Special Shynola - Interview
Door
Wie een beetje MTV kijkt, kent ze ondertussen wel. De videoclips gemaakt door Shynola zijn ontegenzeggelijk anders dan anders. 
Net iets artistieker, net iets zorgvuldiger in elkaar gezet en meestal sluiten ze helemaal perfect aan bij de muziek. De decor-stukken uit Morcheeba's "Otherwise", UNKLE's "An eye for an eye", Radiohead's "Pyramid Song", reclames voor Nike en Playstation2... Shynola lijkt gemaakt te hebben. En dat is niet slecht gedaan voor drie jongens uit Engeland. Scholieren.com had de eer en het genoegen een kort gesprekje te kunnen voeren met Jason Groves. Over bitching, werkdruk en Queens of the Stoneage.
Can you tell a bit about the company, and how you started doing music video's?
Shynola is Jason Groves, Chris Harding, Richard Kenworthy and Gideon Baws. Originally we were friends at art college. Shynola was the name of a painting show we put on in London when we were students. We had similar tastes and got on well together, so we shared a house and began more or less working as a group. After leaving college we got a place together in London and continued to work as a collective. Chris and Kenny (Richard) were mostly interested in animation at this time and we soon began working on some short animated pieces.
Shynola started about 3 years ago after James Lavelle asked us to do some graphics to go with the track Guns Blazing (from Psyence Fiction). He used the piece to intercut with an acceptance speech for his NME Brat Award. He was evidently impressed with the work, because a few months later he asked us to make a promo for Quannum's 'I Changed My Mind'. After completing that we started on the Grooverider promo and making promos had somehow become our career... and we've been doing it ever since.
How much artistic freedom is there, when creating a music-video for an artist?
There is generally quite a lot of artistic freedom (and the lower the budget the more freedom there is). Sometimes an artist has an idea or a style they may want use for the video. If we don't like what they want, then we simply don't work with them, or we convince them to do something else. Musicians are not usually the most visually gifted people... mostly they just like whatever is in 'Dazed and Confused' that year... that's a bit bitchy... but true. Generally we pitch an idea that we like, and if they don't like it they'll ask someone else... and that's how it works in this business.
Do you need to like the music to accept a job for a music-video?
No you don't, and I'm sure most promo directors have no feeling one way or another about the music they produce the visuals for, but personally we won't work on stuff we don't like. We have done some promos for songs that only a couple of us liked... but generally we have to like the track before we pitch on it. We can afford to do this only because we are currently being offered more work than 4 people could possibly hope to handle... so we choose stuff we like naturally.
What artists (musically, visually or in any other way) have influenced you lately?
Visually: David Shrigley, all sorts of Japanese cuteness, Mike McMahon's 'The Last American', Frank King's 'Gasoline Alley'.
Musically: Godspeed, Queens of the Stoneage, The Streets, All sorts of electronica.
What's in your CD player right now?
Deerhoof - 'Reveille' Gepubliceerd op 3 oktober 2002
Net iets artistieker, net iets zorgvuldiger in elkaar gezet en meestal sluiten ze helemaal perfect aan bij de muziek. De decor-stukken uit Morcheeba's "Otherwise", UNKLE's "An eye for an eye", Radiohead's "Pyramid Song", reclames voor Nike en Playstation2... Shynola lijkt gemaakt te hebben. En dat is niet slecht gedaan voor drie jongens uit Engeland. Scholieren.com had de eer en het genoegen een kort gesprekje te kunnen voeren met Jason Groves. Over bitching, werkdruk en Queens of the Stoneage.Can you tell a bit about the company, and how you started doing music video's?
Shynola is Jason Groves, Chris Harding, Richard Kenworthy and Gideon Baws. Originally we were friends at art college. Shynola was the name of a painting show we put on in London when we were students. We had similar tastes and got on well together, so we shared a house and began more or less working as a group. After leaving college we got a place together in London and continued to work as a collective. Chris and Kenny (Richard) were mostly interested in animation at this time and we soon began working on some short animated pieces.
Shynola started about 3 years ago after James Lavelle asked us to do some graphics to go with the track Guns Blazing (from Psyence Fiction). He used the piece to intercut with an acceptance speech for his NME Brat Award. He was evidently impressed with the work, because a few months later he asked us to make a promo for Quannum's 'I Changed My Mind'. After completing that we started on the Grooverider promo and making promos had somehow become our career... and we've been doing it ever since.
How much artistic freedom is there, when creating a music-video for an artist?
There is generally quite a lot of artistic freedom (and the lower the budget the more freedom there is). Sometimes an artist has an idea or a style they may want use for the video. If we don't like what they want, then we simply don't work with them, or we convince them to do something else. Musicians are not usually the most visually gifted people... mostly they just like whatever is in 'Dazed and Confused' that year... that's a bit bitchy... but true. Generally we pitch an idea that we like, and if they don't like it they'll ask someone else... and that's how it works in this business.
Do you need to like the music to accept a job for a music-video?
No you don't, and I'm sure most promo directors have no feeling one way or another about the music they produce the visuals for, but personally we won't work on stuff we don't like. We have done some promos for songs that only a couple of us liked... but generally we have to like the track before we pitch on it. We can afford to do this only because we are currently being offered more work than 4 people could possibly hope to handle... so we choose stuff we like naturally.
What artists (musically, visually or in any other way) have influenced you lately?
Visually: David Shrigley, all sorts of Japanese cuteness, Mike McMahon's 'The Last American', Frank King's 'Gasoline Alley'.
Musically: Godspeed, Queens of the Stoneage, The Streets, All sorts of electronica.
What's in your CD player right now?
Deerhoof - 'Reveille' Gepubliceerd op 3 oktober 2002
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