Playlist: Original Kids
We hear from the Frenzy directing duo Original Kids about how they got their unusual name, a massive list of music promos and a dazzling list of inspirations.
)
What’s the best music video you’ve seen recently and why?
The two best clips we've seen recently are James Blake - Big Hammer, Directed by Oscar Hudson, for its innovative staging that serves the song, with impeccable, tasteful art direction. Also, we’d like to point out Oscar Hudson's ability to make complicated technical concepts seem very simple.
The Blaze - MADLY for its emotional purity and super-sober staging. Less is more. The subject matter is a bit like a Madeleine de Proust, and many people can identify with it.
James Blake – Big Hammer
The Blaze – MADLY
What’s the first music video you remember being impressed by?
That's a very complicated question, because as far back as we can remember, we've always watched music videos. We're from the 90’s generation, so we grew up with the music video culture.
Since there’s two of us, we'll mention four!
Iam - Je danse le Mia is still an absolute classic, The Prodigy - Smack My Bitch Up, Michael Jackson - Thriller, when we were kids we both thought it was a movie! And Lauryn Hill - Everything Is Everything, with New York City landscapes spinning like a vinyl. We were intimidated, in the good sense of the word, because there were rarely concepts in music videos in those days, it was more a question of performance.
+ membership
Access the world's largest advertising database. With an intuitive toolset that helps you explore, present and collaborate more effectively.
Learn More
Iam – Je danse le Mia
Smack My Bitch Up – Smack My Bitch Up
Michael Jackson – Thriller
Lauryn Hill – Everything Is Everything
And what’s your all-time favourite music video?
We're only on our third question, and we're already sweating, your questions are heartbreaking!
But here's the shortest selection we've been able to make: A$AP Rocky - A$AP Forever, The Blaze - Territory, ScHoolBoy Q - JoHn Muir, Fatboy Slim - Weapon of Choice, Kendrick Lamar - ELEMENT., Slowthai - Feel Away, Lauryn Hill - Everything is Everything, Coldplay - Up & Up, Jamiroquai - Virtual Insanity, Justice - Stress, MIA - Bad Girls, Gesaffelstein - Hate or Glory and, last but not least, Kanye West ft T- Pain - Good Life.
A$AP Rocky ft Moby – A$AP Forever
The Blaze – Territory
ScHoolboy Q – JoHn Muir
Fatboy Slim ft. Bootsy Collins – Weapon Of Choice
Kendrick Lamar – ELEMENT.
Slowthai – Feel Away
Lauryn Hill – Everything Is Everything
Coldplay – Up & Up
Jamiroquai – Virtual Insanity
Justice – Justice: Stress
M.I.A. – Bad Girls
Gesaffelstein – Hate or Glory
Kanye West – Good Life ft. T-Pain
What other directors/artists do you look to for inspiration?
We're not necessarily obsessive when it comes to about seeking out inspiration, but we do love many types of disciplines and artistic trends. We want to create a singular universe, our signature, by digging deep into ourselves, without having to fit into a box. However, the inspiration other artists give us comes mainly from the way some of them manage to create unique works that reflect their vision of the world without any artifice and sometimes, even often, against the current of fashion. It's in this sense that we are influenced and admired.
That being said, the inspiration we do get from other artists derives mainly from the way some manage to create unique works that reflect their vision of the world, without any artifice and sometimes, even often, go against the current. That’s how we influence and how we are admired.
Here's a non-exhaustive list: Spike Jones, Denis Villeneuve, Alfonso Cuaron, Iñarritu, Chagall, JR, Oscar Hudson, Miles Jay, The Blaze, Nabil, Michel Gondry, Damien Chazelle, Megaforce, Fleur&Manu, Michael Aboya, Vania et Muggia, Philip Lorca diCorcia, Nan Golding, Costa Manos, James Turell, Gustavo Minas, Wolfgang Tillmans, Saul Leiter, Edward Hopper...
And, also, the Impressionist (Monet, Cézanne...) movement since we grew up just outside Paris, where the light hits in a certain way, and from which many painters drew their inspiration. as we grew up in a slightly out- of-the-way corner of Paris where the light falls in a certain way, and from which many of the painters of this movement drew their inspiration.
What are you listening to at the moment?
Right now, we're listening to Daniel Cesar, SZA, The Weeknd, Hamza, Party Next Door, Nipsey Hussle, J-Cole, Kendrick Lamar, Pop Smoke, Baby Keem, D Smoke, The Game, 6LACK, James Blake, Moby... To be honest, our playlists remain, more or less the same all year round!
What’s your favourite bit of tech, whether for professional or personal use?
Our favoUrite tool to use is Polycam, a kind of 3D Scan on iPad. We spend our time scanning anything and everything around us, scanning the environments we love.
What artist(s) would you most like to work with and why?
The artist we'd love to work with is Kendrick Lamar. We might not all realise it yet, but he's revolutioniSed his era. He's the perfect balance of style, meaning, subtlety, commitment, and introspection, both about when it comes to himself and the world around him. There's a legendary sports presenter in France, now deceased, who, said spontaneously during the 1998 World Cup final, after the French team's France’s third goal, spontaneously said "I think after seeing that, you can die in peace". That's what we'd say to each other if we had the chance to do a single project with Kendrick.
How do you feel the promo industry has changed since you started in it?
Instagram and TikTok have changed the industry, with content becoming shorter and shorter, and above all, for marketing reasons, having needing to be faster and faster for marketing reasons, grabbing attention just in the first few seconds. This is a bad thing, because people's attention spans are shortening, and certain emotions just can't be conveyed so quickly, they need time to sink in. This affects the quality of the content that’s produced, as when marketing issues takes precedence over the artwork.
However, this is not a generality: many independent artists succeed in creating high-quality works. The advent of social networks has also enabled many super-talented artists to gain visibility and perform in their field. It's the same for us, with many contracts being offered directly on Instagram, where communication channels are more direct and straightforward, artist to artist.
Where do you see the music video industry being in five years’ time?
We have a rather pessimistic view because, apart from a handful of artists who are really looking to innovate, many labels and artists are more interested in satisfying marketing needs in order to succeed from a strictly business point of view than in creating. And there's always someone ready to produce low-quality content for a fistful of euros. It's easy now, technical knowledge can be at anyone's fingertips, which is a pretty good thing, but the downside is that anyone can call themselves a director. But there's a real difference between a videographer and a director who exposes himself, who has the courage to push creative boundaries and reveal who he is in his clip, documentary or film.
This trend creates a standardiSation of content where, paradoxically, the original utopia of networks was to be able to express our individuality.
Tell us one thing about yourself that most people won’t know…
One thing most people don't know is that our name "Original Kids" comes from a car, a 1998 Peugeot 106 (Original Kid edition). This car has a real history for us, we had a hard time at the beginning, for few years we had to face big challenges, and this car helped us. We did over 350,000 km with it, the doors opened on the highways, we did many Paris-Manchester, Paris-London with it... One hot day, in traffic on the highway, as it was about to give up, we were looking for a name and looking at the dashboard we said to ourselves "come on", this car is an OG like us, it deserves to be named after us.
