health and safety in the music industry

In the music industry there are many issues involved that are to be taken into account. There have been many accidents during performances from famous bands because of the lack of health an safety, one accident that springs to mind was a performance of Fade To Black by Metallica in Montreal in 1992, when the intro solo was being played by Kirk Hammett, frontman James Hetfield stepped into a coloured flame which was 12ft high and burning at 3200 degrees. On the Metallica wiki it states that the pyro technics only told the band that there was going to be on the outside wings of the stage, it was later revealed that the pyrotechnics failed to inform the band that this was in addition to the pyro that was already in place leading up to the accident.

http://metallica.wikia.com/wiki/Montreal_1992

But in terms of health and safety now days in the music industry, it is crucial that these rules of health and safety are put in place to prevent accidents like the 1992 Montreal accident happening again. A few examples of health and safety range from access and exits to crowd management. Here are a few examples of health and safety used in the music industry.

Access and Exits:

At any venue there must always be accesses and exits to let a large number of crowds enter and exit a venue, in any type of venue there also must be emergency exits for people or crowds to leave a venue in case of an emergency, an example of uses of an emergency exit would be the Manchester bombing at the Ariana Grande concert on the 22nd of may 2017, the incident resulted in 119 people being injured and 22 people dead including the bomber himself, if it weren't for emergency exits then the incident would be much worse.

Secondly in terms of Access and exits traffic would be involved due to it being planned on how the audience's transport and the performers transport would work so there are no problems and the same applies for exits, so how the performers and audience would leave with no problems.

Noise:

The hearing for both the performers and audience is taken into consideration, in any rehearsal the noise level is adjusted to be suitable for both the audience and performers because the higher the volume is the greater the risk is to the hearing of everyone of the venue. A lot of musicians or anyone else in the music industry suffer from tinnitus (a condition that results in someone hearing a sound that is not caused from an external source), so in terms of someone suffering from tinnitus they would start to hear humming, whistling and buzzing sounds.

Crowd management:

Crowd management in any venue is monitored so that the event organiser knows how many people are arriving to his or hers venue and who is in charge of dealing with the crowds, thats why in many performances you see security guards right at the front of the stage because without them chaos reigns, an example of this would be that in the documentary Megadeth behind the music, frontman Dave Mustaine explains that during one of Megadeths concerts the barricade that separated them from the crowd had collapsed causing the crowd to rush to the stage, causing the band to finish their show early and exiting the stage as fast as possible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJQ5m3bdWhQ (crowd incident starts at 53:45).

Roles in the music industries.

Producer: The role of the producer in the music buisness is to primarily work with the artist,
This will range from working with different artists and record labels to supervise or have
an overview for the whole recording process.

The producer should be someone who has had the full expierience of beinjg a musician, ranging from performing at places like glastonbury etc. To having a wide range of musical knowledge, (so music theory and i suppose production theory. Whilst also demonstrating his or hers creativity and interpersonal skills.

Music editor: The role of a music editior is not the easiest job, the role of the music editor is to synchronizeboth video and music together. In terms of gaming the music editor provides a backup piece of music which i think is known as a score to stand in as the soundtrack as the piece of music which is being created for the game or level is not ready yet.

In terms of what is needed for the role or job of a music editor, is that they must have great musical sensitivity and an awareness of when the music for either games, adverts, movies or television programes can make or break in terms of whether the scene is emotional or dramatic etc.
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Performer/songwriter: Being a performer or a songwriter is one of the main building blocks that hold the music industry together. The role of a performer or a songwriter is based upon his or hers musical creativity on either a musical instrument or software instrument.

In some aspects some artists use recording studios inside their home, an example of this would be Steve Vai, on the website http://www.vai.com/the-studios/, it states that after touring with ex Van Halen member David Lee Roth, Vai started to create his own home recording studio known as the mothership, this led to many other albums and home studios to be created.

Home Studios:
. Mothership- hollywood hills
. LA LA land- Lake Tahoe
.The Harmony Hut- Encino

Albums recorded at home studios:
.Mothership- Passion and Warfare, Alien love secrets, guitar parts to Slip of the tongue (Whitesnake), Sex and Religion and Fire Garden.

.LA LA Land- rest of Sex and Religion

https://www.careersinmusic.com/music-performing-writing-careers/

Health and safety regarding Ox-jam:

Food and drink: In any performance, soundcheck and rehearsal, food and drink is a NO GO. This is due to the fact there is electrical equipment everywhere ranging from the microphones, amps and stage-boxes. So lets look at the fact that when you have a drink in the presence of electrical equipment, you are more likely to have more electric volts going through you than the national grid. And in terms of eating food in the presence of electrical or musical equipment, even though you wont get electrified you are leaving greasy residue on instruments and gear, not a pretty sight for any performers.

Hearing problems: One of the most common problems when being in the music business whether it is being a performer, roadie or a music technician. You are most likely to suffer from a condition known as Tinnitus, now tinnitus is a medical condition which affects the hearing. Musicians tend to develop Tinnitus because they are exposed such excessive loud noise causing symptoms or sounds such as buzzing, whistling and humming. 

https://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Tinnitus/Pages/Introduction.aspx

Sound Technician: 

The role of a sound technician ranges from participating in advertising, audio recordings, broadcasting for radio or television and live performance. When working as a sound technician you would be expected to do a various amount of work such as working in recording studios and working on multiple locations such as sets for films and television. 

Another thing that would be expected to be done for being a sound technician that if you are a sound technician who free lances, you would would work on fixed term contracts, now a fixed term contract is a type of contract given by an employer with a set date of when that contract ends they are used in cases of  when covering for an employee who is sick or on leave. 

https://www.crunch.co.uk/knowledge/employment/fixed-term-contracts-what-are-they-and-how-can-they-come-to-an-end/ 

https://www.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles/sound-technician-broadcasting-film-video

Level 2 Oxjam performance evaluation plan

1. Having watched the video of the performance, what did you enjoy most about your band's performance?


The thing that I enjoyed most of all in my group's performance is the fact that it had an emotional feel and vibe to the entierity of the song.


2. What did you enjoy the the least?


The thing that I enjoyed the least is more a personal opinion of how the vocals, I believe the vocals in the chorus of Price Tag were slightly out of tune, possibly due to excitement of singing the song in souch a wide audience.


3. What suggestions would you make to improve the performance next time?


Have equipment (cables) that worked fine. During the rehersals running up to the performance I used my own guitar and cables but on the day of the performance one of my cables had stopped working, the reason why was due to a kink in the fibre wires themselves.


4. What did you enjoy most about your own performance?


The thing that I enjoyed most about the performance from my perspective is how I stayed in time during most of the song as it was a challenge for me to do so.


5. What did you do enjoy the least?


The thing I enjoyed the least was me trying to be too smart for my own good in terms of struuming the chords I was playing and it slightly threw me off place.


6. What suggestions would you make to improve your performance next time?


Cant think of anything.


7. What, if anything, do you think you could have done differently?


The thing i would done differently would have been to have a more techincal approach to the guitar in some parts of the song ( I.E: verse).


8. What, if anything, hindered your progress during the rehearsals?


. People not turning up (including me).
. Group members kept changing.
. Song kept changing.

My rehearsal plan

On my level 2 course at South Thames College we have been doing live performance rehearsals, but before we actually rehearse each person in each group has to fill out a rehearsal plan or rehearsal diary, in each box we have to write what our rehearsal objectives are, what problems that could occur during our rehearsals, did we achieve our objects-how did we solve any problems and what we have to prepare for our next rehearsals.

Firstly, the reason why I am doing this is because the course that I am doing is a music course and it is primarily focused around performance and the use of instruments whilst still providing some production and tech courses.

Another reason why I am doing this performance is really two reasons, the first reason is that south thames is hosting an Oxfam event or concert (to be specific) called Ox-jam and each group in my class have to perform a song that is based around helping other people out.

Day 1:

Date: 20/9/17

Time 09:15

Rehearsal objective: Clear structure of the song

Reason for objective:  As this was the first ever live rehearsal I have done at college I had to know the structure of the whole song, this meant what chords, scales and modes I can use and when I have to change the chords I'm playing like a minor to a major chord (E.T.C).

What problems could occur?:

Another thing to think about is really the problems that could occur during each rehearsal and I think that the most common problems that I would have to face as a musician is the fact that people would not be turning up on time or not at all, it is a common factor to take into account because when this happens it messes up the structure or integrity of the song because you have to change the way the song is structured so it suits which musician or musicians are there.

Another problem that would arise would be broken equipment, now this has happened before and it won't be the last time, this could range from a kink in the wire or jack lead to a blown amp.

Did you achieve your objectives? How did you solve any problems?:

Preparations for next rehearsal?:

As a guitarist I had to find my own way to prepare for my next rehearsal so what I thought I would do would be to try and use a Jazz guitar technique called superimposing or super imposition.

Day 2:

Date: 25/9/17

Time: 09:15

Rehearsal objective: Superimpose guitar chords (possibly over piano)

What problems could occur?

A lot of problems that happened on this day was that including myself and a few other people was lateness, during this period of time lateness was a problem with me because I have to travel such a long way from my house to college, so I would leave my house at 07:30 and would end up getting to college at near enough 09:25, 10 minutes after lesson had started.

Another problem that was faced during the rehearsals was that the microphones that were used were just dodgy and what I mean is that they were near enough broke, when members or better yet the singers in my group would sing into the mic and their voice would be amplified then would automatically cut out, this was found out to be mostly the cables we were using.

Preparation for next rehearsal: My preparation was to try and think of some modes and scales that I my want to try and use and the scales that I came up with was...

. Spanish Phrygian (1,b2,b3,3,4,5,b6,b7)
. Phrygian Dominant(1,b2,3,4,5,b6,b7)
. Harmonic Minor (1,2,b3,4,5,b6,b7)
. Harmonic major ( 1,2,3,4,5,b6,7)
. Aeolian (1,2,b3,4,5,6,b7)
. Symmetrical Diminished(1,b2,b3,3, sharp 4, 5,6,b7)
. Symmetrical Major-(1,b3,3,5,b6,7)

Day 3:

Date: 27/9/17

Time: 09:15

Rehearsal Objective: Run through the song

Problems that could occur?

Lateness (already covered)

preparation for next rehearsal: keep going through scales.


Day 4:

Date: 28/9/17

Time: 09:15

Rehearsal objective: Fair understanding of the song structure

Problems that could occur: Lateness


Day 5:

Date: 2/10/17

Time: 09:15

Rehearsal objectives: Run through of song/ few adjustments

Problems during rehearsals: Forgetting chord progression

During my rehearsals so far there have been many changes ranging from people leaving then coming back, lateness, broken equipment etc. But the main concern from my perspective is that I was struggling to remember the chord progression that I was doing, this was due to the fact I was taking medication to combat my mental health problems that I am still currently going through.

Preparations for next rehearsal: Practice improvising.

transformers magazine article

The film that I am going to talk about is the animated film of transformers from 1986. The film was produced by Joe Bacal and Tom Griffith and was directed by Nelson Shin. The movie was released on August 8^th 1986 and had a budget of £6 million. The running time was about 84 minutes. In the film different music artists contributed into make a soundtrack for this film, the artists that I know that were involved was Stan Bush and Lion.  

The plot for this film is that at the start of the film, the audience is introduced to the character and main villain Unicron. A cybernetic planet that survives by consuming other planets. This then leads through the opening credits (the music for the opening credits for the film was a rock version of the transformers them produced and performed by a band called lion.), on the next scene we see the transformers home planet known as cybertron which has been taking over by the decepticons, the audience are then introduced to other transformers such as megatron, starscream and soundwave. The next scene is much the same except we are introduced to the autobots, which are lead, by the most iconic transformer Optimus Prime. The next scene starts off a bit slow but it gradually gets faster, in this scene we are introduced to another autobot going by the name of Hot Rod (who later becomes Rodimus Prime at the end of the film), the scene starts to get faster when the decepticons decide to attack autobot city on earth, this then leads to the first major confrontation which is megatron vs Optimus Prime but due to hot rods foolish actions the fight leads to death of Optimus prime but the birth of Galvatron. The next of the film is more of a manhunt mainly because now because the audience is now introduced to Galvatron, the autobots are being hunted by this new transformer so the autobot matrix of leadership, so this results in the autobots being separated into different groups but they are on different planets but soon they are reunited Where they face unicron in person. Whilst some of the autobots try to find some of their companions, the autobot hot rod faces Galvatron alone for the matrix of leadership. Hot rod defeats Galvatron by throwing him out of unicron and opens the matrix of leadership to light the autobots darkest hour and so he becomes Rodimus prime the new leader of the Autobots, he then opens the matrix that destroys unicron from the inside. The final scene shows all of the surviving transformers on cybertron talking about a new beginning and a new chapter and that’s the end of the film.

The codes and conventions for this transformers film is basically using Hollywood conventions, what I mean by this is that Hollywood uses a common idea in this film and that is basically showing Earth being attacked by aliens and the hero’s (the Auto-bots) fighting the bad guys (the Decepticons).  Other codes and conventions used in this film is the good guys and the bad guys in the film, the good guy of the film would be Optimus Prime and the bad guy would be Megatron. 

This film was created in 1986, but when people watched tis film the narrator said that the transformers film was set in the year 2005, 20 years after the last television series of the generation 1 transformers, so you could say that the film was different episodes put into one so that after people have watched the film and if there was another series of transformers then some events would make sense to the audience. 

I would not say that getting the film to be set in a different time is not really a typical idea of all superhero movies, I mean there are some movies that are set in the future or the past, the movies that I have watched that are set in the future would have been films like Judge Dread, Robocop and The Terminator. But with the terminator film it starts off with the film showing the audience the future which is basically humans going to war against the machines. Some films start of in the future but then get set in the past, examples of films like this would be Men in Black 3 and yet again The terminator.

In this transformers film there are a total of 18 Autobots, they are Optimus prime, hot rod/Rodimus Prime, Ultra Magnus, Springer, Arcee, Kup, Wheelie, Blur, Blaster, Perceptor, Grimlock, Slag, Swoop, Jazz, Cliff Jumper, Bumblebee, Ironhide, and Brawn.

The total of Decepticons for this film is also 18, they are megatron/ galvatron, Cyclonus, Starscream, Sound wave, Frenzy, Rumble, Devastator, Bone crusher, Hook, Scavenger, Scrapper, Shock Wave, Astro train, Blitz wing, Kick back, Shrapnel.

The Autobots are voiced as followed

Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen)

Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime (Judd Nelson)

Ultra Magnus (Robert Stack)

The decepticons are voiced as followed

Megatron (Frank Welker)

Galvatron (Leonard Nimoy)

Star scream (Chris Latta)

The style and theme of the transformers film is an action, a bit of emotional scenes too. The film is much like the series and it shows non-stop action but when you watch the film for the first time you have different emotions that you would not have got from the television series, I mean there is no doubt that the viewers would have been very upset in the scene where Optimus prime dies this is because you don’t expect that to happen, you expect him to be the main character that will survive in the film, the people watching the film would have been surprised and shocked because in the film we see other iconic transformers like Iron hide being destroyed by Megatron so that makes you think that is there is another series of transformers would they return to the franchise and series. In superhero films the killing of a main character or an iconic character rarely happens but I suppose doing this is more of a last resort to keep the story rolling and making sense to the audience as the film continues. Other things to notice with this film is that it is different to the live action film of transformers is that the 1986 film sticks to the boundaries of the television series mainly because this films was like a super long episode of transformers that would relate to the next series and would also have references to the next series. Basically what I am saying is that if there was another series of transformers then any events that happened in that series would relate to the film. But the live action film is different mainly because each of those films have separate story lines to them.

The next thing that I want to talk about this film is the props used in the film, now in my opinion there is now point of really talking about this because the transformers film is just an animated film just like the television series, but if you think about it props may have been used to create the sounds in the film. For example the sound for the explosive hitting devastator may have been created using fireworks or for the sound of the rockets may have been created by a flamethrower or something I am unsure.

But because I am talking about the animated transformers film and not the live action film that was made in 2007 by Michael Bay, I think that it is important to talk about the items in the film or better yet the transformers franchise. The item that I want to discuss is the Auto-bot matrix of leadership, this is significant to talk about because in the overall plot the matrix is used to show a new leader of the autobots has risen or as Optimus Prime puts it in the film “an autobot shall rise from our ranks, and use the power of the matrix to light our darkest hour.” (This quote was taken from the scene where Optimus Prime dies), when you hear Optimus say this it sort of gives away the ending of the film. When you watch the other 3 transformers films that were directed by Michael bay the films don’t really have an important item to use in each of the films (tell a lie) the first live action film that was made in 2007 did focus around a certain object and that is the all-spark, the all-spark is basically the transformers life source so you can compare this version of the film to the 1986 version of the film. But the second transformers film Revenge of the fallen, it is quite similar to the 1986 film mainly because this film features the Matrix of leadership also. But the only difference is that this version of the matrix can resurrect the transformers, an example of this is when the audience sees Optimus Prime coming back to life in Revenge of the fallen and the resurrection of Sentinal Prime in the third film Dark of the moon. So in conclusion to this, the Matrix of leadership is an important item in the transformers film because this item keeps the story going and is an iconic item used in the transformers universe.

When watching the transformers film over and over again I have noticed that there are sub-plots used in this film, the sub-plots in this film show the Auto-bots being separated and landing on different planets, with these sub-plots used in the film the audience is introduced to new characters such as Wheelie. The other sub-plots used in the movie also help’s the transformers and the audience by giving background information on who unicron is. 

Films like Green Lantern, Men in black do feature aliens in their films, but most films tend not to use aliens mainly because the director wants to keep the story more realistic so it appeals to the audience. But in the transformers film they get there power or ability to transform from something called a T-cog, this cog allows the transformers to transform. Other powers that the transformers have is that they can scan different vehicles so they can copy every aspect of that vehicle so they can transform.  

The narrative for this film is a linear narrative because the film sequence are in chronological order so they are working towards an end. The film does supports Todorov's theory of narrative so the equilibrium is the autobots on earth and getting on with each other. The disruption is when the decepticons attack the autobot city on earth. The realisation of the disruption is when the transformer leave earth to find salvation. To repair the equilibrium the autobots must destroy Unicron. The restoration of equilibrium is when the autobots re-claim Cybertron as their home. 

The target audience for this film would be for kids and would have a U certificate, The age range for this film would be from 6-15, this film has a simple narrative to follow, like every other superhero film, this film is watched by kids because of the characters which are one dimentional and easy to follow their development. The locations would be earth, space, cybertron (which is a fictional planet), this would apply to the target audience because of other films like Superman, Green lantern they have similar settings and this is what the target audience is expecting. There is lots of action through out the film and this would keep the target audience interested. The dialogue in this film is very simple and easy to follow for the target audience to understand. 

In my opinion the transformers film is like any other superhero film because the codes and conventions that are used through out the movie such as the plot, location and dialogue is much the same as any other super hero film like Superman, Green Lantern.

media cover work 17/1/2014

1. Open world game play: i think that Open world game play is a way of the game not have a limited of space for the game character to travel around the whole place, games like this would be G.T.A
Saints row, Prototype 1 and 2.

2.sandbox games are basically known as free roaming games that use free roaming and free roaming is when the character in the game can do their own thing like in G.T.A and you are free roaming you can basically steal cars, kill people, travel to far places or just find Easter eggs (things that are not in the game). Side quests in this game would be stopping crimes that happen in the game.

10/3/14 media work

when games are produced Characterization is used by the producers and developers mainly to sell the game to the target audience, to make the game play more exciting for the gamer and to help establish the genre and the narrative of the game. Bright colors in gaming would suggest that the game is a "family friendly" game, games like Mario or donkey Kong but games with dark colors would suggest violence and horror, games like this would be prototype or Soul reaver.

A game that i have played that has a strong protagonist is the first prototype game, i was going to talk about prototype 2 but the protagonist in the first game becomes the villain in the second game and the protagonist for prototype 1 is Alex Mercer and his role in this game is to stop a virus that is known as the black light virus and the things that were successful with this Characterization is the dark colors used on the character.

Back story  is the narrative details of a character that have happened before the game's story-the characters history. Two games that i have played that have back story is the recent tomb raider game and star wars the force unleashed, and tomb raider is a back story because it is a prequel to the other tomb raider games because this game show how Lara croft became who she is in the other tomb raider games and in the star wars game there is a back story for the main character Star killer in the first mission and that is that he was to be trained to be a jedi but instead he gets trained by darth vader.