No description available.

Abstract The project "Sound and Play" have been implemented in collaboration with the toy company BRIO in Malmo. The purpose of the project was to examine whether and how BRIO in the future could develop toys around sound for Toddlers. The problem formulations that would be answered after completion of the project was "How could BRIO broaden its product range with the help of audio toys?", "How can you combine toys and sounds in an interesting way for children?", "How do you create a toy with sound that is fun for the child, but not annoying for parents?". Currently BRIO only has two toys with sound in this age group. The expression of the toy was going to be a mix of classic and cool and the overall feeling of the toy was going to be explorative and arouse curiosity in the child. This feeling would be communicated through simplicity and joy. The project began with an extensive research, including a visit to one of the world's largest toy fair in Nürnberg, Germany, and a comprehensive survey of parents' attitude to sound toys. Based on the first sketching phase three concepts where chosen; Module Cars, Beat Box and Record Player. Module Cars was a concept where you could replace parts of the car and in that way get different sounds. Beat Box was a box of three cylindrical blocks which consisted of various surfaces and materials. While they were spinning in the box they would hit different materials and in that way create different sound and rhythms. The construction of the idea meant that over a thousand different sounds and rhythms could be created. Record Player was a similar concept in which the child could change the discs and in that way create different rhythms and sounds. Together with the product development department, I decided to keep working with the Modul Car concept. Within this concept, I chose to work on two different tracks, different fronts and figures. By changing the front of the car it would get a new sound or by changing the driver in the car it would also get a new sound. After several weeks of shaping digital 3D models and many ideas and thoughts later I finally reached a solution that was built as a prototype. The result is a vehicle where the front can be replaced by two other fronts. Depending on which, the system will give you different sounds. This is because each front has a plastic flap placed underneath that hits a piece of plastic stuck to the wheel axle. Nine children play tested the toy and their parents were responding to questions about the outcome. The play tests went well and it turned out to be a suitable toy from one year and up to about five years. The play takes various forms in different ages which is good since this means that the toy may last longer. The response among the parents was also very positive. I am very pleased with the outcome and hope to see it in store shelves one day and also that it becomes played with in homes. / Sammanfattning Projektet "Sound and Play" har genomförts i samarbete med leksaksföretaget BRIO i Malmö. Syftet med projektet var att undersöka hur BRIO i framtiden skulle kunna utveckla leksaker kring ljud i ålderskategorin 12-36 månader. De problemformuleringar som skulle besvaras efter slutfört projekt var "På vilket sätt skulle BRIO kunna bredda sitt sortiment med hjälp av ljudleksaker?", "Hur kan man kombinera leksaker och ljud på ett intressant sätt för barn?", "Hur skapar man en leksak med ljud som är rolig för barnet, men samtidigt inte är irriterande för föräldrar?". BRIO har i dagsläget endast två leksaker med ljud i denna ålderskategori. Leksakens uttryck skulle vara en mix av klassiskt och coolt och den övergripande känslan skulle vara upptäckande samt väcka nyfikenhet. Känslan skulle förmedlas genom enkelhet och glädje. Projektet inleddes med en omfattande research med bland annat ett besök på en av världens största leksaksmässor i Nürnberg, Tyskland samt en omfattande enkätundersökning av föräldrars attityd till ljudleksaker. Utifrån en första idégenereringsfas valdes tre koncept ut; Modul Cars, Beat Box och Record Player. Modul Cars byggde på att man skulle kunna byta ut en del på bilen och på så sätt få olika ljud, t.ex. att man skulle kunna byta hjul eller underrede. Beat Box var en låda med tre cylinderformade klossar i. Dessa bestod av olika ytor och material som i lådan slog emot tre olika material. Konstruktionen av idé innebar att över tusen olika ljud och rytmer skulle kunna skapas. Record Player var ett liknande koncept där barnet skulle kunna byta "skivor" och på så sätt skapa olika rytmer och ljud. Tillsammans med produktutvecklingsavdelningen bestämde jag mig för att arbete vidare med modul cars. Inom detta koncept valde jag att arbeta vidare med två olika spår; olika fronter och gubbar. Antingen skulle man genom att byta fronten på bilen få olika ljud eller att man istället hade en bil med gubbar och där den som var föraren bestämde ljudet. Efter flera veckors caddande och många idéer och tankar senare så hade jag till slut tagit fram ett koncept med tre fordon som jag skulle bygga modell på. Resultatet är ett fordon som är bussliknande och där fronten går att byta ut. Beroende på vilken front man använder så låter leksaken olika. Detta beror på att varje front har en plastflärp undertill som träffar var sin plastbit som sitter fast på hjulaxeln. Modellen lektestades på nio barn och deras föräldrar fick även vara med och svara på frågor kring resultatet. Lektesterna gick bra och det visar sig vara en passande leksak från ett år och upp till cirka fem år. Leken tar sig olika uttryck i de olika åldrarna vilket är positivt då detta gör att leksaken får en längre livslängd. Mottagandet av leksaken bland föräldrarna var också mycket positivt. Jag är mycket nöjd över resultatet och hoppas att den någon dag i framtiden står i butikshyllor runt om i Sverige och även att den blir nött och vällekt med i hemmen.

Denna studie handlar om Celebrity Endorsements, det vill säga samarbeten där kändisar borgar för en produkt eller ett företag i syfte att utbyta värden och förhoppningsvis öka försäljningen. Tidigare forskning inom detta område är fokuserat på vad en kändis kan tillföra företaget. Denna uppsats undersöker fenomenet från andra hållet, det vill säga vad företaget gör för kändisen. Vi vill ta reda på om svenskarna, fotbollsspelaren Zlatan Ibrahimovic samt Robin Carlsson, även känd som popartisten Robyn, genom respektive celebrity endorsement-aktion gällande kampanjen “Made By Sweden” med Volvo, övertar värden från företaget. För att applicera våra resultat på existerande teoretiska ramverk och därigenom kunna besvara våra frågeställningar har vi valt att förhålla oss till tidigare forskning om celebrity endorsement, teorier om hur budskap överförs exempelvis Meaning transfer model, samt marknadsteorier om varumärkesidentitet. Genom tre fokusgruppsintervjuer fick vi av respondenterna fram en image av de två utvalda kändisarna som låg till grund för vår analys. Genom att jämföra intervjupersonernas image med företagets profil kunde vi avgöra huruvida värden hade överförts från företaget till kändisen. Vår studie kom fram till att värden inte överförs från företag till kändis. Värdeord inkodade av företaget fanns inte representerade i den image som våra svarspersoner redovisade gällande de två olika kändisarna. Studien visar dock på att en kändis kan få helt nya värden genom en celebrity endorsement- kampanj. / This study regards Celebrity Endorsements, meaning collaborations where celebrities vouch for a product or a company in order to exchange values and hopefully increase sales. Previous research within this field is focused on what a celebrity can provide for the company. This essay examines the phenomena from the other direction, meaning what the company can provide to the celebrity. We want to find out if the swedes, football player Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Robin Carlsson, also known as the pop artist Robyn, through separate celebrity endorsement actions regarding the campaign “Made by Sweden” by Volvo, assumes values from the company. In order to apply our results on existing theoretical frameworks and thereby enabling ourselves to answer our questions, we have chosen to relate to previous research regarding celebrity endorsements, theories regarding how messages are transmitted, for instance the Meaning transfer model, as well as marketing theories regarding brand identity. Through three focus group interviews, we received an image of the two celebrities from the respondents, making the foundation for our analysis. Through comparing the image created by the respondents with the profile of the company, we could determine whether values had been transmitted from the company to the celebrity. Our study concluded that values are not transmitted from company to celebrity. Values encoded by the company were not represented in the image pictured by our respondents regarding the celebrities. The study does however show that a celebrity may gain new values through a celebrity endorsement action.

This mini-thesis is situated in the discourse on patriarchy, nationhood and its artistic forms. It is argued that an uncritical pursuit of commonality as a political aesthetic strategy for dance in South Africa repeats the metaphysical foundationalism of this discourse. It is further suggested that a postmodern ethos subverts this heritage, while at the same time offering a viable alternative for accommodating and representing the cultural diversity and plurality characteristic of current theatre dance in South Africa. Chapter One examines the way dance has historically structured its patriarchal form the postmodern discourses Chapter Two as a site and practice through explores the potential of deconstruction and destabilisation of this dance heritage. This chapter also assesses the relevance of a postmodern alternative in a South African dance context. Chapter Three analyses the postmodern choreographic strategies of two South African choreographers, Gary Gordon and Robyn Orlin, in order to reveal how their dance vision to patriarchal aesthetic form and offers an uncritical alternative notions of commonality. In conclusion, it is argued postmodern ethos embodied in the work that the of these choreographers provides viable directions for formulating and articulating new dance directions for theatre dance in South Africa while, at the same time, bearing witness to the diversity that will always structure expressions of commonality in South African dance.

This thesis explores the development of individuality in Nigerian books for young adults, Akata Witch and Akata Warrior by Nnedi Okorafor. For that, the literary concepts of young adult literature and the heroic journey (monomyth) is used. This thesis aims to prove that the heroic journey framework may be applied to young adult literature, primarily concerning the formation of identity resulting a certain correlation between the two types of narrative. Based on the description of concepts of literary theory, such as the Other, described by Robyn McCallum, and the individual constitutive elements of the heroic journey, in the theoretical part, the analysis from both vantage points and subsequent correlation between them is described in the practical part. The two books that are analysed are described from the point of three major concepts of young adult literature and all twenty six steps of the heroic journey, based on Campbell and other literary theorists. Based on this analysis, it is concluded that there is a certain correlation between the two narrative frameworks. It is especially similar concerning the growth of individuality of its protagonists. Despite there being a correlation among the two types of narrative, young adult literature and the heroic journey, certain elements do not have...

Season Songs is a song cycle for mezzo-soprano (or tenor) and medium sized orchestra (a perfoming version for voice and piano is appended). There are four songs and an orchestral prelude. The poems are by various authors and provide the programmatic elements of the cycle in that each poem is set in a different season of the year and time of day: winter/morning, spring/afternoon, summer/evening, and autumn/night respectively. The title of the prelude sets it just before dawn. The music of the prelude and the last song is closely related both motivically and tonally, thus reinforcing the cyclical nature of the work. The accompanying commentary seeks to explain the compositional processes and aesthetic principles which guided the creation of Season Songs. The music explores nonfunctional tonality, in that means other than traditional tonic-dominant (i.e., V-I) relationships are sought by which to create a sense of forward propelled harmonic motion. This sense of harmonic "trajectory", in conjunction with appropriate rhythmic proportions, is held to be one of the most important factors contributing toward the sense of departure and return, tension and resolution in the music. The main means used toward this end is a four-note source cell which governs much of the harmonic and motivic activity in the work, from the most local level of leading motives of individual songs to the broadest level of key relationships among songs. The harmonic manifestation of the source cell promotes root movement by major thirds and minor seconds on the local as well as broad levels. Sonorities associated with traditional tonality, such as open fifths in the bass and major or minor triads, are common, although the contexts in which they are heard are usually non-traditional. The metric pulse is usually distinctly articulated and readily intelligible, although changes in metre are frequent in most of the songs. The text setting aspires to a directness of expression. The words will be intelligible in performance and the music reflects and magnifies the emotional content of the the text. While there are several levels on which the music can be appreciated, over-obscurity is avoided, as a rule, especially in the composition of the musical surface. / Arts, Faculty of / Music, School of / Graduate