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Thursday, 21 December 2017

Timeflies - Marketing Strategy

Timeflies - Marketing Strategy

The band Timeflies recently changed their marketing strategy by creating a new image based around AIM. Aim was an AOL Instant Messaging service which was around in the late 90's and early 00's. However, after MSN was introduced, and was free, AIM started to close down as less and less people logged on. AIM was a large part of people's childhood and Timeflies has taken advantage of this and used it to market their latest album.

Monday, 11 December 2017

Choosing the location

Choosing the location

As my music video will have a holiday theme I need to choose my location very carefully. There are a couple of different places which came to mind. The first idea was to go somewhere hot and sunny such as the Mediterranean Islands, however, getting there on such short notice was a huge issue. I then thought about other places and while looking online an ad came up for Disneyland Paris and it gave me the idea to film there as I had been before so I could plan what I needed to film.




Tuesday, 5 December 2017

Richard Dyers Star Theory

Richard Dyers Star Theory


Image result for Richard DyerRichard Dyer's star theory looks at the way in which 'stars' (popular celebrities) create an impact on the audience. This theory can be split up into three main topics; the star as a construction, the star as a commodity; the star as an ideology. As well as these he also proposed the idea of 'the paradox of the star'. 


The star as a construction
-This theory suggests that there is no such thing as a star, and it is just a construction created by corporations to try and sell their product, This star is constructed through music videos, magazines, advertising etc. When creating this image they try to make something that can be easily copied by the public. This allows them to create a larger fan base, and in turn sell more products. For example, Justin Biebers image at the beginning of his career was created to try and be copied. People all over the world copied his hair, or his clothing and this in turn made him more known.

The star as a commodity
-This links in with the star as a construction, as this says that stars are used to create a profit. They do this by selling related merchandise such as t-shirts, posters and bags. Record labels will use data collected to create stars which will make the most profit. For example, The Wanted was formed in 2009, and after they blew up, One Direction was formed in 2010. This was why One Direction was formed on the x-factor, thanks to the success of The Wanted.

The star as an ideology
-This is where the star represents a certain group such as a social class, or a race or a gender. As a result of this, the stars are often copied and idolised by the audience. For example, many fans of Beyonce share her view on how woman are treated and how they shouldn't be controlled by men, which may convince them to become feminists.

The paradox of the star
-The star must be both ordinary and extraordinary. The audience must feel like they can relate to the star, but they must also feel like their is something special about them. They don't want them to be too extraordinary, but also don't want them to bee too boring and 'normal'. The star must also be present an absent. This means that the star must be present in their lives through merchandise or social media, but they must also be out of reach so they can sell tickets o visit them on tour, or do meet and greets.

Monday, 27 November 2017

Male gaze theory

Male gaze theory

Related image




The 'gaze' is a term which shows how viewers interact with the visual media, including adverts, television and film.


The male gaze is the way in which the visual arts and literature depict the world and women from a masculine point of view, presenting women as objects of male pleasure. The phrase and definition was created by feminist, Laura Mulvey 1975.


Mulvey argued that traditional Hollywood films respond to a deep-seated drive known as “scopophilia”: the sexual pleasure involved in looking. Mulvey argued that most popular movies are filmed in ways that satisfy masculine scopophilia.





Main features of the male gaze theory :
-The representation of women as a sexual fantasy and from a heterosexual male point of view
-Scopophilia- the pleasure involved in looking at other peoples bodies
-Objectification of female characters
-Patriarchal society
-Objectification of female characters
-Active male and passive female
-Men – controlling subjects
-Women as an image
-Men do the looking and the women are there to be looked at

-It feeds the needs of the male ego 







Sunday, 26 November 2017

Timeflies

Timeflies

Related imageTimeflies is an American pop band which was created in 2010 and consists of two people: Rob Resnick and Cal Shapiro. The band is well known for their popular music and their YouTube covers. 
Following indie breakout 2011’s The Scotch Tape, their 2014 first major label offering, After Hours, debuted at number 8 on the BillboardTop 200, went to number 1 on iTunes Top Pop Albums chart, and yielded the hit “All The Way” which soared to number 2 on Billboard’s Top Digital Songs chart and has earned over 50 million Spotify streams.

http://saveaim.com/


Look what you made me do

Look what you made me do

Taylor Swift recently changed her image by releasing a new music video for Look what you made me do, which showed the old Taylor getting rid of her old self. The video can be seen below.

 

The video starts off in a graveyard where we see Zombie Taylor and a tombstone with the words Here Lies Taylor Swift Reputation. This signifies that the old Taylor Swift is dead as she has changed her image.

A still from Taylor Swift’s music video for her new single Look What You Made Me Do

The next shot is a high angle mid shot of Taylor in a bath full of diamonds. In this bath there is a single dollar bill, which is all she got from the sexual assault charges against a DJ who groped her back in 2013.

A still from Taylor Swift’s music video for her new single Look What You Made Me Do

After this we get a long shot of Taylor sat on a throne surrounded by snakes. She has been called a snake in sheeps clothing multiple times by different people, but repeatedly by Kim Kardashian. She tweeted multiple times calling Taylor a snake, so she has embraced this and used it to create a new image. The chair also has the words 'Et Tu Brute' calved into it which is a quote from Shakespeare's Caeser, when he is being assassinated by his friend Brutus. This shows that even her closest friends are out to get her and ruin her career.

A still from Taylor Swift’s music video for her new single Look What You Made Me Do

Next she crashes her car and shows off her grammy in this slow motion shot. This is because she wants to show that she doesn't care about anything anymore, and she knows that she is a good singer and that's all that matters.

A still from Taylor Swift’s music video for her new single Look What You Made Me Do

The next shot shows her and some cats robbing a music industry. This is because she disagrees with how much Spotify and Apple music pay the artists to use their music, so she has decided to get her own back by robbing them. She disagrees with the Apple three month free trial, as this means that the artists get paid even less than usual, as people aren't paying for their subscription.

A still from Taylor Swift’s music video for her new single Look What You Made Me Do

The next long shot shows Taylor surrounded by dancers wearing 'I heart TS' t-shirts, which was also worn by one of her ex-boyfriends. This is because there is a stereotype that surrounds her which suggests that she only surrounds herself by people who are massive fans of her, who idol her.

A still from Taylor Swift’s music video for her new single Look What You Made Me Do

The final shot shows Taylor with all of her previous and new personas. They talk a bit and hint at previous experiences in Swifts past, but ultimately they are showing that Taylor Swift has changed.





Media Regulation

Media Regulation

Who actually regulates music videos?

The BBFC are helping to regulate online music videos by working together with Vevo and YouTube to regulate music videos. They are currently working on a project which they hope to age rate all music videos by artists signed to Sony Music UK, Universal Music UK and Warner Music UK that are unsuitable for younger children (under 12s).


The rating will appear on both the mobile app, and websites for Vevo and YouTube. 


The record labels submit to the BBFC any music video by their artists for release online in the UK which they would expect to receive at least a 12 rating.  The BBFC then classifies each video, watching it through in its entirety and then assigning an age rating and bespoke content advice (BBFCinsight, for example, strong language, sex references or sexualised nudity) on the basis of the BBFC's published Classification Guidelines.  The sort of issues the BBFC considers in classifying music videos include:
  • drug misuse 
  • dangerous behaviour presented as safe
  • bad language
  • sexual behaviour and nudity
  • threatening behaviour and violence 

However, the problem with this is that everyone has different opinions, and as times change, so does societies opinion of what is acceptable. So a video may get classified with a rating of 15, but then a similar video a couple of years later may only get classified as a 12. 

Also, sometimes this deterrent can actually be seen as a good thing. Children want to buy these Cd's or watch these music videos because it's exciting and rebellious.  

Wednesday, 18 October 2017

How are music videos made?

How are music videos made?

Image result for How to create a music video

Music videos aren't created in a single day. They take a while to produce as they contain numerous steps and have to get verified by multiple companies. For example, it could take a couple of weeks to even get permission to start filming.

There are also multiple steps you must have before planning can even start for the music video.

1) The record label of the artist or band must find investors. These are people who are willing to pay to help fund the music video. This means that the video can have high funds, and the more funds means more facilities. This will result in a better quality music video, and therefore a better music video.

2) If the song hasn't been recorded, this is your next priority. Obviously, you need a song before you can have a video. Sometimes the song is released before the video, this builds up hype for when the video is released. This means that if the song is a success, the music video will be anticipated, However, some artists release the music video before the song. This is because if the song is released first, and it doesn't have much success, then not many people will watch the video. But if the video is released first, people will have to watch it in order to listen to the song.

3) Next the planning for the music video needs to be done. This includes the story boarding, shot list, and any safety tests. All planning must be done before any filming has started. This is because it is very expensive to shoot a music video, and if you start filming halfway through, and then realise that something needs to change because planning wasn't done, then this can cost you time and money.

4) Next the locations need to be found, and permissions need to be given when filming in private places. This is because getting permission to film on private property may take a while to go through. Also, if it is not possible to film in certain areas, then these locations may need to be duplicated on a set. These may be made of props, or edited in post production using a green screen.

5)Next the directors, producers, writers and cast must all be hired, and filming should begin once the narrative is set. These employees must know exactly what they have to do in the music video, and must sign a risk assessment form and a disclosure form.

6) After filming, the editing commences. Because of all the fast cuts in music videos, there should be lots of footage so this step may take months. Every second of the music video must be carefully chosen, and many different versions will be made in the process.

7) Next the promotion must take place. In the past this would have included getting adverts on TV's, billboards, radio and newspapers. But no, due to technological advances most advertising is done online. Social media will be the main form of promotion.

8) After the video has been promoted, it is time to release it to the world. This is when the distribution company publishes the video around the world.








Tuesday, 17 October 2017

Music videos aren't real

Music videos aren't real

Music videos play on our suspension of disbelief (the audience know that it's not real).

Because we know that music videos aren't real, they can do basically anything they want. Unlike films, who have to follow some sort of structure so the audience isn't confused, music videos have don't have to have a specific structure. Films are made to show a story. This means that if something is wrong in a movie, it's noticed. A YouTuber called CinemaSins finds things wrong with films, such as continuity errors or storyline errors.
Image result for cinemasins
The video below shows everything wrong with Shrek 2 in 18 minutes, bearing in mind the film was only 93 minutes. This means that films have to be made very carefully.


However, music videos don't have to make sense. They don't need to have a narrative so they can literally do whatever they want. When creating a music video, you don't need to worry about continuity or whether it could actually happen. Even if you make a narrative music video, you don't have to make sure that continuity is always the same. Someone can go from London to LA within a shot with no explanation.

Thursday, 12 October 2017

One page pitch

One page pitch

Image result for JUmp and shake timeflies

Jump and Shake - Timeflies

Overview  The song is an upbeat pop song about going out and enjoying yourself. It tries to encourage everyone to make the most of being young as you won't be young forever.  

Plot – I want to use Goodwin's theory to create a link between lyrics and visuals. This means that the storyline will follow the day of a male protagonist who is going out and enjoying himself. The video will show a day out of his life. I intend to show his whole day from him getting up and getting ready, to the end of the night.  

Purpose – Blumler and Katz Uses and Gratifications theory suggests that people use the media for different things such as diversion, personal identity, personal interaction, or information. I intend to create my music video to provide entertainment. Although the music video will also try and inform the audience to go out and enjoy themselves, it is mainly for entertainment purposes.  

Target Audience – My music video will be aimed at 18-25 year olds, as the video will try and tell the audience to make the most of being young. The protagonist is also going to be an 18-year-old male, so the audience will empathise more. It will be aimed at a mainly British and American audience, as the song is in English. However, the context of the music video will also be understandable by people of other nationalities. 

Wednesday, 4 October 2017

Album Recreation

Album Recreation

Album Recreation

Although I have a lot of previous experience with Adobe Fireworks, I haven't used Adobe Photoshop much in the past. In order to practice using it, I decided to recreate some iconic album covers. I recreated Michael Jackson's 'BAD' album cover. 

Thursday, 28 September 2017

Synergy

Synergy

Synergy within the music industry - The Weeknd

Synergy is very important when releasing a new song or album. It allows the artist to promote their new content, while also promoting their older content. However, in order for the artist top be known, they need to keep up the same style throughout all of their media outlets. They can't have a bright, joyful pink website, but a dark and gloomy CD cover, without it matching up in some way.

 

The Weeknd's website advertises his latest music video straight away, and then advertises his latest album underneath. Throughout most of his media outlets he contrasts dark colours, with bold, bright colours. He continues this throughout his website, by using a black background. This also allows his latest album cover to be more prominent, and catch not only the users attention, but also the attention of anyone near the device that it is being viewed on. The contrast between the light and dark also reflect the hidden story behind The Weekind's music videos, which have been explored in a previous post. The story tries to show an ongoing fight between The Weeknd's conscience and the devil (his fame). The darkness represents the devil taking over, whereas the bright colours (along with the bright crosses) are The Weeknd's conscience trying to regain control.

Image result for The Weeknd Starboy    Image result for The Weeknd Starboy

The Weeknd continues this theme throughout his 'Starboy' album cover, and any album covers for his singles that he has released (such as 'Party Monster', 'I feel it coming', and 'False Alarm'). This allows the audience to recognise his image when in a shop, making it easier for them to find and purchase his products. This is also the theme he tries to use in his music videos, as he contrasts colours. This is especially shown in his 'Starboy' music video where he has a giant, bright pink cross in a dark room. This religious icon helps to show the fight against fame that The Weeknd is a part of.

Image results for the starstar week

Monday, 25 September 2017

Music Videos which follow a narrative

Music Videos which follow a narrative

http://www.eonline.com/uk/news/801889/the-weeknd-s-false-alarm-music-video-makes-this-mind-blowing-fan-theory-seem-totally-legit

Some music videos follow a narrative, intended to link the lyrics and visuals to tell a story. This needs to be easy to follow as the only sound it contains, are the song, so this is why the lyrics must match. If a music video is pure narrative then it won't contain any lip syncing at all, as it tryies to create a sense of realism. However, the most common type of narrative is performance narrative which includes some sort of performance, but also tries to tell a narrative. The music video often tries to include a meaningful story.

For example, Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal tells the story of a 1930's gangster. The video was directed by Colin Chilvers who had previously directed films such as 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show' and 'Superman'. This is where he got his inspiration from, and why the music video is so narrative based.




The Weeknd also creates many narrative music videos. However, his are different as they all link together, following one big narrative. His videos tell the story of someone who has sold his soul to the devil (his fame). All of his videos follow the narrative, and although he hasn't confirmed this fan theory himself, he continues to play with this idea.

The narrative starts with 'The Hills' which starts of the video with a car crash showing The Weeknd and two women in the crash. As he starts walking away from the car the two women start pushing and blaming him, but he seems completely unfazed and continues to walk away. The rest of the video shows him walking to this unknown destination, until near the end. He enters a large house, and walks up the stairs to a red room. We then see a POV shot of a man on a sofa with the two women from the car with him. The man is holding and apple, which refers to the story of genesis in the Bible, where the snake gets Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit. This suggests that this man in the red room is the devil, and he has been expecting The Weeknd to show up.

 

The next video in the narrative is 'Can't feel my face'. This video starts of with The Weeknd standing on stage singing in a club in front of an audience. At the beginning of the video most people seem disinterested in the Weeknd's music and don't interact with it. He then continues to sing and the 'devil' from the previous video appears and sits at the front. He watches The Weeknd as he continues to sing and get a drink thrown on him. As the devil continues to watch, he sees the audiences disinterest. This is the part where the Weekend starts to give in to the fame./To show the Weeknd how good fame is, he throws his lighter and sets him on fire. The audience take interest and get up and start dancing as the Weeknd continues to sing and dance while on fire. Although he is burning, he has gained the fame and power form the devil. However, as he continues to dance, he becomes too deep into his dealings with the devil, and continues in this path.

 

After 'Can't feel my face' we get 'Often' which is an NSFW music video, showing the Weeknd's fame in action. After the devil helped him to succeed and become famous, IN this video, the devil can be seen bringing the Weeknd Champagne and glasses. This shows that he is continuing to feed The Weeknd and give him false ideas of how good the fame is. He continues to create the illusion that everything is great and although the devil is helping him, he is actually making The Weeknd's life better.


The next video is 'Tell your friends' This video starts of with a burning bush, another Biblical reference. In the biblical story this is where God told Moses to lead the Israelite's out of Bethlehem to save them. This is where we believe that the Weeknd has been told to do the right thing, as he goes to bury someone. This someone is believed to be his old self, the one consumed by fame, who sold his soul to the devil. As he finishes burying himself, we see the devil walking towards him. He they both start walking together and as they come close, the Weeknd shoots the devil. He tries to put a stop to his old self. As the song starts top end, the music changes and we see what is asumed to be the devils Bentley. This creates a link between music and visuals as Andrew Goodwin said, as the music gets faster in pace, and we see the Weeknd decide to become the devil, as he gets in the car and drives away.



The next video is 'In the night' which adds to the illusion the The Weeknd is now the devil. The Weeknd has now been completely overrun by fame, as we see him being bombarded by paparazzi, girls and money. He is being hunted by other people who want this fame from him, but he is being protected by multiple women. However, two off the women who protect him are from the previous videos, they are the women who used to serve the devil. This continues to create the illusion that The Weeknd is now the devil as hye now has power over these women.

 

After this  we have 'Starboy' which is the first video from his new project. This video continues the story as he tries to get rid of the devil inside of him. At the beginning of the video we see him killing himself by placing plastic over his face and suffocating him. His new hair is also an icon for his new self. He has changed and he wants to leave all of his fame behind him, as this is what made him be consumed by the devil. To do this he starts smashing up all of his trophies and awards won by his career with a massive cross, a symbol of Christianity. This is a metaphor, to show that he wants to leave his fame and fortune behind him, but he can't quite let go as we see him driving away in a sports car at the end of the video.



After this, we have 'False alarm' which follows The Weeknd in a first person view of a bank heist. The video is after he has given up his fame and fortune, so he turns to theft. he robs a bank, but his conscience got in his way, as he ended up with no money at the end. Throughout the video we see many people dying and we see a hostage which although she is used as bait at one point, The Weeknd doesn't actually want her dead. We see this because at the end of the video The Weeknd and the hostage are the only ones left. He gives her the key to the handcuffs and she takes the money and leaves. He has the opportunity to shoot at her but he doesn't as he still has a conscience. We then see that it is The Weeknd as he looks in the mirror to his right, just before he shoots himself.



The next video is 'Party Monster' where The Weeknd has died and gone to hell (literally). After he shot himself in the previous video, he has now gone to hell and is starting to try and have fun. However, he still has his conscience, and he keeps trying to hang on to it, as we see the red crosses appearing throughout the video. He is also seen with multiple women and is seen driving around in a sports car. He is now trying to embrace what he has became, but is still struggling. However, because he is the devil, hell is not a bad place for him, the only bad thing for him is his mind.


This satanic view also connects with his cover art for the physical copy of Starboy. The Weeknd uses cross media convergence to help further prove this theory, as his physical copy displays three rows of six symbols, which is the devils number 666. Also the star on the vinyl refers to Lucifer (the devil) as Lucifer means morning star in Latin, as the devil was supposed to have fallen from the sky like a falling star. This is another reason why he calls himself starboy.



The whole of The Weeknd's story is a metaphor to show the audience how fame is the devils work, and how it has taken over his life (not for the better). He tries top tell the audience that there is more important thing, and when you start top do wrong, eventually it takes over and consumes you (as he eventually became the devil).

Thursday, 14 September 2017

Intertextuality

Intertextuality

Intertextuality

Intertextuality is the way in which media texts refer to another. This can either be obvious or just small, subtle hints throughout the text. Intertextuality may refer to other the same texts or different texts such as music videos, movies, literature, TV shows and even historical events.

POP 101 - Marianas Trench

Marianas Trench song POP 101 is supposed to be a song which teaches us how a pop song is made. Throughout the music video it gives many references to different popular music videos of the time.




At the start of the video Marianas Trench makes reference to Iggy azalea's Fancy music video, as he parodies it to show that he is going to be teaching us how to create a pop song.


Later on we see the 'iconic' party scene from pop songs. This part of the video uses iconography to show the use of alcohol through the plastic red cups. In this scene we also see a slow motion builder spraying alcohol on himself to try and create a sexual look. This gives reference to the satisfaction music video which was highly sexualised.


Marianas Trench then continues to make reference to the black eyed peas by copying their I gotta feeling music video, and even linking the visuals with the lyrics which go 'guitar and strings like these to sound like black eyed peas'. 


After this they make reference to Mumford and Sons by making it look like they have recorded it in a barn, and by copying the instruments they have used. This also shows that, as Rick Altman said, there is no more pure genre. Mumford and Sons is a cross between pop and country which is shown by the location, as barns and hay is an icon for country music, as is the banjo which is used in both videos. 



Marianas Trench then continue to recreate even more music videos by creating the controversial 'Blurred Lines' music video. This was controversial for many reasons, the main one being the high amount of nudity in the video. However, in the Marianas Trench POP 101 version, the cover up the nudity.


Marianas Trench even pay homage to Katy Perry by recreating her as a person with bright pink hair. This is another example of how popular artists have specific icons, such as Katy Perry's bright hair from her California girls video.


He then tries to recreate another controversial music video which was Miley Cyrus' We Can't Stop music video by copying the close up shots of her face. After she changed her image from a 'good girl' country singer to a pop artist who doesn't care about what people think, a lot of people judged her so she continued to do what she wants. However, because of the controversy, Miley Cyrus ended up being plastered all over the news and therefore ended up being well known and managed to get we can't stop up to number two on the billboard hot 100.



Pop 101 also reflects the zeitgeist by showing twerking. This dance move originated in the 1980's but then came back when Miley Cyrus started twerking at the MTV music awards in 2013 and has since became a popular dance move. 


Theyt even try and duplicate LMFAO's popular music video, sexy and I know it. They use the same hair and glasses, to make it obvious what they are doing. 








Monday, 11 September 2017

Changing image

Changing image

Can an artist change their image without loosing their fans?

Mixing it up ... Kanye West, Joni Mitchell, Taylor Swift and David Bowie.

Many artists have a certain image to represent, sometimes decided by them and sometimes decided by their record labels. These images are also mainly influenced by their genre of music. Many artists keep the same image and genre of music throughout their career, as changing it risks them loosing fans. However, this is not the case for many artists, as some (such as Kanye West, David Bowie and Michael Bolton) managed to change their genre, but keep their career.

Taylor Swift is also another popular artists who has changed multiple times but still kept her career. She started off as an opera singer when she was younger, after following in her grandmothers footsteps. She then decided to become a country singer and released her first song called Tim McGraw which became a top ten hit in the country charts.



She then went on and decided to start changing her genre by creating country pop music. In 2008 she created the album 'fearless' which stayed at the top of the charts for 11 weeks. This shows that even early on, as she was developing she could still change her genre.


In 2009 at the music video awards Taylor Swift's speech was interrupted by Kanye West which helped boost her career, as it gave her more publicity.

In 2010 she released 'speak now' and then 'red' in 2012, both of which stayed with the country theme, but still moved closer towards the pop genre. These helped her to receive the CMA pinnacle award in 2013 for her positive impact on country music.



She then moved even further away from her country roots and released 1984 in 2014 which was a pop album. However, changing her genre had managed to help her keep her music new and not outdated. This helped her win album of the year.




And in 2017 she released 'Look what you made me do' which completely changes Taylor's image. She's changed to pop music completely and decided to change her image to show that she shouldn't be messed with.

 

Thursday, 7 September 2017

Music Videos and Genre

Music Videos and Genre

Image result for Music Genres


To first establish how artists portray genres, and how to create my own I need to know what a genre is, and what different types of genres there are.
A genre is something that identifies and can help to categorise different types of music. Similar genres usually contain general conventions and characteristics. There are many different types of music genres such as reggae, pop, heavy metal, punk and so on. However, even these can then be further categorised, like pop can then be further categorised into teen pop, latin pop. pop punk etc. However, these classifications are only labels, and although they can be used to classify songs (for example on spotify) and can make it easier when finding similar music, some people may disagree on what genre an artist is.
How do artists manage to create their own image? What do we expect to see depending on the genre?
In this section we are talking about album covers, and how these are different depending on the genre. Most different genres are shows through the different iconography. 

Typography - This is important when creating an image because it can often represent the music. For example, dance music often uses geometric typography which represents the structure of their music. 
Image (portraits) - Many record labels use images of faces and bodies as a selling point for albums. This is because the notion that 'sex sells' is indeed true. However, some people (such as catfish and the bottlemen in the first album) decide not to show their faces in the album cover as they believe that their music is more important than their looks.
Colours - Colours are very important when creating an image or trying to sculpt a certain genre to the audience. Bright colours are often used to create a feeling of content and to show that the album will give off a positive message. Whereas many grime artists use dark colours to show that their music isn't going to be upbeat. This also helps to give a quick impression to the audience as to what music they will be listening to.

Although music genres and classifications can be used for good (when looking for similar music) it can also be a bad thing. Sometimes the classification of certain music can stop it from being found. Some listeners won't listen to music if its not classified as being their preferred genre. This means that there may be loads of music out there which you aren't listening to because it is 'completely different' to what you usually listen to because it is a different genre. Genre can also influence how artists behave or look and may restrict them from changing their music or their appearance. One artist who has changed her music and her appearance many times is Taylor Swift but I will go into more detail about that in a separate post. 

John Hartley (1994) supported the above statement by saying 'genres are agents of ideological closure - they limit the meaning-potential of a given text'. Robert Hodge and Gunther Kress (1988) also supported this by saying that genre 'control the behavior of producers of such texts, and the expectation of potential consumers'. 

Another interesting thing is how are genre's decided? The record labels and artists help to choose a genre, but this is influenced by their music. The artist can try and decide to create a certain genre of music but if the audience decide that it belongs in a different genre then there is nothing that the artist can do about it. However, now many different algorithms are used to decide which genre music fits into the most. These algorithms use many different factors such as similar music to it, volume, instruments etc. These algorithms are what companies like Spotify and Apple use when selling music under certain genres.

However, Rick Altman (1999) now argues that there is no such thing as 'pure' genre anymore and that genre is now progressive, meaning that it will always be changing. He continues to say that generic conventions are now a thing of the past, as hybrid genres are taking over. Hybrid genres borrow conventions from other genres, therefore resulting in new genres being made.

Tuesday, 8 August 2017

Synaesthesia

Synaesthesia


What is synaesthesia?

Synaethesia is the production of a sense impression relating to one sense or part of the body by stimulation of another sense or part of the body.

For example, some people may see different colours or shapes when listening to music. Some famous musicians such as Kanye West say that they experience this and it helps them to visualise the music they make and helps them to create music videos. 

Goodwins Conventions

Goodwins Conventions

Image result for Goodwins music videos]

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Thursday, 20 July 2017

Band Posters

Band Posters

In order to get our band well known I created some posters which advertise the band. The first poster shown below has three monkeys which represent the three band members. The Mediterranean Monkeys logo also appears in the bottom right hand corner of the poster, showing off out iconic band name. The colour scheme is mainly bright blues in this poster which symbolises peace and depth.


The second poster shown below has represents the monkeys as gods. This also connotes that the band members of the band are god-like and listening to their music will leave you feeling like you've came from heaven.


Wednesday, 19 July 2017

Inside Booklet

Inside Booklet

After creating the front and back covers we decided that the case was missing an inside booklet. Again, I used Adobe Fireworks to create an inside fold up cover which includes the lyrics and an inside image for both songs on the album. 


Website

Website



We needed a way to keep in touch with our fans, letting them know when all of the upcoming tours, albums, singles etc are coming out. In order to keep everyone in touch I cretaed a website for the Mediterranean Monkeys. This official site keeps everyone in touch with the band and allows them to book tours, listen to their latest tracks and get exclusive interviews with the band.

Click this link to visit our website

Friday, 14 July 2017

Knee Socks Final Video

Knee Socks Final Video

Our finished video!

Image result for Arctic monkeys knee socks one minute task

Contact

Get in touch with me


Adress/Street

12 Street West Victoria 1234 Australia

Phone number

+(12) 3456 789

Website

www.johnsmith.com