The Culture Industry

Culture Industries was first introduced by Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer.

Culture industry refers to the standardizations and false-singularity of cultural items, and how these cultural items are regulated.
It says that we, as people, have become standardised because corporations produced standard  product which fit our needs and demands.
So corporations produced our needs, and desires.

If the cultural products lode their sense of meaning and authenticity due to their mass production, so do the individuals who buy them.
We may not realize that each time we buy a new and trendy product, we are merely buying the new trendy "thing" to add to our very own material product of a self. The truth is that we are buying this product because it is frequently publicized through media only to illustrate this materialized commodity of "cool" that everyone must have.
We are truthfully as much of a commodity as the product it self. Regardless, we have a situation where the consumers are being victimized by the producers in that they know what we life and give us what a we want; therefore, we no longer have genuine experiences.

There are many examples of music videos that support Adorno's theory. A popular example is Justin Bieber. He fits into Adorno's and Horkheimers theory as he appeals to a passive audience. He has many catchy songs such as his 2010 hit song "Baby" which used repetitive words through out the chorus. Like wise, his song "Sorry" does the same thing. Justin also has the looks to attract his audience.

However, not all of music artists has been conventional to Horkheimers theory is Ed Sheeran. He is not as looking as Justin Bieber and his early music career wasn't as successful. He became a popular artist through his album which was released in 2011. In this album, Ed Sheeran has many songs such as The A Team and Give Me Love which aren't catchy songs and are particularly slow compared to Justin Bieber.

Post Modernism

What is Post Modern?
Postmodern media rejects the idea that any media product or text is of any greater value than another. All judgements of value are merely taste.
Post modern media rejects the idea that any media product or text is of any greater value than another. All judgements are merely taste. Anything can be art, anything can deserve to reach an audience, and culture 'eats itself' as there is no longer anything new to produce or distribute.

Philosophers within the post modern movement.
Baudrillard and Lyotard, both men shared a belief that the idea of truth needs to be 'deconstructed' so that we can challenge the dominant ideas that people claim as truth, which Lyotard describes as 'Grand narratives'

In the postmodern world, media texts make visible and challenge ideas of truth and reality, removing the illusion that stories, texts or images can ever accurately or neutrally reproduce reality or truth. So we get the idea that there are always competing versions of the truth and reality, and post modern media products will engage with this idea.

Postmodernism is also said to reflect modern society's feelings of alienation, insecurity and uncertainties concerning identity, history, progress and truth, and the break up of those tradition like religion, the family or, perhaps to a lesser extent, class, which helped identify and shape who we are and our place in the world.

Post Modern as an aesthetic
Hybridity
Hybrid forms are said to level hierarchies of taste. It is said that all distinctions between high culture and popular culture, have gone , or become high culture and popular culture, have gone, or become blurred. Postmodern texts 'Raid the image bank' which is so richly available through video and computer technologies, recycle some old movies and shows on television, the internet etc. Music, film and TV provide excellent examples of these processes.

Bricolage
This is used to refer to the process of adaptation o improvisation where aspects of one style are given quite different meanings when compared with stylistic features from another. Youth subcultural groups such as punks, with their bondage gear and use of swastikas were eclectic as they took clothes associated with different class positions or work functions and converted them into fashion statements 'empty' of their original meanings. A more recent, feminised example would be the combination of Doc Martens and summer dresses worn by girl.

History Of Music

History Of Music Videos

A music video is a short film or video that accompanies complete piece of music, most commonly a song. Modern music videos were primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings.

An early example of Music video - St Louis Blue's - Bessie Smith 1929.


Music videos are often called promotion videos or simply promos due to the fact that they are usually promotional devices. Sometimes, music videos are termed short from music videos to distinguish them from full length movies pertaining to music.

Another key note that made a mark in music video history was where Walt Disney released Fantasia, an animated film based around famous pieces of classical music. Furthermore, the invention of film and cinema brought the potential of combining music and moving images. This was to bring a better effect to the song and also give some sort of story to the viewers.

Andrew Goodwin analysis

Goodwins Theory
Goodwin's theory states that there are 5 key aspects to a music video;

1. Thought through beat (seeing what the lyrics mean in your head)
2. Relationship between the song and visuals.
3. Narrative and performance of the song
4. Technical aspect of a music video
5. Star image (protagonist), lots of camera shots making him/her the centre of attention. 

Thought Through beat
 The first step of this process is to analyse the music and its structure alongside the chorus and verses.


Second step is how the voice of the artist would be very unique compared to the others. The reason behind this is to give the star singer an identification.


The third step is how the artist is trying to tell a story within the song, which will establish him as a story teller. The music video shows this portraying the video through the vocals of the song.


Relationship between the music and visuals

Three ways of visuals are used to promote a song 


Illustrate
Music videos use certain shots and images to explain the meaning of lyrics to their song as well as the genre.


Disjuncture
This is where the song lyric is completely different to what is shown in the video


Amplify
This is the process where images and camera shots are shown regularly throughout the music video so that it is drummed into our vision.


Narrative & Performance of the song
Andrew Goodwin had a theory that it was important for an artist to be involved in the music video by performing or acting out roles as the main character or singer.
It helps to make the song look more realistic and also giving the audience a special connecting and good understanding of the song.
A good example of this is the song ROAR by Katy Perry. She is the main actor in the song an also the singer which helps the video by making the song and video look more realistic and this helps to engage the audience.


Star Image
Goodwin believes that the star image would be a vital aspect of music videos. The singer would make the music video look more appealing to the audiences as well as bringing a unique style to the video in the way he/she is portrayed to the audience.

Specification

Brief

• A media portfolio, compromising a main and ancillary texts;
• A presentation of their research, planning and evaluation in digital format(s)

Each candidate will evaluate and reflect upon the creative process and their experience of it. Candidates will evaluate their work digitally, this evaluation being guided by the set of key questions below. This evaluation may be done collectively for a group production or individually. Examples of suitable formats for the evaluation are:

• A blog

1. Evaluating practical

- Title sequence worth 25 marks

- Music video worth 25 marks

2. Representation of women in media: Collective Identity (50 marks)

- Magazines (print)

- Music Video