Reality by Design: Advertising Image, Music and Sound Design in the Production of Culture by Joyce Kurpiers Department of Music Duke University Date:_____________________ Approved: ___________________________ Louise Meintjes, Supervisor __________________________ Scott Lindroth __________________________ Negar Mottahedeh __________________________ Orin Starn Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Music in the Graduate School of Duke University 2009 ABSTRACT Reality by Design: Advertising Image, Music and Sound Design in the Production of Culture by Joyce Kurpiers Department of Music Duke University Date:_____________________ Approved: ___________________________ Louise Meintjes, Supervisor __________________________ Scott Lindroth __________________________ Negar Mottahedeh __________________________ Orin Starn An abstract of a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Music in the Graduate School of Duke University 2009 Copyright by Joyce Kurpiers 2009 Abstract This dissertation explores creative music, sound design and image production in the context of consumer culture (as defined by how its participants socialize in late- capitalist culture using commodities). Through the stylization of image, music and sound effects, advertisers communicate an abstract concept of a brand, and instantiate the brand through an audience member’s heightened experience of the brand via the ad. Facilitated by socialized and mediatized frameworks for brand communications, branding is an embodied practice that relies on the audience member’s participation with the brand through her/his real experience with an (audiovisual) advertisement. The effect of making the abstract brand tangible relies on successfully executing advertising objectives to create “impact” through stylized and often hyperreal representations of reality. At the same time, audience members’ encounters with ads and branding practices represent bona fide experiences for them within American-capitalist cultural practices, and audience members take part in these practices as part of social participation and general making- sense of their everyday lives. In late-capitalist consumer culture, the idea of the “consumer” operates within the liminal space of constructions of hyper-reality and the self. Through advertising, corporate interests mediate how people relate to and through commodities as consumers. Through ads, producers communicate an idea of a brand, that is, the collection and stylistic design of specific visual and sonic symbols, and the associated ideas, values or emotions that project an identity or persona about a company and its products or services. In attempts to increase the efficacy of their ads, ad producers fashion image, music and iv sound design specifically in ways they believe will generate “impact,” that is, a physical, physiological or emotional response to audiovisual stimuli that are infused with symbolic meanings and values. In their attempts to create effective ads, ad producers circumscribe identities of people based on demographics, behavior metrics, or a host of other measures intended to define what the industry calls “target audiences.” With the belief that target audience members share wants, needs and values, ad producers build constellations of audiovisual signifiers that they believe will resonate with target audience members. These signifiers borrow from cultural narratives and myths to tell stories about brands and products, and communicate how people’s lived experiences might be transformed through consumption practices. With meticulous formulation of image, music and sound design, ad producers create a “hyperreality,” that is exaggerated, heightened or stylized representation of reality. Through these carefully produced audio and visual artifacts, ad producers (re)circulate cultural narratives they believe communicate meaning and ideas of value, and make those abstract beliefs tangible through the audience member’s sensorial experiences. With hyperreality grounded in an audience members’ body and emotions, ad producers believe they can shape and direct audience members’ ideas about their personal identities, and that of others and social groups. Additionally, ad image, music and sound design contribute to the naturalization of the ways people can socialize around branded identities and interconnect through commodities. v Acknowledgements First and foremost, I thank everyone who participated in my study through interviews and internships, particularly those at MSA/BIS and the Echo Boys/Crash+Sues. I appreciate the trust you all placed in me as I peered into your working lives. I appreciate your tolerance of my constant presence and incessant inquiries. I appreciate your patience in teaching me the details of your work and your thinking. Dozens of participants shaped my own thinking throughout the work of this project, most of whom not mentioned directly in these pages. I find it difficult to express the depth of my gratitude for your participation and friendship. Second, I thank my committee: Scott Lindroth, Negar Mottahedeh, Orin Starn, and Louise Meintjes. Over the course of this project’s three-year process, I experienced my most intensive and formative intellectual development. Louise, I thank you in particular for signing on to an aggressive completion plan, and recognizing how to mentor me effectively and graciously. With my committee I thank several scholars outside of Duke who supported me through conversation and chapter draft review, among them Tim Taylor, Tom Porcello, David Samuels, and Diane Pecknold. I’m often humbled to acknowledge ways I’ve been invited into your intellectual circles. Next, I thank my support network, friends and loved ones who supported me through the rigors and dysfunctions of my graduate school experience. So many have meant so much to me, and I mention only a few here. Thanks, Keith, for opening your home and giving me a cheap yet very comfortable place to crash when I was in Minneapolis. Thanks, Linda, for believing in me resolutely and cheerfully. Thanks, Pam, vi for seeing more in me than I could sometimes see in myself (and for helping me learn that vision). Thanks to Cecilia and UW-Madison colleagues who taught me what academic collegiality and friendship can be. Thanks, Ben, for help with Finale and general technical expertise, not to mention the always thoughtful counter-point. Thanks, Jason, for coffee, beer and mutual encouragement at key moments. Thanks, Tim, for muddling through hard times in the best ways we knew how—I love you much. I offer this work in honor of women who’ve walked through what some of us called the fire pit of f-ing hell, who were willing to look behind the curtain. I’m here because of you. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................................... IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................................... VI OPENING THOUGHTS ON “R EALITY BY DESIGN ” ............................................................. 1 CHAPTER 1: AN INTRODUCTION TO MARKETING IDEOLOGIES , AD PRODUCTION AND CONSUMER CULTURAL PRACTICES IN LATE CAPITALISM ............................................. 14 DEFINING AUDIENCES ..................................................................................................... 30 MUSIC , “INVOLVEMENT ,” MUSICAL GENRE AND LISTENING PRACTICES .................... 39 PRODUCERS ARE PEOPLE , TOO : MEDIATIZATION AND THE POWER OF THE PRODUCER IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CULTURE .............................................................................. 49 PLAYING THE SENSES : THE REAL /HYPER -REALITY , IMPACT , AND THE BRAND EXPERIENCE ..................................................................................................................... 57 AD PRODUCERS AND THEIR DISCONTENTS ..................................................................... 73 CHAPTER 2: REPRESENTING REALITY , DELIVERING “T HE REAL ” THROUGH IMAGE - SOUND MEDIA .................................................................................................................. 84 PRODUCERS AND POLITICS ............................................................................................. 89 EMBODYING AN AD : A CLOSE READING OF “B RISKET BLOW’D UP” ........................... 91 DEFINING “TARGET AUDIENCE ,” FORGING REAL IDENTITY ...................................... 102 FASHIONING THE REAL THROUGH SET , LIGHT AND SHOT COMPOSITION ................ 112 BUILDING A HERO : THE BREAD CRISIS AND THE FOOD STYLISTS .............................. 119 “M ORE MEAT ”: LABORIOUSLY PERFORMING THE REAL ........................................... 125 VOICEOVER (VO): TALENT , DELIVERY , AND TIME ..................................................... 130 MUSIC : FASHIONING CHARACTER WITHOUT WORDS .................................................. 139 THE MAKINGS OF A MAN : SEEKING APPROVAL .......................................................... 146 CHAPTER 3: MUSICAL GENRE , POETICS , AND LISTENER EXPERIENCE IN THE PRODUCTION OF MEANING ............................................................................................ 152 INITIAL CLIENT FEEDBACK : VOICE MANAGER , SPORTS BAR , NOT - I.T. GUY .......... 157 viii SPORTS BAR , DEMO 1, TAKE 1: “WE’RE GONNA DE