After really understanding all about music videos, digipaks and social media pages by understanding their conventions (previous post), the next step of my research process will be analysing in depth different media products, from two different artists, to get a very clear idea of what I will have to create for my major and minor tasks. At the moment, I am 90% sure I will choose Peggy Gou as the artist I will study, and the song "Starry Night", I just feel like it's exactly what I envision, and it has been a song I've listened to for a really long time, this is the reason I chose to study her media products first in this post. However, my choice for the final artist/song might change on the course of the next posts.
1. PEGGY GOU
"STARRY NIGHT" - MUSIC VIDEO
This song takes her previous singles' throwback sensibility and runs with it, propelled by gliding hi-hats, machine claps, and a staccato bassline with a faint hint of freestyle. Bold, pumping piano chords, the ultimate signifier of house music at its balmiest, are the glue that holds it all together. As if the message wasn't clear enough, Gou reinforces it with the song's spoken-word refrain, which bookends her signature Korean-language verses: "Ocean! Starlight! Moment! Now! Us!" This song is categorised as house, however, throughout electronic music, all the genres can mix with each other, and house in particular in not a very specific genre. The music video is directed by German photographer and filmmaker Jonas Lindstroem, and it was shot in Seoul.
Before watching the clip, I decided to listen to the song and really pay attention to what it communicates to me, how it makes me feel. Then, after watching it the first time, I felt that the clip was absolutely perfect for what I envisioned, even above my expectations. It truly shows how to feel alive. What feeling alive means. People in everyday situations breaking out of their day-to-day and fully immersing themselves in a moment until it turns surreal. Through dance. It’s a video about overcoming and breaking out of conformity, about feeling alive. Moments.
I then watched it a few more times and started to look at it from a more technical point of view, noticing different details, from camera shots and angles, to mise en scene, editing techniques and after all, truly mind-blowing shots.
I would put this music video in the montage category. I think it's truly focused on artistic expression. There seem to be no rules and it seems like the director had endless room for creativity, where anything was possible. Let's look for a second at the shot with Peggy flying over ten metres above the ladies standing in a river, that is crazy to even think about. The director stated he never uses greenscreen, ever, meaning that all the shots were real too.
The clips are very varied, all with incredible compositions, varying from outdoor clips, indoor clips, some with Peggy in them, some not, but all of them focusing on Korean culture, emphasising people living in the moment, especially when the song starts playing at a dancer pace, in contrast with the silent parts of the song.
The entire video uses deeper colours, not very saturated, but makes use of opposite colours often, creating contrasts. The characters are all dressed differently, many focused again on Korean culture, wearing the Taekwondo attire, costumes fit fit the dance practice called Ganggangsullae, the school uniforms, and other costumes that are in line with the visual codes of that society.
Taking all of this and applying a contemporary narrative, trying to find the balance between heritage and contemporary culture. And how both can influence each other. And using that as a stage for all the storylines.
Looking at the very few lyrics, Gou drives it home with the fragmentary images of the song’s spoken-word refrain, which bookends her trademark Korean-language verses:
푸른 바다 보다 더 푸른 바다 같은
– More like a blue sea than a blue Sea
별이 빛나는 밤 별이 빛나는 밤
– Starry Night Starry Night
지금 이 노래 보다 더 노래 같은 우리
– Now this song is more like a song than we
지금 이 순간 보다 더 순간 같은 우리들
– Those of us who are more like the moment than this moment
Ocean, night, star, song, moment
– Ocean, night, star, song, moment
Ocean, starlight, moment, now, us
– Ocean, starlight, moment, now, us
이제 알 것 같아 다 알 필요 없단 걸
– I think I know now that I don’t need to know everything.
The entire music video perfectly emanates this feeling of "feeling alive". Of moments. The compositions go perfectly with the vibe of the song, and create such a harmony between visuals and audio. Throughout the video, Jonas, the director manages to create such a powerful storyline, with just a set of montage clips.
Other incredible shots:
"STARRY NIGHT" - THE ALBUM
Peggy often uses illustrations as her main visual for her music videos or albums, as she did with this album too (its called an album however this is the only song released). When she released the song, it was accompanied by a cover illustration and that's it, then she later created another one (mainly promoting the actual music video) featuring a shot from the later released .
Looking at the intially released one(the illustration), and the one that is mostly used among all platforms. I can tell that the illustration style is clearly very influenced by Korean trends and styles, along with Korean tradition, from the use of the mask. The artwork also features Gou as the main character.
However, looking at conventions, it's very interesting to see that her cover has nothing else except an illustration, none of the conventions I've looked at in the previous post. This is a more unconventional approach, but throughout electronic music, I've seen multiple artists opt for this minimalist look.
INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT
@PEGGYGOU_
For the second minor task I chose to do a social media page. First things first, what I (and probably most people) look at first is the profile picture, description and of course, number of followers. Peggy is very well known across social media, something that really helps her promote her career. Then I looked at her story highlights, which mostly consist of tour information and behind the scenes of music videos or other productions. The I proceeded to "stalk" her a bit more by looking at her posts, and found out that she shares more abut her private lifestyle, non-music related, than most artists in the industry, which probably gives her an advantage in regards to her following.
Examples of posts on her feed, from live shows, new albums, to her brothers wedding and outfits and much more.
2. JAMIE XX
I chose Jamie XX as the next artist to analyse because I've been listening to his music for some time now, and since I first saw the music video to accompanying his song "Gosh", I was STUNNED.
"GOSH" - MUSIC VIDEO
The music video directed by Romain Gavras, is truly a masterpiece. The clip is set in China, in the city of Tianducheng (a replica of Paris). Tianducheng was designed as a tourist destination for affluent Chinese visitors (it has its own Eiffel Tower and Champs Élysées), but due to its size, location, and poor planning, the town only houses a fraction of the population it was designed for.
The video is a coming-of-age story that stars a black man with albinism and features over 400 Chinese teenagers with bleached blonde hair, setting them against the hyperreal setting of Tianducheng. Unlike many independent filmmakers, Gavras likes to think big. What’s also remarkable about “Gosh” is that it was made without using any CGI or 3D effects.
The visionary director also shared a behind-the-scenes documentary for ‘Gosh’ and talked filming in a fake version of Paris with 300 Chinese schoolchildren, where you could see all the preparation and how big-scale the production was.
This videoclip similar in some aspects with the one previously analysed, Starry Night, in the way that its a montage style music video, with a conceptual take upon the narrative, and with endless room for creativity and interpretation.
The frames in this music video are absolutely mind-blowing, from drone footages featuring 400 Chinese teens, to incredible close-ups. The camera movement is mind-blowing, following the movement incredibly and creating some incredible compositions.
Gavras’s films and music videos often focus on marginalised or minority groups, whether that’s literally or metaphorically. Sometimes he’ll show these groups in extreme situations, and sometimes he’ll show them with extreme violence, but he never takes a moral stance. decided to direct Gosh's music video a year after the song was released, even though it already has a music video, this is how much he appreciated the song.
Other incredible shots:
"in colour" - THE ALBUM
After analysing the music video, and looking at it in detail, it can be quite a shocker to see the album design, as it's really not something that you'd expect. Though this is something that jamie xx likes doing; the unexpected.
In terms of conventions, this design really challenges them in so many ways. Starting with the fact that there is no writing, meaning that the viewer should recognise the album without even needed to read what album it is or who the artist is. Then we can see that it a very simple illustration, something more unique. The average album cover usually uses images, however, in the electronic music industry, many artists opt for some visual art rather than photography, so in this case, it can be convenoinal.
INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT
@JAMIE___XX
First things first, what I (and probably most people) look at first is the profile picture, description and of course, number of followers. Jamie is well known across social media, however, he is nowhere close to Peggy's following. It's clear that he does not put that much effort into his instagram, and that he is not that constant with posting and putting content out there. He only has one story highlight, something that may disadvantage him, as story highlights are something that people really do notice. Then looking at his posts, we can see that his Instagram only focuses on music, and not on his personal life.
Examples of posts on his feed, mainly photographs from his shows or upcoming releases.
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