Many of the ideas about hip-hop we discussed in class can be applied to Dancehall. The genre features even more 'booty' fetishisation than most rap videos I've seen both lyrically and in its visual representations. Dancehall artists often release songs that have a corresponding dance. These dances are then featured in the artists music video through the use of dancers who preform the moves and lyrics related to the dace. Dancehall is all about frenetic dance energy and primarily dances reflect the energy of the music visually. Dancehall competitions serve as a way for audieces to have a dialogue with Dancehall artists as prominent Dancehall artists respond to the latest dance crazes. A good example is of this kind of video is Mr. Vegas – Hot Wuk
that features many Dancehall dancers performing the sexually provocative Hot Wuk dance in which women mimic sex on stage. All of the major Dancehall dances are performed solely by women. Dancehall has been criticised for being misogynistic in the past. However the sexual content of the music comes from all angles through prominent Female Dancehall artists sexually explicit lyrics. and dancers that sexualise themselves on stage. Dancehall music however widens the representation of women from those normally seen in other black-urban genres like hip-hop and R&b videos to include bigger women and more emphasise on natural looking bodies.
Friday, June 1, 2007
An Old Wooden Ship
To define my beloved Desperate Housewives as a typical sitcom, drama or procedural show is completely inaccurate. It is untypical of an American television show due to its out-of-the-blue episodic formula that is led by its sporadic underscoring and eccentric theme music.
After a little squiz on the official official website I learnt the man behind this creativity is Danny Elfman, yes the same Danny Elfman that was accountable for Spiderman, Batman and Edward Scissorhands. AND if that doesn’t impress you I know what will.
Da da-da da da da-da dadadadada.
That’s right, you guessed it.
Danny Elfman is the man behind one of the most recognisable theme songs The Simpsons.
In Desperate Housewives Elfman’s music is relied upon heavily to portray the narratives ironic storylines and shaded character secrets. Something it accomplishes most effectively. But is it perhaps a little too repetitive? I feel the surreal and odd music does not always work and becomes somewhat tiring after fifty minutes of viewing time. Now, I know I’m sounding a bit like my father here who has been known from time to time to comment on the inane violin plucking when he is forced to watch his daughters TV choices, but perhaps dad has a point. Sure it serves its purpose in suspending the narrative but with a little more variety (without changing the style) do you not feel that some episodes could benefit more? All I am suggesting is that perhaps Elfman needs a little kick in the comfortable piano stool bottom in order to bring us a little diversity.
After a little squiz on the official official website I learnt the man behind this creativity is Danny Elfman, yes the same Danny Elfman that was accountable for Spiderman, Batman and Edward Scissorhands. AND if that doesn’t impress you I know what will.
Da da-da da da da-da dadadadada.
That’s right, you guessed it.
Danny Elfman is the man behind one of the most recognisable theme songs The Simpsons.
In Desperate Housewives Elfman’s music is relied upon heavily to portray the narratives ironic storylines and shaded character secrets. Something it accomplishes most effectively. But is it perhaps a little too repetitive? I feel the surreal and odd music does not always work and becomes somewhat tiring after fifty minutes of viewing time. Now, I know I’m sounding a bit like my father here who has been known from time to time to comment on the inane violin plucking when he is forced to watch his daughters TV choices, but perhaps dad has a point. Sure it serves its purpose in suspending the narrative but with a little more variety (without changing the style) do you not feel that some episodes could benefit more? All I am suggesting is that perhaps Elfman needs a little kick in the comfortable piano stool bottom in order to bring us a little diversity.
Jim Jarmusch’s Dead Man and the Duality of the Live Soundtrack: Assimilation and Affiliation, the ‘Acid Western’ and Counter Culture.
Jim Jarmusch’s Dead Man [1995] inverts the ‘Western filmic frame’ and its associated conventions and stereotypes creating a disconnection from both time and consciousness. The approach taken by Neil Young in composing the soundtrack for Dead Man sonically realises the film’s constructed rhythm, recorded live as an improvised real-time experience and personal emotional response to the film, with the result situated somewhere between a traditional composed score and compilation soundtrack with the assimilating and affiliating identifications each creates. Young’s score enhances Jarmusch’s treatment of time through its stark twentieth century sound in contrast with the film’s nineteenth century image adding to Dead Man’s hallucinogenic quality, its pace and treatment of ‘reality’, and contributing to its reading as an ‘Acid Western’.
William Blake’s (the films protagonist played by Johnny Depp) journey from civilisation and ‘Machine’ to nature represents an existential search for enlightenment. Blake’s resulting death however, communicates Dead Man’s nihilistic sentiment; there is no alternative to ‘Machine’s’ industrial progression towards ‘civilisation’, rendering Blake’s spiritual quest, seemingly, futile. Young’s minimalist soundtrack with its repetitive structure of a basic distorted melodic phrase becomes nihilistic in the sense that it doesn’t progress toward any form of musical climax or resolution, adopting Dead Man’s nihilistic theme. This almost counter-cultural theme was explored in films such as Easy Rider [1969] with both films concluding with the death of major protagonists in search of the same existential truths. The use of Neil Young as an artist assists in these assimilating identifications through his particular status in 1960’s popular culture and through his ‘Hendrix-esqe’ guitar tones which recalls both Easy Rider’s soundtrack in which Hendrix features.
William Blake’s (the films protagonist played by Johnny Depp) journey from civilisation and ‘Machine’ to nature represents an existential search for enlightenment. Blake’s resulting death however, communicates Dead Man’s nihilistic sentiment; there is no alternative to ‘Machine’s’ industrial progression towards ‘civilisation’, rendering Blake’s spiritual quest, seemingly, futile. Young’s minimalist soundtrack with its repetitive structure of a basic distorted melodic phrase becomes nihilistic in the sense that it doesn’t progress toward any form of musical climax or resolution, adopting Dead Man’s nihilistic theme. This almost counter-cultural theme was explored in films such as Easy Rider [1969] with both films concluding with the death of major protagonists in search of the same existential truths. The use of Neil Young as an artist assists in these assimilating identifications through his particular status in 1960’s popular culture and through his ‘Hendrix-esqe’ guitar tones which recalls both Easy Rider’s soundtrack in which Hendrix features.
“Boogie Nights” – Family Structure
“Boogie Nights” is a film about the pornography world and even though it is based around this it shows a family structure between the cast and friends, even if this is unorthodox. The family structure in “Boogie Nights” includes the producers, film crew and cast of the show and their friends and together they form a family unit. This is not your “normal” family structure which consists of blood relations such as mum, dad, brother, sister, aunties, uncles etc. Instead this is a family of people from different walks of life who happen to understand each other as they all work in the same industry (pornography) and they mainly have each other to talk to and don’t feel that other people will understand why they do what they do or accept them. This is not your “typical” family structure. When reading through an article from “The Guardian”, who interviewed director Paul Thomas Anderson, he said that, “everyone in porn has problems maintaining contact with people who aren't involved in it, so they develop a myth of the forgiving, accommodating family structure.”
In one of the scenes Amber is mothering Dick by coaching him through their sex scenes; this would be one of the more “unorthodox” elements of the family structure that Anderson has created. It is almost as if the people have become a surrogate family for each other but because of their line of work and that they are all in the same business it makes the sense of family a little more disturbing if you will because the help and guidance they give each other is to do with the sex industry and this is very much frowned upon in “normal” family structures to say the very least! This film shows how a community of friends can become so close and dependant on each other because they understand the in’s and out’s of their everyday lives and they can relate to each other. I guess in a way it is the same as if you were in a bad, or part of the “celebrity” crowd of Hollywood, they all share one main thing in common and because of this people on the “outside” don’t understand what they go through everyday and it is much easier to be surrounded by people who are not judgemental and can relate to you.
In one of the scenes Amber is mothering Dick by coaching him through their sex scenes; this would be one of the more “unorthodox” elements of the family structure that Anderson has created. It is almost as if the people have become a surrogate family for each other but because of their line of work and that they are all in the same business it makes the sense of family a little more disturbing if you will because the help and guidance they give each other is to do with the sex industry and this is very much frowned upon in “normal” family structures to say the very least! This film shows how a community of friends can become so close and dependant on each other because they understand the in’s and out’s of their everyday lives and they can relate to each other. I guess in a way it is the same as if you were in a bad, or part of the “celebrity” crowd of Hollywood, they all share one main thing in common and because of this people on the “outside” don’t understand what they go through everyday and it is much easier to be surrounded by people who are not judgemental and can relate to you.
Lecture outlines 10 & 11 online
Kia ora all
lecture outlines for morphing and TV pop idols are now online on CECIL.
lecture outlines for morphing and TV pop idols are now online on CECIL.
The different elements of Hip Hop culture
In the lecture on Hip Hop it was brought to light the many elements that make up the Hip Hop culture such as, graffiti (or as it was earlier known as, ‘writing’), break dancing, DJ-ing, rapping, and the use of urban spaces such as the city. Hip Hop started out as a culture that had a can-do attitude about it, there were no if’s or but’s about making it in the industry it was more about getting out there and making it happen yourself. You had to bang on doors, make some money, and sell your music. Graffiti was known as a form of writing before it was given a name, nowadays Graffiti is not always seen as an art form, but viewed as something bad when it is incorporated with ‘tagging’ and the like. There are walls that you can graffiti on in Auckland and these pieces of work look more like art, with bold colours, cool images and funky lettering incorporated into one big piece of exceptional eye catching work.
In a lot of Hip Hop influenced movies most of the dancing is break dancing or at least has break dancing in the set. You can see this on movies such as “You Got Served” which is reasonably recent and aimed at the younger youth audience of today. This movie is about a dancing competition in which the prize is money. A lot of the film is filmed on the street, with evidence or basketball courts, gang fights, shootings, death and those who are poor trying to get on, there is hustling and doing others dirty work who are higher up than you. DJ-ing and rapping are a big part of the Hip Hop culture, rapping in particular. Artists such as Snoop Dog, Icecube and Biggie are among the many who are skilled in this area. A lot of their lyrics are about drugs, women and hustling which are all incorporated in the Hip Hop culture. A lot of these video clips that rap artists are in have half naked women in them, with booty’s in a club usually, with the presence of marijuana – this is also a part of what makes the Hip Hop culture distinctive to others. A lot of the Hip Hop videos we see, or the movies or any of the films or documentary’s that are about Hip Hop are set in the city, whether it be Auckland, the Bronx, LA or New York – the urban space is very commonly associated with Hip Hop. You do not see people who represent the Hip Hop culture out and about in rural areas, they live for the darkness, seductive, luring of the city.
In a lot of Hip Hop influenced movies most of the dancing is break dancing or at least has break dancing in the set. You can see this on movies such as “You Got Served” which is reasonably recent and aimed at the younger youth audience of today. This movie is about a dancing competition in which the prize is money. A lot of the film is filmed on the street, with evidence or basketball courts, gang fights, shootings, death and those who are poor trying to get on, there is hustling and doing others dirty work who are higher up than you. DJ-ing and rapping are a big part of the Hip Hop culture, rapping in particular. Artists such as Snoop Dog, Icecube and Biggie are among the many who are skilled in this area. A lot of their lyrics are about drugs, women and hustling which are all incorporated in the Hip Hop culture. A lot of these video clips that rap artists are in have half naked women in them, with booty’s in a club usually, with the presence of marijuana – this is also a part of what makes the Hip Hop culture distinctive to others. A lot of the Hip Hop videos we see, or the movies or any of the films or documentary’s that are about Hip Hop are set in the city, whether it be Auckland, the Bronx, LA or New York – the urban space is very commonly associated with Hip Hop. You do not see people who represent the Hip Hop culture out and about in rural areas, they live for the darkness, seductive, luring of the city.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Voting system on TV shows
In this week’s class, we had an analyse on TV program ‘American Idol’ about aliveness in TV show. Showing on and off stage live about contestants is one main factor to make this show look real, but in my perspective, voting system is the other main factor which to reinforce the aliveness of this show. Compare to showing contestants on and off stage live, voting system gives audience a chance to participate into the show. This interaction gives audience power to support their favourite singer to be the champion. Furthermore, it shows that singing skill is not the only factor that makes singer to success, but also the way to express self. For the reason that, the more supporters that singer has, the more opportunities he or she can be the champion. More, while the program is broadcasting on air, host would frequently encourage audience to pick up cell phone and send a message to support the contestant and emphases the deadline of voting. By doing that, two outcomes would take place, firstly, contestants would receive support from fans; secondly, network operator, Cingular, would gain money by wireless call charges. Therefore, the introduce of voting system into reality TV show brings more audience to watch and join in the show, but also creates another opportunity for producer to make money.
Pencil Tin Faces
Sure the idea of instant stardom is attractive. It is more than attractive, it is almost ideal. Why not skip the hard yards? the financial stress? Not to mention the risk-take and the trust in strangers. TV reality show, Popstars, began in April 1999. Joe Cotton, Keri Harper, Erika Takacs, Carly Binding and the hugely relevant Megan Alatini were chosen throughout a fifteen episode season. These five talented and attractive females formed the first ever Popstars group and NZ had huge expectations of their outcome. Yet they barely reached the stationary faze. A little faze I find determines the success of a group in all respects. After all who couldn’t be defined successful when a given the choice a child desires your face on their pencil tin more than Barbie’s.
Alas, what happened to them? As a pubescent teenager I too fell into the many numbers of NZ citizens waiting for the next single after ‘Tonight’, the next single that in my mind never came. Of course there was a second release but I will give fifty dollars to the person who can tell me the name of it and/or the lyrics without looking up wikipedia.
Exxxactly!
Perhaps their lack of success lay in the nature of the series. I know it’s not an original suggestion but it does have some relevance. Following the huge amount of eliminations and built up tension throughout the series there didn’t appear to be any type of closure for the audience. The program seemed to build and build but then have nowhere to go and just simply… discontinue. Essentially I guess they wanted to prepare their audiences for the public appearance of the pop group but their seemed to be fault in this method. This could also explain why the idea was sold for millions globally but did not continue past two seasons unlike their reality TV offspring NZ Idol and Dancing With the Stars.
(BTW Megan was robbed)
Alas, what happened to them? As a pubescent teenager I too fell into the many numbers of NZ citizens waiting for the next single after ‘Tonight’, the next single that in my mind never came. Of course there was a second release but I will give fifty dollars to the person who can tell me the name of it and/or the lyrics without looking up wikipedia.
Exxxactly!
Perhaps their lack of success lay in the nature of the series. I know it’s not an original suggestion but it does have some relevance. Following the huge amount of eliminations and built up tension throughout the series there didn’t appear to be any type of closure for the audience. The program seemed to build and build but then have nowhere to go and just simply… discontinue. Essentially I guess they wanted to prepare their audiences for the public appearance of the pop group but their seemed to be fault in this method. This could also explain why the idea was sold for millions globally but did not continue past two seasons unlike their reality TV offspring NZ Idol and Dancing With the Stars.
(BTW Megan was robbed)
Pencil Tin Faces
Sure the idea of instant stardom is attractive. It is more than attractive, it is almost ideal. Why not skip the hard yards? the financial stress? Not to mention the risk-take and the trust in strangers. TV reality show, Popstars, began in April 1999. Joe Cotton, Keri Harper, Erika Takacs, Carly Binding and the hugely relevant Megan Alatini were chosen throughout a fifteen episode season. These five talented and attractive females formed the first ever Popstars group and NZ had huge expectations of their outcome. Yet they barely reached the stationary faze. A little faze I find determines the success of a group in all respects. After all who couldn’t be defined successful when a given the choice a child desires your face on their pencil tin more than Barbie’s.
Alas, what happened to them? As a pubescent teenager I too fell into the many numbers of NZ citizens waiting for the next single after ‘Tonight’, the next single that in my mind never came. Of course there was a second release but I will give fifty dollars to the person who can tell me the name of it and/or the lyrics without looking up wikipedia.Exxxactly!
Perhaps their lack of success lay in the nature of the series. I know it’s not an original suggestion but it does have some relevance. Following the huge amount of eliminations and built up tension throughout the series there didn’t appear to be any type of closure for the audience. The program seemed to build and build but then have nowhere to go and just simply… discontinue. Essentially I guess they wanted to prepare their audiences for the public appearance of the pop group but their seemed to be fault in this method. This could also explain why the idea was sold for millions globally but did not continue past two seasons unlike their reality TV offspring NZ Idol and Dancing With the Stars.
(BTW Megan was robbed)
Alas, what happened to them? As a pubescent teenager I too fell into the many numbers of NZ citizens waiting for the next single after ‘Tonight’, the next single that in my mind never came. Of course there was a second release but I will give fifty dollars to the person who can tell me the name of it and/or the lyrics without looking up wikipedia.Exxxactly!
Perhaps their lack of success lay in the nature of the series. I know it’s not an original suggestion but it does have some relevance. Following the huge amount of eliminations and built up tension throughout the series there didn’t appear to be any type of closure for the audience. The program seemed to build and build but then have nowhere to go and just simply… discontinue. Essentially I guess they wanted to prepare their audiences for the public appearance of the pop group but their seemed to be fault in this method. This could also explain why the idea was sold for millions globally but did not continue past two seasons unlike their reality TV offspring NZ Idol and Dancing With the Stars.
(BTW Megan was robbed)
You would be non-conforming too if you
looked
like
ME
I have to admit I find these black haired distressed souls simply intriguing. What does their culture stand for? I have been completely unsuccessful in finding a meaning to their society. On one hand they are defined by their music, a subgenre of hardcore punk rock. It may seem that this music is fairly recent in Auckland city with the anguished tweens who pursue it however you may be surprised to find (as I was) that it originates from the late eighties, only forming itself into a genre when individual members of punk rock groups would reportedly break down and become severely emotional during performances. One of the first ‘emocore’ ensembles that hit America was ‘One Last Wish’.
I use the word ‘ensemble’ because like a majority of bands from the ‘emocore’ era One Last Wish found its career to be devastatingly short lived. In fact they released their one and only album thirteen years later after an emotional break-up following their initial recording. There is that word again ‘emotional’ which leads me to another point.
As absorbing as their title and their tortured lyrics are this music is neither this band’s nor this cultures most appealing aspect. It is the disconnection these troubled souls feel with the rest of society. Emo-kids are first and foremost upfront with their emotions. And at a closer look it is clear that what they feel cannot simply be described as sadness or anger. This group have become very efficient in describing the precise feelings under these two categories that they experience, confusion, depression, loneliness, angst, anger and above all being misunderstood.
So after a close look at what can only begin to define an Emo, how are Emo’s portrayed through the media to influence these generations in continuing the practice of this culture? I believe it is not a question of how they are portrayed, more a matter of how they are perceived. For example American Emo rock bands (Good Charlotte, My Chemical Romance) are perceived as the definition I have just stumbled through, but why? Have they explained that this is how they are feeling? Do they tell us here in New Zealand what is required of you emotionally before signing up?
I think the internet is too blame. When I feel misunderstood who better to chat to then i_want_release46. He/She is christian name-less and eager to relate to my problems. And now with the likes of youtube they are on-screen, camera-happy and awaiting my comments.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEJDGLF-e18
This is a clip of feelings that lead to the conclusion that ‘I Must be Emo’. My life is spiralling downward, you would be non-conforming too if you …looked….like….me. Yet this does not provide me with an answer because I get the very distinct feeling the good old art of piss-taking has reached a new level.
So back to the drawing board.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMvMzQ4Vu-8&mode=related&search=
Bingo.
Meet Hope. She has nine chapters of her thoughts and feelings all put together in nine edited monologues. Hope is undeniably Emo.
Chapter One: The Words are dying
Chapter Two: Hiding and Seeking: Hope talks about some kids who were playing Hide and Seek and how she doesn't like gym class.
Chapter Three: "CH4NG3": Hope talks about change and using her calculator in Geometry class.
Chapter Four: True Self: Hope gets a note from her mom on stationary that is a lie and she has problems with some new twins at school.
And so one and so forth…
Now I consider myself a reasonably chirpy and positive girl but listening to Hope, feelings of melancholy began to lurch its ugly head. Not in sympathy either but in an understanding way where all of a sudden I found myself to be on common ground. All of a sudden I stared to become… Emo. So her on-screen persona influenced me, bubbly… happy… me. Luckily, I had the sense to go home to my quirky flat-mate and have her lurch me from my despair with a frozen pizza and a cheap bottle of wine.
looked
like
ME
I have to admit I find these black haired distressed souls simply intriguing. What does their culture stand for? I have been completely unsuccessful in finding a meaning to their society. On one hand they are defined by their music, a subgenre of hardcore punk rock. It may seem that this music is fairly recent in Auckland city with the anguished tweens who pursue it however you may be surprised to find (as I was) that it originates from the late eighties, only forming itself into a genre when individual members of punk rock groups would reportedly break down and become severely emotional during performances. One of the first ‘emocore’ ensembles that hit America was ‘One Last Wish’.
I use the word ‘ensemble’ because like a majority of bands from the ‘emocore’ era One Last Wish found its career to be devastatingly short lived. In fact they released their one and only album thirteen years later after an emotional break-up following their initial recording. There is that word again ‘emotional’ which leads me to another point.
As absorbing as their title and their tortured lyrics are this music is neither this band’s nor this cultures most appealing aspect. It is the disconnection these troubled souls feel with the rest of society. Emo-kids are first and foremost upfront with their emotions. And at a closer look it is clear that what they feel cannot simply be described as sadness or anger. This group have become very efficient in describing the precise feelings under these two categories that they experience, confusion, depression, loneliness, angst, anger and above all being misunderstood.
So after a close look at what can only begin to define an Emo, how are Emo’s portrayed through the media to influence these generations in continuing the practice of this culture? I believe it is not a question of how they are portrayed, more a matter of how they are perceived. For example American Emo rock bands (Good Charlotte, My Chemical Romance) are perceived as the definition I have just stumbled through, but why? Have they explained that this is how they are feeling? Do they tell us here in New Zealand what is required of you emotionally before signing up?
I think the internet is too blame. When I feel misunderstood who better to chat to then i_want_release46. He/She is christian name-less and eager to relate to my problems. And now with the likes of youtube they are on-screen, camera-happy and awaiting my comments.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEJDGLF-e18
This is a clip of feelings that lead to the conclusion that ‘I Must be Emo’. My life is spiralling downward, you would be non-conforming too if you …looked….like….me. Yet this does not provide me with an answer because I get the very distinct feeling the good old art of piss-taking has reached a new level.
So back to the drawing board.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMvMzQ4Vu-8&mode=related&search=
Bingo.
Meet Hope. She has nine chapters of her thoughts and feelings all put together in nine edited monologues. Hope is undeniably Emo.
Chapter One: The Words are dying
Chapter Two: Hiding and Seeking: Hope talks about some kids who were playing Hide and Seek and how she doesn't like gym class.
Chapter Three: "CH4NG3": Hope talks about change and using her calculator in Geometry class.
Chapter Four: True Self: Hope gets a note from her mom on stationary that is a lie and she has problems with some new twins at school.
And so one and so forth…
Now I consider myself a reasonably chirpy and positive girl but listening to Hope, feelings of melancholy began to lurch its ugly head. Not in sympathy either but in an understanding way where all of a sudden I found myself to be on common ground. All of a sudden I stared to become… Emo. So her on-screen persona influenced me, bubbly… happy… me. Luckily, I had the sense to go home to my quirky flat-mate and have her lurch me from my despair with a frozen pizza and a cheap bottle of wine.
Encoded Playback Apparatus
In lecture Nabeel raised an important issue of encoded and gendered music apparatus. To extend on Nabeel's point I pose that other apparatus is racially encoded. Consumers might associate a specific ethnicity with a specific type of music apparatus. We as consumers might associate the record player to the young female teenager in the coming of age film but we might also attribute Chinese Asian or Japanese Asian to the mp3 player or the Ipod. I am undecided as to why this has occurred in recent popular films like Disturbia but the supporting male lead (an Asian American) can upload any ring tone to his best friend's cellphone and hack his Itunes account. Perhaps this is related to the where the technology is manufactured, it's country of origin, it seems the image of the Asian male is an easy trope to associate modern technological advances and mini, compacted technology?
Music exchange between generations
The soundtrack of Almost Famous (Dir. Cameron Crowe) is a rich mosaic of all the old favorites of a generation. The film's nostalgic quality is almost undeniable. However, I see the film's soundtrack as a preservation or as a historical document that immortalizes the moments in music history and the joys of sharing music. Embedded into the film's narrative are important moments where characters understand each other once they've shared music collections. The act of sharing records is like the passing down of a custom, tradition, myth or legend. It is similar to the Maui myth or the moko in Maori culture except as we move beyond the twentieth century that cultural exchange is now a Simon and Garfunkel record.
Music exchange between generations
The soundtrack of Almost Famous (Dir. Cameron Crowe) is a rich mosaic of all the old favorites of a generation. The film's nostalgic quality is almost undeniable. However, I see the film's soundtrack as a preservation or as a historical document that immortalizes the moments in music history and the joys of sharing music. Embedded into the film's narrative are important moments where characters understand each other once they've shared music collections. The act of sharing records is like the passing down of a custom, tradition, myth or legend. It is similar to the Maui myth or the moko in Maori culture except as we move beyond the twentieth century that cultural exchange is now a Simon and Garfunkel record.
The Importance of Sound Design
A comparison between Gosford Park (Dir. Robert Altman) and In My Father's Den (Dir. Brad McGann) sheds light on the importance of sound design in feature film making. Gosford Park is bigger in scope than the independent New Zealand film In My Father's Den except the latter can only be described as a 'silent' picture. A scene is played out in In My Father's Den inside a classroom, yet all sounds associated with the school are absent. The sound design has been reduced to a clean recording of the character's dialogue and that only. In Gosford Park, the sound design makes scenes come alive. Whenever a character talks it is undercut or undermined by the dialogue of another character bringing us closer to the text just so we don't miss what all the characters are saying.
Idol wont success?
Since The American idol and New Zealand idol start to become more and more popular, people start to become more aware about these kind of competition and more and more people wanting to get into the final and sing on the stage. whoever wins these kind of competition thehy not only get ther money reward as well as they also gets a recording company's contract as a singer/ artist. Get a chance to release an album of it's own.
This seems to be a real deal to many people and is a attractive rewards for many peop le who thinks they sing well and want to get a record deal. However, not every idol will have a good fortune in the industry, infact, many of them only get a chance for one album and thats the end of their carreer. Why will this happen?
In my opinion i have some answer to these question, firstly these kind of idol and singing competition focus on he singing skills of the contestant however the protential of development in the industry has often been not focus at. In the music industry , singing skill isn't everything, the most important element for an artist is to have singing skill as well as protential, these includes, got hte looks, the attutidue to try new things , and the personality , only got the good voice isnt everything, in fact is not enough.
secondly the image to public, this is also an important issue for the successful of the artist. the winner for idol will be consider as i will call them singing skill type. Typical singer, however the image they gives to public sometime is hard to be change as audience has already been identify them as is . Is hard for the singer to change the images as audience may not get use to it .
Idol competition produce good singer , however famvous artist takes some more element rather then a good singer.
This seems to be a real deal to many people and is a attractive rewards for many peop le who thinks they sing well and want to get a record deal. However, not every idol will have a good fortune in the industry, infact, many of them only get a chance for one album and thats the end of their carreer. Why will this happen?
In my opinion i have some answer to these question, firstly these kind of idol and singing competition focus on he singing skills of the contestant however the protential of development in the industry has often been not focus at. In the music industry , singing skill isn't everything, the most important element for an artist is to have singing skill as well as protential, these includes, got hte looks, the attutidue to try new things , and the personality , only got the good voice isnt everything, in fact is not enough.
secondly the image to public, this is also an important issue for the successful of the artist. the winner for idol will be consider as i will call them singing skill type. Typical singer, however the image they gives to public sometime is hard to be change as audience has already been identify them as is . Is hard for the singer to change the images as audience may not get use to it .
Idol competition produce good singer , however famvous artist takes some more element rather then a good singer.
Why hide?...if you're that good
The Gorillaz are a band that is never seen, only heard. Their music videos are an assortment of cartoon characters and anime which play instruments as representations of the band. Even their live performance at the MTV Video Music Awards left fans disappointed as 3-D imaging of the same cartoons from their videos was shown while the band played behind a black screen. What’s the difference between artists who are never seen and artist like Milli Vanilli which are the ‘face’ of some else’s voice? It seems as though the visual representation is more important, but does hiding your looks really deepen the significance of the music?
Confidence vs. Delusion; Pride vs. Prejudice
My friend John, a singer with a decent voice, attended the “American Idol” Season 5 auditions in Seattle, Washington last year. A fan of the show myself I was interested to hear his interpretation of the ‘fairness’ of the audition process. Over 10,000 people auditioned and only a hundred or so ever made it to the television cameras to perform for the judges. John only made it through round 2, of 5, but still garnered much insider information to the process as a whole. The judge’s round is the point in the show where the best and worst singers come out. But why do some advance to this round when they are obviously under par? Is it purposefully so they can be publicly humiliated and borated on television? Are they really under the illusion that they are actually talented singers? The answer is that “American Idol” does purposefully advance those under the illusion they are talented in order to embarrass them. Now is this truthful to the purpose of the show: to find the next great American idol? Or is this simply used as entertainment to boost ratings, as it has been recorded that many people only watch the auditions rounds for the purpose of laughing at the bad singers? I suppose this falls in line with authenticity, as these delusional wannabes did in fact attend the audition with the hopes of making it to the judge’s round. But is it morally right to take advantage of their disillusions for entertainment purposes? Where do we draw the line between entertainment and cruelty? America has become a place to both pride those with star image and talent but humiliate everyone else, as “American Idol” is a true representation of the ways in which the country is, and forever will be divided by prejudice.
Score!!!!
Audiences take the music within a television show or movie for granted, and it is not until we view an intense scene without the original score or musical track that we realise how integral it is to making audiences really connect with what they see unfolding on their screens. Television shows, particularly dramas, realise the importance of developing mood within shows through music and are putting emphasis on it. Such composers as Michael Giachinno who scores such shows as Alias and Lost, or Mark Snow who is best known for his composing on The X-Files are proof that the shows they score for have a particular trademark and feel, releasing compilation score albums from each of the aforementioned television series'. These composers also are the first few within the industry to use a full orchestra to deliver the music on the small screen, as opposed to such shows as CSI which use synthesisers to create the music. The music within The X-Files, for example, has a certain signature. Snow uses violins and lighter instruments such as flutes and harps to bring out certain emotions within characters, helping the show feel more grounded and human (which was vital given the subject matter of the show). When it came to the action of the show he used heavier instruments such as ethnic flavoured percussion to create more of a tension and urgency between audiences and the action which took place. In a way, the music which underscores scenes helps to connect the audience with the action or the characters and bring them closer to what they see on screen so that there is a heightened sense of immediacy. Scores dictate what we as viewers should be feeling, and flavour our reactions to what are viewing.
SEX! (and hip hop)
Hip hop music seems to be more about the promotion of sex than anything else. The videos and lyrical content seem to revolve around sex, bumping and grinding. The men all seem to have cut bodies which they are required to expose on album covers and videos, and the women all have curvy booty-licious bodies. Take Nelly Furtado as an example. A few years back she had mediocre fame, and her music was somewhat deeply emotional with a gritty edge. Her videos portrayed this and had more of an art house ambiance to them. This past year has seen her categorised as hip hop oriented because she manages to fit the mould of shedding her clothes, dancing provocatively and singing about promiscuity and eating men. But is her newly found hip hop status a result of her fitting the hip hop mould, or is she fitting the mould because she wants hip hop status? Sex seems to be one of the prerequisites of maintaining hip hop credentials. It seems that if there is sex, there is hip hop.
Band members are people too!
It’s interesting to consider the individuation of band members in recent bands like the Backstreet Boys or N’Sync. While as a whole they were successful in terms of topping the charts, there always seems to be more focus on the best looking one, and more success assigned to them when apart from the band to which they owe their fame. Justin Timberlake (from N’Sync) and Nick Carter (from BSB) went onto have successful careers post-band, whereas the rest of the band members seemed to have disappeared off the radar. It goes to show how much emphasis consumers place on the looks of an artist in order to have the willingness to hear them out. The favouritism and singling of band members is always going to exist because of the desire that people have to relate to a member who most tickles their fancy. Take novelty pop groups for example. How many times were you asked, in 1998, who your favourite Spice Girl was? (Mine was Posh, coz she was hot). Or who your favourite Hanson was? (Mine was Taylor, coz she was hot). This ranking of band members is to be expected because of the audience’s natural inclination to assign identities to members of a band rather than see them as one entity.
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