X-Factor case study

In our media studies class this week we had to assume we were a judge from X-Factor and we were placed in groups and I was part of team Gary.

Our first task was to Define the X-Factor in a sentence and our response was that it was a singing talent show.

We then had to say what we wanted to see this year from the contestants. Our response was a unique recording artist.

Lastly, we were asked what group we would like to have. We said we would want the boys because they are more likely to win and have a Christmas No 1 after the show.

We watched a few auditions from the first shows and had to say what feedback we would give them as they were standing on the stage. What would we be thinking from a professional point of view but we wouldn't neccessarily tell them whilst they were on the stage.

The auditionees were Janet Devlin, Frankie Cocozza, Goldie Cheung, 2 Shoes, The Keys, Jade Richards, Luke Lucas, Craig Colton, Amelia Lily, John Wilding, Terry, Winstanley and Misha Bryan.

One of the contestants were 2Shoes. From their audition we thought their audition was really good and they definitely had good recoding voice and they would fit into a genre.

From a professional point of view we thought that they needed an image overhaul and their fake tans needed to go if they were going to progress in the show because the looked a bit too much. Also, they needed to tighten their harmonising but it was pretty good at the moment.

Another contestant were The Keys. We thought their audition was really good and gave a lasting impression and they also had a good image so their audience would be teenage girls.

From a professional point of view we thought that they didn't fit a genre because they had everything going on from like RnB to hip hop so they would need to focus on one genre.

We then had to think if the contestants had anything special and if they were just singing they same thing we as audiences wanted to hear even if they sounded a bit different. We started talking about the culture industry and we looked at a theory by two men called Adorno and Horkheimer and this theory was taken from the book called Production of Culture/Cultures of Production Paul Du Gay, Sage 1997. Adorno and Horkheimer adopted the term 'culture industry' to argue that the cultural items were produced was the same to how other industries manufactured vast quantities of consumer goods.

They linked the idea of the 'culture industry' to the model of 'mass culture' in which cultural production had become a routine, standardized repetitive operation that produced undemanding cultural commodities which in turn resulted in a type of consumption that was also standardized and passive. They argued that form of music, art and literature produced today were the same thing and nothing was different and it had been corrupted by the production methods and regimes of industrial capitalism. This is because most record labels are privately owned and they will tell an artists like JLS who did not win X-Factor but are signed Epic records who will make them bring put records that will sell and change from who they were.

This video shows JLS when they first auditioned and the genre of music they sang was like soul and they harmonised a lot which made them look more original and gave them individualism.

This video is JLS's most recent video and after going through the X-Factor machine they sole purpose in making music now is for the record company they are signed to to make money they have stripped away all their individualism and made them into a group that teenage girls will like. The repetitive chorus of this JLS song and frequently recurring refrains makes each song more commercial and the more people hear it everywhere, the more they want to but an album or download the song. So Adorno and Horkheimer said it is all done for calculated commercial reasons so that the song will imprint itself on the listeners mind and provoke a purchase.
Adorno and Horkheimer also said that the songs produced today are not spontaneous and there is nothing special everything we hear on the radio is the same and watch on TV. Our brains as an audience is meant to reject anything that isn't familiar and listen to the things they want us to listen to.

Production Journal 2

After we had chosen our briefs and the song we wanted to do, we had to do a moodboard in our lesson to show an idea of what we wanted to do in our video music. Although, we didn't have a set idea and concept because we knew that it could change along the way when we were doing our storyboards, we still had to do show what we had already thought it would look like.

In our moodboard we, wanted the feeling of dance to be obvious and we wanted it to have a club and party feeling. We chose to print out pictures of dancers, a DJ, clubs, bright lights, and people having a good time. We also printed out the lyrics of the song to show what each shots of the music video when the lyrics were playing so we wrote it next to the lyrics.

We also wanted to have the feeling of bright lights in a dark club so we used tissue paper to show the glow sticks. We printed out the image of a DJ because although, most DJ don't appear in House music videos we thought it would be better if he appeared in this music video because it is his first one and the viewers would be able to identify with him and know who he was.

Production Journal 1

When we first received our briefs, the first thing we had to do was go into groups and when we were pairing up we were trying to think of people we would work best with and people who would be able to contribute fairly in a group.

I ended up in a pair with a member of my class and we chose to do the House/Dance music genre because we thought it would be a bit hard to do a video for a girl group if it was just two of us.We then went on to think about a name for the DJ we were making a video for and that was a bit hard because we were trying to come up with something original that fitted the brief. In the end we went with the name DJ Delirious. After that, we decide to come up with a song that wasn't on the brief but most of the songs we thought of were either too recent or didn't really fit the brief.

We decided to the 2006 song by the group Booty Luv called - Boogie 2nite, and we had to make sure it was ok by our teacher before we started anything else.

Codes&Conventions of Dance/House music

House music is a style of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. House is uptempo music for dancing, although by modern dance-music standards it is mid-tempo and the tempo for house music tended to be slower in the early years of house.
House was boosted in the UK by the tour in March 1987 of Knuckles, Jefferson, Fingers Inc.
The second best-selling British single of 1988 was a house record, the Coldcut-produced "The Only Way Is Up" by Yazz and this was the first house song in the UK.

• The music videos for House music tend to have messages about dancing, love, sexuality, and drugs all underpined with repetitive arrangements and a steady bass drum beat.
  Another code&convention of a House music video is that it tend to have scantily clad women doing sexy and seductive dance moves. Also, they are usually dressed in clothes that expose their bodies and clothes that will attract a male audience.
  
• A house music video sometimes has a group of people doing dance moves (freestyle) in a circle and people watching them showcase their talent because the theme of the songs are usually about dance of the beat of the song is supposed to motivate a person to dance.

• Similarly another code&convention of a house music is that it will have a shot where a lot of people are dancing in a club, and the DJ is performing this is usually a reference to the home of dance/house music, Ibiza.


• Also, the DJ who produced the song usually doesn't appear and the vocals of they song are always sung by a female artist and they usually appear in the music video
  
  The first house music video in the UK 'The Only Way Is Up' by Yazz had a few code&convention of House music.

In this video we can see a few of the codes&conventions of a House music video. The beat of the music shows that it is a House music video. Also, the singer Yazz is dancing all through out the video. She also dances with a group of people of girls. There is also a griup of people gathered around her in a shot that is reminscent of a performance in a club.

The 2007 House song 'Let Me Think About It' Fedde Le Grand and Ida Corr is a modern House music video.



This has changed from the 1988 video because of the beat is more up-tempo and suitable to play in a house club. There is also a code&convention of a House music video because the girls are dressed quite skimpy and throughout the song they are shown dancing. Also, the DJ is not visible and the female vocalist Ida Corr is the only singer visible. The female singer also, has a group of girls dancing behind her dancing seductively.

Research Into House Music Genre

House music

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Music Video Brief

Music Video Brief

You have been asked to devise and make a promotional music video for the new act detailed below. As a new act, the record label is keen that this first release will appeal to a wide audience and establish an image that is both recognisably unique and appealing to their target audience. With this in mind, their first release will be a cover version and will be used as a platform for future releases.
The record label is happy for this release to be any of the three songs listed below and would like you to choose whichever one you can make a dynamic promo for, as the key thing is to get them exposed!
Magma (real name Jack Mitchell) is a 25 year old DJ from Milton Keynes who started out working local clubs and making demo tapes for local wannabes. He moved to London at 19 and then went to the home of dance music – Ibiza. He made a name for himself on the mixing decks and has featured on various artists to produce his new
album as he is now signed to an affiliate of Sony BMG.
Sound: Dance/ House
Ideology: Party all night, sleep all day
Influences: Fatboy slim, Chemical Brothers, The Prodigy, Basement Jaxx, Delerium, Tiesto
Likes: Sun, clubbing, keeping things chilled and the ladies.
Dislikes: Early mornings, being in the limelight and cheesy pop music.

Song choices:
Freestyler (Bomfunk MCs)
I like the way you move (Bodyrockers)
Uninvited (Freemasons)

Major vs Minor

Major vs. Minor

Vertical Integration - The absorption a single firm of several firms involved in all aspects of a product’s manufacture from raw materials to distribution.

Which subsidiary labels do Sony BMG own?
Sony BMG also own Arista Records, Columbia Records, Epic Records, J Records, Jive Records, RCA Victor Records, RCA Records, Legacy Recordings and Sonic Wave America.

How are Sony vertically integrated (how do they profit from the different stages of music production, distribution, and consumption)?
Sony own the rights to the artist’s music, who are signed with them, so they get a percentage of the artists earnings from the amount of records they sell. They also sell the music to the listeners through CD sales and legal music downloading, and despite the problems with illegal downloads they still make a huge amount. Then their profit from distribution, is made from the public, who purchase music from places like itunes and records stores like HMV. Then finally consumption is made by the wide range of places the public hear the music from single tracks on the radio.

How do Sony profit from media convergence at the level of the media product (for example, a film soundtrack or music in a videogame)?
Sony distributes the music they make not only through radio but it is distributed amongst other platforms like in video games and their target audience for this would mostly be teenage boys who spend more time on games than downloading or listening to music. This means that they choose what kind of genre of music they put in a film like a pop song in a Rom-com or a hip-hop song in a crime thriller.