Popular Culture - Mrs F

A collection of Marxist Philosophers based in Germany in the mid 20^th century among many writings they were concerned with the role of popular culture exploiting the masses and maintaining of the power of the upper class. The mass media have a powerful influence in our lives much of our lifestyle is determined through our interactions with media. Each generation has its own tastes and preferences, what was popular or "in" for your parents, may not be in for your generation for example Madonna who dominated the 70’s and 80. In the 90’s and 00’s who has dominated throughout it would be Usher who has been around since the 90’s and come out with something new in the 00’s who reinvented himself to appeal to wider audience.

The Frankfurt School and Bourgeoisie (Upper class)

Popular culture is often so "pervasive" that we do not notice it or take the time to see it for what it is. Popular culture includes many of the things that we take for granted including our dress, our language, and our behaviours. It also includes all the "popular" social trends that a large part of our population considers "in" and "normal". A careful analysis/deconstruction of popular culture will tell us a lot about ourselves.  Just because something is popular, that does not mean that everyone accepts it. Some popular culture trends are quite controversial.

To really understand "popular" culture, we have to be able to deconstruct it and see it for what it really is (i.e., the messages behind it). Recognizing the messages in popular culture is an important part of this course. Language also represents popular culture. As in all popular culture, language changes with each generation. The slang terms in the language often mark the generation

Adorno:
says that there are two types of music one which is true art which is classical music and opera and the other is popular music. True Art, is sophisticated and makes people question life, whereas popular music was unsophisticated but there is large quality in consumers.

He also says that large companies create false need which lead to comsuming ut without thought, so the audience could listen to the song without buying into it and actually liking it and taking a interest in that type of genre

Dick Hebdige
Is a more modern theorist have tend to view Adrono's idea as overly pessimistic and dissmive of mass audiences as passive and easily manipulated, they abosrb the music.

Althought Hebdige argues that consumption process social and ideological contruct to lead to different readings.

Hebdige says that a commodity which people actively consume to chose to "buy" into their music, so it is the audiences choice whether they want to buy into it

True Art   

Popular Music

In class I was asked to analyse the music video, Aphex Twins - Come to me daddy, and which theroy does it apply to Adrono or Hebdige. After watching the video and analysing it. I think that the Aphex Twins goes along with Hebgide's theory is because we watched the video and we were able to question the video without choosing to buying into it because we did take it in passivly and we did not follow it.



Richard Dyer's theory - Mrs F

In order to understand the relationship between the music industry and its audiences, it is important to consider to the roles of music stars. The term star refers to the semi-mythological set of meanings constructed around music performers in order to sell the performer to large and loyal audience, for example Lady Gaga is someone who can appeal to wide audience is because she is so unique and she always reinvents herself to the audience to make herself unique

Richard Dyer suggests that the stars are made to look more appealable to the audience through the audience to make them more interesting to the audience, so that they reinvent themselves so they can sell them self to an audience this way they can appeal to a wider audience. Stars have to have common values, which can be shown to the audience and certain traits which relate to the audience.

Paradox One says that the star has to be ordinary and extraordinary for the audience which means that star has to live her normal life such as being a mum or dad and doing normal things which the audience can relate to and they have to extraordinary such as the glamorous and perform to the audience which the then audience can inspire to be. For example Snoop Dogg, who is father of 3, a coach of a school American Football team which is his ordinary life which he lives and then also he is a performer, and an artist who follows the genre of rap and hip hop lifestyle.

                                                                                                                         

Paradox two says that the star has to be absent and present at the same time to the audience so we know about their private life which the audience want to know about them because as an audience we want to complete their life, but we can never complete them because we never actually know them personally only what we know from the media for example, magazines and the internet.

Artist > Fan > Music > Television > Interviews > Concert > Artist

The chain about how the fan, tries to complete the image and know the star personally but because we never meet them personally the audience are never able to complete the image.

The star image ensures that the audience are always left on edge making them search more to complete their image or to make some sense of the star; this is achieved by consumption of the start through their products. In the music industry performances seems to promise the competition of the image. Finally the star can be used to position the consumer relation to dominant social values.

The image of the star has been developed by the star themselves and/or the management team across a wide range of media (advertising etc). It helps if the star has a USP (unique selling point) for example, Lady Gaga's range of headpieces, Madonna's Leotards etc, this construction brings with it connotations of the artist i.e. Lady's Gaga's hats suggest she is eccentric and wants to stand out from the crowd, whereas Madonna's leotards show she wants to be a voyeuristic icon who relates best to the 70/80's style of dress as this was her best era for music.

A record company will listen very closely to audience demands and will construct stars that will appeal to the likes and tastes of various different audiences. Stars are constructed to meet audience demand, for example, Cheryl Cole were constructed to appeal to a female audience who would most likely try and copy her style of fashion and dance moves.

The star represents a set of values and attitudes that reflect audiences own values. For example, Miley Cyrus gained lots of media attention after claiming she is a virgin and wouldn't have sex till she is married - young girl audiences might follow her lead and this could be beneficial to society and its problem of underage sex etc.

Shooting Script - Miss L

Shot	Date & time	Location	Content /Action	Shot type	Costume/ hair/ make up	Props	Personnel	Equipment
1	31/10/11 – 2pm	Graffiti Park N18 (Edmonton)	Artists pose against a graffiti wall, one looking to the left one looking to the right	Long shot -  showing head to toe including some background	Artist 1 – Skinny jeans, checkered shirt, snapback & vans Artist 2 – Chinos, white t-shirt, snapback, easy e chain. No makeup. Fresh haircut.	Skateboards & bikes.	Artist Photographer Location manager Props / hair artist	Camera, batteries, tripod
2	2/11/11 – 1pm	Central London – busy street (oxford street)	Two artists stand in front of other dancers and all do similar poses whilst looking at the camera	Long shot / establishing shot  including other dancers and background	Artists wear the same t-shirt saying ‘dope’ with chinos & skinny jeans – similar clothing to each other showing that they are a group.	Bmx’s / cars & taxi’s	Artist Photographer Location manager Props / hair artist	Camera, batteries, tripod
3	5/11/11 – 11 am	Drama Studio (artificial lighting)	Artists are dancing e.g. Dougie, cat daddy or jerkin’ whilst looking at the camera. Break dancing off chairs and tables.	Long shot showing full body, including props	Artist 1 – Skinny jeans, checkered shirt, snapback & vans Artist 2 – Chinos, white t-shirt, snapback, easy e chain. No makeup. Fresh haircut.	Chairs and tables	Artist Photographer Location manager Props / hair artist	Camera, batteries, tripod, spot lights

Creative Brief - Miss L

Album Title/Artist: LHM Project Manager: Hande Silay Date: 28th September 2011

WHO ARE WE? Since 2009, LHM have been making mix tapes which have been successful within the streets of London. Representing the a street sub- culture for most young youths of this generation, LHM provide a modern style of the retro culture that was popular in the 80’s.

The Album Concept WHAT IS IT? Jerkin’ Can’t Diepresents a different approach to the Retro subculture, which includes upbeat songs as well as slow jams which give the consumer a variety of music to choose from depending on the mood they are in. this includes tracks featuring mainstream artists such as Chris Brown, Tyga & Dev which are all a part of this sub culture we are trying to represent. WHY ARE WE DOING IT? Not only to bring something new and unique to the music industry, but also help the recognition of the Retro sub culture which is now beginning to get popular around America. This is why we would like to start by bringing it to London, that way we can progress worldwide. COMPARABLE PRODUCTS The Rangers - Jerkin Is A Habit RBC Records Released Date – November 10th 2009 The Rangers – The Takeover RBC Records Released Date - November 3rd 2010

WHO IS OUR CONSUMER? Primary (60%) Males 13 – 19 DE Secondary (40%) Females 13 – 19 DE

What is the CONSUMER REACTION we want What do we want  our audience to think about our song is that it’s a new feel good music that the beat is catchy and makes the audience want to dance and have a energetic feel when the dance to this. Also for the love jams, we want the consumers to be able to relate and able to engage with the music

How we will know it worked we know if it worked if we reach the sales target  which is Sales target – 100,000 – first week

Description	To design a youthful album cover which the audience can relate to with this new style of dancing and this 80’s retro look
Deadlines	10th November
Objective	To bring something new to the music industry and bring back the old school retro 80’s style of clothes for example brightly coloured jumpers, snapbacks and skinny jeans
Proposition	We want this album to bring together a large variety of opinions and appeal to a large audience. Furthermore with the album containing dance music, we would like the Jerkin movement to expand
Tone of voice  / brand image	This album is aimed to people who dance and want to learn a new style of dance. The subculture of people who are into the retro style of clothing
Restrictions Limitations	The album cover will contain a logo, the artists for self promotion. Also logo will appear in the bottom left of the album cover
Production Specs	The variety of dance songs as well as slow jams to have a wider variety of consumers
Creative Edge Spectrum	On a spectrum score of 1 to 10, ours would be : 10 because our music is not mainstream and is very edgy since it is not mainstream
Budget	TBC

Album Cover Analysis - Miss L

My album cover

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Analysis of chosen Artist - Mrs F

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