For A Level Media Coursework

1. Genre Research
James Gaffney

2. The Genre of House
 The music video that I’m aiming to create is for the soundtrack ‘lyk u use 2’
by Moodymann.
 This song falls under the category of house music due to its unique sound.
 The genre of house music is the genre of electric dance music. It is mainly
created by a DJ, and normally has repetitive motifs throughout.
 It originated in Chicago in the mid 1980s, being made in underground
basements by upcoming music producers.
 The 2 key points I’ve made about house music clearly links to my music video
vision for ‘lyk u use 2’.

3. The 4 Artists
Fatboy Slim
 A British DJ, who has created house music since 1979.
 His track ‘eat,sleep,rave,repeat’ with Calvin Harris was top of the UK dance
charts in 2013.
 He changed his stage name to ‘fatboy slim’ in 1996. He said “it is just an
oxymoron – a word that can’t exist. It just suits me”. This links exceptionally
well to my music video concept as the band don’t fit together (like an
oxymoron) yet it works.
 Fatboy slim’s net worth is one of $30 million, and is arguably one of the
biggest house artists of all time!!

4. The Chemical Brothers
 The London 2012 Olympics weren’t only epic because they were being held in
London, but the chemical brothers also created an official theme song for the
velodrome.
 They have many hit albums on the UK charts including: ‘Dig Your Own Hole’
(1997), ‘Surrender’ (1999), ‘Come With Us’ (2002), ‘Push The Button’(2005)
and ‘We Are The Night’ (2007).
 Their most popular track is ‘Galvanise’ according to Spotify, which has had
over 21 million plays.
 They ran ‘The Sunday Social Club’ in the basement of The Albany pub which
is still open in Great Portland Street. However it ran for just over three
months. As previously mentioned, this is typical of the house genre to start in
basements like the mid 80s in Chicago.

5. Lucas and Steve
 ‘Lucas and Steve’ is a Dutch DJ duo formed by house DJs: Lucas de Wert and
Steven Jansen.
 The duo joined forces back in 2010, and by December 2014 had joined the
record label Spinnin’ records. They have also produced many of their tunes on
the sub-label Spinnin’ deep.
 They are well-known in the house genre as collaborating with many other
artist including: ‘Matt and Kendo’, ‘Laurent Wolf’, ‘Maddison Mars’, ‘Pep and
Rash’ and many more. This is important for some acts as they want to build a
bigger fanbase, so through collaboration can use their other artists star
appeal to achieve this.
 The instruments they use include: Keyboard, Synth and Piano as well as some
programming show clear house/dance music conventions.

6. Underworld
 Underworld are a British electronic house band which was formed in 1980 in
Cardiff, Wales. The band is made up of Karl Hyde and Rick Smith.
 After experimenting with some different styles of music, Underworld gained
prominence in the progressive house style in 1993.
 They have been constantly producing music with their earliest Studio album
‘Underneath the Radar’ coming back in 1988, and their latest od ‘Drift Series
1’ being release earlier this year. This clearly acts as an indicator or their high
star appeal. In this 30 year period if they are constantly producing popular
music across all age groups then they have a mass star appeal and are a very
successful artist.
 Underworld’s music has had affect on the video gaming world as well, as vide
gaming producers, such as Andrew Sega and Jesper Kyd have been influenced
to use their music in their games.

7. The 4 videos
 Fatboy Slim:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Gi0OEOl84Y
 The Chemical Brothers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO2RPDZkY88
 Lucas and Steve:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84bv7WV0SGo
 Underworld:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vody-m61UlY

8. Symbolic conventions – setting, mise-en-scene, acting and colour.
Similarities Differences
The main visual similarity between all 4 of the
videos is the costumes as they clearly portray the
indie vibe to the video.
In ‘Perfect’ by Lucas and Steve, we see some
acting because it is narrative video. We don’t see
this symbolical convention in the other 3 videos.
‘Eat,sleep,rave,repeat’ and ‘Perfect’ both have
elements of the video set in a club atmosphere.
This setting convention is common of the house
genre.
In ‘Go’ by the chemical brothers, we see that it is
set outside and we have no view whatsoever of the
artist, just dancing. This subverts classic house
genre conventions and a clear difference to the
other 3 videos.
All of the videos, except ‘Perfect’, are
performance videos which is something commonly
symbolised with the house music genre.
In ‘Glory! Glory!’, the entire video is set in a
studio and is performance based. The other videos
have a mix of performance and narrative.
However, ‘Glory ! ‘Glory!’ doesn’t.
The colour throughout all 4 videos were quite
muted and grungy, once again conforming to the
genre. It also perfectly matched the tone of each
song.
The only video with slightly different colouration
was ‘GO’. They had tight suits for their dancers,
which once again showed a clear different concept
to the other videos. The audience could
immediately identify that they were different.

9. Technical Conventions – camera, editing, sound and lighting
Similarities Differences
In terms of the sound of the music there are
similarities in the all 4 videos as they have
repeating motifs throughout and the clear sound of
electropop.
‘GO’ was the only video that I noticed had the
same sequence edited next to each other and
played 3 or 4 timed for effect. This is different to
the other 3.
In ‘Eat,sleep,rave,repeat’ and ‘perfect’ there was
clear use of movers in the lighting rig. This added a
bust of colour to the shot and conformed to the
atmosphere being created within the dance
moments.
In ‘Eat,sleep,rave,repeat’ we see some editing
that allows Ver baitum of real people to be put in
alongside the track.
The videos have limited lyrics, making the actual
music the more important part of the video. This
follows the house genre conventions.
In ‘Glory! Glory! We hear significantly more lyrics
which subverts the genre of house. However, we
know it is a house song due to the nature of the
artists ‘Underworld’

10. Digi-Pack Examples - a type of packaging for the CD
Fatboy Slim Lucas and Steve
Underworld The Chemical Brothers

11. Digi-Pack Analysis
Similarities Differences
All the Digi-packs are full of colour and really
conform to the house music genre
Underworld’s Digi-pack doesn’t have clear imagery,
setting them apart from the other Digi-pack
covers.
Both the Digi-packs of ‘fatboy slim’ and ‘the
chemical brothers’ both show an artist hyping up
the crowd, which implies that it is massively a
performance genre.
Although ‘fatboy slim’ and ‘Lucas and Steve’ have
imagery of themselves on the covers, the other
two don’t. This is a clear difference.
All Digi-packs have the artist name on. Although an
obvious convention of all Digi-packs having the
artist name on it applies to star appeal and
appealing to a mass demographic.
The ‘Lucas and Steve’ Digi-pack has their symbol
on adding Star appeal and individuality to their
brand. The others don’t have this.
Both Lucas and Steve and Underworld have broken
up words which conforms to the mis match feeling
to some house genre songs and in particular ‘lyk u
use 2’ by Moodymann.

12. Website Examples – This is the place where all the information about the
artist can be found.
 Fatboy slim:
https://www.fatboyslim.net/
 The Chemical Brothers:
https://www.thechemicalbrothers.com/
 Lucas and Steve:
https://lucasandsteve.com/
 Underworld:
https://underworldlive.com/

13. Website Analysis
Similarities Differences
All the websites posses the classic conventions of
any artists website offering key info such as ticket
info, new albums and social media links.
The chemical brothers website is less interactive
for the viewer than the other 3 websites, which is
the USP of these websites.
All the websites are full of colour and animations
which make it interesting for the viewer and easy
to access all information.
The website for Lucas and Steve is the only
website of the four, where there is a clear image
of the band. This is crucial on a websites as it
creates instant star appeal when people are on the
websites. It is something the other three don’t
have.
Lots of imagery which clearly conforms to the
artist themselves and their genre of house music.
The main difference between these four websites
and other house music ones, is the lack of
promotion on the bands name. All four websites
have the name of the artist hidden in the top left
corner.
3 of the 4 websites have the exact same layout of
the website, which is the simple, but effective
method of boxes containing all the information.

14. Star Appeal (Richard
Dyer)
 Dyer proposes that- “A star is an image not a real person that
is constructed for the audience consumption.
 Based on an artists star appeal it can really affect their fan-
base. If they have a high star-appeal, people may not
necessarily like the music but they love the artist therefore
they will buy the music. Hence, why record labels and
producers place great importance on the all-round image of an
artist.
 Throughout the 4 artist I have looked at I think they all have a
sense of star appeal. For example, the fact ‘Lucas and Steve’
collaborate a lot will increase their star appeal as they are
targeting a wider fanbase. Despite this I believe that ‘fatboy
slim’ has the most successful star appeal due to him being
well-known outside the genre.
 On a personal note, before researching the house genre, I was
aware of ‘fatboy slim’ and some of his music, implying his star
appeal is most wide-spread.