to make it more appropriate to the band name “GOOD VERSUS EVIL”, I felt that there has to be a conflict between the light and the dark. This will be shown through the costume. The protagonist wears a white shirt, which is an indication of the goodness within him. It is at odds, however, with the black trousers and shoes. This clearly shows that conflict between good and evil in him. This will be mostly during the house and forest scenes. In the street scene of the music video, I had a dark jacket covering his white shirt – indicative of his falling into darkness.

The antagonist, known as the LAUGHING MAN, is far more surreal and abstract. I have him wearing a Venetian mask and a black suit. This is to add to the dreamscape scenario occuring in the LUNATIC’s head. This costume for THE LAUGHING MAN brings out his evil qualities, particularly since no emotion can be seen behind the mask. The suit provides a desire for dominance, which the LUNATIC must attempt to fight off.  

TARGET AUDIENCE

All of the features I have described previously are to appeal to a particular audience. I think this most appeals mainly to youth groups who are more attracted to the darker side. The use of dark colours, costumes and make-up would mainly appeal to the Emo youth sub-culture, who dress very similarly to 30 Seconds To Mars. I also think my protagonist’s hairstyle - which is fairly longer than most - would appeal to that group too.

I think this video would probably attract older audiences as well because of the age of the song. “BRAIN DAMAGE” - by Progressive Rock band Pink Floyd - is from 1973 and the album “THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON” was fairly popular. So, fans of that song would be attracted to the video.

In terms of gender, I believe a male audience would be drawn to the band than a female audience. The singers are all male and the darker imagery would probably appeal more to men. However, since the Emo sub-culture is not limited only to men, it is highly possible that women will be attracted to the video as well as men.