Band Titles

The Sex Pistols

Sex- Commonly associated with young adults, and so attracts the 20-30 audience.

Pistols- A weapon, a tool used to kill. Has connotations of murder and violence.

The Cure (Album Cover)

Cure- Suggests something is infected. Perhaps referring to a political point of view?

PS; They originally named themselves "the Easy Cure" after one of their first songs, but the "Easy" was dropped.

Billy Talent 

They actually named their band after a character (a Guitarist) from the film "Hard Core Logo", a "Mockumentary" illustrating the self-destruction of the Punk Rock genre.

Greenday (Album Cover)

Greenday- Slang for smoking Marijuana for a whole day. Definite suggestion of Drug use, which may help attract a young rebellious audience.

Blink 182 

Blink- Could be referring to blinking on and off, perhaps the changing of a view? Perhaps referring to how people blink when surprised.

The Enemy (Album Cover)

Enemy- Violent word, someone who is hostile towards another person. Suggests some sort of a conflict occurring between two forces.

The Offspring 

Offspring- The young of a creature. The band seems to be referring to themselves as being young. They were originally going to be called Manic Subsidal, but changed their name in 1986

Sum 41 (Album Cover)

41- They included the number 41 in their name simply because the day the band started was in fact 41 days into the Summer.

My Own Titles

Not Puppets- This title fits in with the Punk ideologies. A Puppets movements are controlled by a string-pulling puppet master. People can also be described as being "Puppets" when they seem to be completely under the control of another being. The title describes the band as not being puppets, as being individuals who cannot be controlled. This represents common Punk ideologies such as Individualism, Non-Conformity and anti-Authoritarianism.

Cutting Strings- This's pretty much the same thought process as the above band title. The "Puppet Master" is Controlling the "Puppet" with "Strings"- by cutting said strings, the puppet master looses control over the puppet. The strings could also represent something which is tying a person down, and Cutting the strings would free them. So again, this title would represent ideologies of the Punk subculture rather well.
I muchly prefer this name to "Not Puppets".

Punching Judy- A play on words, whilst keeping to my Puppet theme. It's a spin on the popular Puppet show "Punch and Judy", performed by a Puppet Master (a.k.a. The Punchman) hiding in a Booth. "Punch and Judy" is a show that most people will be familiar with, and so the name may bring a sense of nostalgia to the audience. It's also a catchy name which is somewhat relevant to the Punk Rock Genre.


The Survey Says- After carrying out a short survey, I found that my audience's favourite name is...

Cutting Strings!

"Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema"- The Male Gaze

An example of the "Male Gaze" used in an advertisement

 The Male Gaze is a concept introduced by Laura Mulvey, as a feature of power inequality in shows and films. Both males and females have the same Male gaze. A camera's perspective is of the place of a Heterosexual man, and so women are often objectified. The woman is represented as an erotic object for the audience and characters, and the man is represented as being dominant in the film, the one in charge. This representation of males having more power than females is considered Patriarchal.

Blink 182- "Josie". Click here if the video doesn't work.

 In the music video "Josie" by Blink 182 they use this technique quite well. When the character Josie appears in the video, the camera starts by aiming for her legs, before gradually tilting up her body. This shows the viewer that perspective of the shot is from the eyes of a heterosexual male, who is checking out her body. The camera moves gradually along her body, as she walks in slow motion, showing that the viewer is watching her closely- That "he" can't take his eyes away. Meanwhile, the female seems much less interested- While the male's reactions are quite dramatic, the females reactions are very casual ad calm. It objectifies her, making her seem somewhat emotionless, just an object the male character desires. She also wears red, which could symbolise love, danger and sex.
 On top of this, the video also suggests that Males have more power than Females in relationships. In the scene where the male throws a paper airplane with the words "I love you" on it, it is clear that it's the male doing all the work to try and start the relationship. It's he who is trying to make it work, and therefore, it's he who has the power to ask her out. Despite the female's flirty glances and expressions, she doesn't bother acting at all to make the relationship work, instead seemingly waiting for him to make his move. 

Audience Moodboard

 Now I know more about my target audience, what they like, what they do and how they live, I've decided to whack up photoshop and try to make an image that could represent the subculture, their ideologies and their nature.

My Moodboard, using the results of my Survey.

A screenshot showing me creating the image.

 The Mood-board above, and the following is based on the results gained from my Survey. I'm aiming for a mostly Male audience, between the ages of 18 and 24, who mostly live in the United Kingdom. Most of my audience is Unemployed and of an E social Demographic, although this is Likely due to the age of my Audience. They like bands such as Greenday, The Cramps and Bad Religion. Many of them have hobbies such as playing sports, and quite a few play instruments themselves.  Whilst they mostly don't smoke, nor do drugs, many seem to drink alcohol. Most Punk-Rockers are also Atheists. 

My Survey Results

 

A wonderfully generic image. 

 I decided to find out more about who my target audience are- What bands they listen to, what subjects interest them. I also decided to try and find out whether certain stereotypes of my audience were true.

 To do this, I addressed my audience via related forums and communities. I mainly used “PunkRockers.com” to address my audience, a site which boasts over 30,000 fans of the Genre.

I've collected the results of my survey and, based on this, am beginning to get an idea of who my audience is, how they generally live and what they're like.  

The results of this Survey can be found after the break- Click the link below.

I think that, now I know more about the people I'm trying to appeal to, I'll have a much easier time of addressing and attracting my target audience. 



Swede

I decided to experiment with the filming equipment, so as to get the hang of syncing video shots to music. We decided to do a swede of the Rockstar music video, since it'd give us a chance to practice making a fast-paced video, and let us practice syncing. 

I feel like I've managed to practice and improve my editing skills through doing this video. I now feel much more confident with the equipment we'll be working with. 

Audience Survey

My audience Survey; Click here

 I am currently using a Survey to get to know my audience- What they're like, how they live, what they do. In order to gain the attention of my audience, I have posted links to the survey on sites and pages which would be of interest to my audience, such as Facebook pages to do with the genre or bands which are part of the genre, and related forums, such as PunkRockers.com, a community which consists of over 30,000 Punk Rock-Loving members.

The Forum of "Punkrockers.com"; Click here

 As I am trying to learn more about my audience, I think there's no better way to find out more about them than to ask my audience myself. As such, these facebook groups, forums and other online communities are very useful to me.

My chosen Genre

 I have chosen to look into the Punk Rock Genre, as it's a subculture which really grabs my interest with its style, music and ideologies. It's something that I find myself wanting to find out more about- About its history, it's artists and their fans. I also quite like the Punk music, with artists such as The Cure, The Sex Pistols and Greenday.

Billy Talent- Red Flag

 
Greenday- American Idiot

Sex Pistols- God Save the Queen

Representation of Genre In advertisement

 The Libertines is a Revival Garage-Rock band which was around from 1997 to 2004. In December 2004, their second album was voted the Second best Album of the Year in the New Musical Express magazine. They also had a Number 2 single and a Number 1 album in the UK Charts. The band broke up, but reunited in 2010 to play a few shows.

Song by The Libertines- "Can't Stand me Now"

 The band was founded by Peter Doherty and Carl Barat. Doherty was inspired by the Sex Pistols and The Smiths, and commented on a BBC1 show "7 ages of Rock" saying "Oasis is the sound of a Council Estate singing its heart out, and the Libertines is the sound of someone just put in a rubbish chute at the back of the estate, trying to work out which day it was." Their songs are sung as if in a drunken slur, and their lyrics often refer to life in England, usually using Cockney slang.

 Their music is usually quite Lo-Fi, meaning it's of a lower quality than standard music. A song would be recorded a few times, and the best recording would be picked out. Little audio mixing was used, and it gave a generally unpolished and raw effect to their songs.

The Libertine's website. Click to see larger version.

(http://www.thelibertines.com/)

 Their website represents the bands style rather well. It's colour scheme is quite dark, with red and rustic brown used throughout. The band's clothing is red, there's some red in the background and the headings also appear to have some blood splattered onto them. Red's a big part of the website's theme, and represents Blood, Pain and Danger. This theme's also carried through the album covers, and shows the band to be of a dark nature. Blood could also be seen as a symbol of murder or injury, showing the band as possibly being rather violent in nature. This definitely fits in with the Punk/Rock genre, as Punk Rockers are usually thought of as a young rebellious group of people. They're also stereotyped as being quite anti-social, as having little to contribute to society and as being atheist- Or even as Satan worshippers. Another common stereotype of Punk Rockers is that they often do drugs, which happens to be true of Peter Doherty, as his addiction to Crack Cocaine and Heroin was part of the cause of the bands breaking-up. 

 As you hover your mouse over the faces of the band members, a small box pops up with buttons linking to the members Facebook, Myspace and Twitter pages. It also occasionally links to a personal website or blog. Many modern artists have their own social media pages, so the public can like them, subscribe to them and even send messages to them.

Popular Music Genres

To begin with, I looked at the different genres of Popular music;

• Pop

 Pop Music originally derived from Rock and Roll in the 1950's, and often borrows elements from other styles. It's a type of music with general appeal to teenagers, usually with an emphasis on Love. 

-Rihanna
-One Direction
-Spice Girls

• Rock

 Rock music also originated from Rock and Roll. It's usually centred around an electric guitar, bass guitar and a drum set.

-The Rolling Stones
-The Beatles
-Breaking Benjamin

• Heavy Metal

 Loud, harsh sounding rock, with lyrics that give usually violent imagery, and a strong beat.

-AC/DC

-Iron Maiden

-Metallica

• Country

 Uses mostly string instruments, and is usually quite simple. Originated from the Southern United States.

-Johnny Cash

-Buck Owens

-Rednex

• Electronic

 Uses electronic musical instruments and technology in its production. Includes many varieties, including electronic Dance music and Experimental Art.

-Prodigy

-Daft punk

-DeadMau5

• Jazz

 Jazz usually gives quite a swing feel. It's a mixture of African American, European classic and some Brass band. From the Early 20th Century

-Louis Armstrong

-Frank Sinatra

-Nat King Cole

• Ska

 Originating from Jamaica in the late 1950's, it's a fast-paced upbeat style, with a strong off-beat.

-Bad Manners

-Less than Jake

-Reel Big Fish

• Hip Hop

 Very Urban-styled music which originated in the 1970's. Usually involves rapping, DJing and/or break dancing. 

-Eminem

-Snoop Dogg

-50 Cent

• Blues

 A usually quite sad style, the Blues also refers to a state of depression. Originated in African American communities during the late 19th century.

-B.B. King

-Bessie Smith

-Jimmy Reed