Paying (For Our) Attention

The core idea for this entire semester will be that of 'the attention economy.' This comes from the reading from Week 2. You will need to explain how the use of music in a film is presented in such a way as to capture audience attention. The use of music in media must be understood as part of larger social, technological, and historical forces that shape how it sounds, how it works, how it is used, and how it is experienced. Therefore, a key issue in this subject is the ways in which changes in the television, film and music industries have shaped the ways in which music is used in various visual media. The goal of this assessment is to connect the aesthetics of a particular use of music to the larger ‘industrial’ context in which it appears. To this end, your task in this assessment will be to connect the use of popular music in a television show or advertisement with the larger social, technological, and historical forces and concerns that might have influenced the use of that music. There are circuits that link a media production to the song, artist, and viewer. These links don't merely shape the meanings and experiences of the music, they produce them. You need to explain and analyse them.

Two Musical Media Analyses

Your task will be to analyse the use, function and meaning of popular music in a media production of your own choosing from the following weeks of class:

            • Analysis #1: Weeks 3-5. Films and Television.

            • Analysis #2: Weeks 6-9. Ads, Social Media, and Games.

As will become clear, these two sets of classes concern different forms of media that produce different modes of attention and profit. For each assessment, the goal will be to analyse the use of one or two popular songs in a particular media production and explain the role those songs play in the contexts in which they appear. In both cases, you need to make a case as to why the use of the music is meant to enhance the profitability and value of the production. You will need to apply the relevant analytic concepts presented in class and display some fluency with both the visual and musical methods of analysis used in lectures and tutorials.

Musical Media Quizzes

There will be one listening and viewing quiz every week in tutorial or lecture. It will consist of either multiple choice or short answer questions. Some questions will be about a media clip that will be shown and others will be about key concepts and ideas. Your goal will be to briefly and concisely explain what the music is doing in the clip and what interpretation might be ascribed to the music in specific relation to the narrative, visual or informational content of the clip.

Final Essay

Your final project will be an extensive and detailed analysis of the use of music in film, television, video game or online multimedia production. You will need to develop a thesis, argument or research question and support your question or argument with evidence drawn from a range of sources. The goal will be to explain the aesthetic, social and industrial (or economic) connections between the music in use and the programs or video games or films in which it has been presented.

Class Participation

You are required to attend weekly lectures and tutorials. A ‘satisfactory’ record of attendance’ is an absolute pre-requisite for passing this unit of study. ‘Satisfactory’ requires you to attend a minimum of 20 hours of lectures and 10 tutorials. Unless written evidence of illness or misadventure is supplied, students who attend less than this will lose marks.