Wednesday, 9 May 2012

Case Study.. Pirate Bay


25 Word response..
In today's music industry, music is known as de-valued and synthetic because of the expectation of free music via sites such as spotify,youtube and the use of autotune. However artists are earning money from their fans/prosumers from mashups and remixes in exchange for feedback and creating a relationship with the artists.

Part of the party?


Tuesday, 17 April 2012

Case Study - Independant Record Label

Fierce Panda Records 
Fierce panda records is a London based independent  record label formed in 1993. They dealt with artists from the indie/britpop genre such as Coldplay, The Maccabees, Oasis, The BlueTones, Redtrack, The Crookes and The Walkmen.
Some of the artists that were promoted are quite well known, having some singles been in the charts, like Coldplay and Oasis. However all artists have a strong growing fanbase of all nationalities having toured around the world, but mainly the UK.
The label itself, does benefit from new media technology as they are being promoted over popular social networking sites and music download sites, having their own facebook page and Myspace page.


Some of the artists music is being distributed via popular download sites such as iTunes, HMV, Amazon, Spotify,play.com etc.
In 2009, one of the labels artists, The Crookes, recorded a live session for BBC Radio 1 for Steve Lamacq and for BBC radio 2,4,5 and 6. They were also named BBC 6's favourite new band.  There are also other radio stations that play music from various artists of this label, such as XFM and radio 1 & Scotland. Bands such as Coldplay - who have now become very popular, play on most radio stations such as Capital, The Hits, Heart and Magic. Fierce Panda records also has its own customised content channel on Audiotube.





There are certain websites that will try and promote music from the band and will stream live music, inform you of any gigs, festivals and tour dates too. The bands official website is a good example of somewhere we you can listen to live music, or soundcloud to watch the videos but if you want to buy the music it will direct you straight back to  the main distributer, iTunes. 
Coldplay
Last FM
Plays -  235,032,252 
Listeners -  4,081,729 
Similar Artists - Snow Patrol, The Killers, One Republic, Kings Of Leon & The Fray.


Youtube
Views - 22,161,279
Suggestions - Oasis, Tracy Chapman, James Blunt, Snow Patrol, Goo Goo Dolls, Blink 182. 





The Maccabees
LAST FM
Plays - 13,549,607
Listeners - 633,168
Similar Artists - Bombay Bicycle club, Mystery Jets, Tribes, Foals, Little Comets & Howler. 
Youtube  
Views - 725,422
Suggestions- The Black Keys, The Cure, The Temper Trap, The Courteeners, Foals, Florence& The Machine and Kaiser Chiefs



















Ownership
Fierce Panda Records happened accidentally, music journalists, John Harris, Paul Moody and Simon Williams decided to create the label but later on Simon Williams was given full ownership of the label. 
As there are only a few well known artists attached to this independent label, the label is not popular enough to be playing at clubs such as Ministry of Sound or Fabric. However, some of the low key artists do tend to play at a particular venue called Bull&Gate that promotes up coming bands. New bands and new music is always welcome to the label, it is possible to send songs via email to their label, or through myspace or soundcloud. 

ProductionOn Fierce Panda Records' official website, they sell merchandise, CD albums, singles and vinyls but gig tickets are not available to purchase on there. 
Marketing

The label will help to promote their artists by using social networking sites such as twitter, facebook and myspace to try and entice an audience to listen and give feedback. They also try and find venues that are looking for small, upcoming bands that are willing to let their bands play. The label also has a Youtube account which would help to promote the bands, although their is not many videos. 
Distribution
Their are many stockists that sell products from Fierce Panda Records such as HMV, play.com, amazon, ASDA and Tesco. The CD's are around £5-£8 each depending on the artist.

Unity

Unity is a stereotype of ethnicity that of close families and tight communities.

In lesson we watched a clip of the trueman family eating dinner and had to discuss how it showed unity...
Eastenders
- Unity - holding hands
- absence of white people
- Different age generations
- Circle table
- Relationship with eachother
- Reggae music in the background
-Immigration
-Wide shot - whole table
- Girls repeated - sexual

We also discussed conflict and binary opposites and how they represent ethnicity.

A cliche of ethnic minorities are shown united by religious believes, language and occupation.
CONFLICT + UNITY - OPPOSITES.
Conflict is often the binary opposition of ethnic groups and the wider society.
Even when ethnic groups are assimilated into wider society, difference, diversity is emphasised through representation.

Binary Opposites:
- Male&Female
- Asian/black/white
-Terrorists/ Spy
- Facing the light/dark
- Innocent/ evil

Ethnicity

In class as a group we looked at the different types of stereotypes in Ethnicity:
Stereotypes of Ethnicity:
Exotic
Dangerous
Pitied
Humorous
We also got into groups and looked at 5 different clips and tried to identify the stereotypes and the situations. Also we had to see whether it was a positive or negative representation of ethnicity.

4.Top Boy - Black -My group
Dangerous - violence, swearing, punching women.
Spooky fast paced music
Negative attitude towards education
Positive representation of the black girls as they help the teacher.
Set in a school
Costume - uniform/ tracksuit
In conflict with white people.

Top Boy
Pitied
Absent fathers, on his own - taken into care.
Selling drugs - dangerous
' We will look after you' - unity
Positive - black knows not step up to sell drugs

2. Eastenders - Asian Wedding
Exotic -traditional - music&costume
Bright colours
Some men wore suits - wealth
Strong sense of tradition/ family - unity

3. Four lions - Asian - Negative
Suicide bombers - running race
Dangerous
Stereotype of indians - terrorists
Shot on location
Traditional arab dress style - Exotic

4. This Is England - Positive
Portrayed as a nice character at first - flips at end.
Exotic foods
Big family - a lot of respect
Skin head costume
Jamaican accent
Drugs
Pitied - hospitlised/ jealousy

5. Compulsion - positive/negative - sexism
Asians/ white party - wealthy
Stereotype - doctors
Asian music
Patriotic society

Harry Brown Character Comparison

How youth is compared to elderly using the four areas:
Sound
Editing
Camera
Mise - en - scene.


Mise-en-scene -
 Youth
Costume: Casual Clothing, tracksuits, trainers, hats- shows that they don't care alot about their appearance. 
Lighting: Quite dark - so they don't get caught out. Shows they are quite rebellious.
Location: Underway/ Subway 
Colour: Quite dark 
Props: Drugs, mobile phone
Facial Expressions: Laughing, taunting other boys,smirking showing they are quite indimidating
Appearance - Sloppy, rushed. Not giving their appearance much thought. 


Elderly:
Costume: Pajamas at the beginning, suit&tie nearer the middle to show he is quite old fashioned, likes everything to be perfect.
Lighting: Quite bright 
Location: Small house, quite cosy. Friendly and gentle unlike the cold dark subway.
Colour: Calm casual colours
Props: Tea, inhaler, bed. Nothing like the youth.
Facial Expression - empty, worried showing he is quite lonely since he lost his wife.
Appearance - Smart, perfect- Takes pride in his appearance unlike the youths. 


Editing:
The editing in the youth scene was quite fast paced and include a lot of cutting shots to show how agressive they are. It could also show how fast their lives are moving as they are growing up. In comparison with the elderly scene, as that is quite slow as society expects elderly to be slow as they are weak and fragile. 
The youths are smoking crack/cocaine showing how they are throwing their life away and showing how much energy they have as the elderly man is taking his inhaler also shows how he is trying to extend his life.
Sound:
In the first scene there is lots of shouting and swearing - these are quite harsh sounds and this can show how agressive the youths are. Compared to scene two, there is hardly any sounds apart from a murder scene being announced on the radio as soon as he wakes up, this could manipulate his perseption of youth and show how vunerable he is. 
Camera: 
It is filmed on a camera phone which shows the youth are familiar with technology but it is shaky and poor quality which means they dont have a lot of high quality in their lives. 
The youth are in a gang where as the man is on his own - long shots are used to show how lonely he is. 
Proxemic Codes: A high angle is used from Harry Brown as he walks past the subway to hear the gang shouting/swearing - to show how far down they are in society and also it shows how much they indimidate him as he chooses to take the longer path and be late rather than walk past the gang.

Representations of Youth & Elderly

We also discussed in groups what the positives and negatives were of being youth and elderly.
Youth:
Positives:
Have a future
More up to date with technology 
Important to society
Negatives:
Rebellious - drinking, drugs, swearing, shouting. 
Under age pregnancy 
Criminals
Rude
Unreliable
Sexually Fustrated 
Lazy
Agressive 
Intimidating 
Violent
Mocking

Elderly:
Positives:
Wealthy
Been through youth
Kind
Wise
Organised
Experienced with their responses
Negatives:
Rude
Grumpy 
Don't like the youth
Slow
Fragile
Forgetful
Naive
Useless
Vunerable 
Disabled
Lonely 

Stereotypes...
There are certain stereotypes that society seem to put the youth and the elderly into. Although they aren't the only two age groups, there are children and adults( middle aged) but the youth and the elderly seem to be the main focus groups.
Youth:
1. ASBO
2. Underage Pregnancy
3.Unemployed 
4. Emo's
5.Chavs
6.Grungers
7.Geeks
8.Jocks
9. Drugs
Elderly:
1. Rascist 
2.Politically Incorrect
3.Old Git
4. Disabed

Comparing Age - Misfits & Great Expectations

In class, we looked at two different images. One was Alisha from the TV drama series 'Misfits' and the other was of Ms Havisham from 'Great Expectations'.
The main areas we looked at were the Mise-En-Scene. 
Red- Misfits    Purple - Great ExpectationsCostume- Community Service suits.  White dress - could be a wedding dress
Lighting - Dark - at night, this could show she is quite rebellious.  Bright/blurry
Location - Streets, Council Estate - shows youth. Old house - quite blurry 
Colour - Bright. White/bright could mean death.
Props- Bench, phone - showing that the youth are always on their phones& know how to use technology well.  Dead flowers show that she has been left at the alter and can't move on. Dying of being lonely.
Facial Expressions - Bored, confrontational - doesn't really care. Serious, unhappy with life.
Appearance - Slouching, acting like a tomboy although looks as if she takes care of her appearance.  Pale, very bad chapped lips while still wearing wedding dress and her hair is still intact. This shows she doesn't want to move on and hasn't stopped thinking about it. Possibly the worst moment of her life.

Analysing Films

While in lesson, we analysed some different posters - seeing how much detail we could pick out just from looking at the images. The two main posters that we looked at were Captain America + Inglorious Bastards. 
These were different but similar at the same time;


From just looking at the two images you can see that they both are in some kind of war. 
By looking at the Captain America Poster, you can see the ash in the sky behind him which shows that he is in battle. You can also see he is looking down towards something, which could be the other people - this makes him look quite powerful. He is also representing America as he is wearing the American colours and has a star on his uniform. The sheild he is holding is quite battered which shows he has fought a lot and is still survivng by himself. He could be quite lonely as his facial expressions dont show any signs of smugness or power, maybe lonliness and guilt. 
However on the Inglorious Bastards, the first thing that attracts you to the poster is the red in the background, this looks mostly like blood as it is smeared. It could also mean anger as red is quite a fiery colour which most people either associate with anger, love or death.  You can see that Brad Pitt is standing at the front of the three men, showing that he is in control while the two other men follow him, he could be their leader and they are his teammates. 
There is a man however, at the top of the poster which could be the enemy and a general as he is wearing a hat and is above everyone else. It looks as if it is set in WW2. They are all holding weapons which means they are in some kind of war with eachother.
Looking at both of the posters, you see that in Inglorious Bastards they are working in a team trying to deafeat the enemy and in Captain America, he is a one man army showing that he could be most powerful by himself.

Spooks - M.E.S, Camera & Editing

Also in last weeks lesson we watched an extract from Spooks, it was set in a court room where it was quite dark and we had to look closely to notice what kind of costumes and colours the characters were wearing. 
We also had to look for Mise en scene, camera and editing throughout the clip. 
I have created a brainstorm to show what we found:

I thought that editing was quite tricky to write about so i made sure i knew what had to be involved when writing about it,
Editing:
Who has the most time on screen
How many times do we repeat on this character
CUT shot
PACE.
How the shots are put together ( Juxtaposition) - Trying to find a relationship.
Basically unpicking every detail and seeing how it works.

M.E.S & CAM

We discussed aspects that contribute to M.E.S - Mise-en-scene and Camera. 
Some of the things that are known as mise en scene are:
-Light
-Prop
-Colour
-Costume
-Characters-Appearance
-Facial Expression
-Location 
We then had to decide in groups, what we thought was most important from the list and what wasn't as important. 
In my group we decided:
1. Costume and characters
2. Props
3.Facial Expressions
4.Location
5.Colour
6.Light
We thought that costume and characters were the most important as that is the first thing we tend to notice when we first look at a scene. I think that facial expressions are also important as sometimes they can help you identify whats happening in the scene without seeing the actual problem. However i think that colour needs to be moved up as if there are bright colours used, that is where i would look first.

Mock Exam Prep

In order for us to prepare for our mock exam on Monday, we had six tasks to complete in class. The first task was to create a brainstorm based on aspects that will help us to get the highest grade.
I created my brainstorm on key things i think will help me pass: