Pop Culture: Film & Music: Soundtracking & Scoring

This is an example of a Musical Solution, using music to solve a problem.  In this case, how might we engage an audience in our film through the use of someone else's music?

Apocalypse Now.

Rocky.

Say Anything.

Step 1.  Choose the clip  for which you'd like to create a soundtrack.  (Look in our class OUT folder on Google Drive for these clips as well.)

Step 2. Investigate the music you know to find three songs.

a) One that suits it perfectly and the intention/feeling/mood of the scene.


b) One that transforms the scene into a different intention/feeling/mood scene.

Check out Rocky as a story of a dude working out to deal with his heartbreak.


c) One that just doesn't fit.  At all.  Yet is strangely awesome.

Check out a friendship that never ends, courtesy the Air Calvary.


Step 3.   Document those songs by finding them on YouTube/Vimeo or Spotify and creating a playlist.

Step 4. Post your playlist and explanations of your choices, your intentions behind each choice -- whether written or audio/video recorded -- on your blog.

After completing this blog post, you have the rest of time today to work on your Musical Solutions project (due FRIDAY!), posting your blogs on the blog tracker, and or making sure your Pop Culture Lineage project documentation (pictures, write ups/explanations) are in your Google Drive Pop Culture IN folder.  

Friday, we will be sharing our Musical Solutions (feedback rounds come next week) and gearing right up for our next debate: Rated R movies.

Heads UP!  Next week I will be asking you to revise your blog posts into the best evidence of your writing, MUGS and media skills you can muster.  Think about which posts have been the most successful for you and what you might do to make them that much stronger.  You will be asked to choose three to serve as your best evidence of meeting the standards.  You will be able to revise them and make them BOOM PUNCH THE SKY awesome.

OUT OF CLASSWORK.

Musical Solutions Design Challenge

Due. This Thursday/Friday.

Be Certain to Check the Rubric (Pop Culture OUT Folder on Google Drive)

Blog:  Soundtracking.  See Above.

Due. Friday.

Pop Culture: Music Supervision & Soundtracking (Partial Explanation for the Day)

I'll add more of what we did today/what Wednesday's class will do tomorrow.

This is an example of a Musical Solution, using music to solve a problem.  In this case, how might we engage an audience in our film through the use of someone's music?

Station 1.  Music Supervision and Soundtracking.

Step 1.  Choose the clip from our class folder on Google Drive for which you'd like to create a soundtrack.

Step 2. Investigate that music to find three songs.

a) One that suits it perfectly and the intention/feeling/mood of the scene.

b) One that transforms the scene into a different intention/feeling/mood scene.

c) One that just doesn't fit.  At all. 

Step 3.   Document those songs by finding them on YouTube/Vimeo or Spotify and creating a playlist.

Step 4. Post your playlist and explanations of your choices, your intentions behind each choice -- whether written or audio/video recorded -- on your blog.

Pop Culture: Music Education Debate, Blog Post for This Week & Slide Deck Design

This Friday and next Monday we will hold our first debate of the semester.

THE RESOLUTION:  Music education should be eliminated from the public school budgets.

Half of the class will argue in favor of this position (cut music education) a.k.a the affirmative team

Half of the class will argue against this position (keep music education) a.k.a. the negative team

HOW IT WILL ALL GO DOWN.

1. This Wednesday and Thursday, you will have all class to get together with your teammates to come up with your arguments, find support for those arguments in the form of reliable evidence, and design a team slide deck to support your position.

Criteria for Your Team.

a. At least 3 Arguments in Support of Your Position.
Think: What Is the Argument and What Are the Reasons WHY That Argument?

b. At least 3 Pieces of Evidence from Reliable Sources in Support of Your Position.
Need citations of your sources.   Use http://www.easybib.com/ to make sure your get all of the information you need.

c. At least 3 Well Designed Slides to Present Your Position.
Think: How might we use our slide deck presentation to prove our case even before the discussion begins?

d. All Team Members Must Be Prepared to Debate.  Select one to two presenters to deliver the slide deck at the beginning.

e. Taking Purposeful Notes During the Debate May Serve as Evidence of Meeting the Standard.


HERE ARE SOME TIPS ON FINDING RELIABLE INFORMATION.

2. On Friday and Monday, we will start class with each side presenting its slide deck.  We will start with the affirmative team sharing its slide deck and making its case.  This will be followed by the negative sharing team its slide deck and presenting its case.

HERE ARE SOME TIPS ON GREAT SLIDE DECKS.

Visual power point makeovers from Jacqueline Bartram

3. Then we will go into a fishbowl formatted debate, with participants coming and going with arguments and support.  Teammates will be able to support one another, but only four people total -- two from each side, can be present at once in the fishbowl.

HERE'S HOW THE FISHBOWL WILL WORK.

4.  How You Will Be Assessed . . .

There is a rubric on its way.   This will be a Presentation assessment that requires evidence that you can listen well, speak well, and deliver information well.  

Each team member must make two meaningful contributions to the debate to meet the standard.
A meaningful contribution may be presenting new arguments, supporting arguments with new evidence, refuting arguments with logic or evidence.    Taking detailed notes to demonstrate listening may be enough evidence to meet the standard, but not exceed.

OUT OF CLASS WORK.

This week, you also have a blog post to do.  You have three choices -- all surrounding music education and all related to creating a visual that demonstrates evidence of your thinking.

OPTION 1.  Design a slide deck of at least six slides your own that demonstrates your personal position -- whether for or against  music education -- and your reasons why.  Be truthful.  Be reflective.  Be visual.  Use as few words as possible.

OPTION 2.  Design a slide deck of at least six slides that tells the story of your experiences with music education, whether good or bad.  Be truthful.  Be reflective.  Be visual.  Use as few words as possible.

OPTION 3.  Design a slide deck of at least six slides that summarizes an article, video or podcast you watched in preparation for the debate.

DESIGN CHALLENGE: MUSICAL SOLUTIONS.

How might we solve a problem with music OR solve a problem in the music industry?

DUE. Thursday/Friday Oct 20/21.

Rubric in POP CULTURE OUT Folder.

Pop Culture: Musical Solutions Design Challenge & the Business of Music

We'll start class with a little human litmus test to get a sense of our music listening experiences.

From there we'll talk about your blog post for this week.  It's a little research you need to do into the world of being a working musician in 2016.

Music Streaming

• How much do musicians really make from Spotify, iTunes and YouTube? | Technology | The Guardian
• http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/06/30/business/media/music-streaming-guide.html?_r=0
• A Musician's Guide to Streaming: The Pros & Cons of Spotify, Bandcamp, SoundCloud & More :: Music :: Features :: Paste
• Musicians Who Hate Spotify | Flavorwire
• Apple Music hits 10 million subscribers - The Washington Post 

You might take a listen to this podcast about Grooveshark, a now defunct streaming service.  

And this story of Macklemore & "Thrift Shop"

SHOW YOUR THINKING.

Blog.  Imagine you are an aspiring musician.  What path would you take to making a living with your music?  Which streaming service would you use?  Would you stay independent or sign with a label?  Use information from the above articles and any other research you'd like to conduct to support your decision.  Include text evidence and/or links to video/audio that helped you come up with your decision
DUE.  Friday. 10.7.2016

You'll spend just a little time jumping into those articles on your own. Get a sense of what an answer to that question might be.  

And then we're going to dive into your next design challenge and how we might use music to solve problems.

DISCOVERY Phase.

I'll be sharing examples of real world solutions that fit our criteria. (LiveAID and "We Are the World" to "Same Love" and Lemonade, Walkmans and Discmans to iPods and Spotify and more . . .)  And from there we will have time in class to brainstorm and ideate, to identify possible users, and generally get our design process underway.

Here's the rubric that is also available in the Pop Culture Fall 2016 OUT folder.  

Pop Culture Fall 2016: Musical Solutions Single Point Rubric

How might we use music to solve a problem?  Personal? Local? National? Global?

OR

How might we solve a problem in the music industry? Creative? Business? Delivery?

Creative Constraints:  

• Your prototype must be visible and shareable, but it does not need to be physical
• You must document your process (Discovery (Research/Problem Finding), Empathy (User Needs), Experiments (Brainstorming/Ideating/), Products
• You must submit a written or recorded explanation of the intentions behind your prototype.

Criteria	Evidence of Exceeding the Standard (clever, insightful, unique, powerful, creative, meaningful, professional)	What Meeting the Standard Looks Like	Evidence of Needs for Improvement (gaps, missing pieces or evidence, incomplete thoughts)
Musical Solution Prototype (MEDIA)		I like how your prototype presents an effective solution to the identified problem.  I like how every aspect of your prototype seems purposeful. I like how I only have to ask minimal questions to understand your solutions.
Design Process Documentation (MEDIA)		I like how your design documentation shows that you have identified a problem, considered the users needs, explored several solutions, and worked up a prototype. I like how you organized your photos/video/notes/sketches in a way that it is easy to see your thinking.
Written Explanations (WRITING) (OPTION A)		I like how your details are specific and make it clear to me what you intended with your prototype.  I like how well organized your writing appears and how it seems to show your voice.  I like how I get a strong sense of how your prototype will solve the problem.
Vocal Explanations (SPEAKING) (OPTION B)		I like how articulate your explanations come across because your details are specific and you make it clear to me what you intended with your prototype.  I like clearly you speak with a deliberate pace. I like how I get a strong sense of how your prototype will solve the problem.
Mechanics, Usage, Grammar, Spelling (MUGS)		I like how your work is nearly error free in terms of MUGS.  There may be one or two minor errors but you generally show control of your writing.
Timeliness (HABITS of WORK)		The final product is turned in within 24 hours of the agreed upon due date.

Pop Culture: Business of Music (Some of Our Resources)

Music Streaming

• How much do musicians really make from Spotify, iTunes and YouTube? | Technology | The Guardian
• A Musician's Guide to Streaming: The Pros & Cons of Spotify, Bandcamp, SoundCloud & More :: Music :: Features :: Paste
• Musicians Who Hate Spotify | Flavorwire
• Apple Music hits 10 million subscribers - The Washington Post 

SHOW YOUR THINKING.

Blog.  Imagine you are an aspiring musician.  What path would you take to making a living with your music?  Which streaming service would you use?  Would you stay independent or sign with a label?  Use information from the above articles and any other research you'd like to conduct to support your decision.  Include text evidence and/or links to video/audio that helped you come up with your decision

Pop Culture: Catching Up & Breathing & Blog Tracking

On Friday, we took time to catch up and breathe and do a little mental reset for our next design challenge which is coming your way next week.

Here is what should be in your Google Drive Pop Culture IN folder:

POP CULTURE LINEAGE PROJECT
Photos/videos of your model/visuals/design
Written or Recorded Explanations

MUSIC ROOTS
Trace an artist back 3 generations
Playlist with examples of the music of each influence
Explanations and visuals

COUNTRY V HIP-HOP
Graphic Organizer and Synthesis Paragraphs

LEGO MY POP CULTURE
Any pictures and explanations of what you created

OREO DESIGN CHALLENGE: ADVERTISE the POP CULTURE YOU LOVE
Any pictures and explanations

DESIGN A BAND  DESIGN CHALLENGE
Album cover
Biography of designed band
Reactions  (See the Design a Band Challenge from last class for a complete description of what should be there)

Here's what should be ON YOUR BLOG.

1. LEGO my POP CULTURE pics and explanation
2. OREO CHALLENGE pics and explanation
3. MUSIC ROOTS playlist, visuals,  and explanations
4. DESIGN A BAND Post One (the band)
5. DESIGN a BAND Post Two (answering the critical thinking questions)

Here's a link the to POP CULTURE FALL 2016 BLOG TRACKER.  You have editing access.  No need to make a copy.

Here's a video to help you post your links to your individual posts on the blog tracker.  The relevant info goes up to minute 13 -- this is from last spring's class.

We ended the day on Friday with looking briefly at why people LISTEN to music and why people MAKE music.   We did some work on post-it notes with this.  More next week . . . 

Pop Culture: Design Challenge: Design a Band

Pop Culture: Design a Band

We start today with this "How Might We . . . ?"

How might we create an intentional band out of random elements?  

This will be run similar to a DEEPdt  flash lab.

DISCOVER.

Make a list of bands and artists that you believe have really great names. Even if you don't love the music or consider them a favorite, you hear the name and think, "that's a great name."  Throw in good names of movies, good names of books, TV series, while you are at it.  

Put three of your favorite names -- music or not -- and put each on a sticky note and up the marker board.

I notice.  I wish.  I wonder.  We'll look at those band names up on the board and discuss using only those stems to start our thinking.

EMPATHY.

Partner with someone you don't know particularly well.

PART 1. 

4 Questions

1. How big of a role does music play in your life?

2. When do you listen to music?

3. What sorts of music do you listen to in those times? Bands or artists

4. Tell me about a time  you remember listening to band, going to a concert, or having another experience with music that you really enjoyed.

PART 2.

3x3 Interviews.  Three questions.  Three subjects.

1. What sorts of fonts appeal to you?  Handwriting? Block? Serif? San Serif?

by mostash.

2. What colors appeal to you?

by Dehahs.

3. Do you prefer realistic or abstract images?

Realistic To Abstract from kyoung

Collect your responses and include them on your blog post when you discuss the album art you create.  Use what you know appeals to others visually to inform your choices.

EXPERIMENT.

Create-A-Band Process 

I'd Give Credit to the Creator of this Process  But It's From a While Back & I Can't Recall the Link! #arghface.

1. Go to the Random Article link on the Wikipedia front page. (You can find it in the top left navigation menu.) The title of the random article is your new band/artist's name.

2. Go to the Random Quote link on the Quotations Page front page. (You can find it in the left side navigation menu.) You will get a list of random quotes. Pull either a full or partial quote from that page. That is the album title for your band's latest release. (You might also find some song titles this way as well.)

3. Go to Flickr and click on the 'Interesting Uploads from the Last 7 Days' link. (You can find it by scrolling down and looking beside the 'Take the Tour' link.)

4. Pull that information together and then use an app like Pages, Google Draw or Google Docs, a photo editor like iPhoto or Gimp, or any other application that lets you manipulate words and images, and create your album cover.  Export your finished work as a .JPG and post it or  PDF and screenshot it and post it on your blog.

PRODUCE.

5.  On your blog, create a context for your band.  Who are the members?  How did they form and when?  What genre(s) do they play?  What was the gig that led to them making this album?  Where do they play? In other words, what is the story behind the band?  

Here's the big huge giant challenge of this creative endeavor: take those random elements from above and make them all seem intentional.  How might you create sense out of what might be nonsense by applying the filter of music to it?  What does this say about the power of music?

6. In a separate blog post, choose an artist or band you enjoy.  Select an album by that performer. Explore the relationship between the artist's name, the album's name, and the cover art for that album.  To what extent do they align?  Where do you see a clear relationship between the visuals and the music?  Where do you see it not working out?  What about the band's logo or the font used on the album cover?

One to two descriptive paragraphs with visuals to illustrate.

Extra helpful?  Embed some Vimeo links or Spotify links or other ways of proving your point through the music.

You might get some inspiration for your album covers here

10 Iconic Album Covers (Yahoo) Here

99 Well Designed Album Covers (Inspiredology) Here

21 Great Albums with Not So Great Art (AV Club) Here

Lego'd Album Covers Here

Next class we'll get into some feedback rounds for our bands.

Pop Culture: Music Roots Review & Country Vs. Hip-Hop

Music Roots.

Last week we used our time together to explore the roots of music. I  sketchnoted on the board while folks researched and we dug into musical etymology or the history of where contemporary music comes from.

Here are some of our sketchnotes from that experience.

Essentially we established that the rhythms and beats of contemporary western music originated mostly in the music of African and indigenous Latin and South American peoples, with melodies and instrumentation largely influenced by northern and eastern Europeans.

Out of Class Work from Last Week.

The homework for the weekend was to investigate the roots of a contemporary musical artist or band you enjoy and trace those roots back three generations -- not just three decades or three influences -- but three generations of sounds/styles/artists.  For example, we were able to trace Taylor Swift back to Tim McGraw (half-a-one) to Dolly Parton (two) to Hank Williams Sr (three) to Robert Johnson (four).   Create a playlist of those roots, embed that playlist on your blog and write or record an explanation of your findings.  Include links to any research you did -- Wikipedia articles, websites, conversations you had with fans, etc.

Pop Culture Lineage Project Shares.

We'll start our classes this week with a project share or two.  The one's I've seen so far are fantastic.

Country Vs. Hip Hop.

This week we'll take a look at two genres that seem -- at first glance -- to have more dissimilar than common. We'll look under the hoods of both and see if the branches of hip-hop and country are too far from their roots to be united again.

The graphic organizer for this work is in the Pop Culture 2016 Out folder in Google Drive and linked here as well.

Country vs. Hip-Hop


When you complete the graphic organizer, it should go in your Pop Culture IN folder on Google Drive so I can check out your rad thinking.

Out of Class Work.

To Be Announced.

It very much depends on how things go on Monday.  I have an idea and need to keep thinking.

Expect that there will be a blog post due by Friday and it will require creating something. 

Pop Culture: Music & Film

Station 1.  Music Supervision and Soundtracking.

Step 1.  Choose the clip from our class folder on Google Drive for which you'd like to create a soundtrack.

Step 2.  Dig into the CD bin to experience what music supervisors go through when they are sent unknown music.

Step 3. Investigate that music to find three songs.

a) One that suits it perfectly and the intention/feeling/mood of the scene.

b) One that transforms the scene into a different intention/feeling/mood scene.

c) One that just doesn't fit.  At all.

Step 3.   Document those songs perhaps by finding them on YouTube/Vimeo or Spotify and keeping a list.

Step 4.  Read & Rose/Bud/Thorn one of these three articles.   Then explain how the insights you gained from this  article might have impacted the work you did on the activity in class.  Post your thinking and your Rose/Bud/Thorn work on your blog.

Glee. http://content.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,2027592,00.html

Twilight. http://www.fastcocreate.com/1679123/twilight-soundtrack-saga-why-there-will-be-no-white-wedding-for-bella-and-edward

Broad City. http://www.billboard.com/articles/business/6451150/broad-city-music-supervisor-matt-feldman



Station 2.  Music Composition and Scoring.

Step 1.  Choose the clip you'd like to score.

Step 2.  Use GarageBand, Soundation, live instrumentation, or another music generator to compose an original score for that clip.

Ennio Morricone.  http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/jun/03/ennio-morricone-good-film-scores-replaced-by-bad-and-ugly

Best Film Scores of 2014. http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/the-15-best-film-scores-of-2014

Michael Giacchino. How to Score a Film in 6 Lessons.  http://www.vulture.com/2013/10/michael-giacchino-how-to-score-a-movie.html#

Step 3.  Read & Rose/Bud/Thorn one of these three articles.   Then explain how the insights you gained from this  article might have impacted the work you did on the activity in class.  Post your thinking and your Rose/Bud/Thorn work on your blog.

SHOW YOUR LEARNING.

Blog: 3+ Posts

Critical Creativity Options.

Option 1.  Soundtrack a Clip. Choose a clip from MovieClips.com or use one from our class folder and link/embed a song that suits it, a song that transforms it, and a song that's completely inappropriate for it.  Explain your thinking.

Option 2.  Score a clip.  Choose a clip from MovieClips.com or use one from our class folder and use Garageband, Soundation, live instrumentation/vocals, or another tool to design a score.  Explain your thinking.

Option 3.  Six Shot Story.  Tell a complete story using six different camera angles.  You may choose to create this as a video or as a storyboard.

REQUIRED BLOG POST.  Rose. Bud. Thorn. Read One of the Articles Above and Complete a Rose/Bud/Thorn Graphic Organizer over that article.  Post the results of your thinking on your blog.

Pop Culture: How Might We Design a Better Music Experience?

Today, we are going to run a 20 minute design flashlab.  How might we design a better listening device?

We'll use DEEP design thinking to do this.

Discovery.  We'll start with making a list of all the devices we use to listen to music 1 min.

Empathy.  We'll make a massive bug list of what annoys about our listening devices. See what we like, dislike.  5 min.

Experiment. We'll dig into the maker cart and come up with prototypes for better listening devices.  They may be tiny.  They may be massive.  10 min.

Produce.  We'll share and quickly get some feedback.  4 min.

Consider building something like this for your project due this week.

Then you will have time to work on your projects, blogging, Pinterest and more.

Blog. 3+ Posts.

Curate.  1 Pinterest Pin.

Required Critical Creativity Blog Post Options.

Option 1. (From my friend Amy Burvall)   Analog Remix Found Poetry: Developed by David Theriault (another friend of mine) who has an excellent blog post/lesson plan about this with ideas for all disciplines. You can create the Burrough effect by laying two poems or lyrics or any text next to each other (he even suggests chapters from a textbook) and manually creating the found poem using a variety of techniques (“blackout poetry” is always a good choice, but you can get more fancy).

Option 2. Sketchnote the lyrics to a favorite song of yours. What are sketchnotes?

Option 3. Create a YouDubber that takes a current news story and puts a song on top of the footage for a an intentional effect. Explain your thinking.

http://www.youdubber.com/

Design & Submit. Music Culture Projects.  

Due. Wednesday. 10.7.15.

We start our film unit on Wednesday with a nice bridge: film score composition, sound tracking and music supervision.