Research into Chosen Artist

In this post I will talk about my chosen artist. I will describe why i and my group have chosen him, i will also give his biography. I will then analyse tow of his music videos by the micro elements, camera framing, editing and misenscene, and say how it represents him also.

Calvin Harris is the chosen artists for our music video. I am interested in this artists as Calvin Harris creates amazing music in my opinion and taste. Calvin's videos are also great, they are interesting and original, and they almost always represent the dance genre through conventions, like women 'voyeurism' and performances and narratives. Calvin Harris is one of the well known Dance artists, and we have intended to go with the dance genre as it has a large audience and it is our target audience for our questionnaire. Dance is now basically mainstream as many mainstream artists are starting to make dance music, and the subculture theory that we are using is CCCS which is all subcultures come from the mainstream, and the idea of dance music now being mainstream it enforces the theory.

Calvin Harris is the stage name of Adam Richard Wiles. Adam or (Calvin) is a Dance artist, he creates Dance music and dance videos. He is well known, for example his video 'Feel so Close' has over 47 million views, and he was featured in Rhianna's video 'We Found Love' which has over 200 million views. Calvin is signed to Columbia Records which is a Sony Music Entertainment label. Calvin was born in 1986 in Scotland, and he said he was a fan of football, and he said that if he would of had curly hair, he would of been into football so instead he became a music artist and producer. His song that we will be using for our video is from his new album which is being released in October 2012 called '18 Months'. His new album consists of a few big collaborations, including Rhianna, Kelis, Kylie Minogue and of course Example which features in the song we are analysing  His albums have been successful, his debut album 'I Created Disco' reached the top tens in the UK ranking to number 8. His following album 'Ready For The Weekend' reached top album in the UK album charts and Dance album in 2009. His single with Example, 'Well be Coming Back' (the song we are using) reached top of the charts in a few countries, like Belgium and Scotland.

His Debut album 'I Created Disco' Rankings

'Well be Coming Back' Single ratings

'Ready for the Weekend album ranking chart'

Video Analysis 1

I will analyse Calvin Harris’s video ’Feel So Close’. I will analyse the video by its micro elements, camera framing, editing and misenscene. I will talk about the artist Calvin Harris and how he is represented in the video, I will also apply dyers star theory on the artist. I will then apply Goodwins theory to the video and the target audience. The video Is promotion for love and relationships, it presents the happy lifestyle which is a convention of dance music videos. Calvin In the video seems to be involved in a relationship within the video also. The style of the video is mainly performance, which is a convention of dance music, however you could say it is a mini narrative as people find love in the video, and concept, as its love, relationships and happiness.

Firstly I will talk about the Camera framing, at the start of the video there are 4 camera shots which show the same thing, people turning on or turning up their radio/stereo which is a prop used (part of misenscene). On shot in particular is the close up of a young adult turning up his stereo. The four camera shots are all used and showed closely together to combine and emphasise the idea of how important music is to people. The camera shots are then complimented shortly after by shots of the people with the radios and their actions. The hand held follow, long shot of a group of what looks to be teens jumping/dancing in happiness to Calvin Harris's song. This shot promotes the happy lifestyle that is a convention within dance videos, they are also dancing/jumping, which is a performance, another convention in the dance genre. This shot is one of many within the video which promotes the idea of music making people happy. The shots and video relates to the target audience, as in the shot they are teens or young adults, which are the target audience also. Another thing which relates to the audience is the setting, a group of teens with no supervision walking somewhere in a desert/rocky location, (part of the misenscene), this relates to the audience as teens like to be independent in stuff they do, like here they are not with adults, and by themselves; almost defiant which teens are. The teens are on their own in this location, with only themselves and a radio to keep them entertained, this could be the concept of the video, which is love, dancing and music, which is all you need for happiness. Close ups are used regularly in this video to show the emotion of happiness through facial expression mainly.

The editing in the video is a convention within the dance genre. Fast paced editing is used, and cross cutting is used to show different scenes and perspectives within the video in a short time, to make the audience connect with all the actors and scenes in the video. Fast paced editing is used compliment the music which is also faced paced as it is dance music, fast paced cuts is used before the first drop in the video, this is used to excite the viewers by showing them that the drop is near and it is complimenting the pace of the song, and this relates to Goodwins theory of the links between visuals (video) and the music. The fast paced editing and music can also relate to the target audience too, as they like to live fast, usually meaning drinking alcohol and doing drugs, partying a lot too.

Calvin's Mature shirt

The Misenescene consists of Setting, Costume, Actors, Lighting and Props. I have already talked about setting, actors and props previously. The lighting is natural lighting, as the video is filmed mostly outside, the natural lighting gives the video a positive vibe, relating to the whole music, 'dancing and love gives happiness' concept in the video.  With costumes there are a few different ones in the video, however they are all casual, relating again to the laid back happy atmosphere. However different costumes can reflect different cultures and ages, in the video we see teens, adults and elderly adults. The teens wear casual clothing, jeans and t-shirts, adults are similar, however Calvin who is the adult in the video wears a casual shirt, a slightly more mature approach, and it could reflect his personality through his clothes, that he is also laid back and casual about things. There is an elderly in the video who appear to be a cow boy, he wears mostly all denim, and with the different age groups in the video, it could relate to age groups in the audience, therefore there are a with age group in the video, appealing to a wide age group audience maybe. There are different age groups in the video, and the concept of the video is that all age groups find love or share with the opposite sex, and this is the concept of love and happiness is for everyone and all ages, and ultimately that happiness is too; music, dance and love is happiness.

older man denim costume

Teens costumes; tshirts

Calvin Harris is represented as a normal, adult within the video. He seems to be in a relationship with the woman who he sits down next to, and the lyrics support the idea "your love surrounds me like a waterfall", he sings to her while looks directly at her. As he seems normal and is in a relationship, both things that can relate to the target audience, making them connect with him, and this relates to Dyers Star theory, of the artist being ordinary like his audience so they can connect, and yet being extraordinary as he is a number one selling artist. Calvin seems in this video to be mature and romantic by the way he acts and with his singing to the woman he loves in the video, and this is different to when he was in his older video, 'The Girls'. In his older video 'The Girls' he seems less mature than in this video. In his older video it consists of him in a all white large room, with similar looking women but with different hair colour, dancing, and then himself singing the lyrics. His lyrics consist of him telling us that "he gets all the girls" and that he is "over subscribed with relationships" this saying that he cheats on other girls and disrespects them, a immature thing to do. In this video he seems more faithful to this one woman, making him look more mature. This change is another relation to Dyers Star theory, of coming back in his new album different, it provokes interest by the audience as there is a change. Also since his older video he has got a haircut and looks more groomed, which makes him appealing to the audience, another part of Dyers theory of stars being appealing to the audience.

Video Analysis 2

The next video of Calvin Harris's that I will analyse is 'Acceptable in The 80's'. I will analyse the video talking about the micro elements, Camera Framing, Editing and Misenscene. I will also talk about how the artist is represented in the video, and apply Dyers Star Theory. I will apply Goodwins theory also, and talk about the target audience for the video. This video is consists of cuts between different scenes which represent the 80s period. Calvin Harris is seen in the video singing and dancing with DJ headphones on, also there is a woman who dances in the video which is regularly shown.

A camera shot that I would like to talk about is near the beginning of the video, it is the close up expression shot of Harris's face and behind him is a orange background. The Camera shot shows us connotations of the 80's, with the loud multicolours used in the period, and the ridiculousness of the era, and Calvin Harris's costume and setting expresses the 80s idea. Harris is wearing a pair of ridiculous glasses which is covered in tin foil balls, and it looks like he cant even look out of them, this firstly represents the ridiculous idea of the 80s, where things where unnecessary and outrageous. Harris's facial expression is a dopey and funny one, which represents the videos style which is almost stupid, as his facial expression is the same. The audience for this video would definitely be people that where born in the 80's or where young in that era, as it has all the representations of the genre and relates to the audience as they consumed media similar to that in the video as it was their time period. Therefore the target audience would be 20 to 35 year olds. However the idea of the 80s is different and breaks off the mainstream of today, attracting the young 'hipster' or 'vintage' audience, which just want to be different and not mainstream, their ages are from 16 to 23, both genres.

Woman dancing, Notion of Looking

The video does have conventions of the Dance music video genre, for example a performance is apparent in the video as the woman and Calvin Harris is dancing/singing. In Calvin Harris's videos he usually merges a narrative in the performance. In this video there is a narrative of characteristics from the 80s, for example we see parts of an animal being dissected and used in products that humans are consuming, which is a characteristic of the 80s. The narrative basically is saying how we humans were inconsiderate of what we were consuming back in the 80s, and it has a whole stupid theme to it with the actors acting in a daft manner, like Harris's dance moves and actors facial expressions. In almost every Calvin Harris video there are notions of looking to women, women dancing in the videos are usually attractive also to interest male viewers, and this is part of Goodwins theory.

More women dancing

These 5 pictures below are took from a scene of extracting a substance from the animal in the video, which is then later used as a hair product, this is examples of what i was talking about in my the last paragraph, characteristics of the 80s, and the obliviousness of people who were consuming parts of animals through animal testing.

Dissecting of the Animal

Gooey Substance from animal injected into pot

Then used as a Hair product

That oblivious idea i talked about, the woman smiling even though she's having animal intestines rubbed into her hair

Close up of the action

Dyers star theory can be applied for this video to Calvin Harris. A star is a constructed image that interests the audience, giving them a role model and someone they can relate to. In this video we see Calvin acting quite silly and thick, you could relate him to Napoleon Dynamite. His silliness entices the audience as he is not a mean or serious person, connecting to the audience easily as his personality seems fun and friendly, a part of the star theory, being able to connect and become a role model to the audience makes you a 'star'. Also there is the paradox that I can talk about which goes along the lines of  'A star must be present and absent' a star must be present and absent enough to interest the audience of their private life. Here Calvin expresses his personality as being friendly and outgoing, and its not always the case for him in his music videos, and the change of personality can interest the audience as he is changing, interesting the audience to how he acts in real life. An example of what i have explained would be that this video was made a few years before his newer video 'Feel So Close' (which was my first video of his that I analysed), and in between then Calvin seems different to before, the changing personality interests the audience as it is a change; before he was silly, and now he seems more sensitive and romantic, in 'Feel so Close' for example. And his costume can also connote the change, in this video he is wearing multi-colourful clothing, like a tracksuit, its loud and expressive colours, could be seen as immature, and in 'Feel so Close' he is wearing a shirt and jeans, with more mature colours like dark green, which is the colour of his shirt.

Calvin in his immature clothing

A more mature calvin in his dark green shirt

In summary, Calvin Harris has changed his image from being immature and silly, to being more cool and mature through time, and this conforms to the star theory of changing after a while, or in-between albums, this interests and attracts the audience as it is a change.

Summary

By researching into our chosen artist for the song we are going to make a video for we can see how he makes his videos and the codes and conventions within them, therefore we can include these into our video to make it relate to the dance genre and the artist himself. He has changed from being geeky and silly to a more cool and mature persona in the videos I have analysed, so we could do a video based on the narrative similar to the one in 'Feel so Close', something mature to do with a relationship. Things that he uses like fast paced editing and cuts from scenes would be used in out video too. Therefore this helps us for the making of our video.