On Monday 20th of June our class spent a day in the studio working on lip sync exercise. Students were assigned to roles on the set, such as the floor manager, directors, camera operators, actors and the clapper loader. The floor manager's responsibility was to check that the crew members are ready for a take and announce the beginning of filming with three calls: "Stand by!". "Cameras roll!" and "Playback!". Clapper loader was to exhibit the iPad with MoviSlate8, application resembling a clapper board, to the cameras and start the playback when told to by the floor manager.
We were introduced to two new items of equipment: the clapperboard and the dolly. The clapper board holds the information identifying the next scene and creating a sound that aligns the audio and video. The dolly is a device resembling a cart that is placed either on rails or wheels and carries the camera. It is operated by two men, one being the camera man and taking the required shot, the other pushing the dolly with the dolly grip.
After everyone became familiar with their responsibilities, the shooting started. We were separated in three groups, each with the task to film lip syncing to Ed Sheehan's song "Shape of U". With the floor manager's call "Playback!" the shooting began; actors were performing the actions directed earlier, the operators took shots directed.
The purpose of the MoviSlate8 app became clear in the editing suite. If the iPad's screen was visible on the footage, the videos were cut in the moment where the application had identical times of the countdown, thus syncing the image and the sound. If the camera wasn't filming the iPad, the footage could be synced with the sound, as there were a beat of the snare and the floor drum before the song began. The application allowed to synchronise the footage and the song quickly and easily.
My most frequent mistake was to move the footage along the timeline instead of cutting it in the appropriate moments. This put the selected clip out of sync, which could jeopardise the whole editing process. Fortunately, I corrected these mistakes shortly after making them.
I never synchronised footage with the use of a clapperboard or an equivalent application before. It turned out to be very helpful and greatly speeded up the editing process.
A music campaign forms around the artist as a unique selling point. Both at the front and the back of my album cover he is situated in the centre, all attention is focused on him. The name of the artist, of the album and of the songs are written in large type and are highlighted by the white rectangles which they were put in. They are elements of the essential information that promotes the album.
I arranged a photoshoot to get the cover images look like photographs from a live performance, which raises demand for the tickets to the artist's concerts. This style of the cover design has greater contribution to construction of the star image described by Richard Dyer, as the performer is located in the centre of attention and his face is visible, making him more recognisable and increasing awareness for him.
The dominant colour is blue, referring to the name of the album Blueshift. Blue light also associates with electronic music as it is often used for special effects at the concerts of the world's iconic DJs, such as Daft Punk, Dead Mouse and Gesaffelstein.
I used Helvetica font as it is the most neutral typeface. Electronic music is open for interpretation as it excited the audience's imagination and builds different images in the minds of each individual. The font continues the attitude of independence and free interpretation as Helvetica is the most used typeface and can be seen everywhere, thus having no associations with it.
The genre is shown through technical and symbolic conventions. The artist wears headphones and operates a mixer, both are props associated with electronic genre. He wears a white t-shirt, a casual costume item connoting a party atmosphere and reinforcing the point on purity of the electronic music which leaves the audience a chance for its interpretation. Technical conventions include gloomy, blue and white coloured lighting which looks like the one used at a party, and a tilted camera shooting at a low shutter speed that created an impression of movement provoked by the music,
Target audience of the electronic music is 14 to 25 years old individuals. People in this age like to party and the images of a setting similar to a nightclub will attract their attention. The fact that the person on the cover is also young and is dressed in the same clothes that they would wear identifies them with the artist, raising their interest and demand for him.
In the last lesson I created Ion, an electronic music artist. His name identifies with the genre as it emphasises the high energy of electronic music, literally meaning a positively charged atom. His new album would be called Blueshift, a term applied to a decrease in wavelength and increase in frequency caused by a relative motion, which is mostly used in astronomy.
A connection to the space reflects on the genre's mysterious characteristics due to sounds mostly being created by the digital technology rather than live instruments, which sometimes builds a surrealistic atmosphere. It also continues the scientific theme established by the artist's name, which forms the star image of him as an intellectual whose works are inspired by universal thoughts rather than only by the everyday life.
The bright colours and simplistic design are symbolic conventions connoting that Moby's music light-hearted. The photograph of him in the beginning reflects Moby's creative image. The surrealistic artwork for covers of his albums reflect the variety in electronic genre of his music. I fulfilled the marketing purpose of a website by placing the shopping section next to each of the albums' images, which gives access to purchasing Moby's merchandise. The bottom part of the website has advertisements related to Moby's musical campaign and options of sharing information through popular social media.
Moby's target audience is young people from 16 to 30, the fans of electronic genre since most of Moby's songs may not appeal to the general public. He passed the stages of star's construction and being a commodity, which are described by Richard Dyer, in late 90s and 2000s when his image was built by media and used by his record label to increase sales, and now attracts the audience with his ideology. He is an animal rights activist, which reflects in his daily life as he keeps the vegan diet and participates in environmental campaigns. His songs are often political and address the problems caused by human development, the best example would be his album of October 2016 These Systems Are Failing. He also attracts audiences from other areas of his occupations, such as photography. People proceeded from his exhibitions to his albums. Therefore, the photographs used as albums' covers that are displayed on the website will appeal to the target audience of photography fans. Many of the photos feature distorted images of animal or natural life, which appeal to the target audience of animal rights activists. I developed the ideology selling point further by placing a link to Little Pine, a vegan restaurants network found by Moby and developing around USA.
We were given the task to create a website for an already existing artist using Wix software. I chose Moby, a New York DJ and songwriter. The website I created is on the following link: http://hurtwoodmedia.weebly.com
The software is simple to use. It gives you options of themes for your website which you then can modify. This is how the initial page looked when I chose the initial layout:
I then changed the pictures and the text to dedicate it to Moby and added some features of a musician's homepage, such as options to share the website on the social media:
The homepage is an element of a music campaign which keeps artists in the public eye and raises awareness and demand for their merchandise. The websites contribute to creation of a star image by containing pictures of the artists, updates on their professional or even personal lives and artworks that reflect the image of the artists and their genre of music. There are also sections of information about the related events and products to promote their consumption.
I selected two home websites of performers in rap and rock music genres to compare how their design would differ according to the reflected artists.
The target audience for modern rap is the young generation of approximately 14 to 25 years old. The sharp contrast between violent colours of red, white and black colours is a symbolic convention that connotes the rebellious nature of the rap genre, which goes as far as challenging the law. This appeals to members of the audience who are in their adolescence and are inclined to a radical mindset and behaviour and to the young people who are passionate and energetic. The minimalistic outline is suitable for the youth who are used to straightforward, maximally informative messages sent by the new media, as well as reflecting the rap genre that is based on recitation of lyrics to a beat, with melodies serving as decorations and often being more simple than in the other music genres. The website exhibits merchandise related to its star, one can see products such as CDs and t-shirts being displayed on the front page and a clear "shop" section. The star image is created by photos of Eminem, his music videos and related events posted on the website. The overall ideology of the website coincides with the star's: a rebellious and ruthless attitude.
The band has songs in all types of rock; blues, alternative, hard rock and rock and roll. The variety is conveyed in the artwork used for the homepage; a colourful and surrealistic image of a wolf with gothic typeface of the band's name. It reflects the band's creativity and the dark, almost aggressive nature of the rock genre. This appeals to the target audience of 16 to 30 years old, energetic individuals searching or building their purpose in life and thus attracted to imaginative concepts. The website builds the star image of the band with other artworks, music videos and photographs of the band, as well as updates of news related to them. The merchandise is promoted by proposing a purchase of their new albums displayed on the front page and clearly visible sections of the tours' timetable and the shop.
Both websites have the same purpose: to promote the artists and to increase the sales of products related to them. They both use images, videos and articles to build a star image and display sections for purchases of the merchandise. However, due to the difference in genres their designs and structures contrast. One is darker and more simplistic to another, with designs adopted to appeal to the fans of the music genre. Eminem is an established artist while Rival Sons is still a developing band, thus Eminem's website builds on his popularity by concealing his images in the beginning and focusing on the merchandise and keeping the design basic, as if teasing the audience before they can see his image. If the performers were on the same level of fame I would say that Rival Sons homepage is more successful as it attracts audience's attention quicker by appealing to the audience visually with interesting artworks and photographs, while Eminem's website is text based and has less eye-catching images. However, the facts are contrary since Eminem is one of the world's biggest celebrities.
The purpose of the video is to contribute to Madonna's music campaign by raising awareness and demand for its merchandise. The video address the issues of racism, sexism and the radical religious views of the American population in 1980s. It shows Madonna witnessing murder of a young woman by white supremacists and a black man being arrested for the murder. She then runs to a church for protection and to seek strength to perform as a witness, where the black man is depicted as a martyr, the God is shown as a black woman and the religious ecstasy is compared to the sexual ecstasy. The overall mood of the video remains happy as the black people are shown dancing and singing in the church and in the end the innocent man is released by the police.
It is considered the most controversial music video ever made due to the way it challenged the common social beliefs of the time. The video attacked three of the most widespread ideologies at the time: superiority of the white race, domination of society by men and inviolability of the religion. The public reaction was two sided. It received widespread acclaim by critics, journalists and academics, while the Vatican condemned the video and religious groups and families protested its broadcasts and boycotted products of Pepsi that used the song for a commercial that have only aired twice in the US. Pepsi had to cancel the sponsorship contract with Madonna, but allowed her to keep the initial fee.
High ratio of American population are still very religious individuals, with the main religion being Christianity either under the Protestant or the Catholic church, and they were the target audience the video was provoking a reaction from. Most of the video is shot in a Catholic church where Madonna dances barefoot in a revealing outfit of a short, semi-transparent dress which doesn't cover her shoulders and the upper part of her breast. For further controversy, she wears a crucifix on her neck, which connotes that she herself is religious. These semiotics connote the absurdity of religious strictness and avoidance of sex. The lyrics of the song have the same purpose by having either sexual or religious interpretations, an example would be the first line of the verse: "I'm down on my knees I wanna take you there". The point is further developed in the scene where Madonna supposedly has sexual intercourse with the black representation of Jesus and when she sees stigmata appearing on her hands, connoting that saints were humans too and thus had human desires of the flesh. The video also accuses the use of religion as a cover for immoral actions of organisations and individuals in the scenes of Madonna dancing in front of the burning crosses which are symbols of Ku Klux Klan and putting an American flag in the church, connoting that religion is not separated from the state and is used as a justification to introduce policies.
However, the overall representation of religion constructed with symbolic and technical conventions is positive. There is a contrast in lighting used for the church scenes and the scenes in the outside world. It presents the church as a safe haven with brighter, warm coloured lighting, and the streets as dangerous and hostile with the use of low key, pale lighting. There are more shots inside the church where people are singing and dancing, rather than of the outside where cameras capture suffering and injustice. The church is then transformed into a police station where the innocent man is released, representing the church as a symbol for justice and good will. Props, costumes and locations have the same purpose of making the church more appealing. While scenes of the street feature fire, knives and police sirens, the church's interior contains flowers and expensive, beautiful items for worshipping. Although the burning crosses are relate to religion, they are located outside of the church, which considers the Ku Klux Klan and racism being unworthy to associate themselves with religion and claim support for it. People outside are dressed in dark coloured costumes, while people in the church wear colourful, bright clothes. The church seems a cosy location, while the street looks cold, wet and uncomfortable.
Racist views were already regarded as asocial and more legally restricted in USA, however it was evident that many American citizens still shared them. A historical proof would be Rodney King beating by the police officers in 1991 and the long reputation of the American police being especially violent towards the African-American citizens, as well as crimes of the Ku Klux Klan and the white American nationalists against different races. Depicting Jesus and God the Father as black figures connotes the equality of different races in the eyes of God and points out that characters of Judeo-Christian bible were not white. Showing white men as criminals who shift their responsibility on a black man and him being released from the police station after a submission by a white witness are symbolic conventions of abuse and discrimination towards different ethnicities by the white race and the law. The shot of the statue of black Jesus crying with blood connotes the victimisation of the white race by this prejudice. Madonna's intimate relationship with a black man promotes the message for equality further.
Sexism also became much less widespread than it used to be in the West, however women were still inferior which reflected in the male domination of higher posts in carriers and politics. This discrimination is addressed in the scenes of a woman being attacked by three men, with a possible intention of rape. The female representation of God and appearance of stigmata on Madonna's hands are semiotics connoting equality of women and men; the gender doesn't matter for the God and women are able to reach spiritual enlightenment as well as men. The message of gender equality is also developed in the real, "mortal" world. The suspect is released after a report by a female witness which shows the equality of gender under the law, and Madonna's revealing costume symbolises the freedom of expression that women have.
The video played a big role in construction of Madonna's star image. She appeared as a rebellious individual, daring to oppose the popular opinions and challenge highly influential institutes such as the Vatican to stand for her morals. Madonna's core target audience was growing up with her, so these new album and music video she addressed concerns and topics related to people in their early thirties. The rebellious image would also appear to young people who are willing to question the system of a society they live in. Approval of the video by critics and academics in popular magazines such as The New York Times gave the star great publicity, increasing the awareness and demand for her texts. The controversy was used as a method to attract attention to Madonna's music campaign and promote consumption of its merchandise such as the albums and concert tickets.
