Original Thinking #2: Shynola v Gallagher

Once upon a time, a creative production house called 'Shynola' was caught up in dispute over similarities with their video for Coldplay's 'Strawberry Swing', and a video produced by the director Owen Trevor for Andy Gallager's 'Something Else'.

Shynola is a collective name of a group of 3 visual artists based in London who have collaborated on a variety of projects, including a number of acclaimed music videos for several pioneering artists. Shynola currently consists of Jason Groves, Richard Kenworthy and Chris Harding, who along with Gideon Baws (deceased 2008), began collaborating in 1994 whilst they were studying at the Kent Institute of Art & Design. They've received numerous industry accolades including awards from D&AD, Edinburgh Film Festival, MTV, NME Brats, and numerous UKMVA awards including 'Video of the Year' and 'Best Director'.

Shynola created a production for World-famous band Coldplay called 'Strawberry Swing'. The music video was inspired by the vertical pixilation technique and was nominated for Breakthrough Video at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards.
1 year earlier, Andy J Gallagher released a music video called 'Something Else'. Directed by Owen Trevor, the production was also inspired by the vertical pixilation technique.

Coldplay - Strawberry Swing

Andy Gallagher - Something Else

There was quite a dispute over the 2 music videos as there are noticeable similarities between the two, and there is no doubting that. Many articles were released for the general public's viewing and a fuss between Shynola and Gallagher had become very well known.
Interviews and blogs were set-up to differentiate the 2 music videos and both Shynola and Gallagher stuck to their guns and defended themselves in this situation. Gallagher took the more softer approach by actually thanking Shynola for their well-researched response. Gallagher stated in a short interview aimed at Shynola; ''Firstly, thanks to Shynola for putting together such a well-researched response to the recent media speculation surrounding my 'Something Else' and Coldplay's 'Stawberry Swing' videos.'' Andy Gallagher's original interview was somewhat over-exaggerated by the media and he also put a few disclaimers in to back his say, such as ''I never accused Shynola of plagiarism''.  


There has been quite a bit of speculation between viewers of the two videos, but they are mostly supporting Shynola. As one viewer stated on Andy's Something Else video, ''I think the idea is the same, but made in a different way, so it's not a copy.''

Evidence of YouTubers' opinion

In my opinion, I do genuinely believe that Shynola were telling the truth when they stated they had never seen Andy Gallaghers' 'Something Else'. Yes, there are some similar features between the two videos but I don't think this determines that any of it was copied. The themes throughout the 2 videos are completely different, and with technique's like vertical pixilation, the variety of production stories that could be created is indeed very high. Shynola wouldn't have needed to copy. They are a talented production group that have their own ideas in essence to create some wonderful pieces of art.


Cheerio. :o)

- Olivia.



http://www.artofthetitle.com/studio/shynola/ - accessed on 2nd-Oct-2013