My Artist

My Artist

Gorgon City

Gorgon City are an English duo from North London. Gorgons City; Kye Gibbon an Matt Robson-Scott are the two producers. Focused around the electronic, house and UK garage genre Gorgon City were just what I was looking for. Gorgon City started to appear on the UK market in 2013 with their song 'Real ft Yasmin'. This song peaked at 44 on the UK chart. The following year they decided to pursue their success with the song 'Ready for your Love ft MNEK'. The song reached peak at 4th in the UK market and this is where it began for them. The duo are signed to a London based label called Black Butter Records (subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment). In 2014 when 'Ready for your Love', was released they shortly released the album Sirens which included artists like Clean Bandit, Jess Glyne, MNEK and Basement Jaxx peaked at number 10 in the UK chart.

Potential Songs:

1.  'Real' featuring Yasmin (Album: Sirens)

2.  'No More' featuring Liv (Album: Sirens Deluxe)

3.  'Unmissable' featuring Zak Abel (Album: Sirens)

4.  'Lover Like You' featuring Katy B (Album: Sirens)

5.  'Imagination' featuring Katy Menditta [Weiss Remix] (Album:     Sirens remixes)

Gorgon City's Website:

http://www.gorgoncity.com/




Interviews

This is an interview with gorgon city back in 2014. It was just after they released the album 'Sirens' and the background stories behind all the best songs in the album and the different vocalists that feature in the album like Jennifer Hudson, Zak Abel and Katy B.

In this interview Gorgon City are at Coachella in California. The interview talks about how they have broken the american DJ industry with their English house and Garage genre. 

Music Videos I like

Music Videos I Like

The following music videos have been chosen because I really like certain aspects about them, whether that is the actors used, the storyline, the locations, the editing techniques, the camera shots or even just the song. The majority of the songs below I have chosen because I like the genre of music that they encompass and that is house and dance music.

The first music video that I have chosen is called 'Seeing is believing' by Eli and Fur. The song is the Shadow Child remix but the music video in particular is what I really like about it. The video is shot in quite an old fashioned effect with elements of high definition aspects. This contrast is really effective and you don't really see this amongst many music videos. I really like the club/partying scenes in the video which I would like to encompass in my music video.  

The next video is 'Rumour Mill' by Rudimental featuring Anne-Marie and Will Heard. The video is the most simple video I have chosen, is easy to shoot and is very enjoyable. The video is shot in black and white with the two artist singing along to the track. The video features a black BMW that is sat in a basement car park. The camera rarely moves and so this means that very little shots are used meaning that for the actors this has to have been a hard shoot in terms of getting lyrics right.

'All Four Walls' by Gorgon City featuring Vaults is another video that I really liked. The music video has exactly what I like with a narrative story to it plus a singing along to the lyrics in parts. The story features to young people venturing out at night which is turning into a love story. I like this story as it is a very feasible storyline for me to follow. I really like the editing effects that they use and the locations where they shoot in this video.

This next music video by Wilkinson featuring Tom Crane called 'Half Light', was shot over various locations across Belfast. The music video was released in 2014 however with the shots and editing techniques used the video looks old than it actually is based on costumes and locations used. This style of film really appeals to me and is why I like it. The music video portrays another love story between a young couple that meet in a club in Belfast. I like this video because at the start there is talking from the video with is infused in the song. This effect gives the audience a bit of background.

One of my final music videos that I like is called 'Shy' by the Magician. The video features yet another love story like all Music videos. However this video features a story of two boys and two girls. Being teenagers, we follow them doing all things teenagers do, causing trouble breaking into abandoned places, smoking and drinking. The video really fits in with the lyrics of the song because the boys are really showing off in front of the girls and the song is about not being 'shy'. This is highly appropriate and effective.

My sixth and final music video is 'Darlin' by Tom Zanetti. This is probably one of my favourites of the music videos I have chosen it firstly because I like Tom Zanetti as an artist. But also the setting of the video seems to be around London which would be where I will locate parts of my video. I like the club scenes that are portrayed in the video also lots of the camera angles used.

Andrew Goodwin and Laura Mulvey

Andrew Goodwin's Theory

How to analyse a music video:

There are 6 main aspects the audience look for when picking apart a music video:

1. A relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, with the visuals; illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the lyrics.

2. A relationship between the music and the visuals, with the visuals; illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the music.

3. Genre-related style and iconography present.

4. Star image, multiple close-up shots of the main artist or vocalist.

5. Voyeurism often plays a major part, especially in relation to females.

6. Intersexual references to other media texts maybe present.

Example: Kanye West Gold Digger

Laura Mulvey's Theory

The Male Gaze theory:

Laura Mulvey's theory of the 'Male Gaze' is a way of film focuses of women using specific shots to make them appear more attractive to the male audience. The audience is put into the perspective of a heterosexual man. The camera will focus on the curves of the women putting you the viewer it the eyes of a male.

The theory suggests that the identity of women are to be seen as an object and admired for their physical appearance. The theory focusses on the key areas of:
1. Visual pleasure
2. Gender roles in film
3. Socophillia
4. Female objection

Example: Destination Unknown

Other media products which have influenced your video

Other influential media products

A YouTube Channel

A very influential media product towards my music video is the YouTube channel 'selected'. Selected play predominantly dance and house music. The majority of their music is remixes of old and currents songs which I really like. I love the whole image and appearance of the channel. Each song has the words selected across the front of it with a picture which really promotes the brand image. 

Music Video

I know that I have already mentioned this music video 'I know' by Shift K3y, but I really do love everything about it. Thats from the locations set to the edits used. I love how the different cuts are in time with the beat. The whole concept of the music video is really clever too in a way that you never really see her face until the end when she turns around to look at a guy walking past her. 

Adverts

Another piece of work by defunct productions who I have mentioned previously in my blog is this advert above. The ad was directed by Scott Altman, the same director of the music video 'I know' mentioned above. This style of shooting and editing really appeals to me and for an advert is very clever. It is very rare that you would see an advert that you actually like the product and the advert itself however this video is different to the rest. The ad definitely has the defunct style of shots, typefaces and promotion that I love.

Ministry of Sound

Ministry of Sound a British record label. The brand started off with their London nightclub but have since expanded into radio stations and other such media outlets. Ministry was founded back in the early 90s and is a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment. In 1993 Ministry of Sound established complication album business with there first album; 'Sessions Volume one'. This was complication of dance music and was a commercial success. Since then, they have sold more than 55 million albums and are famous worldwide through iTunes, Spotify and many other social media platforms. 'Ministry of Sound Recordings' signed their first artist 'Example' back in 2009 and since then now have signed 'Wretch 32', 'DJ Fresh' and 'London Grammar'. 

Music Video Types

Types Of Music Videos

Narrative

A video that has a story line to the music video that relate to the lyrics of the genre of song. This is the most popular technique used to grasp the audiences attention.
This type of video is often used for songs that appear in films.
An example of a narrative music video: 'Won't Look Back' - Duke Dumont.
In the video to 'Won't look back', we follow the story of some criminals that hijack a shop with pogo sticks. It sounds ridiculous but then the get away on the pogo sticks being chased by a policeman on a segway. The whole story sounds a bit odd however the music and the video sync really well together as the lyrics and the beat quite often can be in time with the jumping on the pogo sticks for example.

Performance

This type of video will have the artist/artists performing their song to the camera or to an audience. A popular technique used by rock bands to get a sense of high energy portrayed.
An example of a narrative music video: 'Right Here' - Jess Glynne.
Jess Glynne's video to 'Right here', being a performance video is like most music videos very entertaining. This video is fairly simple in terms of the locations it was shot in. But the thing that makes it so interesting is the edits used like doubled-up shots and reversing the shot for example. This video is a performance video because about half way through the video it does actually feature her and her band performing the song, singing and with the actual instruments in the song.

Concept

Concept based videos are sometimes unusual they are based around one idea. They often concentrate on a specific editing technique.
An example of a concept music video:'Electric Feel' - MGMT.
'Electric feel' is quite clearly a concept based music video and this is quite evident from watching the video. The video is so random and is totally not related to the song with random people running around with weird clothing doing weird actions. This type of video isn't commonly used however when so much effort goes into a video like this one it can be particularly effective.

Generic Conventions

Generic Convections

Costume and Make-up

Making sure the costume and make-up is right for the type of genre of music video you want to portray is so important sends a message to your audience immediately. You get your general stereotypes like for example a rapper will be wearing a big fluffy coat with lots of expensive jewellery to make him seem rich and then you get your hardcore rockstars that will dress in really skinny jeans with long scruffy hair making them look like the haven't washed in days. Make-up is generally seen on women to make them appear prettier and more attractive to their male viewers however you do find male rock artists with face paint to make them appear more individual.


Lighting

The lighting in a music video really set the tone and mood of the music video that you want you audience to feel. An example of this might be shown in a dark underground basement room which would stereotypically be the setting of a deep house music video like for example 'Say something' by Karen Harding. However if you wanted to portray your typical happy pop song you would use much brighter lighting as this fits in with the mood of the song and your audience will prefer this.



Editing Techniques

When editing a music video or even watching a music video you will notice that the tempo of the song and the number of cuts have a strong correlation. By this I mean a faster song will generally have more cuts that are shorter and sometimes in time with the beat of the song. However if you were looking at a slower pop song for example the cuts will be longer to create emphasis on each lyric and so that the audience can maybe understand the story that is going on in the music video.


In this gif of the song 'I know' by Shift K3y, the cuts are much quicker as they are in time with the beat of the music to create effect on how fast the song is.

However in the gif below of 'The Hills' by the Weeknd the cuts are much slower because it is a slower song and so is fitted.


Editing can also be used in other ways other than slower and faster cuts. During the editing process, colours can be added like thermal vision effects in 'My Love' by Route 94. Also clips can be revered and sped up to create effect like for example in the song 'The girl is mine' by 99 souls where everything is in reverse apart form the main character who is walking forward.


Camera

Like Tv and Film, camera angles are used for very similar things in music videos. However not to create emphasis as much but more often for showing the band or the crowd. For example a long shot might be used to pan across a crowd at a concert in an artists music video. However a mid-shot would be used to show the artist with their band and maybe their backup dancers behind them. A close-up would be used on a close-up shot of the artist sing into the microphone so that we can see her lips and the lyrics she is saying.


Eye Contact



Eye contact in a music video is so vital particularly when it is the artist in the video because it creates a connection between the audience and the artist. You will find in most pop videos that there is a lot of connection. However depending on the genre this will change. For example in this video 'Stay high' by Tove Lo there is little eye contact between her and the camera. Bu the reason for this is because of the name of the song being 'Stay high'. In order to keep with the genre of music that this song portrays and the lyrics, it is appropriate that she isn't looking at the camera because she is meant to be disoriented.

Music video directors

Music Video Directors

The Best:

Spike Jonze is an American director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Spike is best known with his work in music videos and some television. He has worked with people upon the likes of Daft Punk, Kanye West and Fatboy slim. Spike used to be co-creator and executive producer of MTV's 'Jackass'. 

David Fincher is another world famous American director. Best known for his work in films such as 'Seven', 'Fight Club' and 'Gone Girl'. Although David is best known for his work with physiological thrillers he has worked with some very big music artists to produce their music videos. Like for example Madonna, Michael Jackson and Justin Timberlake.

The third director I have chosen is called Chris Cunningham. Chris is a more local from Reading in England. He has a bit of an alternative style to his video and also opted not going down the movie and tv scene. Chris' biggest artist he has worked with is Bjork. However if you view his work it has a certain unique style to it.




My favourite directors:

A directors work whom I have been really influenced and I really enjoy the work of is Scott Altman. I came across Scott Altman's work after doing a bit of research into a song that I like called 'i know' by Shift k3y. Scott actually works for a newly established production company called 'Defunct Films'. Defunct based in Shoreditch have a number or small time producers who work for them including Scott obviously. Scott has worked with several musicians including Phillip George, Jax Jones and even Kanye West.

Another one of my favourite directors has to be Ryan Staake. Ryan is possibly just as big as Scott Altman has collaborated with some big artists such as J.Cole and Lil Wayne. But the reason I have chosen him is because of his work in the song 'My Love' by Route 94 featuring Jess Glyne. The song was released back in 2014 along with the music video. I think that the way that Ryan shot this video captured my attention straight away due to the x-ray vision effect it was shot in.