Example 1: Experimental Music
This song, "Thy Mission" (feat. Mac Demarco), is from one of my favorite bands called The Garden. They create music that fits the experimental genre. Not only have they specifically stated that they produce experimental music, but you can tell based on the stylistic elements incorporated into their songs. The conventions of the experimental music genre include unique lyricism, melodies and chord progressions that don't fit within mainstream pop, and influence from an eclectic mix of other musical sounds. Within this song, there is heavy use of guitar, transitions from fast-paced to more relaxed instrumentation, and an "odd" set of lyrics. The purpose of this genre is to provide a refreshing take on music that is different than what you'd typically hear on the radio, as well as to explore different types of sounds that make up a song. The intended audience consists of people who listen to alternative music, especially young adults and teenagers who want to avoid conforming to societal norms.
Example 2: Documentaries
This is a promotional image for the documentary series Hamilton's Pharmacopeia on Viceland. It follows researcher Hamilton Morris as he explores the chemistry, social impacts, and history of psychopharmaceuticals around the globe. Conventions of documentaries include a focus on a certain topic, nonfiction reporting, interviews with those related to the topic, and the use of voiceover narration. As a documentary, its main purpose is to educate the audience with information that is related to the topic. Other additional purposes include bringing exposure to a topic, as well as entertaining the audience. Documentary audiences usually feature those who have a thirst for learning new information. In the case of this documentary series, its audience includes people from all age brackets who enjoy learning the scientific and socio-cultural impacts of psychoactive substances in various societies.
Example 3: Super Bowl Commercials
This is the infamous "Baby Nut" commercial, produced by Planters for the 2020 Super Bowl. This advertisement fits the model of the typical Super Bowl ad. Conventions of a Super Bowl commercial tend to include an extremely high budget, the featuring of celebrities or other figures in pop culture, a shocking reveal/twist, and effective branding. This specific commercial featured a multi-million dollar budget, cameos of celebrities and popular figures (Mr. Clean, the Kool-Aid Man, Wesley Snipes, and Matt Walsh), the surprising reveal of a new brand figure, and multiple references to the company. The purpose of Super Bowl commercials is to bring viral amounts of attention to their company, which will hopefully result in higher sales of their products. The overall audience of a Super Bowl commercial is those watching the Super Bowl, which involves a wide range of demographics. This ad could have either been targeted towards older viewers who were familiar with the former "Mr. Peanut" character, or younger viewers who were not familiar with the Planters brand.
Your choices for things within genre were very unique. I actually found them quite interesting. I had never heard of The Garden before but I was pleased with their music and sound. They have a sound that is semi similar to things that I have heard before but with their own style of sound into their music. I was not heavily focused on their lyrics but the ones I did catch were as you put it "odd." However, they still sparked my interest and I may look into them soon. I am not a massive documentary fan but I have wanted to get into them at some point because I think they have some interesting knowledge that can be found within them. Though I do have to slightly disagree with you saying that documentary is for all age brackets as many of the things talked about could fly over young children's minds. I actually had not seen the "Baby Nut" commercial during the Super Bowl and had forgotten of its existence after all the memes happened.
ReplyDeleteHii Aliyah! Based on the way you describe it, I think I might enjoy The Garden, so I'm putting it on my mental list of music to listen to when I'm looking to expand my music taste, thanks! Also, that documentary sound very interesting! I've recently been seeing a lot of articles and posts related to the possibility of using psychoactive drugs, particularly hallucinogens like LSD in a pharmaceutical or therapeutic context, so I'd be interested to see if there was more information in that documentary that I don't know of yet. Also, I think about the baby nut commercial often, because it's incredible to think about the way popular culture guides the spending of millions of dollars for large companies and their advertising campaigns. Like, companies spend millions to analyze and try to replicate the mass appeal of memes, which is just mindblowing for me to consider.
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