Adorno and Horkheimer

Adorno and Horkheimer 

Theodor Adorno was a philosopher, sociologist and composer was born in 1903 He lived until 1969 and was a leading member at the Frankfurt School in Germany, along with Max Horkheimer who was a philosopher and sociologist, born in 1895 and lived until 1973. Horkheimer was also a member of the Frankfurt School of social research. Both Adorna and Horkheimer were German theorists who fled Germany during World War II from Geneva and they moved to New York in 1935.
The pair wrote the book 'The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception' in 1944. Within this book, they both came up with the theory that pop culture essentially is a commodity and that it is mass produced to please wide mass public. This can be done in many different forms of media sucg as films, radios, pop music and music videos. They beilieved that certain idelogies and beliefs/messages could be put into (sometimes subliminally) these formats to convey a message to a mass audience.

Grunge Genre Analyses

 •Grunge rock is a subgenre of alternative rock that originated in the late 1980’s in Seattle, Washington. The movement started with the help of the Sub-Pop independent record label  in the late 80s releasing ‘alternative’ rock albums. In the early 90s its popularity spread with artists such as Nirvana and Alice in Chains signing to major record labels and earning strong followings and gaining commercial success. The genre became massive in the early 90’s with the help of Nirvana’s album ‘Nevermind’, Pearl Jam’s ‘Ten’, Alice in Chains' ‘Facelift’ and Soundgarden’s ‘Badmotorfinger’. 

Characteristics of grunge include:

Aggressive 'dirty' guitar sounds
Powerfull singing 
Raw sound
"straight forward"

Clothing most commonly worn by grunge musicians was a mix of thrift store items          with the typical outdoor clothing and most notably flannel shirts.long hairstyles were also very commom.

Briefs
When centres choose briefs to offer to candidates, they should be guided by their strengths in terms of resources and expertise. Centres should also bear in mind the key areas: forms and conventions, production contexts, the role of technologies, audiences/users and representations.
The set briefs are as follows:

The purpose of this unit is firstly to assess candidates’ ability to plan and construct media products using appropriate technical and creative skills (AO3); secondly to assess candidates’ application of knowledge and understanding in evaluating their own work, showing how meanings and responses are created (AO2); and finally to assess candidates’ ability to undertake, apply and present appropriate research (AO4). The unit requires candidates to engage with contemporary media technologies, giving them the opportunity to develop their own skills in these technologies. It also enables them to develop the skills of presentation that are required for further study at higher levels and in the workplace.

This is a coursework unit. Centres must set the brief from the menu below, though they may define more precise details in negotiation with candidates. From this brief, candidates will produce:

• a media portfolio, comprising a main and ancillary texts;
  
• a presentation of their research, planning and evaluation in digital format(s).
  The media portfolio will be produced through a combination of two or more of the following media:
  

• Video
  
• Print
  
• Web-based
  
• Audio
  
• Games software
  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:
  

• Ablog
  
• DVD extras
  
• A podcast
  
• A powerpoint
  
• A Website
  
• Or a combination of two or more of the above.
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Briefs
  1. A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the following three options:
  

  

  • a website homepage for the band;
    
  • a digipak for the album’s release;
    
  • a magazine advertisement for the digipak. 
    

Genre Brainstorm

Here is my genre brainstorm. This is a brainstorm of my many genres of music but predominately rock as that is the genre I will be doing a music video for.

Goodwin's Theory

There's a set of rules and conventions for Goodwin's theory of music video's,
These set the boundaries for analysis.

These include:

• A relationship between the song and visuals.
• Intertextuality references.
• Notion of looking.
• Voyeurism.
• Demand of the record label.
• Performance based, narrative based or concept based music video. - Narrative and performance.
• Star Image (protagonist), lots of camera shots making him/her the centre of attention.

Music Video Inspiration

Here is a video that I found that I really like the style of. 
I want to do my music video in a similar stye as I think it will suit the genre of my video which is rock. This style includes lots of layering images over videos and layering videos together. The style is also grainy and reminiscent of a VHS film

Lesson Notes 8/9/2016

Advanced Portfolio:
This year we will have to create a band and for the band make a music video, a digipak and a magazine promoting the digipack.

Some things to consider when choosing a song and making a music video:
Nothing with explicit lyrics,
Do not rely on found images for the music video and digipack.

The album cover is designed to promote the artists uniq selling point (USP)... Here are some examples:
Biffy Clyro, there are Scottish
Black Sabbath, here were very heavy for the time they came out
Amy Whinehouse, Beehive hair and eyeliner
Slash,  Top hat
David Bowie, Ziggy Stardust outfit

You have to think about what colours are typical to their genre.

Typical album cover styles:
Iconic Headshot 


Iconic graphic design:

Iconic Image:



Digipak - Will have six panels: Front panel, track listing, spines, and four panels to be creative with.

Magazine Advert:
Poster based around the album cover or a different image with a small image of the album cover.