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
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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.
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