3 Analysis of Pop Promos:

Analysis of Pop Promos:

System of a Down: “Chop Suey!”

I am analysing a pop promo by an alternative metal group called System of a down, and the pop promo that I shall be analyzing of theirs is called “Chop Suey!” This pop promo was produced by Rick Rubin, Daron Malakian and Serj Tankian, it was recorded between February – March 2001 with Cello Studios in Hollywood, California, and The song was then released in August 2001.

The music band that I am going to be analyzing fits into the “Alternative Metal” genre.

There are some interesting uses of mise-en-scene in the pop promo, one of the guitarists has devilish like lined paint on his body, I do not know what this is meant to be representing but I do know that in the middle where his heart is there is a sign of the “American Chopper” symbol. Whether is meant to symbolize this I do not know.

There are also some interesting uses of cinematography in the pop promo, the shots are mainly focused on the band members (mainly the lead singer), instruments and the fans, I think that they focus on the fans to show how popular they are. Some other interesting shots include the camera being attached to the band members’ heads, so whenever they move their head whether they are moving or dancing, the camera moves with it. Fish-eye camera shots are also used in some of the shots when a band member is displayed with their instrument to also show the surroundings.

In the editing scene, the interesting uses of editing are, quick shots and cuts, this is related to the music as when the music is fast paced the shots are very quick (less than a second between) and then in the slow parts of the song the cuts are slow and longer than when the music is fast, I think this is to represent the energy of the song to make the audience feel the energy and the emotion of the song. Some transitions that are done are very smart for example there is one transition from one band member to another where the camera circles around the lead singer above them to below them and when the camera gets to their feet and comes back round the character is no longer the lead singer as It is the guitarist; another example of this is when there is a wide shot of the whole band and the camera is slowly panning around the band and without any other change the band members disappear and then reappear in random order so for e.g. at one moment there is the whole band, then they all disappear then the lead singer and guitarist appears and then disappear and then both guitarists appear and so on and so forth.

There is only one special effect that I can see in this pop promo but it is used more than once in the video, where is seems that three/two band members are stood in the exact same place but somehow the members are transitioning through each other, this is a bizarre effect but very effective.

I don’t think that there is any relationship between the lyrics and the visuals as the pop promo only seems to be a recording of a gig but as a pop promo.

At the start of the pop promo where the song is peace full and not heavy the cuts are every four beats but then when the music gets heavy the shots cut to every beat although you do not notice this unless you look for it. When the song goes back to being “non-heavy” the song doesn’t cut to the beat.

In this song there are no solo parts within the song. As a result there are no solo instrumentals illustrated in this video.

As you can see by watching this pop promo there are no notions of looking as there are no references to sexual display, as this pop promo looks like it s a recording of a gig but it has been recorded to be turned into a pop promo.

The narrative is most indefinitely performance based as the whole pop promo is based on their performance in front of a crowd of fans, there doesn’t seem to be any narrative or concept within this pop promo.

Conclusion:

There doesn’t seem to be any sort of promotion within the video itself, the band have just recorded a gig but recoded it like a pop promo, other than that there is nothing else to it, I think the reason may be because the band do not want to promote themselves to people who do not usually listen to this genre of music and they probably want the audience to decide whether they like the music just from listening and watching the video instead of brainwashing them with promotion and advertisements like the government brainwashes the public as some of system of a down’s pop promo’s and lyrics talk about how the government runs the world.

I think the audience of this pop promo/group will appreciate that they aren’t being continuously fed with promotion and advertising as they are being left to decide for themselves whether they like it or not.

50 Cent ft. Snoop Dogg & G-Unit "P.I.M.P"

This is a pop promo by a famous rapper called 50 Cent (Real Name: Curtis Jackson) and the song is called P.I.M.P. The music video was directed by Chris Robinson and features the four rappers rapping with topless women, including Adriana Sage and Francine Dee. The song was recorded in 2002 and was released on the 12th of August 2003.

This artist fits into the "Rap/ Hip-Hop" Genre

This kind of pop promo is completely different to the kind of pop promos you would see from other music genres. This is because rappers like to show off (even saying that is an understatement). In comparison to the previous pop promo that i analysed this pop promo has alot of mise-en-scene than cinematography, editing and special effects.

There are some interesting uses of mise-en-scene used in this pop promo; to do with costumes, all of the men in this video are pretty much fully clothed and are wearing clothes that are too baggy for them and “Flat Caps” with the G-Unit logo on them (which is their brand) whereas the women in this video are wearing next to nothing and are wearing tight fitted outfits, which entail underwear and bikinis. Moving onto locations, most of the locations are big areas, like a massive bedroom, or mansion with a huge courtyard and garden; we obviously know that it costs to get these sorts of things, so once again the rapper is showing off. Finally moving onto accessories or props as some may call these items. These are the things that really show that all the rapper wants to do is show off what they has got. The rapper(s) are wearing shiny diamond necklaces, bracelets, rings, watches, earrings, glasses and belts, they both own the top of the range MP3 player that was around when the song was released, one of the rappers has a shiny silver tooth, golden walking stick “magic stick”, golden P.I.M.P wine glasses, all of this together must have cost an absolute fortune to the average person, which makes the rapper look better off than the viewer, but it goes further than that to make themselves look even more better off, a big silver expensive Bentley with modified back doors that open the other way around as well as an old skool Cadillac Long rider. Another thing i managed to pick out was at one point there were two girls walking towards the rappers on leashes which suggests that they are animal like or out of control and need restricting. There doesn’t seem to be any thing out of ordinary with respects to make-up or lighting.

There isn’t really much to talk about with regards to cinematography but I did manage to pick a couple of things out, the shots are mainly focused on the rappers, women and expensive items, this then emphasizes what they have and what their life is about. When the camera is focused on the women it is mainly on their bodies, especially their chest and behind areas, this then brings a sexual element within the video. Sometimes the camera is on the floor looking up at one of the rappers which suggests that he is superior and better than the viewer and this is what makes some people want to have that kind of lifestyle because the pop promos make the viewer look inferior to the rappers and their lifestyle. There is a certain point where the camera pans across lots of women sat together in a line, it cuts a few times while its panning as if to suggest there is a long line of girls sat together as if to say there are more girls than there are to men.

There are only a couple of things to talk about when it comes to editing; one of them being that there are quick fast paced cuts which cut to the beat of the song, the editing is continuous and goes with the flow of the song. There isn’t really anything to pick out on transitions.

There was only one thing I managed to pick out to do with special effects and that was when the women and or with the rappers were walking or doing something, it was put in slo-mo, I feel that it brings a dreamy experience to the pop promo.

Lady Gaga – Paparazzi

"Paparazzi" is a song by American recording artist Lady Gaga, released as the final single from her debut album, The Fame. The song was written by Rob Fusari and Lady Gaga and was released on July 6, 2009. The song was written by Lady Gaga to portray her struggles with her quest for fame. The accompanying music video shows Gaga as a doomed starlet hounded by photographers, and gets almost killed by her boyfriend. It shows her survival, comeback, revenge on her boyfriend, and experiences on the way to fame. This song would fit into the Pop genre.

There is a lot to talk about this music video as there is a lot happening in it and it is telling a story.

To start off with, Mise-En-Scene; this covers costume, make-up, lighting, location etc… I managed to pick up on these things, integrated within the pop promo. Like a rapper lady gaga seems to like to show off what she has got, but not as much as the stereotypical rapper would. At the start of the video there is an establishing shot of a mansion with a well maintained front garden which we assume she lives in, because then we get taken into the mansion to see the sea view in the background and some of the rooms within the mansion. Then we see in the bedroom where Lady Gaga is shots of loose $100 notes just lying around with lady gaga’s face in the centre instead of the president’s. After that we see lady gaga with her boyfriend on a bed where on her hand she is wearing rings on all four finders with a letter on each spelling out “DIOR”. Then straight after that we see a shot looking onto a bedside table I assume which has her diamond necklaces and a block of gold on there, there is also a shot of a newspaper with lady gaga on in with the headline “LADY GAGA – Reaches the top yet again”, this is all within the first two minutes which shows her wealth. When the camera focuses back on lady gaga and her boyfriend, she brings a sexual element to the video by what she is wearing; her boyfriend takes her feather coat off and reveals her in a tight white corset.

Then after lady gaga is thrown off the balcony by her boyfriend she is in a wheelchair and crutches and an outfit which can only be described as metallic/ robotic. There is also a part within the song where it is very dark, you can only just see her, but then there is a strobe lighting effect so you only see short millisecond glimpses of what she is doing, which makes it quite disturbing because it is to fast for your brain to process everything and you just have to take it as it is.

Next on the agenda is cinematography, this covers shots, framing and camera movements, there were a few things on this topic but only unique things that stuck out, these being the close ups of the fountain, diamonds on the chandelier, the $100 notes with lady gaga’s face on them, the newspapers with lady gaga on them, these were all close ups of things that emphasize her wealth, as if she’s shoving it in your face or rubbing it in. One part was very effective with the shots used, this was just after lady gaga was thrown off the balcony; there was an overhead shot of her lifeless body on the floor surrounded by paparazzi, and then that shot cut to a POV (point of view) shot of her staring up at the cameras in her face, this might be an indication to the audience how either her alone or celebrities in general feel when the paparazzi are around: in your face.

Next I’m going to talk about editing used in this pop promo, which covers transitions, pace and continuity. There were a lot of things I managed to pick out that stuck out to me. Firstly I am going to talk about the transitions. Fade was used at the start of the pop promo and at the end. At the start it was from the close-ups of the fountain to the diamonds on the chandelier, then later on in the song it was used to show the key parts of the police and forensics doing their job examining the body and taking it away. Other transitions used were shape wipes, they used two of theses, one straight after she was thrown off the balcony which was a circle and the other was a star. Another transition used was by using the use of CGI (this would also come under special effects) where $100 notes filled the shot note by not and then another shot came into view. Another piece of editing used was at one point they wanted to show time passed, so there is a shot looking up at the front of the mansion but you can see the sky too and the sot was sped up to show the time passed from when lady gaga drugged her boyfriend during the day to the evening when the body was found/reported and v examined by the police. Jump cuts are used throughout the video when pictures are taken, they’ll jump from one picture to another and we know this from the camera snap shot sound used and some special effect which I shall explain below. There are constant shots of dead women around the mansion but are very short spaced and jumpy, these made the viewer confused and disturbed as we can’t make out quick enough what is happening, and like the strobe effect, you have to take it as it is. The song cuts to the sounds of the song as well as the beat, but the pace doesn’t pick up until after the accident.

Finally we move onto special effects which consist of colors graphics and CGI. At the start of the song some CGI is used displaying info about the song, as well as newspaper stories spiral into view and the dollar bills filling the screen to create a transition using CGI. After lady gaga is thrown off the balcony there is a shot of CGI used where there is a black and white optical illusion spiral in the background which lady gaga is in front of in the foreground moving further away from the camera, giving us the impression that she is falling, and then her silhouette fades to black and spins along with the optical illusion. Another piece of special effects, when the “snap shots” are taken of her, on the screen you see the shot as if you were looking through a camera’s viewfinder, and you hear the snap shot noise as well as the camera skipping from still shot to shot which suggests to the viewer that pictures are being taken of her. At the end of the song the shot is black and white where she is having her police criminal picture taken but two bits of make-up under her eyes are in color (purple) whereas the rest of the shot is black and white, plus right at the end there are end credits as if to say that the pop promo was a film with “The End” written in big in the centre of the screen.

Editing Techniques For Ten Years Pop Promo (My Contribution)

Editing Techniques I shall be using in this pop promo:

As this pop promo will be a hardcore/rock pop promo, most of the shots are going to be fast paced and quick cuts, this it because this genre is full of energy, although conflicting the music video (mentioned below) by playing energetic music whilst showing a peaceful, slow paced, slo-motioned video may create a bizarre yet good effect, this option may be taken into consideration.

Our story may be as simple as just one scene, and then I could just split it, use shots from the same scene at different places of the video. If I have several scenes, I don’t necessarily have to arrange them according to the real-life time. Instead, I can crosscut between these scenes and other non-plot shots.

My aim is to make the viewers feel the atmosphere and emotion, not to describe the story. Telling the story clearly like a drama does, will throw away this aim by forcing viewers to think logically.

Cutting back and forth between different places and time is most commonly used in pop promos for today’s audience. They seem have much higher tolerance when watching music videos and don’t expect traditional visual experience at all.

A close up shot has more visual impact than any other shot. It gives the audience a chance to understand what is going on in the video plot wise or story wise.

But I can always follow the pace and rhythm of the song. It’s not always necessary to cut to the music though. I can make the pace of visual and music conflict to each other. For example, while the music is very fast and dynamic, I could use slow motion with cross fade. High tension will be created, if that is what we want.

All kinds of jump cuts. Similar framed shots, say close ups of the character from different scenes. Different segments from the same shot and same take. Shots that break the screen direction.

I should consider using it constantly so that it can be seen as a style. If I just use a jump cut once in a video, it will be regarded as - a jump cut, or in the pop promo world, a technical fault.

Using jump cuts is common state in terms of editing music videos. But it is more suitable for fast pace videos.

In a typical music video, more than 95% of all shots are moving. Tracking shot, crab, pan, tilt, zoom in or out, character movement, whatever, and just make it moving in some manner, preferably by camera movement.

The Band

Ten Years

Jamie Jack Jake and Ade, are all part of a band that formed in 2007. They all attended Claydon high school and became close friends. All finding they were very similar to each other, have been un separable ever since. Finding they all had a talent when it came to playing their instruments, decided to form their band. When it came to deciding what genre, it was decided that it should be hardcore, as around this time, there was a lot of metal out there, so their decision was to be ‘’outside the box’’. They intensely focused sound that perfectly caught the dark undercurrents of the music scene.

At the age of 17 they all decided on forming a hardcore band after their closest friends, another band, named Dungeons had formed a hardcore band with influences from Anti Flag, Black Flag, Gold kids and the Legacy. The last two of which have played locally in Ipswich. Including Dungeons themselves.

They first had their vocalist as a man named Ben, they then decided against the idea, and the guitarist Jamie, was then made the vocalist, so a band of 5 went to 4. I benefited them greatly, and they began to start recording their music professionally.

Most of the lyrics were based on past experiences from the band. Their tagline on there My space was ‘ 4 kids sick of everything’ which portrays the image they were trying to get across. Ten years have played many gigs locally in venues such as:
The Spread Eagle
The Rose and Crown
The twist

And they have traveled across parts of the country to play, touring.

What Makes A Good Pop Promo?

Over the past decades POP promos have been getting better in many different ways, for example in the last quarter-century since the pop promos phenomenon exploded on to MTV, they have been changing the visual culture of music.

All pop promo videos have been a reoccurring cycle of original and artistic highs. Artist’s/Record Labels use the relationship of the music to video and song to their personal gain, this is shown when the artist(s) are shown playing their instruments, dancing or singing to their lyrics in visual form. This helps people get excited about a song and makes them feel like they want to buy the artists work.

Pop promos are a powerful form of advertising, that has been exploiting teenagers for many years now, making them buy albums or singles that they would not like if they hadn't of seen the video. E.g Lady GaGa’s – Just Dance Video (4:10) – aimed at younger teens (even if the company wouldn't admit to it) This is trying to show a younger generation what it’s like to throw your life away with drinking and partying. Although I cannot state that as factual quotation and that it is only an opinion, on the other hand it could show that you can do those things in life and still be successful (according to Lady Ga Ga and Record Label)

Altough all genres may be unrelated and have no corellation with each other with the next 3 examples I can link the re-occuring theme of drugs, alcohol or/and violence. Im going to look at Hip-Hop, Dance And Rock.

In Hip-hop there is a constant theme of “b*tches/hoe’s” (woman), “Fly/ Of The Hook Rides” (Cars), “Point n’ Click/Pieces” (Guns) and “Puff/Draw” (Weed). To summarize Hip-Hop artists are known to show off their belongings and what they've got. Their exploiting teenagers minds to make them believe that if they shoot people in a “fly” car that they will get the “b*tches” (Matter Of Opinion. Again, The Record Labels Refuse To Admit To This Exploitation ‘Article In The Times’) they like to show off Their “crib” (house), “Rides” (Cars), Pool Parties, “My Abe's” ($100 Bills) and “Blingage” (Gold/Silver Sparkly Jewelery)

In Rock the constant theme is girls, drugs, partying, violence and Dis-Obedience .(also in other sub-genres emotional Problems) Rock is one of the genres that is not opposed to ‘fighting the system’ with bands such as RATM (Rage Against The Machine) who use pop promo to their advantage to express their message about the government’s scandals, they also use techniques of subliminal messages in their lyrics such as. (Sleep now in the fire – 3:25) “I'm Deep inside Your Children Who Will Betray You In My Name” and more controversial “I Am the Nina The Pinta The Santa Maria, The noose and the rapist, and the fields overseer, the agents of orange, the preists of Hiroshima, The Cost Of My Desire, Sleep Now In The Fire“ this suggest about the government control over the Unites States of America (RATM admit to this along with their record label, ‘Link On RATM Website’) Although rage don’t feature any of the above examples many other ‘mainstream rock’ do. For example, Wolfmother – Dimension (4:25) Although this band doesn't explore violence, in fact its quite the opposite they spread the message of love, this band still promotes sex, drugs, women and partying. Although they don’t use much pop promo, if listened to the lyrics you can see the traits that they follow. (Wolfmother and the record label admit to this, strange how only the rock bands admit to it and their labels ‘Kerrang magazine’.)

Dance, another ‘controversial genre’ all be it most of the lyrics are about love and relationships. Other songs will follow the codes of Party's, Love and two hidden traits which are alcohol and drugs, which are harder to find in the common dance pop promo. I'm going to use the song Darren Styles Vs. Ultrabeat – Disco Lights (2:51). Within the video there are two main characters which are humans impersonating robots, one female and one male, In my personal opinion it seems as if in some scenes they are affected by either alcohol or drugs, but this a sub-conscience connotation that a non-media aware person would not realize. The song is about partying and the pop promo depicts drinking, women and having a good time. (unable to find a quotation on the topic.)

POP promo’s target people at a young age who’s minds are not fully developed (life experience wise) so therefore are easily manipulated. This has been a long debated scandal between people with paranoia around the world, it just goes to show how much control the media has over our future and the next generation. This scandal could go as deep as government media brainwashing to keep the civilization under control, but who's going to admit to that?

A Brief History Of Music Videos

The earliest music videos/music promos were made in the mid 50's, however 'visual music' had already been made in the 20's by animators such as Oskar Fischinger who gave the films that label.

1950’s and 60’s developments

• In 1956 Tony Bennett was filmed walking along The Serpentine in Hyde Park, London as his recording of " Stranger in Paradise " played; this film was distributed to and played by UK and US television stations, leading Bennett to later claim he made the first music video

• Around 1960 the Scopitone , a visual jukebox, was invented in France and short films were produced by many French artists, such as Serge Gainsbourg , Françoise Hardy and Jacques Dutronc to accompany their songs. Its use spread to other countries and similar machines such as the Cine-box in Italy and Color-Sonic in the USA were patented.

• The defining work in the development of the modern music video was The Beatles ' first major motion picture, A Hard Day's Night in 1964 , directed by Richard Lester . The musical segments in this film arguably set out the basic visual vocabulary of today's music videos, influencing a vast number of contemporary musicians, and countless subsequent pop and rock group music videos.

Modern Era of Music Video 1970’s.

• In the UK the importance of Top of the Pops to promote a single created an environment of innovation and competition amongst bands and record labels as the show's producers placed strict limits on the number of videos it would use - therefore a good video would increase a song's sales as viewers hoped to see the video again the following week.

1980’s

• 1981- MTV is launched, The first video to be aired is Buggles ‘Video killed the Radio Star’

MTV

• Music video would, by the mid-1980s, grow to play a central role in popular music marketing.

Music Video today In the information technology era, music videos now approach the popularity of the songs themselves, being sold in collections on video tape and DVD.

Music video history - Timeline

• 1941: A new invention hits clubs and bars in the USA: The Panoram Soundie is a jukebox that plays short video clips along with the music.

• 1956: Hollywood discovers the genre of music-centered films. A wave of rock'n'roll films begins ( Rock Around the Clock , Don't Knock the Rock , Shake, Rattle and Rock , Rock Pretty Baby , The Girl Can't Help It , and the famous Elvis Presley movies). Some of these films integrated musical performances into a story, others were simply revues.

• 1960: In France a re-invention of the Soundie, the Scopitone , gains limited success.

• 1962: British Television invents a new form of music television. Shows like Top Of The Pops , Ready! Steady! Go! and Oh, Boy started as band vehicles and became huge hits.

• 1964: The US-Television market adapts the format. Hullabaloo is one of the first US shows of this kind, followed by Shindig! (NBC) and American Bandstand ; The Beatles star in A Hard Day's Night.

• 1966: The first conceptual promos are aired, for the Beatles' " Paperback Writer " and " Rain ". Early in 1967, even more ambitious videos are released for " Penny Lane " and " Strawberry Fields Forever ".

• 1968: The Rolling Stones collaborate with Jean-Luc Goddard on Sympathy for the Devil.

• 1970: The record industry discovers these TV-Shows as a great opportunity to promote their artists. They focus on producing short "Promos", early music videos which started to replace the live performance of the artist on the TV-stage.

• 1975: " Bohemian Rhapsody " a ground breaking video released by Queen marked the beginning of the video era and set the language for the modern music video.

• 1979: Devo releases "The Day My Baby Gave Me a Surprise", which is the first music video to include computer animation as well as the first to include traditional animation.

• 1980: " Ashes to Ashes " which is considered as a ground breaking video is released by David Bowie.

• 1981: MTV , the first 24-hour satellite music channel, launches. Initially few cable TV operators carried it, but it rapidly became a major hit and cultural icon.

• 1981: Michael Nesmith wins the first ever music video Grammy with Elephant Parts.

• 1983: Night Tracks debuted on Super station WTBS (later known as TBS ) with up to 14 hours of music videos each weekend by 1985. This allowed nearly all U.S. households with Cable TV to view music videos regularly as MTV still wasn't as widely available at this point in time compared to WTBS.

• 1983: Friday Night Videos debuted on the NBC television network, allowing nearly all U.S. households to view music videos regularly.

• 1984: Michael Jackson 's short film Thriller is released, changing the concept of music videos forever. The Making of Thriller home video was also released in 1984. It was the first ever video about the making of a music video.

• 1986: " Sledgehammer ", the ground breaking video from Peter Gabriel, is first shown.

• 1989: MTV renames its "Video Vanguard Award" to the "Michael Jackson Vanguard Award" in honor of Michael Jackson for his contributions to the art of music video.

• 1989: Madonna 's controversial video for Like a Prayer is released.

• 1991: Nirvana release the " Smells Like Teen Spirit " video changing the MTV platform from glam rock to alternative rock, and catapulting grunge and Kurt Cobain into the American and Worldwide mainstream.

• 1992: MTV begins to credit music video directors.

• 1992: Guns N' Roses 's groundbreaking video for " November Rain " is released and remains as one of the costliest ever produced.

• 1996: Pop-up Video is first aired on VH1.

• 1996: M2 is launched as a 24-hour music video channel, as MTV has largely replaced videos with other content.

• 1999: M2 is renamed to MTV2.

• 2002: MTV Hits is launched as MTV2 is gradually showing fewer music videos.

• 2006: The Norwegian unsigned band Rektor makes the worlds first playable video game music video game.

(Source: http://www.slideshare.net/crosswaysfederation/music-video-a-brief-history)

The Brief

We are being commissioned th produce a promotional package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video for an album track, together with two of the following three options:

• a website homepage for the band;
• a cover for its release as part of a digipak (CD/DVD package);
• a magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD/DVD package);

For the music promo video you will need to work in groups no larger than four and each student in the group should explore all of the different roles and responsibilities in the production that will be expected to take responsability for one of the roles. The music video will need to promote the image of the band and reflect the genre, pace and mood of the song.

We will need to consider and mention what sort of institution it would sit within and the TV Channels/Website's the pop promo could be distributed on. We will also need to consider the look and feel of the whole package and make sure that it is a promotional package not three entirely seperate pieces of promotion.