The culture Industry- Adorno and Horkheimer

Adorno and Horkheimer both said that the culture industry is similar and akin to the assembly line of a manufacturing company. This is because the theory is similar to the assembly line of a factory, since the artist will produce new things continuously and will always be" in trend". The producers believe the more goods, songs etc they put out the better. This is because they will earn more money at a quicker rate. The reasoning behind this is that all of the artists produce new things, but none of them are unique. This means if anything become popular or unpopular, the band or artist will change to still become popular. However, the idea of being unique and featuring the culture industry, means that things will change, this is because things are believed to be in a standard state, which are then changed and become unusual and then are turned into something new and "unique" which means that in time, the item that was unique will then become the "norm".

The highbrow people believe that many things are alike nowadays and that nothing is unique. For example the x-fact and the voice are great examples, since everything has been heard before nothing is unique or original. This means that both of these shows are in fact low-brow and the highbrow people believed that nothing is original.

The theory according to the Google page:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_industry 

The essay is concerned with the production of cultural content in capitalist societies. It critiques the supply-driven nature of cultural economies as well as the apparently inferior products of the system.^[1] Horkheimer and Adorno argue that mass-produced entertainment aims, by its very nature, to appeal to vast audiences and therefore both the intellectual stimulation of high art and the basic release of low art.^[2] The essay does not suggest that all products of this system are inherently inferior, simply that they have replaced other forms of entertainment without properly fulfilling the important roles played by the now defunct sources of culture.^[3]

Horkheimer and Adorno make consistent comparisons between Fascist Germany and the American film industry. They highlight the presence of mass-produced culture, created and disseminated by exclusive institutions and consumed by a passive, homogenised audience in both systems.^[4] This illustrates the logic of domination in post-enlightenment modern society, by monopoly capitalism or the nation state.^[5]Horkheimer and Adorno draw attention to the problems associated with a system that ‘integrates its consumers from above', arguing that in attempting to realise enlightenment values of reason and order, the holistic power of the individual is undermined.^[6]

Music Video Influences

Music Video Influences:








These are two vuideos that really helped me personally when coing up with the idea and looking back on them for reference when creating the music video. The main reason for this is because both of them have similar views in the video and similar audience, both of them share the thought of people feeling as if they are on their own and have lost a very big part of their life.

So what actually is Post Grunge?

Post-Grunge

A style of alternative rock that evolved from grunge in the mid-90's. Post-grunge employs the distorted guitar, vocal dynamics, and lyrical tone of traditional grunge music, albeit in a more radio-friendly manner.
Post-grunge can be plain hard rock or edgy alt-metal. A few post-grunge bands, like Chevelle, Breaking Benjamin, and Godsmack cross over into Nu-metal.

Types of Post-Grunge:
Traditional Post-Grunge:
Bush
Candlebox
Creed
Foo Fighters
Matchbox Twenty
Silverchair
Nickleback

Heavy Post-Grunge:
Three Days Grace
Breaking Benjamin
Seehter
Chevelle
Staind
Trapt
Puddle of Mudd
Godsmack
Cold
3 Doors Down


From: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Post-grunge


Grunge
I remember way back in the early 90s in fact in 1990. the uprising of bands like Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, and in the underground post-punk, gothic, alternative club scene where everyone would get together and talk about these bands because we didn't have the internet back then. everyone I knew called them Alternative rock or Alternative metal. these bands were played in the club scene like a whole year before Nirvana came into the picture. once Nirvana came along with overnight success with Nevermind like so many other different elements in these bands there just had to be a name for this sub-genre. the term "Grunge" came out of Seattle Washington to categorize this new wave of bands coming out of the Seattle area.

here on the west coast states California, Arizona, New Mexico etc, everyone I knew just called these bands Alternative rock or metal. then just over time the term "Grunge" dominated this wave of bands. the same thing can be applied to the term "Screamo" in my opinion.

From: https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110710163710AAMuH0p

First Draft Of Poster

Poster Number One

This is the first draft of my Tear Down poster. It has not been shown to the rest of the class yet but it is the basic draft. It has no text or information as of yet but they are the next thing which I going to be added.

I need to add all of the information as to when the album is going to be released and the name of the album. These are the key pieces of information, which needs to be added, and I still need to ask for others opinions on the poster cover. By getting the opinions of others it means that I can make adjustments to make it appear more appealing

  

I like the poster but the only thing I am unsure on is the size of the man sitting down and the image behind the tree. This is because I feel the image behind the tree is to big and feels too over powering compared to the rest of the image. The man, I feel is too big, I feel that if i scale him down he is going to be un-noticeable, but making him any bigger or keeping him the same size will look strange as well. I plan on taking the original image and making it bigger, but moving the old background will hopefully make the tree make an appearance in a different way. 

All together I am pleased with the way in which the poster has moved on from its original stages and planning, but I am still not happy with the final piece and I personally feel that it could use more work in order to make it look the best that it can look.

Lyrics

These are the lyrics for our video "The Gift"

Hold me now I need to feel relief
Like I never wanted anything
I suppose I'll let this go and find a reason I'll hold on to
I'm so ashamed of defeat
And I'm out of reason to believe in me
I'm out of trying to get by

I'm so afraid of the gift you give me
I don't belong here and I'm not well
I'm so ashamed of the lie I'm living
Right on the wrong side of it all

I can't face myself when I wake up
And look inside a mirror
I'm so ashamed of that thing
I suppose I'll let it go
Until I have something more to say for me
I'm so afraid of defeat
And I'm out of reason to believe in me
I'm out of trying to defy

I'm so afraid of the gift you give me
I don't belong here and I'm not well
I'm so ashamed of the lie I'm living
Right on the wrong side of it all

Hold me now I need to feel complete
Like I matter to the one I need

I'm so afraid of the gift you give me
I don't belong here and I'm not well
I'm so ashamed of the lie I'm living
Right on the wrong side of it all

Now I'm ashamed of this
I am so ashamed of this
Now I'm so ashamed of me
I am so ashamed of me...

Album covers of grunge

Album Covers of Post Grunge

I am going to show all of the album covers of similar bands in order to get an overlook of the genre in general. I have looked at similar Digi-pak's and album covers, showing me what is involved within the genre of post-grunge. All of them are very simple but very effective and each almost tell the audience what the album is going to consist of and how deep into the genre of post grunge it really is.

All of these bands have a similar theme which is the low key lighting and vey obscure images used. Every image which has been used is very iconic and will be remembered which is what most artists want. All of the images which have been used are very dark and unusual which connotes the genre of post grunge. Non of them show any of the band members just things that not only represent the band but their profile in general. This shows me that you do not need to show the artists at any point within the digi-pak. 

2nd Draft of Digi-Pak

2nd Draft of Digi-Pak

 

The second draft of  my digi-pak looks a lot better than the original one. This is because I have made all of the changes which were suggested, including changing the tree and the contrast and changing the two covers which needed to be changed.

This has allowed me to tweak  my idea in order to get a better finished piece, I am saying this because I had to change the left cover and in order to change it I needed to come up with an interesting idea, the idea changed from having the band appear on the cover and throughout the digi-pak to having no images of the band within the digi-pak. I was asked whether this will work or not and I believe that it will. This is because throughout a variety of C-D's and digi-pak's of similar genres there are rarely any mentions of the band within images. This is what inspired my digi-pak, since I saw all of the other ones did not show any images of any members of the band, I believed that I would much prefer mine to tell a story and show the suffering of another in order to get a true representation of who Tear Down really are.

 

The only criticism I have received which I do not know how to rectify Is the fact that not many people like my text on the front cover or its positioning, I do not know what font to use or where the placement of the album name should be. This is making the progression on my front cover harder than any other since I cannot decide on a solid photo, font and placement o my text.

First Draft of Digi-Pak

First draft of Digi-pak

This is the first draft of my Digi-pak and from this I have made more progression with my work. This has allowed me to get feedback on the work meaning I can look at all of the feedback and decide what changes I need to make.

Everyone in the class gave criticism toward my Digi-Pak, but it has allowed me to see what people thought was wrong with it. This allows me to make the changes, which I need to in order to make the Digi-Pak more appealing to the audience.

The usual comments were that i needed to change the front panel, since it was too dark and not visible enough. I also needed to change the left cover panel and also the inside cover panel. This was because the inside cover looked too much like it belonged on a indie album. The left cover was not clear enough and although it had all three band members in the frame they could not be seen since the image was too dark, it was not working so it had to be changed.

I was very pleased with my first draft since not much needed changing and people seemed to like the general idea which i had going on. This allowed me to only change a couple of panels and make my album look better.

Digi-pak rough design

This is the rough outline for my digi-pak design. I have drawn up a rough sketch of what my digi-pak will look like. I have plans to change it in some areas, such as the back and front cover, but aside from this I plan on keeping the structure of the whole piece very much the same.

 

This is just a quick look at what I have done so far. I plan on continuing my design and making a full size version on Photoshop. This means I can modify the way I like and make it look like my own. It also gives it the realistic feel and makes it more appealing not only to myself but to our audience, it gives  a more authentic feel and allows me to use this as a basis for any further work.

Teacher Feedback

Teacher feedback

                             

This is a screen capture of when my teacher assessed my blog. We went through the blog in order to establish what I had exactly done and what was not yet completed. This enabled me to make a list and complete things, which I hadn't already. I looked deeper into the genre of post grunge and looked into creating the base image for my artist.

We began to slowly build up what they would look like by using a variety of blog posts, images and background. This helped to give a sense of perspective of who are artist really is.

Secondary audience profile

secondary audience profile of Tear Down:

The audience for our band is also going to be a niche audience due to its genre.

Age: 15-25

Gender: Female.

Race: Caucasian.

Sexuality: Heterosexual.

Education: Current (GCSE/A level)

Occupation: Brand E {students or part time workers.}

Annual income: Disposable. 

Life style: Student,  anti-social, not many friends, grungy fashion, no real money flow, public transport, quiet, independent.

desired life style: having/wanting a boyfriend, wanting money, popularity, someone who understands them.

Culture: UK/America.

Media interests: Post Grunge music/Alternative, Action/Thriller/Horror films, social media sites {Tumblr, Instagram} 

Buying Habits: Games, cheap food {mcdonalds/Kfc}, Thrift stores/charity shops. 

Pitch

When we performed the pitch for our band Tear Down we had to explain in detail who exactly they are. This meant a lot of detail was needed in order to explain who they actually were. My group may know the artist and genre of music very well but others may not know anything about it making extra detail vital. Unfortunately out presentation was not this best for simply not including enough information about our artist and genre. We will need to perform our pitch again in order for the rest of the class to fully understand the band and genre inside out. This means a lot more planning needs to go into it and a lot more thought with each slide.

We need to modify the presentation and add new things and things we have missed out. This includes things such as record labels, similar artists and more shots of locations. By doing this it will help the class to begin to understand who are band really are and what they are trying to do within the music industry. We will need to complete all of this in order to reshoot our pitch and get a better understanding from the class. Our feedback was not at all bad "as such" just general things they did not understand, meaning that we need to see to everyone of these points. The points were just simple question sand not criticisms about the band at all. This shows that the whole idea and function of the band is not bad, just the presentation of them.

What record label are Tear Down signed to?

Tear Downs record label:

Tear Down are sign to DGC  and Sub Pop record company. We have chosen these record labels since they have signed a lot of high end acts however, Sub Pop have gained the highest rating and success level with big bands such as Sound Garden and Nirvana, which happen to be bands that are very close and relative to the music which we are doing.

We have chosen these two record labels since they are the closest and most relevant but believe they would fit our artists since they have the Grunge and alternative feel to them, with minimal success but higher fame in more unconventional and less known artists.

Band Profile Hand-Outs

This is the template for the band profile hand-out which we will be handing out for our pitch. This hand-out talks all about our band and gives a brief history into the band and tells about their outlook on life. This allows for a different form of media to be used and makes it easier and less monotonous for the audience.

Audience Profile

This is a rough outline as to everything that our audience would enjoy if they listened to post grunge.They can be social but often choose to stay in and listen to their music and scroll around social networking sites hiding their true identity.

Preliminary Shots

 Preliminary shots:

 

Within our music video the environment and story are key. We are going to have a narrative feel to our music video meaning we need the expected areas and meaning we need to make them interesting. To do this we have decided to shoot some of the video located in the woods since it is very dark and not much light will be shown within the scene.

 

 

Breakdown of Tear Down

Who are Tear Down?

Tear Down is the name of our post grunge band. In the group we have three member one vocalist, one on guitar and the other on drums. Tear Down are a British made band who are hoping to make it big in America.



Brief History:
They first met when they picked up Music studies for GCSE and were placed in group based on their preferences on music. They were placed in their small group of alternative and began to play as a band for the first time with their first choice of song Nirvana-Smells like teen spirit. They continued to play in their band and eventually left school and achieved their first pub performance and continued from their eventually claiming their name in the music industry.

Influences:
The band had such influences as many classic grunge bands such as Sound Garden and Nirvana. In recent years they have found their aspirations from bands such as Seether and Staind. This has allowed them to adjust their style  in a way fitting to the times but adding their own unique twist to the music industry. By doing this it has allowed them to gain much more success within the industry and get to the point to which they are now, even now they are gaining more fans.

Tear Down love the going on tour and thats the reason why they started in the music industry, their sole purpose was to entertain people with their unique lyrics. They never intended to get as far as they did but they did and now they have started selling merchandise to their fans.

The genre of grunge and post-grunge is very simple... its all related to depressive and angry feeling music. However, Tear Down want to break away from this genre convention and make their own. they feel what's better than to take that feeling of depression and make people feel the opposite with relatable lyrics and a similar purpose. People find reasoning within the genre of grunge, that feeling that you are not the only one who has suffered. Tear Down want to show it is not the only way but in order to make someone feel better you ned to show them that there is an alternative and that is the one aim of Tear Down.

What we want Tear Down to look like:

This is the appearance of post grunge. This is what we intend for every member of our group to look like. In order to do this we need the continuos theme of long hair, piecings and checkered or band t-shirts.