Friday, 6 October 2017

Research: Pop Genre

Artists


Micheal Jackson
David Bowie
Britney Spears
Ed Sheeran 

These are just some of the faces that are or have been at the top of the pop charts.

Live Performances

























About 


- A term that originally derives from an abbreviation of "popular”.The genre popular music originated in its modern form in the 1950s, deriving from rock and roll.
- The term "pop song" is first recorded as being used in 1926 According to Grove Music Online, the term "pop music" "originated in Britain in the mid-1950s as a description for rock and roll and the new youth music styles that it influenced Chambers Dictionary mentions the contemporary usage of the term "pop art"Since the late 1950s, however, pop has had the special meaning of non-classical music.
- Some of the most well known names in history such as; The Beatles, Michael Jackson, The Rolling Stones, ABBA etc…

History


Pop music, which accounts for the majority of the music on today's charts, is an a genre which includes a mix of many different styles of music which vary from jazz to country; rock and roll to rap; be-bop to hip-hop.Sheet music was a big thing with pop music, as it literally Written song notes, which would get families together and then played on an instrument. Publishers of sheet music set up companies to meet the demand of those desiring their products, and would often scout out new composers and have their music made available in printed form for sale.

When pianos gave way to the phonograph around the beginning of the 20th century, popular renditions of music followed with them.By the mid 1920s, a new music called jazz with a new peculiar rhythm.Later African derived art form music called "blues“,soon helped transform the music that was heard. 

Pop music is generally described as very commercial friendly,marketable and memorable, with either vocals, lyrics,instruments, or a combination of all three creating catchy choruses or verses.The goal is to automatically create visual content in responses to the feature extracted from the music.To give a visually coherent representation of the sound.

1956: Elvis Presley emerges as one of the worlds first rock stars. With so many hit songs,he was referred to as the king of rock n roll. He is one of the best-selling solo artist in the history of popular music.

Late 1950s: The English rock music group Beatles was formed.John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr were the members of the group. Most lyrics and music were written by Lennon and McCartney. The decade 1960-70 was dominated by the Beatles.

1975-83: Popularity of disco and hip-hop lead to the popularity of pop.The movie Saturday Night Fever was released. Disco music gained popularity. Hip-hop emerged as a blend of rock, jazz, and soul with African drumming in the New York City. Nonstop music videos were released by MTV. Cats began its journey. The debut album of Madonna "Holiday" becomes a hit.


1983: Michael Jackson popularizes the moonwalk. The moonwalk or back slide is a dance technique that presents the illusion that the dancer is stepping forward while actually moving backward.1985: Michael Jackson releases "Thriller"The video becomes a classic, and is still one of the most notable videos to date now.

1990s: Various famous groups made pop music more popular Grunge rock was formed in Seattle, Backstreet Boys and Blackstreet were formed, the movie "Titanic" and the song "My Heart Will Go On," became popular.







Thursday, 5 October 2017

Saturday, 16 September 2017

Technical Post: Green Screen

What is it? 

Chroma Key Compositing or Chroma Keying, is a visual effects/post-production technique for compositing two images or video streams together based on colour hues.

Why we use it? 

We use Chroma Key in order to enhance the experience of a moving/still image, this is also a cheaper alternative than for films to be filmed on location and cuts out any other factors that might hinder the filming process of a film project.




Positives 

- Cheap
- Can allow people to theoretically be in any location or environment
- Can save film/TV makers a lot of time
- The shoot wouldn't be delayed by factors such as weather
- The controlled environment provided by a green screen studio ensures that external noise, lighting conditions etc. do not have to be factored into the filming process

Negatives 

- A line can be formed around an object while using the Chroma Key.
- That sometimes the image doesn't look real enough to make the location and event believable
- That it can take time and money to train actors and crew on how to use a Chroma Key.

How might we use it? 

We would use it in situations where the narrative that we have chosen is in a location that might be fictitious or in a location that would be hard to get to, to film at or that we didn't have the budget or the time to travel to the specific location that we needed to go to.

Our Green Screen Attempt:

Research: Representation and Online Identity (Markiplier)


This is Markiplier's Logo that is seen throughout his Youtube channel and at the end of his videos


Mark Edward Fischbach is an American born gaming Youtuber and uploads videos under the Youtube channel name Markiplier, his channel is specialised for walkthroughs and 'Let's plays' (Horton/Wohl) of different video games. As of July 2017 his Youtube channel has amassed a total of over 7 billion views and has over 18 million subscribers, making Markiplier's channel the 3rd largest gaming channel on the internet platform. As a result of the growth of the video gaming market and the growth of Youtube as a platform Markiplier's channel has grown dramatically in the last few years, for example in 2014 his channel had amassed 3 million subscribers and in 2017 it has over 18 million, 15 million extra subscribers in 4 years!!!!!
Markiplier's Youtube channel page is quite simple, however towards the top of the page there is a custom banner that has illustrations that make references from Markiplier's various memorable games that he has played through his long Youtube career.  The audience responds to his content through the comment section on YouTube and his Twitter page where people suggest different content for him to try on his channel for example different survival horror video games, challenges for him to try, places to go and vlog at etc. Moreover he responds to people's comments/Tweets/messages etc in his different YouTube videos, most evidently through his Subnautica play-through series where people, who have played much more of the game suggest hints or give him help which might help make the video more exciting for example finding a rare mineral or fighting a specific sea creature or tips on how to craft an object, within the video he places their Youtube/Twitter name on virtual lockers within the game and read their message out and gives them a 'Shout-out'. His style of commentary is more casual for the audience allowing them to feel like they are interacting with Mark - this is an example of Para-social interaction. Also on this page there are various links to his various social media accounts, which he uses in order to keep in contact with his fans:
 This is Markiplier's Twitter page 
 Here is Markiplier's Instagram page
Here is Markiplier's Facebook page

Here are examples of some of his tweets:



Markiplier also has an official website, however it is very simplistic in style with a simple colour scheme, it is mainly used to promote the different events that he will be appearing at in order to meet his fans, this information allows his fans in different countries to book tickets in a chance to meet him when he appears at the different events. Yet again this also has links to his various social media accounts and especially his Youtube channel page.



Recent Videos



Markiplier's content varies within his videos as shown above he participates in current internet challenges (such as the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge - as shown below), as his channel is primarily a gaming channel as he plays different video games, specifically horror games (such as Outlast). However, as well as playing games and making videos on challenges he participates in he also runs charity livestreams regularly where he raises money for a specific charity and these livestreams can last hours or days even, where other YouTubers and himself play games, do dares, read comments from the livestream chat and have a small Q&A session, so far Markiplier has raised over $1 million for different charities over his YouTube career. Although he does this for charity a group of people might believe that Markiplier is doing this in order to make himself look good or that he is 'pandering' to certain groups of people to gain credibility/subscribers - oppositional reading (Hall). Markiplier aims his content towards more mature audiences for example teenagers and young adults due to the types of video games he plays and in some of his videos his grown up language.

ALS Ice Bucket Challenge video 

Part 1 of Markiplier's walkthrough of the survival horror game Outlast 

This is Markiplier's February Charity Livestream 

Also Markiplier has increased his fan-base through appearing on prime time American television, such as on the talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live:

Here is the segment that he appeared in, check it out!!!!!


Markiplier also has written a comic book which is on sale online, where it shows more of a retro feel to it, this is really aims at all ages, however more older readers would probably understand the intertextual references that are throughout the comic more than younger readers. The use of Markiplier's actual face on the front cover of this comic, allows the audience to make a visual link between his social media accounts and Youtube channel.