Music Consumption Essay

In the 21st century, purchasing music has simply became an option, due to the rise of technological advancements. For instance, software such as BitTorrent allow online users to download music, video, games and lots of other incredible things to their hearts content, all you need is connection to the Internet. It is true, however, that iTunes, Amazon etc allow you to do the same thing, the only difference is the money. A user of BitTorrent can simple go onto their computer, open up the software, and download an album, and most of the time, even get the album a week earlier to the official release. A user of iTunes will have to wait, most of the time for a midnight release of an album, and also in American time format, that's waiting until 6am to download the same album the BitTorrent user has just downloaded a week prior to official release, and with no cost. Once looked upon like that, it seems the advantages of illegally pirating music are just too good to be true.

Around ten years ago, Metallica, attempted to shut down online phenomenon 'Napster' for breaching copyright terms, and distributing songs by Metallica and many other musical artists work illegally. This was worldwide news at the time and sparked a debate upon wether or not people should be allowed to perform such acts. Personally, I think Metallica had a rght to make a stand, as it is illegal and causes a lot of money that could be made to simply disappear. Realistically, online piracy will always happen. All you need is one person to buy an album, share it on the Internet and within minutes millions of people will now have the album in their computer. Give it another week and by then that figure will be small in comparison. This proves it is simply impossible to stop online piracy of music, and most musicians tolerate this fact and accept it. In 2007 radiohead released the album in rainbows as a download via a pay what you want model. Many artists have also then released their albums in this way, this just goes to show that online piracy has been accepted by some musicians.

Lets just say that for instance my favourite musician is lil Wayne. I would pay for convert tickets buy merchandise and listen to his music every day, however all of this music has been pirated. I do not condone this behaviour, but for some reason I continue to do it. Every day. In an ideal world were money rains from the sky, then yes I would purchase music. But everybody on the planet has at one point or another downloaded music illegally. It just costs too much. 8.99 for an album with twelve tracks is just not worth it, unless it is a masterpiece, which bring me to my next point. I won few Physichal copies of musicians work but the few I do own are in my opinion classic. The albums I have deemed worthy to purchase as I appreciate it that much, for example Illmatic by Nas, Ready To Die by Notorious BIG etc. sadly for some music artists who don't receive this flattering compliment from myself and billions of others, it can be tough.

Imagine a not very well known musicin, dj Dillon Francis perhaps. He has just released a new album costing the usual retailed price of around ten pounds. Do I go onto iTunes and spend hard Ernest money on an album I know little about...I think the answe I am getting at is rather obvious. An is what 99 percent of the world do. I would go on BitTorrent, download the album and personally review it. If deemed worthy enough, I will then put it on my iPhone and appreciate the music, if not...recycle bin, you know the drill.

In some circumstances, such as vinyl copies, they can be very prestigious and provide a much more beautiful sound than in comparison to listening to the music digitally or on a cd. I will acknowledge that you will never be able to digitally download an album with as beauiful a sound as a vinyl , so in that case money well spent. And paying for concerts to enjoy your favourite musicians live can be some of the most enjoyable moments of your life. This also proves that money spent on music can go somewhere.

To conclude this argument, I am definitely guilty of pirating music and have no problem in doing so, but do udersgand that if put in a musicians shoes and witnessing my hard work being distributed so carelessly, I would be annoyed. I can take comfort in the fact that I a small decimal of the overall percentage of people who illegally download music, I still have morals and apreciate the music, I just don't find it worth the money and effort, and in suing that I believe I am speaking on behalf of billions of people in this world today. We are all guilty

Colour Design

Lighting

Lighting is apparatus for supplying artificial light effects for the stage or in film. Light is necessary to create an image exposure on a film. Lighting contributes considerably to the emotional response an audience has watching a motion picture. The dark lighting at the beginning of this pilot episode of Primeval indicates danger to come.

Props

Props are any article or piece of furniture used by an actor in film. Many props are ordinary objects, however extremities such as a weapon or an explosion could possibly be used as a prop. In doctor who the dalek is a prop.

Costumes And Make Up

Make up is broadly defined as anything applied to the actor's face or skin to achieve a certain look. All actors wear make up in front of the camera, although it is often very subtle and designed simply to help them look their best. In it's most extreme form, make up can be used to convey traumatic wounds or even transform a character into an alien or an inhuman creature.

Costumes are similarly defined as outfits worn by the actor when they are in character. They can include jewellery and props such as belts etc in addition to proper clothing. In strictest terms, costumes can be used to create an appearance and enhance the personality of a character for the viewers. For example, an actor with scraggy clothes and a messy unshaven beard tells a completely different tale about a character, in contrast to a suited man with a cigar in his mouth. In this example, the costume is a school uniform and the make up is blood.

Set Design

set design is the creation of film scenery. Set designers nowadays are trained professionals with a degree in theatre arts. It therefore means that a set designer designs the set, quite obviously. As you can see in waterloo road, the setting is a school.

Studio

A studio is a major entertainment company that has its own privately owned studio facility and the facilities needed to make films, which is handled by the production company. It is ultimately where all the editing and production takes place. This is a behind the scenes video which depicts a studio.

Location

Location in film is an actual place or natural setting in which a film or broadcast is made, as distinct from a simulation in a studio. If a movie was filmed entirely on location it would mean there is no studio simulation present. This is an example of a show filmed entirely on location.

Production Design

A production designer is a term used in the film industry to refer to the person responsible for an overall look of films, tv shows etc. It includes the use of sets, costumes, props and make up to create a relevant atmosphere for the time period or place in which the filming is based on. Here is the production designer for downton abbey

Ambient Sound

Ambient sound is the background sound pressure level at a given location , normally specified as a reference level to study a new intrusive sound source. At 3.15 there is ambient sound presentcoming from a television.

Themes And Strings

The theme in film is the frequently recurring in or accompanying the beginning and end of a film.

A sting is a short musical phase, primarily used in films and televisions as a form of punctuation, for example at the end of a scene. It can be performed by most instruments.



for example in Waterloo Road, at the very beginning the reoccuring themes and stings which play throughout the series.

Incidental Music

Incidental music is music used in film as a background to create or enhance a certain atmosphere. The term is less frequently applied to film music as much as soundtrack and score, but is still a vital piece of sound in a film. At 10.25 incidental music is used to evoke a positive atmosphere.

Score

In film, a score is written representation of a musical composition showing all the vocal and instrumental parts arranged one below the other. To score is to compose the music for film.

Sound tracks

Sound track is in film and video, the sound that is heard accompanying the picture, the photographic record of sound in a film. A soundtrack can be music by a real life artist(donnie darko), or music which has been purposely intended to be created for the film(harry potter). At 0.40 there is a soundtrack.

Sound Perspective

Sound perspective is the sense of a sound's position in space, yielded by volume, timbre, pitch and in stereophonic reproduction systems. In this video for example, when the dinosaur is closer to the camera, it sounds a lot louder.

Sound Mixing

A sound mixer is an engineer who works with sound production software to produce sound mixing which will be put into film. It is altogether, the combination of dialogue, sound effects and music. These sound effects have been developed by a sound mixer

Mode of address/direct address

This is the way that media speaks to its specific and chosen audience. The producer of the script must make assumptions about the intended audience. This intro of doctor who is obviously intended for people who have an interest in science fiction.

Voiceover

Voiceover is a sound editing production technique where a voice which is not part of the narrative is used in film. It is non synchronous dialogue taking place over the action on screen, as well as the narrators voice when not appearing in the film. At 21.25 voiceover is present.