RESEARCH: TRENDS

This summer we have seen a wide variety of genres of music. This is the same as every summer, as summer is a time for blasting music especially when the weather's good. Each summer it is impossible to decide on which genre of music has been most popular as this is purely opinion based and we rely on music websites and TV channels to give us an insight as to what has most been listened to, such as The Top 40 Chart.

Typically, during the summer, the most popular genres of music are electro, dance, pop and rap/hip-hop as they all contribute to the summer vibes especially when it gets to festival time. A lot of festivals such as Reading and Leeds, rely on these genres to produce a good festival to end the summer. Abroad, a lot of these tracks are played to create a party atmosphere in places such as                                                                      Malia, Napa and Magaluf.

Below are a list of songs that claim to be the most popular this summer in 2013:

1. We Can't Stop - Miley Cyrus

2. Wake Me Up - Avicii

3. Can't Hold Us - Macklemore 

4. Burn - Ellie Goulding 

5. Look Right Through - Storm Queen

6. Clarity - Zedd

7. Animals - Martin Garrix

8. Holy Grail - Jay-Z

9. Thinking About You - Calvin Harris

10. I Love It - Icona Pop

Although these tracks are said to be the most popular of summer 2013, this is purely opinion based as many other websites provide contradictive views on which music genre has been popular. However, these tracks have all featured on a number of websites as being the most popular and, therefore, I gathered them together in a top ten list.

RESEARCH: MORAL PANICS

According to O'Sullivan, 1983, 
"Moral panics are those processes whereby members of a society and culture become 'morally sensitized' to the challenges and menaces posed to 'their' accepted values and ways of life, by the activities of groups defined as deviant."

The Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) closed a three-month consultation that most observers believe will end a loophole which means DVDs with titles like The Bitch of Buchenwald and Britain's Bloodiest Serial Killers can claim exemption from being given age guidance by the British Board of Film Classification.

As things stand, most sport, documentary and music videos can claim an exemption from classification.

"The great majority of exempt video works are fine," said the BBFC's head of policy, David Austin. "They are not going to harm anyone, but there are a significant number of titles that are potentially harmful to children.

Many parents across the globe have complained about certain videos and questioned why they had been given exemption and classified! These videos that have been complained about range in seriousness, and some content can be acceptable whilst others are a lot more serious and graphic. 

For example, there was a video documentary on the American Heavy Metal Band - Slipknot, and this shows many graphic scenes. Some of the graphic scenes include images of women practically worshipping the band and going as far as carving the word 'Slipknot' in their arms and one girl across her stomach. Of course, images such as this are totally inappropriate. This is especially worrying considering this type of content is practically available to anyone, with a young child at the age of 10 owning the content. 

I think that music videos are pushing moral boundaries by becoming more pornographic, extreme and violent. In Miley Cyrus's latest music video, Wrecking Ball, she is seen swinging from the stone ball, completely naked. This has been considered by many as extremely inappropriate considering the young fans that follow Cyrus's career and look at her as a role model.

I think that performers, such as Miley Cyrus, need to have regard to the target age of her audiences  because a lot of her young fans have followed her since disneys hannah montana and therefore may continue to follow her, the way she dresses, and behaves and therefore this is setting a poor example of what is acceptable behaviour. 

However, she may be wanting to expand her audience to a wider range of age groups and genders because she doesn't want to be seen or referred to as Hannah Montana for the rest of her life and wants her career to be recognised as something more than just a child's television show.

In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail's YOU Magazine, Miley Cyrus supported my hypothesis saying: "What would be the point if I looked like every other singer out there?"

RESEARCH: STARDOM

Richard Dyers star theory is the idea that icons and celebrities are manufactured by institutions for financial gain. He believes that stars are constructed to represent 'real people' experiencing real emotions. Stars are manufactured by the music industry to serve a purpose; to make money out of audience, who respond to various elements of a star’s personality by buying records and becoming fans. 

Dyer proposes that: "A star is an image not a real person that is constructed (as any other aspect of fiction is) out of a range of materials (eg advertising, magazines etc as well as films [music])."

Stars are made for money purposes alone. The company that supports the 'stars' manufactures each identity in a way that can make the company a lot of money. The company promotes the artist and this is why we see so many up and coming artists hitting the charts quickly, and very successfully. The company then models the artist around the target audience they choose. For example Lady GaGa, according to Dyer, was modeled around fashion forward people so the audience can relate to her as a person and also her music. 

For Dyer, "Stars are commodities produced and consumed on the strength of their meanings."

It is the idea that the audience relates to the star because they have a feature they the share or admire with the star. Some fans may attempt to replicate the star in their behaviour, and copy exactly what they do. This can range from changes in fashion and lifestyle.

However, this could also be a negative impact as some stars often are heavy drinkers and drug abusers which sets a terrible example for the youth of today. For example in the 60's and 70's there was an increase of illegal sales of cannabis due to The Beatles being open about using it. In today's music we still have a lot of drug references within the lyrics, as well as inappropriate lyrics that feature a sexual nature, also setting a bad example for the youth of today.

A star may start a fashion trend, with masses of fans copying their hairstyle and clothing. 

Pop stars establish their character and personality through songs and performance and will strive for immediate star identity with a first album. 

• Richard Dyer Stars (1980)

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RESEARCH: MUSIC TV CHANNELS

MUZU

MUZU.TV is an Irish owned global music website featuring free music content and legal video sharing which 

allows you to watch and have easy access to official music videos, documentaries, TV shows, interviews, and behind the scenes.

Co-founded by Ciarán Bollard and Mark French, it was launched in Ireland and the United Kingdom on 16 July 2008. Seven million videos were played monthly and there were two million users within one year of the launch.

The company's headquarters are divided between three cities, and it allows videos to be uploaded to the website and external websites, with the original copyright holder maintaining their ownership, while the website is funded through embedded advertising. Artists are granted 50 per cent of advertising revenue.

Before the launch Sony BMG signed an agreement with MUZU TV to allow more than 6,000 videos by artists, including The Ting Tings and Kylie Minogue, to appear on the site, with a further 2,000 hours of footage from entities such as Cherry Red, Eagle Rock Entertainment, Hollywood Music, Ministry of Sound, Ninja Tune and Planet Rock Profiles.

4MUSIC

4Music is a music and entertainment channel in the United Kingdom and available on some digital television

providers in the Republic of Ireland. The channel launched on 15 August 2008, replacing The Hits. It is the only Channel 4-branded channel within the Box Television network. It is available on Freeview, Virgin Media, Sky and Smallworld Cable.

The channel launched with an on-screen countdown counting down from ten minutes down to zero. During the countdown, clips from popular music videos were faded through the screen including clips from promotions for the channel. The channel then launched at 7pm with a promotional advert for the channel then fading into "Davina and Steve's 20 Big Ones"; the first song at number 20 being "The Pretender" by The Foo Fighters and Kylie Minogue's "Can't Get You Out Of My Head" at number 1.

4Music brings you closer to the hottest artists right now. Whether it's music news, latest playlists, video exclusives and great competitions then this is the website you need to visit. You can also see who's No.1 and the full Official UK Top 40 Singles Chart featuring your favourite artists and tracks.

MTV

MTV is a 24-hour general entertainment channel operated by Viacom International Media Networks Europe, available in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
MTV allows viewers to watch the latest Music Videos from their favorite artists, get up to date Celebrity and Music News, see episodes of their favorite MTV Reality Shows, watch exclusive interviews and lots more.

MTV UK & Ireland was launched on 1 July 1997 as part of MTV Networks Europe's regionalization strategy. MTV launched a UK specific channel to target existing competition within the market and to provide audiences with local artists and more relevant music content.

In 2002, MTV began to air programming from MTV US, similar to other MTV channels in Europe. MTV began to drop some of its localized programming in favour of MTV US shows. These shows included Jackass, Date My Mom and Dismissed. Despite targeted efforts to play certain types of music videos in limited rotation, MTV greatly reduced its overall rotation of music videos throughout the first decade of the 2000s. While music videos dominated the channel in early 2000-2002 the rate of music rotation declined rapidly.

RESEARCH: DIRECTORS' LABEL

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PLANNING: Californiacation ideas

Californication music video planning:

During todays lesson, Elliot, Max and I continued to explore the song Californication by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers which is our final choice for our music video. 

We came up with the idea of me running through a dream like state that represents the Hollywood image, however, i continuously get stopped by objects and obstacles in my way that portray different lyrics from the song. For example, I could be stopped by a man dressed all in white as a plastic surgeon who plans to perform surgery on me. This represents the Hollywood image as fake and manufactured like Californication sings about.

We also talked about going to a sandy beach that is relatively near. We discussed the possibility of going to Brighton or West Wittering. Having been to Brighton several times, I realised this wouldn't be appropriate because Brighton's many beaches consists of pebbles only, with the beaches of California being sandy and gold. This left the only option of West Wittering, which is only 1 hour and 30 minutes away, where the majority of beach is sandy. It is important to make sure we go on a day when the weather is forecasted to be sunny, even if not that warm in order to create an atmosphere similar to what it would be like in California. The sandy beaches of Wittering would be the best way to create the Hollywood atmosphere and dream. 

We also discussed the possibility of using a fat man dressed in a Hawaiian shirt and shorts to represent the successful businessmen of Hollywood, California. The fat man would need to be filmed on the beach and therefore we would have to find a suitable candidate willing to spend the day at Wittering with us. Our teacher Mrs Mann, also discussed with us how the alcoholic drink 'Mojito' was exceptionally popular for those who were successful in California, and therefore it would be great for our chosen 'fat man' to be drinking a Mojito, which would help set the atmosphere of Hollywood, California. 

RESEARCH: MUSIC VIDEO SLIDESHARE

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PLANNING: FINAL SONG CHOICE

During our most recent lesson, we continued trying to decide what song we were going to use for our music video. Elliot, Max and I looked through the possible songs we had already trialled and came to the conclusion that Californication by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers was the song we'd use. 

We all had heard of the song and admired the lyrics and the song itself which was a bonus because we were struggling to find a song that we all agreed on. The song 'Californication' delves deep in to the darker side of the Hollywood image and that, not everything from Hollywood is special and desirable. Californication speaks of the manufactured products that

we produce today and how progressively its getting worse and worse and creating horrible examples to younger people in general, and that as human's we all find it necessary to follow the crowd whether its with music, television, films or material goods such as clothes and other luxuries. It also speaks of how 'we' as people only like these material goods and find it necessary to buy them because of how much they cost, and the image buying these things set for us. As the song progresses it expresses how the world is beginning to deteriorate directly in front of us and concern is expressed. With the Red Hot Chilli Peppers forming in Hollywood, we can understand that their insight into the world and people of Hollywood most likely, has some truth to it. With plastic surgery being mentioned in the song, we continue to understand how the Hollywood scene is seen as fake and not real and far from desirable with lyrics such as "Pay your surgeon very well To break the spell of aging". 

The song has a lot of potential for us to take idea's from the deeper meaning of the lyrics which will definitely help us when it comes to actually planning what we are going to shoot and where, with what props etc. With all three of us learning or have learnt to play an instrument it is going to be exceptionally easy to make a shoot of a band playing their instruments look realistic, with me on the drums, and Elliot and Max playing the guitars. 

Another thing we learnt about during this lesson was about a man called Theodore Adorno who shared some similar views to the Chilli Peppers. Adorno stated that we produce all of this manufactured products of the culture industry in order to distract us from the other important things in life, like questioning social matters. Something he said was very similar to what the Chilli Peppers said in Californication relating to material goods and he called it Commodity Fetishism which basically meant we only liked the goods we buy due to the price they are and the image it represents us as. Adorno also states that these products that we create in places like Hollywood, whether its music, film, tv etc distract us from the problems we have in life and allow us to delve deep into something else before returning to our usual lives and facing our true questions and problems. Theodore Adorno's beliefs play a big part in how we can delve deeper in to the meanings of the song and also help us produce more idea's for the music video itself, when we come to shoot each scene.

PLANNING: Music Video

In today's lesson, Elliot, Max and myself put a lot of time and effort into finding a song we all like and agree on which we can use in our music video.

When searching for song possibilities through YouTube, we also had to take into consideration the type of music video we would create and whether it would be performance based or narrative based, as this would effect what kind of song we use.
Some of the songs we noted down which could be possibilities are: Aerosmith - Crying, Misfits - Scream, My Chemical Romance - Welcome to the Black Parade, In Too Deep - Sum 41, Californiacation - Red Hot Chili Peppers.
However, we realised that most of these songs are around 4 - 5 minutes long, which is far too long for a music video, so we would either have to find similar songs which are shorter, or simply just cut the song short at a good place.

RESEARCH: THE GAZE THEORY

In the first half of today's lesson, we learnt about Laura Mulvey's gaze theory in her own

article, Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.
The gaze theory was based on the fact that woman were gazed at, whilst men gazed at them in a voyeuristic way - which involves a controlling gaze.

Mulvey also looked at the works of Freud and how it had referred to scopohilia - the pleasure involved in looking at other people's bodies as (particularly, erotic) objects. In the darkness of the cinema it is notable that one may look without being seen either by those on screen by other members of the audience.

However, Mulvey argues that there are various feautires of the cinema viewing conditions that facilitate for the viewer, like the voyeuristic process of objectification of female characters and also the narcissistic process of identification with the ideal image and ego seen on the screen. She also states that in a patriarchal society the pleasure in looking has been split between both active male and passive female. 

This is reflected in the dominant forms of cinema. For example, narrative films in Hollywood not only typically focusses on a male protagonist but also assume a male spectator. In traditional, hollywood, cinematic films, men are presented as active, controlling subjects that treat women as passive objects. Women are treated as passive objects of desire for men. These types of films place women in relation to "the controlling male gaze" presenting them as objects of desire and as 'spectacle' for men to look at. Men do the looking, and women are there to be looked at.

After getting a better understanding of Mulvey's gaze theory, we looked at a prime example of this as we watched Miley Cyrus's music video Wrecking Ball, as she sexually sits on a large ball, half naked. She is represented as the desired object in this video.

 

RESEARCH: British Music Experience

The British Music Experience is an open event that all members of the public can visit. It focuses on the history of music, and features most decades of popular music.

During the tour of the experience, you can explore the different decades such as the 50's through to the 90's and see fascinating pictures and interactive images associating with the different stars and bands of each generation, such as the Beatles, Pink Floyd and Nirvana.

50's: During the 1950's the most popular music was Rock and Roll. Lots of people, teenagers and adults all followed artists such as Elvis who was probably the most successful artist in the 50's. Elvis

was famous for songs like : Hound Dog and Jailhouse rock. Other popular artists in the 1950's were Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis both having a huge impact on the charts.

60's: The first thing that comes to mind for me when thinking about the 60's is The Beatles.

The Beatles were the most incredible band during the 60's considering they came from so little, to become one of the most successful bands of all time. The Beatles were famous for songs such as Here Comes the Sun, I Saw Her Standing There and Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. Other bands such as The Who and The Doors came about in the 60's and it was these sort of bands that also introduced the drug scene, where teenagers thought it was appropriate to follow their idols by doing whatever they did - in this case drugs. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds by The Beatles was written under the influence of the class A drug LSD.

70's: The 70's seemed to have a completely different vibe to the 60's. Teens in the 60's caused a lot of problems with drug taking and violence but they seemed to calm down in the 70's significantly as the interest in Disco and Dance music was found by these teens. Most teenagers forgot the drug and violent scenes of the 60's and resorted to dance club and nights out socialising with friends. ABBA and The Bee Gee's were popular bands amongst the 70's with songs like Waterloo and Night Fever being extremely popular.

80's: One of the most amazing things about the 1980's was the start of MTV ! MTV allowed bands to get their music across to a wider range of people, quickly and more successfully. MTV was made simply to show band music videos every day all day. MTV is still extremely popular today but does cover a wider range of programs. Bands like Van Halen became popular quickly. One of Van Halen's most popular tunes was 'Jump' which is still very much loved by fans and has been introduced to the TV show Glee, which used the song and made a cover of it.

90's: In the 90's music changed a fair bit, with hip hop and rap becoming widely successful and played over radio very often. Although hip hop was successful, other genre's found a way to dominate with bands like Nirvana setting what was called a 'grungey' tone to music in the 90's. One of the most recognisable songs to me and a lot of my friends is the song 'Smells like Teen Spirit' which was written by Kurt Cobain from Nirvana. This is one of the best and most successful grunge songs of all time. Bands such as the Foo Fighters and the Goo Goo Dolls were also very succesful with these bands still being around today and still moderately successful just not as active. Dr Dre was a massive artist who influenced the hip hop and rap scene in the 90's.