Magazine and Digipak Analysis: Muse

G324: Research Muse from Alicedmedia

Previous: Band Fact File . Data Collection . Audience Profile Results

Research into Magazine Ads

G324: Magazine Research from Alicedmedia

Post humanism

MOVING BEYOND THE LIMITATIONS OF A HUMAN.
In critcial theory, the posthuman is a 'speculative' being that represents or seeks to enact a re-writing of what is generally conceived of as human.

EVERY HUMAN HAS THESE QUALITIES.Human nature is universal state from which human being emerges. Human nature is autonomous, rational, capable of free will and unfied in itself as the apex of existence.

HUMANS ARE CRITICAL OF THEIR PHYSICAL AND MENTAL LIMITATIONS.
Posthuman recognises imperfectability and disunity within him or herself, instead understanding the world through context and heterogenerous perspectives.

HUMAN BEINGS CAN ALTER THEIR MENTAL AND PHYSICAL STATE TO BECOME ANOTHER BEING ENTIRELY.
Key to this posthuman practice is the ability to fluidly change perspectives and manifest oneself through different identities. For critical theorists of the subject, has an emergent ontology rather than a stable one: posthuman isn't singular, defined indvidual, but rather one who can "become" or embody different identities and understand the world from multiple, heterogeneous perspectives

Drug Laws driven by 'Moral Panic'

Drug laws are driven by 'moral panic' and should be replaced by a more flexible approach that recognises most drug users harm.

"Drug use should be treated as a health issue and not just as a matter for police and courts", said a commission formed by the Royal Society of Arts. It said the misuse of drugs act was not fit for purpose and should be scrapped, as it is driven more by 'moral panic' than by a practical desire to reduce harm.

"You should take all of the substances that cause harm, draw up an index of harms that they do cause... and look at them coolly and rationally and decide what policy approach is most appropriate to each of those substances."   

A new Misuse of Substances Act which would regulate illegal drugs alongside alcohol, tobacco, proscribed medicines and other legal drugs. The bulk of drugs education should be moved to primary schools, it said, adding that the only practical drugs message for secondary pupils was 'harm reduction'.

Former Conservation leader Ian Duncan Smith agreed that drugs laws were "chaotic", but the study had ignored the need to help addicts get off drugs.

The Home Office said the governments drug strategy had been a success, with record numbers of people entering and staying in treatment.

The Misuse of Drugs Act (1971)

The act is to prevent the use of non-medical drugs as well as medicinal drugs, which is also under the Medicines Act, but also drugs with no current uses. Drugs subject to this Act are known as 'controlled drugs'. The main difference from the Medicines Act is that the misuse of Drugs Act also prohibits unlawful possession. 

Class A:
- Cocaine and crack, Ecstasy, heroin, LSD, methadone, methamphetamine, magic mushrooms containing ester of psilocin and any Class B drug which is injected.
By law these are treated as the most dangerous.

Class B:
Amphetamine, barbiturates, codeine and cannabis.

Class C:
Anabolic steroids and minor tranquillisers.  

Offences under the Misuse of Drugs Act can include:

• Possession of a controlled drug
• Intent to supply another person
• Production, cultivation or manufacture of controlled drug
• Supplying another person with a controlled drugs
• Offer to supply
• Import and export of.
• Allowing premises you occupy or managed to be used for the consumption (Smoking of cannabis or opium but not use of other drugs), or supply or production of controlled drugs.

Ecstasy

Effects:

• A buzz that makes them feel alert and alive
• Feel in tune with their surroundings - sounds and colours more intense
• Often feel a great love for the people they're with and strangers around them
• Chances of getting hooked
• Possible to build up a tolerance to E, which means they will take more to get the same buzz
• There are some long term side effects - depression, personality change and memory loss

The Law:

Ecstasy is a Class A drug - illegal to have, give away or sell. Possession can get you up to 7 year in jail

Risks:

Physical:

• Dilated pupils
• A tingling feeling
• Tightening of the jaw muscles
• Raised body temperature
• Heart beats faster

Short Term:

• Anxiety
• Panic Attacks
• Confused episodes
• Paranoia
• Psychotic states
• After use you can suffer a 'come down'

Long Term:

• There have been over 200 Ecstasy-related deaths in the UK since 1996
• Has been linked to live, kidney and heart problem.
• Using too much can lead to depression and paranoia.  

Youth Culture in Human Traffic:

1) How can Human Traffic be considered a social realist film?

Social realism is the realistic portrayal of society and is typically a British genre. Human Traffic would be considered a social realist film from the themes it covers it youth culture - those being relationships, coming of age, drugs and clubs. Inter-generation alienation is a significant theme of the film including being directly referenced in a pub scene. The film shows the issues of alienation in society and how we are separated by age. Even into today in Britian, people keep to themselves in public.

The characters in Human Traffic are used to portray these different aspects and what society thinks of them, using real archive footage adds to the attempt to make it as realistic as possible. The highlighting of the particular themes in the film will have some influence on the audience, because we didn't see the negative impacts of the drugs like you would have thought, like a character being hospitalised or dying, instead the character gets severe paranoia, but has common sense and decides to stop. This common sense the character has does send a positive message implying that even if the youth are reckless they aren't all complete idiots.  

2) How does the youth culture depicted resist or subvert mainstream society?

The idea of youth culture is supposed create an identity for the young people and be different from everybody else. In Human Traffic the characters resist the everyday life, hating their jobs and wanting to go out and have fun. The characters despite being in their early 20's don't want to grow up and conform to adulthood expectations. This resentment to turn into their parents is visible so they turn to partying and clubs as an escape and excuse. 

3) What values or morals are presented in the film? 

There aren't many strong moral presented in the film. The film shows the characters as a close group of friends who look out for eachother, there isn't any rivarly or conflict, apart from Koop who thinks everyone wants his girlfriend Nina, but it doesn't impact the group that much. This shows the value of community. Despite the little negative impact of drugs shown in the film, the 'come down' after being high is shown in detail and is presented in the film in a neutral view point. The description isn't biased, but is well written in veiw point of the one who is coming down from a high. It teaches you the consequences, but it doesn't tell you whether it is necessarily good or bad. The film is more informative of what happened and is only reflective of the actions at the end, summing up that it will all come to an end and they will have to except it.

4) How can you consider the film to be British?

The film is a independent film and is set in Britian, based on actual events in the 1990's. It is based on events that happened in Britian, so therefore it is a British film. Social Realism one of the most common genres in the British film industry. The actors and sets are also within Britian.    

5) Analyse a Scene from the Film - Bar Scene

In the scene Jip is explaining and demonstrating how if we were honest to one another how it would normally go. 

 

The shot types are limited to a two-shot at the beginning, then a close up and alternate over shoulder shots. The over shoulder shots alternate depending on who was speaking at the time, this allowed the audience to follow the conversation and see the reaction of the other persons face. The shots also allow the audience to focus on the dialogue and follow the humour of the conversation, as well as the facial expressions on the characters as further emphasis.The cut transistions between the shots especially when they are conversing are quick, expressing the pace of the coversation as the characters want to get of the conversation as quickly as possible.The handshake action is repeated at the beginning of the scene, also highlighting the awkwardness and how neither characters are in their comfort zone, as body lanuage is a key factor when displaying confidence.


The dialogue is key when expressing the social expectations of society and the problem of social awkardness which leads to alienation of groups of people, as shown in this scene.

Felix: "I don't dislike anything about ya, but I don't like anything about ya either."

Jip: "Yeah... together we kinda surf the waves of social paranoia don't we?"       


Jip highlights a key issue in the social awkwardness and the alienation between people in society. It also demonstrates alienation and resistance of communication of people of their own age as well as maturer generations, which is obvious throughout the film. This alienation was also present in Quadrophenia with main character Jimmy, but this was only towards the end. In Human Traffic the social barrer between all young people is established from the start.  

  

Audience Profile Investigation: Muse: Results

 

Previous: Band Fact File . Data Collection

 

Audience Profile Investigation: Muse

Similar to the investigation on Black Veil Brides audience profile investigation, I have conducted another one about Muse. The band I am making a music video and digipak for said that one of their musical influences is Muse and the song 'Enigma' has a Muse feel to it, especially at the guitar solo. To determine Enigma's target audience, I am researching Muse's audience and their characteristics. Therefore comparing the very few similarities between the too.

I think that the audience profiles between Muse and Enigma will be similar, expect Enigma will appeal to much more younger people. 

I have made a survey on survey monkey online. I used my Facebook wall to ask my friends to fill in the survey, posted on the Muse fan page, and also on Muse Fan Forum. 

Previous: Band Fact File

Next: Results 

G324: Audience Profile Research Task MUSE

Name: Muse
Genre: Rock

Muse are an English rock band from Teignmouth, Devon, formed in 1994. The band consists of school friends Matthew Bellamy (lead vocals, lead guitar, piano, keyboards, keytar), Christopher Wolstenholme (bass, vocals, keyboards, Misa Kitara, harmonica) and Dominic Howard (drums, percussion, synthesisers). [Go to Wikipedia for more information]

FASHION/STYLE: 

Muse's style tends to be smart casual. They don't have a specfic style related to their music, they dress like normal men their age.


PERFORMANCE:

Since some of their biggest hits Muse have become globally recognised, their song 'survival' was the song of the 2012 London Olympics. The scale of their performances are arena sized, with a huge fan-base. Muse have one of those more matured fan bases in comparison to other younger bands.  

ALBUM COVERS:

There album artwork is consistent in its surreal design. The artwork also reflects Muse's music, they hardly ever put themselves on the front cover as a form of publicity.  

ADVERTISEMENT:

Muse are so well known that most people have heard of them and their music. Muse have had their songs played on television through music stations such as Kerrang! and on adverts. One example is the Virgin air travel when they play "When I'm feeling good". Also many plays on various radio stations.

On their official website there is a pop-up if a trailer, advertising them in Rome. Muse are flaunting their success through unintentionally and intentional platforms.




Next: Pre-Investigation Data Collection . Results . Digipak & Magazine Advert Analysis

London Riots

Between the 6th and 10th August rioting took place in London. The resulting chaos generated looting, arson, and mass deployment of police. 

BBC: 

The BBC has listed reasons of what might have caused the London Riots, using other sources from other sources. The article is a summary of peoples views. The BBC aren't stating the article what caused it, just compiling what they know. The BBC are a reliable source in comparison to other places such as Sky News, Daily Mail, Daily Mirror etc. Instead of giving one view point (their viewpoint) they gave several viewpoints. 

Historian:

David Starkey (Historian) says that part of the reason for the London Riots is black culture. He states that white people are trying to black people, and making further outrageous offensive comments about new cultures, such as how young people speak and rap music. He blames gang culture and race. 

Prime mister:

PM David Cameron made a statement about the riots. Cameron describes them as 'sickening scenes' and 'This is criminality, pure and simple, and it has to be confronted and defeated'. 

He later goes on stating, 'There have already been 450 people arrested. We will make sure that court procedures and processes are speeded up and people should expect to see more, many more arrests in the days to come.' As a top authority figure he is their to reassure the adults and be the symbol representing authority. 

Young Person (21 years old):
Sean Illing gave his personal view of the London Riots in an article online. 

Sean stated, 'It was reported that over half of those who took part were under 18, and there has clearly been an emphasis on the young people that took part.' 
ground

Sean says it isn't fully the youth's fault, and part of the reason is the governments decision to make cuts disadvantaging the youth. 'Most of the rioters came from the poorest boroughs in London. This is clearly not a coincidence. The main problem stems from disadvantaged young people faced with the prospect of more disadvantages to come. Cuts to policing will not help, as Croydon cannot rely on the Welsh police in the long-term. The government needs to take a more sensible view of cuts, and how they will affect people at level.' 

He later states that, 'Politicians can do a lot more to enfranchise young people, rather than merely releasing soundbites for party political purposes'  and '...the sentencing backlash has created more problems than it has rectified. Prison sentences are expensive and ineffective. Rehabilitation is key.'  As a young person reviewing the events, his point of view and his argument is well argued with relative points, which are understandable. 

THE AFTERMATH with BORIS JOHNSON:

Major of London Boris Johnson recently stated in August 2013, that they were still hunting for the 325 people involved in the london riots. Boris Johnson refers to the rioters as 'mugs' and that they will be caught and they shouldn't be so confident about getting away with it.  

Summary:

In the media they focus mainly in the authority figures when addressing the situation. The views of those involved or of a similar age aren't as well heard and given a fair argument for their actions. Those in power tend to be of the same class and ethnicity, who have prejudice  views. The media of various websites create this surge of moral panic to be more dramatic and get people scared.    

Youth culture movies: how soon is too soon?

The guardians article about youth culture discusses when it is a appropriate to produce a youth culture film after it has happened.

It makes valid points about producing it too early, because the culture movement may still be going on and it hasn't yet been summarised. For a youth culture movement to be summed up and described correctly, the movement must have stopped, otherwise you won't be specific about the youth culture, because the lines would be blurred between during and the end of the movement.

Also producing a film too late - The connection between those who were involved with the movement we be lost or remebered vaguely, due to the deterioration of memory. The truth of the movement would be slowly lost and juxtaposed with the media telling you what it was like. 

I think, ideally there should at least be a 10+ year waiting period, because that will allow for the movement to end due to the next generation to begin. The issue mentioned int  the article is about how true it is to the historical events     

Planning Production: Prop List

Before the filming day I made a checklist of all the equipment and materials needed. Some of my notes are also from the morning before setting off to location. 

Production Planning: Clothing/Costume

Location: Detailed Warehouse

Map of Location: Click here to visit previous post

Production Planning: Evaluation of Cast

My music video idea is performance dominated. The use for actors wasn't really necessary, because there was no need for them, because there was no story being told in the video. Originally, we were going to get them to have a powder paint fight with their friends, but it changed to just them, due to the location being hard to get to. This made filming easier and we could have just the band messing around. This then allowed the band to create a identity for themselves. They could establish their identity as a group as well as displaying their personalities visually. 

The Band:

Enigma Editing Feedback

After a couple of weeks editing the band asked to see what I had produced so far despite it being far from finished. This is their feedback about the video. 

The feedback is positive with some comments, mostly agreeing with me. They did say about the B&W effect, which I plan to do after finalizing all the shot cuts, because there is still work to be done. 

I had previously sent them my critic along with the draft stating, 

"The build up to the guitar solo and powder paint is too slow. I have to still cut the shots and make them sharper and tighter, as it doesn't go with the tempo/beat. There is one shot out of sync, which is really irrtating, because I didn't notice it until yesterday. I still haven't decided where I am going to put the powder paint shots as that part is far from finished. They will be moved around and I plan to bring it forward. There are a couple of rogue shots which I've decided look rubbish to where I have put them. It's only rough, however, I love the ending effect..."

We see Children as Pestilent

In a article (The Guardian) written by Tanya Byron, she discusses how children are now represented. We are currently living in a increasingly risk-averse culture, where children's behaviour is constrained. It is described to us that our community lives in fear of youth known as ephebiphobia. Byron argues that children are now becoming victims of our ephebiphobic culture even labelled as nursery hooligans. The young people are feared because if the actions of the minority population. 

Children in response are made to feel worthless and so they become destructive and therefore become incredibly vulnerable. Byron blames the education system for narrowing the definition of achievement, because it is built around targets and testing. She goes on further stating, by a society that discriminates against youth and so reduces the participation of upcoming generation in the development of social cultural landscape. Schools need to support and resources to individualise teaching again. Children labelled as failures in primary and secondary education have no hope of further education given the limited way we assess their abilities.

She publicises her University about their fast-track and fast-forward programmes enable 500 learners a year, of all ages, who do not have A-levels to realise their potential  without incurring any financial cost.

     
This BBC article backs up Byron, by blaming the media for the youths portrayal in the media. Stating the publicity of crime committed by young people is mostly talked about than positive things that youth have done and given back to the community.

The independent took the point of view of teenagers and their opinions of their coverage in the media. It mainly focuses on teenage boys, but the point of view is still relevant to Byrons article. They said that they felt they were been positively represented in popular reality TV shows such as X-factor and Britian's got talent, and that the main cause of this from the media. Surprisingly some teens are now afraid of other teens, because of what is said about them. Teenagers would change their appearance, friends groups and social activities to not be feared. The are trying to reverse the effect the media stories have had on them, so they feel more comfortable as who they are, but because of this fear they can't be themselves. They have to change!

Engima: Digipak Ideas

Research: Counting Cuts in Editing Muse Comparison

I looked at Muse's song Uprising as it sounds similar to Enigma's song in the same genre and style. I listened to the first 40 seconds without looking at the video and counted where I thought cuts would be. I counted 25, but when watching the video back there was only 16 cuts. The shots were longer than I had previously thought, these shots had action within them or were a pan/track. The first 5 seconds has a repetitive beat, like it was on a loop. It looped three times, so I assumed there were three cuts. However, in the video it was one long shot and once the regular pattern had changed it had cut. For the next 8 seconds it focused on a piece of action, but from different angles. The cuts followed smoothly with the lead guitar and it built up to the first verse. All the shots are fairly long and follow more of the video's narrative/concept. The timings of cut is more or less determined by the lead guitar. 

Enigma: Film Shoot and Importing

From the filming day we managed to shoot roughly two hours worth of footage to work with. The downside is that the program we use to import the footage is difficult meaning we need to play it from start to finish and let all the footage play through naturally. So it will has taken 2 hours to import the footage onto imovie, which will then be put onto final cut express for us to create our music video.  

Extract taken of the second tape. Drummer Jordan and Guitarist Jack 

While I was waiting for it to import I talked about how the filming day went a small evaluation of how it went. 

I talked about:

- My role

- Progress
- The filming day breakdown

- Successes & Failures 

Enigma: Filming Evidence

I made a slideshow of photographs from the filming day yesterday as evidence of being present during the filming and using the camera equipment.

Photo Effects

While filming the music video Sophie was in charge of taking pictures on my camera to go towards evidence, but also the digipak cover. This is a example of the editing I have done to bring out the colour.

Weather

I checked the weather for tomorrows filming and it looks positive. It should hold out well for the powder paint scene. 

Enigma: Proposal Outline

Proposal

The Proposal: To make a music video for a unsigned band

When: Sunday 27th October, All day

Where: Norwich 

My proposal for my music video project is to film Taverham/Hellesdon band Enigma perform one of their songs. The song is self titled "Enigma" and I plan for the music video to be heavily performance based. The band will perform in a warehouse which they have already got for me to film in. Filming should only take one day, possibly two when considering contingency's. The aim is to film as much as possible in the time we have so then we have enough footage to work from, then not enough. 

After the footage is filmed, editing will begin. A problem with performance based videos, is that the cuts needs to be quick and varied to avoid dullness. That is why we have decided to add the powder paint scenes, where the band are throwing it at one another. We can work with the powder paint, slow it down and put further effects into the video to make it more interesting for the audience.

As well as the music video, I will also be producing my own Digi-pak design and a magazine advertisement.   

Deadline for Music Video: 20th December

Enigma: Last Minute Schedule Planning

Because I am driving for the film shoot I have planned my route to and from, I have also worked out travel times and finalised the schedule of the day, there were little improvements. 

Also, the second location is outside, so I checked the weather forecast. More accurate readings will come through at the weekend, but so far is looks promising. Hopefully there won't be any rain.

Enigma: Informing the Band of Developments

James got back to be regarding my concern of using their friends in the video, it is is resolved now. 

I sent another email informing them of adjustments. The formality of the emails have gotten less serious, because we have kept in contact regularly. 

I sent an Email to them on Friday 25th October (2 days before shoot) just to confirm everything is fine regarding the shoot. 

Enigma: Target Audience

Related Post: Muse Audience Profile Invesitgation

The Theories: Goth Subculture

The goth subculture has associated tastes in music, aesthetics and fashion. Goth is a very loose term and since its creation in the 1970's goths have involved into different types. 23 different types. The most common ones to branch from this sub-culture most recently is the Emo, Cyber and Steampunk .

[Click here to access the website on the different types]

Music Types:
Gothic rock, death rock, post-punk, dark wave, dark ambient, ethereal wave, industrial music and neoclassical dark wave, with contemporary links to the heavy metal subculture.

Fashion:
Style range from death rock, punk and Victorian styles, combinations of them also, most often with dark attire, make-up and hair

The Effects Model:
The effects model focuses on how the media can affect society and how society can effect the media. The theory also helps to explain moral panic in relation to sex, drugs, violence etc.

The article shown to the right does just that. It talks about how those who chose to be part of that subculture are being targeted and it is being labelled as a hate crime, not as the causes of the violence. Hate crime is a very strong label for the violence which occurred. Hate crime now also includes by subculture. The most recent story was in August of 2013, where 38 year old Goth, Alexys Becerra was attacked. News reports like these would cause a moral panic for parents who children dress this way or indeed Goths who feel concerned for their safety. Instead of them creating the violence and hurting other people, it is reversed, where they get the abuse from others for expressing themselves differently.

Definition: a crime motivated by racial, sexual, or other prejudice, typically one involving violence.

Two-step Flow model:

The two-step flow model is when individuals look to opinion leaders to interpret the media for them and then from this they get their own opinion. When applying the Goth subculture to the model, the opinion leaders are most likely to be band artists of one of the music styles. For example, Black Veil Brides, My Chemical Romance, Evanescence, Marilyn Manson etc. Since the subculture is heavily influenced by clothing and music their opinion leaders are to be people of that industry, their idols who they want to be like as well being an individual. The most popular person in the group gets followed by the others in the group and they look to them in opinions to then expand on.

Each subculture in different groups in different places in the country will have some sort of leader, but it's not usually the case. They are usually part of a community; Goths don't really have a leader.

Uses and Gradifications Model:

This is when youth culture has used media for their own enjoyment, to fulfill a specfic need or/and to communicate with others.

Since the boost in technological advances social networking sight have become more common. The Goth subculture hasn't really been using the media to its advantage as their aren't any major stories in the news, but the two mentioned above. Out of all the subcultures Goths are fairly quiet. There are of course specific forums for the subculture to talk with others with the same interest and there are videos on YouTube.com, which from watching at aren't as arrogant as would be expected from a youth culture. From my searching on YouTube, I think the Goth Subculture is a very quiet one and is mainly recognised by their presentation.

One example is this video, which touches on the concerns for parents made by a member of the goth subculture. If anything this is a mature thing to do and show them as a polite, friendly, helpful group of individuals, unlike others they don't publicise any negative actions or thoughts. If anything they are understanding and try to clarify what a Goth actually is.   

Youth subcultures use media to express themselves and share content with others of the same culture. It has become easy to communicate with others and that is what all young people do, no matter what culture you are a part of. It is the 'norm' for young people to use all sorts of media, predominantly online.