Class Work : Cultural Industry

Daniel Kelly- A2 Media Studies

·      What is the definition of Cultural industry

Adorno and Horkheimer were two males who developed this definition of the Cultural Industry with their joint theory. They stated that the Cultural industry was just like any industry in the world, it goes through the same process and at the end of the stages is the final piece . A product to sell. They imply that artist is now seen as products; everything is controlled to make them this product to sell to the mass market. The public will love this artist and buy their music, trend or products to do with the artist. And in result,  for the creators to all make money.  Everything in the cultural industry is controlled.

The class task is to find a artist who hasnt been manipulated by the cultural indursty and a artist who has

 A Artist who hasn't been manipulated by the cultural industry

The Weeknd

The Weeknd is the artist i choose who hasnt been manipulated by the cultural industry. His type of music and image hasn't changed from when he was producing music alone to now being signed my a record label. 

 The two photos which are shown are from his first mixtape (Top Left) to his new album brought out in 2013 ,called 'Kiss Land ( Bottom Right) This shows that  his image and everything about him you can see has stayed the same. He hasn't been manipulated.

The weekend created and produced music himself and uploaded them to YouTube. At the beginning when he first started to create his music , he played his songs to a record label but they rejected him so the weekend didn't get signed. 

He then took his songs , and upload them to 'YouTube' a way many artist get recognized in the modern day now. He uploaded 3 songs and eventually a record label noticed him. 

So then we went forward with his career and produced 3 mixtapes and to boost his recognition  'Drake' helped him as he FT in drakes songs. When he signed with a record label ,he created his own record label and signed himself to his own too called XO. This allowed the weeknd not to get changed by the cultural industry  and allow him to be in charge and keep his music the same and keep his own image  as its his own record label.

Furthermore , you cant see a change in the music which the Weeknd has produced. The first link bellow is from his first mixtape and the second link is his latest song. This shows you that the music he has created  hasn't change , it still has a similar tone of music and harmonies ect through out his carer, showing he hasn't been manipulated. Everything about his carer has stayed the same. 

 Youtube Links: 

The Weeknd First Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2A85xBaLYWc

The Weeknd Latest Song :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0TaqaxVv_o

A artist who has been manipulated by the cultural industry 

JLS

JLS is a band who I have chosen who has been manipulated by the cultural industry. The reason being is if you see them from the start of their career to how they are now then you can see the major change of their image , music ect due their record label controlling them. JLS started their career on the TV show X-Factor. ( image shown on the right) They got through the final show of x factor but fell at the last hurdle and finished in 2nd place.  The band then got signed up by 'Epic Records' after the xfactor and brought out their fist single beat again. ( Image Bellow) you can see the change of image of the boys due their record label now controls them and uses them as a selling product. They are now similar to a object. You can also see the change of the music of the boys. From their audition to their first single. Shown in the youtube clips at the bottom of the page. 

If you watch both , you can see they are complete opposite , from when they auditioned to now. A complete new style of music they are singing. Due to the record label is now dictating  the type of music for the band to create. 

YouTube Links:

JLS First Audition: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrUmZBzZj8Y

JLS First Single: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEYhGhdwMKI

The timeline of the boys you can see a major change in the band from when they first got together , to then getting signed by a record label and controlled. Their image and type of music they produce has incredibly changed. Now the band has split up which could possibly be due they are being manipulated that much , they have ended up falling out or not enjoying thir music any more as the record label has taken control. 

Overall 

Overall , you can see the difference of the two artist. The weeknd image has stayed the same and his music is still similar to his first song he produced in his first mix tape. Showing that he hasn't been manipulated by the cultural industry. Whereas , JLS , you can see major changes in their image and their music. There is a difference from when they first walked into X factor and they had their own image and style of music which they preferred to when they signed with a record label and created their first single . There is a clear difference in the image of the boys and the style of their music. This shows how just signing with a record label can manipulate you and use you as a selling object. 

Audience Profile

What is it about?

This is our audience profile of our band 'Rogues Gallery'
The audience profile is to specificity, in depth, show the main type of people our band will appeal too.
Researching into similar bands , such as the artic monkeys , out audience profile would be similar to there , so we took that into consideration , and had to make ours as similar as possible otherwise , our band wouldn't be appealing to the right target audience.
We went with the main target audience being young males , due to younger generation tend to link in with our similar lifestyle of the night life of partying drinking drugs ect. With the age being young men , we believed that they will mos likely be students either at university or 6 form/college as now you have to stay in education ill your 18 and due to their being no jobs out there , most people tend to stay in further education now. Furthermore , the image of the men will be scruffy looking , very unique with tattoos and facial hair. They like to hang around with their group of 'boys' and have a laugh drinking watching football , going out or playing video games.

Week 3 - Mood Board

This is my mood which we created for our band. For the mood board we associated imaged to do with our band to create this mood board. In the middle of our mood board is our band logo stating the name of the band , with the song we choose to do for our music video. The song we choose is Kasabian - Clubfoot.

Around the logo is a boxing ring , this is because our music video is based around a boxing fight between to men who hate each other due to one man bullied him and made his life hell when he was younger. The boxing ring is a main prop in our music video as when the story is not being told  , it will cut back to us ( the band) performing in the same boxing ring which the two men end up having a fight in towards the end of the music video. ( for more information on our music video check my previous blog post of our music video idea)

The images around the ring is of images associated with the music video/band. We have images of 4 bands which are similar to us:

• The kooks
• Oasis
• The libertines 
• Kasabian.

These bands are most influential to us and the creation of our band as we research into this bands to help us create 'Rogues Gallery'

We placed words around the edge which link into our music video:

• Rock- as its our genre 
• Revenge - as the man is getting revenge for the troubles the other man caused.
• Fight - as the two men have a fight at the end as the resolution

Furthermore we placed images of our band which shows our band image such as

1. Tattoos
2. Brogues
3. Leather jackets
4. Facial Hair

Survey Results

These are the results from the online questionnaire we made on www.surverymonkey.com 

The significance of this is that it shows that we are heading in the right direction , the results we got back suggest that the band name definitely suit the indie rock genre. The music video feedback suggest that the video needs to have some sort of action , making the video exciting and violent .  Our music video fits in with the feedback as our music video is about a fight. Furthermore , the results about the image of the band stated that the public believe we should wear skinny jeans scruffy looking ext. That is the image we are going for. Overall we are pleased with the results as now we can move forward in the progress as the results fit in with what we wanted with the band.

Album Art Work Research

Band artwork research from Northen95

In this slideshow , me and my fellow band members researched into similar indie rock bands like our own and studied their album cover so we can make our own Digi Pak.
We studied these bands and their album covers:

• Kasabian
• The Libertines 
• Arctic Monkeys
• Oasis
• The Kooks

Kasabian

We looked at Kasabian artwork of their first album cover. Here Kasabian used different album covers for different countries they sold the album in. For example , black and white in England. But in america it is black and blue. In my opinion , i personally really like that idea of having different copies for the fans across the globe to go out and buy , as its something special and collectable for the 'super fans'. That idea of having some special and collectable which Kasabian has done by having different album covers , i want to use  when i make my own digi pak . To make my digi pak specials but making it a collectors item for my band.

The Libertines 

We studied 2 album art work of the libertines. The album I am going to discuss is the first image on the  slide show called the 'The Libertines' . The reason why i am only talking about this album is because i really like the image they used for their cover. This is because the image has a significant meaning to as it was the the welcome back concert for pete dohety coming back from prison. It has a strong meaning as the photo was a natural photo their photographer took of the band. That idea of a natural photo for the front cover personally i really like and is something i am looking to use for my digi pak. 

Arctic Monkeys

With the Arctic Monkeys album there is not much from their album cover that i would like to use for my own. The only thing I like is the fact the image they used of their friend smoking a cigarette  shows their rebellious behaviour which is similar my bands personality. In my digi pak i would like a image which shows the behaviour of my band.

Oasis

The oasis album cover has image of the band lazy around in their flat producing music. I really like this image as it gives of a insight of the band lifestyle and how the create their music. I really want a idea similar to this of my band in the studio , working producing the music for this digi pak.

The Kooks

I really like the layout and colour scheme of the kooks first album , and i want to take that into consideration for my album. The balck and white image of the band and then the simple font of black and red personally really works and its effective and stands out. 

Week:2 Band Logo

OUR BAND LOGO

This is the first and current logo for our band. We created this logo in Photoshop by playing around with different tools on the software. Firstly , we want the the website www.dafont.com and chose a simple but bold font which gives of a  masculine feel. We didn't want a font which gives off a soft effect and looks feminine as that will give off the wrong effect about our band.

We choose to put black rectangles going down our logo as it looks like prison bars , which links in with our rebellious lifestyle and  image, with the fists behind the text to give a effect that someone is locked up behind the bars. 

The colour scheme is just simple black and white , nothing fancy or complicated,as from the research of the bands , they all don't have colour in their logo. They all go for a simple black and white colour scheme so we followed the bands we are influenced by.

Brainstorm of ideas for our genre as you can see we covered all the aspects of our genre and we will use this to get an idea of what our band image and video can contain and similar bands such as kasabian. we also believe their is a band and narrative element and this is something we will apply/ However , due to not being one of most popular personal genres we struggled so research is needed /

Week 2 : Brief into our band Rogues Gallery

This is a brief on our new band  called 'Rogues Gallery' 

The meaning behind the name of 'Rogues Gallery is by definition: a collection of photographs of known criminals, used by police to identify suspects. Furthermore 'Rogues Gallery' is the term for the various villains that Batman has faced over the years. 

The reason we chose this name we believe that our characteristics/personalty is rebellious which is shown through the lifestyle we live in and this suits perfectly as the term 'Rogues Gallery' is to do with villains criminals which by law we could be seen as them.

The brief shows the band members:

• Dan( ME ) aged 22
• Charlie aged 23
• Charlie aged 21 
• Harry ages 22

We are lower class , from the same school and that's how we all got to know each other , we got to start performing ant school/local pubs ect and that's how we got a recognition. We researched other bands and they all have the similar background to ours , they were all mates and grew up together in a lower class background  we choose to do the same as that seems to be the most common method of how bands form. 

Week 2 : The name has been chosen

Choosing our band name:

At the moment we got our band idea all set up and ready to go. The first thing we need to do is think of a band name.

We had a choice about 2 names on our band

1. Parental Advisory 
2. Rogues Gallery

The reason why we chose these names is that they show our rebellious behaviour of our band as these or the meanings of the band names 

Rogues Gallery: 

Parental Advisory: The meaning is its  not appropriate for the young generation , this means that we target the older generation similar to our age  who have the similar life style , for example , alcohol.   

How we got our results ? 

We went into the public and asked 41 different people who from their image would listen to our music, when approached we asked if they listen to similar bands such as oasis and Kasabian. If they replied 'Yes' we told them about out band brief and the meaning behind the two names. Then when they got there answer , they  told us which is the better name and then we record their answer in a tally chart.
We then inserted the results and produced a pie chart to see the results more clearer which is shown bellow.

OUR BAND NAME IS OFFICIALLY:  

ROGUES GALLERY 

Music Video Analysis of Tenacious D - Tribute

Tenacious D - Tribute Music Video

In this essay , i will be analysing Tenacious D music video of their song 'Tribute' applying Godwins theory. We had to pick from this or Jay Z '99 problems'.
I chose to do Tenacious D due to this band is more similar to our genre of rock so we could use this as a example and get ideas for our band.

Links Between Lyrics and Visuals 
 
Links Between Lyrics and Visuals Here I will be talking about how Tenious D Applied one of Godwin's theory of the lyrics matching with the visuals. The music video starts of with Tenacious D walking down a long road in the Desert trying to hitch-hike. The lyrics state this saying ‘ We was Hitch-hiking down a long long road’. Also , they sing ‘ all a sudden their Shined a shiny demon’ and a demon appears in the road which is shown in the image to the left. Godwin had this theory of that the visuals of the music video match the lyrics to the song. And this shown in tenacious d music video through out as they tell the story of what happened that night.







Narrative

 This music video is a story told by these two brothers which happened to them one night. The whole music video is a story , therefore the music video strongly implies Goodwin's theory of that music videos have a narrative running through the song. Straight away you can tell that the music video is going tobe narrative based as one of the brother states ‘ A long time ago me and my brother was walking down a long road’ this shows that in this song they are going to be telling what happened that night though music.





 Star Power – Close Ups

 The record label that produced this song , applied godwins theory of close ups of the band to promote their star power. Through out the music video both men are shown in close ups. Godwins theory was that close up used to market the band. Sell the artist to the public. In this video close up are used on the double act. However , the close up are not of them individually , only very rarely. Throughout the music video , they are shown in close ups together , this symbolise the bong they have together , and how close they are. The record label is not selling them individually but together as tenacious d.













Genre Characteristics

 Genre characteristics of rock are followed in this music video. They are shown by showing the rock genre through the instruments of guitars used. Furthermore , the clothing is rocky with the way he has his un button shirt which is similar to what can be described as a punk. They don’t come across as the typical rock stars through their image , but you can take into consideration some rock characteristics they have used . However Tenacious D seem to be unique and different than other rock bands.













What did I get from this video to use in our music video?

1. In the Tenacious D video , we took the idea of their video of having a strong narrative throughout. Tenacious D engaged the audience through having their music video tell the audience a story , and we like that idea and in our music video , we want our music video to tell a story through out for the audience to be engaged.
2. Another idea we want to apply in the music video is to indicate the type of genre we are through props we use , for example we want to have band equipment  in our music video such as guitars drums ect  
3. In addition , we will use close ups of the band member to show star power and promote our band. 

Artic Monkeys - Music Video Analysis

Week 2 - We Changed Our Idea

A2 Media Studies
Week 2 - Changing our idea

ATTENTION !

We have changed our idea from the rap genre to a rock/indie band.

We feel like although that rap/hip hop is our strongest knowledge of the genre as that is the music our group listen too , we do not look like rap/hip hop artist ourselves. Together as a group , we look like a rock band from feedback given to us. The task is to create a digi pak , with adverts and a music video and they need to look as realistic and professional as can be.  So we have to go with what looks the strongest selling point and that is a rock band.  Our day to day image of us together  is at the moment we have  long hair but we have a ruff look to us with our facial hair ect , making us swing more to the rock side of music , rather than the main stream ,clean cut, typical boy band like One Direction.

We feel like with this change of idea , this is a positive move for our coursework as it will look more realistic which is key to achieve a good grade . Research is needed on the genre as this genre of music is not what we really listen too so we need to understand the genre before we can start production work. A good in depth research will be in place and  put up on my blog in a couple of days on the code and conventions of the genre and similar bands and music videos of our genre for us to get a understanding of rock .

Back panel first draft

This is my first draft of my digi pack back panel design.

As you can see it is a very basic design and a design I am not proud of. This example does not show my creative and unique approach I want my digi pack to give off.

How I created this design?

I got the image taken of a blank lined sheet of paper and I uploaded this onto photoshop , applying the text on top of the lines to give of the feel as if it has been written on top of the sheet of paper.

What I need to do to improve?

Firstly I will change this whole idea concept to something more creative, Me and my group lack photos so we have a few up and coming photo shoots which i can use an image of their for my back panel design. If i was to improve this , Firstly their is no record label concept at the bottom and no barcode which makes this panel feel even more un professional.

Music Video Analysis 1

The kooks from Dan Kelly

Week 1 - Brainstorming

Week 1 - Brainstorming

A2 Media Studies 

Rap/HipHop Genre 

In this brainstorm we took what we discussed in the other lesson , and took the ideas which we had about the Rap/Hip Hop genre and looked at the genre in more detail . The idea of choosing this genre came due to the rap/hip hop genre was the genre was what we new more about as its our favourite type of music , so we feel that this would be our strongest genre to secure a good grade. 

We looked at similar artist and studied there image and took down some idea of what we need to look like. 

Furthermore , we noted down similar band to us which we can research into.

In the brainstorm , we started to write some ideas for our music video such as locations and story ideas ect.

Here is a summary of our progress so far.

The Image of the band:

The clothing we are going for are typical 'modern gangster' with tracksuits and chains ect associating the clothing with plain dull colours  such as black white and grey , we believe the band come from a lower class background such as a estate and all new each other from the estate they grew up in. Due to a lower class background , they need to look lower class so oversized clothing ect , ruff looking ect. 

The music video:

The music video ideas we had flowing was ideas such as the following:

we wanted to go for a strong narrative possibly a true story of someone.

Ideas of the story could be about a boy growing up in the estate , with each band member telling their own story of what happened to them. 

The music video we feel like has to be dark , possibly create shadows as we feel that what suits the genre to create a dark atmosphere for the audience. 

And locations of the video need to be in run down places such as the streets or estates.