Madison

Black Mirror

 Posted by on Fri, 3/22 at 7:43am  genre translation prewriting  No Responses »
Mar 222019
 

Black Mirror episodes into realistic news paper articles?

Black Mirror is a show on Netflix that, as per Google’s description, “explore techno-paranoia”. It uses these extreme technologies to resemble what could happen to a society if these things were implemented. I think it would be interesting to change some episodes into news articles that would be similar to what would happen if some of these technologies were actually used. Some technology include, implanting a device into a child’s head that allows the parents to control what the child sees and hears, it acts a tracking device, and it also stores all of what the child sees; there is a technology for a new game that is implanted into a guy’s head that takes virtual reality to a new level; and technology that can upload your soul to an eternal heaven.

Mar 012019
 

From an outsider’s perspective, EDM at music festivals is just another concert that people choose to attend. However, from the avid attendee’s perspective, these festivals go beyond just the music, but they are a way for people to meet and interact with one another—it creates a culture and a community. EDM pushes people to become fully immersed in the festival; one cannot just attend it, but they have to actively participate in the festivities. The great thing about this community is it is all-inclusive, so if someone is attending their first music festival and has no prior knowledge of what to expect, someone experienced, at the festival, will help them learn.

In order to study the creation of a new community, this paper will look at three ways that the EDM festivals push people to engage with the festival—trading of bracelets and necklaces (otherwise known as kandi and perlers), the attire that the attendees choose to wear, and the types of dance styles that the music allows people to create. Some people choose to participate in all three ways and others just in one or two ways. This paper will analyze the ways in which EDM festivals create bonds between people that go beyond the music, and the ways it creates a feeling of inclusivity even if someone is new to the EDM scene. This paper will include visuals that will help the reader best understand the community that is formed without having to actually attend the festival. Finally, the paper will also be using first-hand accounts from various people that have attended EDM festivals, and it will explain how each of these people became immersed in the culture. Overall, EDM at festivals creates a culture that needs to be examined and interpreted because it is movement that will ultimately be a part of history.

Feb 212019
 
Subject Point of Significance
Kandi and Perlers Are things that people create prior to the music festival to trade among one another only for EDM festivals
Shuffling, Poi, Gloving, Hooping (“dances”) All use some sort of equipment to create a dance to EDM
Outfits Are created with a lot of thought, and they are very unique to each person. There are various styles that are unique strictly to EDM.

 

Overarching point of significance:

EDM at music festivals unites people by allowing people to use their creativity. Kandi and perlers are hand-made and given to other people that gives them a connection, EDM dancing, shuffling in particular, unites people by allowing groups of people to watch and learn how to do it themselves, and the outfit that someone chooses to wear kind of labels them into a group of people and ultimately brings them together from their similarity in creativity.

Question: In what ways are the creativity at music festivals connected directly to EDM?

Here are links to all the above terms to help explain:

Shuffling: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPn6Dw4f26Q

Poi:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VP-mVab8hJU

Hooping: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRRmyqapzw8

Gloving: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMqvZO-xt2o

Kandi: Image result for kandi

Perlers: Image result for perlers

Feb 202019
 

I decided to narrow my subject down to EDM/Riddim at music festivals because EDM in general is far too broad to find Points of Significance.

Sub-Subject: Things People Exchange

POS:

Kandi: bracelets that only EDM listeners create.

Perlers: similar to Kandi, but they are made with beads that are ironed together and are necklaces not bracelets. These are again created by the listeners of EDM.

Sub-Subject: Types of “Dancing”

POS: Shuffling, Poi, Gloving, Hooping: These are all a way for EDM listeners to get creative.

Sub-Subject: Outfits

POS: To go to a festival, someone doesn’t just throw on a tee shirt and jeans. It takes some thought and creativity to put together a unique outfit.

Sub-Subject: The Location of Music Festivals

POS: Most concerts of other types of genres take place inside a stadium with assigned seating. However, EDM is more of a festival, so it allows people to move around more freely, and it creates a better chance to meet other people.

Overarching Point of Significance: EDM music at festivals really brings people together through their creativity.

Question: How does EDM effectively unite people during music festivals?

Kandi: Image result for kandi bracelets

Perlers: Image result for perlers

Feb 112019
 

Today’s Tea:

…….. )               (                  )

…….(           )          (          )       )

__(____(___)____(___(__(________

\            Just cuz it’s dubstep         /__

..\           Doesn’t make it            /         |

…..\                Riddim               /_____|

……..\_____________________/

(tweet created by Subtronics)

Used widely by DJs to create music especially at music festivals, Riddim is a type of Electronic Dance Music that uses a variation of flangers and triplet percussions to create a rhythm. Flangers are used to mix two sounds together—one of the sounds is slowly introduced into the first sound—and a triplet percussion are three beats played along with the original beat. In Shock Value by Subtronics, you can hear the triplet percussion and flangers being used between :45 and 1:00. Riddim is different than other categories of dubstep because of the triple percussion specifically, you can hear the difference if you listen to Subtronics (riddim artist) versus Zomboy (brostep artist); brostep is a subgenre of dubstep.

Feb 062019
 

So I want to start by saying I was extremely hesitant about this topic, but filling this out has pushed me to think about music in a new way and I love it.

Identify and Describe Patterns in the Genre’s Features

  1. What content is typically included or excluded? How is the content treated? What sorts of examples are used? What counts as evidence (personal testimony, facts, etc.)?

BASS it’s 100% needed to even begin to fall under the EDM genre umbrella. Lyrics are dependent on the producer, they can be used but aren’t necessary. Live performances use visuals to help draw a crowd, but not all artists use them.

  1. What rhetorical appeals are used? What appeals to logos, pathos, and ethos appear?

Logos: logos isn’t really found on the listeners end but more on the producers end. Music isn’t something that everyone is capable of producing. Putting together a sound takes a lot of thought and reason. EDM is different than a typical band because they don’t play instruments, which can be taught. Instead, DJs just have sounds that they need to put together in a way that will make people want to listen.

Pathos: There are two ways I can think of that pathos is used. One, live performances are emotional as hell. Listening to music is one thing but EDM genre allows you to feel the music and it’s intense. Second, artists put a lot of time into their music and even though I keep describing it as bass heavy there are still emotions behind the music. Illenium, is a dubstep artist who produces music that can honestly make people cry. On the other hand, Excision, dubstep artist, has the capability to make people rage, or headbang.

Ethos: Here I’m thinking the credibility of the producer or DJ. I think that EDM artists are credible because they come from nowhere. Soundcloud helps them get followers, and the DJs I know personally send their music to small clubs, and eventually get a small, local fanbase. From there they can move to bigger clubs and eventually festivals, which is the end all goal. DJs are all self-made individuals, instead of coming from an already famous family, and I think this gives them a lot of credibility.

  1. How are texts in the genres structured? What are their parts, and how are they organized?

Dubstep, Moombahton: the texts are used normally right before a bass drop, so listeners have an idea of what to expect

Trance/House: These subgenres are more similar to pop songs, so they have lyrics throughout the entire song. They still however have bass drops and parts where there are no lyrics and just bass.

  1. In what format are texts of this genre presented? What layout or appearance is common? How long/big is a typical text in this genre?

There’s typically some sort of intro to the song, then a build-up, then a bass drop, then the song mellows out a little bit, then get ready for bass drop number 2 and finally mellow to the end.

EDM songs feel longer than most because they follow that pattern so 3 to 6 mins is average. There are also mixes which a lot of artists produce and those are 45 mins to an hour (typically).

  1. What types of “sentences” do texts in the genre typically use? How long are they? Are they simple or complex, passive or active? Are the sentences varied? Do they share a certain style?

Each subgenre has its own style. Even further than that each DJ has their own style.

  1. What diction is most common? What types of words (or symbols, images, etc.) are most frequent? Is a type of jargon used? Is slang used? How would you describe a typical writer’s tone?

So I saw images and the first thing that popped into my head were artist visuals. They use these during live performances (they are shown behind them on a screen). I could try and describe them, but that wouldn’t work so imma attach pics.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Opdp5O8b8EQ]

These are all from Tipper’s set who falls into the subgenre of electronica. His music is actually really hard to pin into a genre. I went to a music festival last year and everyone was talking about Tipper’s visuals and how insane they were going to be. Not one person I knew was talking about the actual music.

 

Analyze What These Patterns Reveal About the Situation and Scene

  1. What do these patterns reveal about the genre, its situation, and the people who use it?
  • What do participants have to know or believe to understand or appreciate the genre?
    • They just have to be open-minded and accepting of others. Understanding the amount of time that DJs put into their music is absolutely necessary. My friends that hate EDM claim that all they have to do is press a button on a computer, but it is far more complex than that.
  • Who is invited into the genre, and who is excluded??
    • The greatest part about EDM is that everyone is invited into the genre. EDM community is one of the most open-minded communities I have ever been a part of. Anyone excluded is that way because they probably were talking trash.
  • What roles for writers and readers does it encourage or discourage?
    • I’m strictly talking about live performances of DJs here, but they encourage people to admire the environment around them. People ignite people.
  1. What can you learn about the actions being performed through the genre by observing its language patterns?
  • How is the subject of the genre treated? What content is considered most important? What content (topics or details) is ignored?
    • I guess it depends on the producer. As I mentioned earlier, Tipper is known for his visuals and his music is sorta downplayed. On the other hand, there are DJs where you can listen to their music and just vibe with no other means necessary. Bass is probably the most important factor in the EDM genre, all the subgenres incorporate it. Lyrics are often times over looked or ignored.
  • What values, beliefs, goals, and assumptions are revealed through the genre’s patterns?
    • People are capable of creating. It doesn’t have to creating music. It can be creating art, photography, jewelry, etc. EDM also has creative dance-ish styles—gloving which is strictly using your hands, using a poi, hooping, or shuffling. These all allows listeners to be creative as well.
Feb 012019
 

Introduce Your Genre

  1. Identify your tentative “underappreciated” genre (or subgenre)
  • EDM music is a genre with a ton of subgenres: dubstep, moombahton, house, trance, etc.
  • There aren’t many lyrics, it is mostly a combination of sounds with different drops and depending on the sounds and drops used would classify under each subgenre
  1. What is interesting to you about this genre? Or, why might it be significant or otherwise worth paying attention to?
  • Most people use EDM to describe all the subgenres when they are referring to them— “I like EDM”.
    • That statement has zero context and the very simple fact that someone said that proves that they really don’t understand the variety of choice under the EDM umbrella
  • People like certain artists, but don’t like other ones. A lot of times people have a preference to a certain subgenre, but don’t quit realize the difference between all of them,
  1. Tentatively, define/describe your corpus (collection of texts/examples)
  • Dubstep artists: Zomboy, Excision, Bassnectar, 12th Planet
  • Moombahton artists: Dillon Francis, Bro Safari
  • Trance artists: Armin Van Burren, Tiesto, Above&Beyond
  • House artists: David Guetta, Avicii, Hardwell, Zedd
  1. Provide links (and/or titles) of five samples. (Try to gather samples from more than one “place” [or type] in order to obtain a diverse and accurate representation of the genre. For now, choose samples without significant deviations).

(I’ll just provide a link to each described subgenre)

Describe the Context

  1. Setting: Where (in what context or medium) does the genre appear? How and when is it used? With what other genres does this genre interact? How?
  • EDM is a hardcore type of music so it used at clubs, music festivals, and people listen to it when they need an adrenaline rush—the gym, a pregame, etc.
  • Within the music industry it crosses into other genres.
    • Trap rap
    • Pop
  • It interacts with raves, which is a type of concert or festival, so I guess that could be another genre it interacts with.
  • Bumper stickers or laptop stickers are common among the artists as a marketing strategy
  1. Subject: What topics, issues, ideas, etc. are common to this genre? When people use this genre, what are they communicating about?
  • Because this music is associated with raves/festivals it is associated with inclusion
  • EDM Twitter blew up over new years eve and now edm love is spreading throughout social media
  1. Writers: Who writes the texts in this genre? Are multiple writers possible? What roles do they perform? What characteristics must writers of this genre possess? Under what circumstances do writers write the genre (e.g., in teams, on a computer, in a rush, for their profession? for fun?)?
  • EDM genre’s are actually not hard to get involved in if the person knows how to work a DJ station, which can be taught—anyone can attempt a career in EDM
  • Multiple artists are possible, and a lot of times they partner up to get a larger fan base at their sets.
  • Artists have the music downloads on their computers, and it’s their career. Artists not famous are creating music for fun
  1. Readers: Who reads the texts in this genre? Is there more than one type of reader for this genre? What roles do they perform? What characteristics must readers of this genre possess? Under what circumstances do readers read the genre (e.g., at their leisure, on the run, in waiting rooms)?
  • There are fans and producers, but normally EDM draws in a certain crowd
  • A lot of people say they hate edm and then eventually find themselves starting to love it
  • People who listen to edm are more likely than not friendly, open-minded, and inclusive
  • Readers listen to it at raves, in the gym, in the car, wherever they are listening to anything it is edm
  1. Exigency/Purpose(s): Why do writers write this genre, and why do readers read it? What purposes does the genre fulfill for the people who use it?
  • EDM creates a sense of community so artists create it to spread love, especially at live performances.
  • and the fans listen to it because it allows them to spread the love too or because it is a lot of times a hard style of music, it allows fans to rage—headbanger, wooks, etc. (I could also classify the different genres of festival goers which would be cool to look at)