Tuesday, 14 October 2014

Research into chosen music artist- Miss Georgiou

My group decided to use Calvin Harris for our music artist as he is a hugely successful artist and my group are all fans of him. To make our music video we wanted to use an artist who we both enjoy as this would help making our music video more enjoyable. Calvin Harris is a DJ and songwriter and he owns the vanity label Fly Eye Records. Harris signed contracts with Three Six Zero Group (management), EMI (publishing) and Sony BMG (recording) in 2006 after he had been discovered on the social networking website Myspace and his music was released on Sunshine's label Xylophone Jones Recordings previous to his album on Sony BMG, from this moment Calvin Harris has been extremely successfull with the release of high selling singles and hits continuously for the previous 8 years. Harris holds the record for the most top ten hits from one studio album on the UK Singles Chart with nine hits and was the highest paid DJ in 2013 and 2014, which shows how successfull he is

Below is a table showing Calvin Harris' studio album releases and we can see he is hugely successful, which is another reason why our group chose to use him as our artist.

Studio albums

TitleAlbum detailsPeak chart positionsSalesCertifications
UKAUSBEL (WA)CANFRAGERIRENLNZUS
I Created Disco
  • Released: 15 June 2007
  • Label: Fly Eye, Columbia
  • Formats: CD, LP, digital download
89534
  • BPI: Gold
Ready for the Weekend
  • Released: 14 August 2009
  • Label: Fly Eye, Columbia
  • Formats: CD, LP, digital download
139741396
  • BPI: Gold
18 Months
  • Released: 26 October 2012
  • Label: Deconstruction, Fly Eye, Columbia
  • Formats: CD, LP, digital download
1544811063248419
  • UK: 650,000
  • ARIA: Gold
  • IRMA: Gold
  • MC: Gold
  • RMNZ: Gold

Below is a table of all the awards Calvin Harris has been nominated for and awards he won:
YearAwardCategoryNominated workResult
2007BT Digital Music AwardsBest Electronic Artist or DJCalvin HarrisNominated
Q AwardsBest Breakthrough ArtistNominated
2008XFM New Music AwardI Created DiscoNominated
Shortlist Music PrizeNominated
Popjustice £20 Music Prize"Dance wiv Me(with Dizzee Rascal and Chrome)Nominated
2009The Music Producers Guild AwardsBest RemixerCalvin HarrisWon
BRIT AwardsBritish Single"Dance wiv Me" (with Dizzee Rascal and Chrome)Nominated
NME AwardsBest Dancefloor FillerWon
Ivor Novello AwardsBest Contemporary SongNominated
Popjustice £20 Music PrizeBest Contemporary Song"I'm Not Alone"Nominated
2010BRIT AwardsBest British MaleCalvin HarrisNominated
2012MTV Video Music AwardsVideo of the Year"We Found Love(with Rihanna)Won
Best Pop VideoNominated
Best Electronic Video"Feel So Close"Won
MTV Europe Music AwardsBest Song"We Found Love" (with Rihanna)Nominated
Best VideoNominated
Best Electronic ActCalvin HarrisNominated
MTV Video Music Awards JapanBest Pop"We Found Love" (with Rihanna)Nominated
American Music AwardsFavorite Electronic Dance Music ArtistCalvin HarrisNominated
Teen Choice AwardsElectronic Dance Music ArtistNominated
MuchMusic Video AwardsInternational Video of the Year – Artist"We Found Love" (with Rihanna)Nominated
International Dance Music AwardsBest R&B/Urban Dance TrackWon
Best Commercial/Pop Dance TrackWon
NRJ Music AwardsBest Song InternationalNominated
Billboard Music AwardsTop Radio SongNominated
mtvU Woodie AwardsEDM Effect WoodieWon
2013Grammy AwardsBest Dance Recording"Let's Go(featuring Ne-Yo)Nominated
Best Short Form Music Video"We Found Love" (with Rihanna)Won
BRIT AwardsBritish Male Solo ArtistCalvin HarrisNominated
NME AwardsDancefloor Anthem"Sweet Nothing(featuring Florence Welch)Won
ASCAP Pop Music AwardsMost Performed Song"We Found Love" (with Rihanna)Won
"Let's Go" (featuring Ne-Yo)Won
"Where Have You Been"Won
"Feel So Close"Won
MTV Video Music Awards JapanBest Collaboration"Sweet Nothing" (featuring Florence Welch)Nominated
International Dance Music AwardsBest Commercial/Pop Dance TrackWon
Best Progressive TrackNominated
Best Music VideoNominated
Best RemixerCalvin HarrisNominated
Best Artist (Solo)Nominated
Teen Choice AwardsElectronic Dance Music ArtistNominated
Billboard Music AwardsTop EDM Song"Sweet Nothing" (featuring Florence Welch)Nominated
"Feel So Close"Nominated
Top Dance ArtistCalvin HarrisNominated
Top EDM ArtistNominated
American Music AwardsFavorite Electronic Dance Music ArtistNominated
Scottish Album of the YearAlbum of the Year18 MonthsNominated
Ivor Novello AwardsSongwriter of the YearCalvin HarrisWon
MTV Video Music AwardsBest Collaboration"I Need Your Love(featuring Ellie Goulding)Nominated
Best Song of the SummerNominated
MTV Europe Music AwardsBest Electronic ActCalvin HarrisNominated
Best UK & Ireland ActNominated
2014Grammy AwardsBest Dance Recording"Sweet Nothing" (featuring Florence Welch)Nominated
Best Dance/Electronica Album18 MonthsNominated
BRIT AwardsBritish Single of the Year"I Need Your Love" (featuring Ellie Goulding)Nominated
British VideoNominated
iHeartRadio Music AwardsEDM Song of the Year"Sweet Nothing" (featuring Florence Welch)Nominated
Billboard Music AwardsTop Dance/Electronic ArtistCalvin HarrisNominated
Teen Choice AwardsElectronic Dance Music ArtistWon
EDM Song"Summer"Nominated
Summer SongNominated
MTV Video Music AwardsBest Dance VideoNominated
MTV Europe Music AwardsBest Electronic ActCalvin HarrisPending
Best UK & Ireland ActPending


As part of my research into my chosen artist i analysed two of Calvin Harris' music videos.The first music video is 'Blame' by Calvin Harris Feat John Newman, my main reason for getting inspiration from this music video was because I am using this song for my own music video so I wanted to see what shots and editing they used for the pace of song, this research was vital as I will use the fast editing used in this music video to match the fast tempo of the song. However the music video is not all fast editing as parts of the song, which are slow paced are matched with slow editing, which I will take on board and add to my own music video. This fast editing is conventional for electronic/dance music as always the video matches the fast pace of the song, this is to create euphoria for the audience and make them want to dance. Bright flashing lights and smoke are also used in this video, which are also conventional to the electronic/dance music genre this helps create a party scene and adds to the effect of fast editing, this also makes the video look more appealing to the audience. I found these two conventions are commonly found in this type of music genre so I will use this inspiration and include these conventions into my own music video to make it appealing to my audience.




In this video their are various wide shots showing people partying this is found in many videos from this music genre and can help create a party atmosphere this song is trying to create.The artist representation in this music video shows them to have a party lifestyle and with loads of girls dancing sexually this gives the audience an image that Calvin Harris lifestyle is full of girls and partying and even though throughout the video we can not see Calvin Harris he makes a cameo appearance in the video in a shot showing him with all girls, this is to further produce an image of this is what Calvin Harris' lifestyle is like. Through Mise-en-scene we can see the girls around Calvin Harris and throughout the music video are wearing hardly anything and look very sexual this is also commonly found in dance music videos with girls dancing around sexually, the location is set in a club and this is to promote Calvin Harris' party lifestyle. The target audience for this video is 16-30 as the contents is full of partying and this is what this age range is interseted in. The style of the music video is narrative and performance with the narrative showing a man and girl arguing but the performance being people dancing in a club. Goodwin's theory can clearly be seen in this music video The first part of Goodwins theory that is covered in the music video is that it demonstrates genre characteristics, this is evident in the music video when we see dance scenes in clubs and flashing lights as these are typical characteristics of dance music videos.. A relationship between visuals and lyrics is the second point of Goodwins theory that is covered, this can be seen when he says 'Guilt im burning inside im hurting' and we can see John Newman sitting on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands looking stressed and sad. The fourth point that Goodwin expects to be covered within a music video, the demand of label will makes the artists label, this is shown when we constantly see close up shots of calvin harris, this is to make the music video more entertaining for the fans.

My second video I analysed for my research into Calvin Harris was 'Summer'  The target audience for this video is 16-30 as the contents is full of cars,partying and girls and this is what this age range is interseted in. The style of the music video is narrative with car racing occuring in the music. Goodwin's theory can clearly be seen in this music video The first part of Goodwins theory that is covered in the music video is that it demonstrates genre characteristics, this is evident in the music video when we see girls dressed sexually and fast racee cars. A relationship between visuals and lyrics is the second point of Goodwins theory that is covered, this can be seen when hes sing about 'Last Summer' and the video is set at summer time with all fun things such as car racing and partying happening. The fourth point that Goodwin expects to be covered within a music video, the demand of label will makes the artists label, this is shown when we constantly shots of calvin harris this is to make the music video more entertaining for the fans in this music video it is all about Calvin Harris as he appears throughout the video, this helps create a stronger relationship between the artist and fans. The artist is represented in having a party and reckless life style with him being seen with underdresseed woen and driving fast cars, which most of his target audience want to be like. The Mise-en-scene used helps create the image for Calvin Harris, by using racing cars it shows fans Calvin Harris is reckless and rich to afford these cars, the location of in a mansion also helps show he is rich. The clothing the girls are wearing is minimum with the dressed very provactively, this is to promote Calvin Harris and shows his lifestyle to be full of girls.

Overrall my research into my music artist has helped me with planning my own music video as it has shown me how artists are represented through a music video and what kind of image they want their fans to see. I have found that Calvin Harris often uses narrative and includes part of performance in his music video, which my group are going to use the same style as well. We do not have a budget like these music videos have to go and film in a mansion and get fast girls






1 comment:

  1. This post demonstrates a basic understanding of your chosen music artist and this is because you have not included a detailed analysis and have instead included a basic overview, which is more like a summary, rather an an analysis.

    Therefore, you need to refer back to the lesson and aim to write one paragraph on each of the bullet points, which will enable your points to be more detailed.

    ReplyDelete