Mise en Scene Treatment

Nicola's entry

Costumes/Make up

For Jessica's character I want her to be wearing a bright coat when moving around in the everyday scenes, this will make her stand out against the general public. In the everyday scenes I want Jessica to be wearing natural make up to show off natural beauty. In the bar scenes i want Jessica's character to be wearing a black dress that it tight fitting to show her femininity, I want her to accessorise this dress with a brightly coloured belt to carried on the theme from the other scenes. In the bar scenes i want Jessica's make up to be a bit more apparent with her wearing more mascara to emphasize her eyes. During the bedrooms scenes i want Jessica's character to be wearing Pajamas to show she is at home and in a relaxed environment, during all of Jessica's scenes i want her hair to be straight and blonde as this will contrast with Nicola's characters hair.

For Nicola's character i want her to be wearing a black coat and a brightly coloured scarf during the everyday scenes again the brightly coloured scarf will make her stand out. For the bar scene i was Nicola's character to be wearing more colour than usual, to do this i will dress her in a brightly coloured skirt and team this with a black top and a bright red belt, the use of colours will help her to seem confident.

For the bedroom scene i want Nicola's character to be in Pj's this will make her look comfortable i also want her to wrapped in a duvet this will give the impression that she is about to go to bed. I want Nicola's character to have curly brown hair this will contrast with Jessica's character and help the audience to distinguish between them.

Lighting

The everyday scenes are set outdoors and will be naturally lit as i don't want the promo to look too stylized whereas the bedroom scenes will be dimly lit with the focus of the light on the character to help them be the focus of the scene rather than their surroundings. During the make up scenes the focus of the light will be on the characters face as this is what we want the audience to look at.

Locations

We have a few different locations in our piece, we have the waterfront university building, the two bedrooms and the bar. I chose the waterfront building as it looks modern and artsy and i felt this would go with the tone and feel of our music, i also chose it because of the amount of traffic needed for the time lapse element of our promo. The bedrooms are dressed are differently as i wanted the two characters to have different personalities and tastes, Jessica's character has a printed wallpaper and a large bed with a candle lamp giving a hippy/oriental theme to the room whereas Nicola's character has a simple room. The bar is chose for the decor, it is bright and uses bold colours which i felt matched the tome of the promo. it looks modern and niche which i think would appeal to the audience of our music as they would most likely hang out in bars rather than clubs.

Props

For the props we need to mobile phones i decided to use smart-phones such as the blackberry phone in our promo to show modern technology.

Performance

The characters in our promo will be tackling the subject of homosexuality and in their performance they need to be flirty and attracted to each other without glamorizing lesbianism and making it look over the top. During the bar scene where the characters meet for the first time i want them to flirt with each other but smiling and touching each others arms or hair, then when Jessica's characters says goodbye and the characters kiss, i have decided that they will kiss on the cheek as a fully passionate kiss would be inappropriate and distract from the message we are trying to put across

Editing Treatment

Here is the treatment for the editing of the music video, written by Jessica.

For the beginning of the music video we have decided on 2 possible ways of editing the opening sequence. Our second editing option requires us to shoot no extra footage or make any changes to the narrative so we have decided we will try both ways in post production, to see which looks best.

1. The opening sequence will feature Nicola and Jess both checking their phones, anticipating a call that doesn't arrive. I will then reverse footage of a clock, showing the viewer we are going back in time to the previous morning.

or

2. Instead of reversing the clock to show passed time, we will reverse the whole music video, condensing it down to approximately 20 seconds to show the viewer we are going back to the beginning of that day, to show why both girls are waiting in bed for a phone call.

.....

Images of Nicola and Jess entering the college, followed by jump cut to shots of the college atrium. I will edit these in fast motion, again to show passing of time through the college day. Possibly fade different angles of the college atrium together. Cut to Jess and Nicola bored in class, with match cuts between the two to show the similarity of their situations.

Jump cut to Nicola walking to the record store. Whilst flicking through the records we ideally want to get Nicola to do this in time to the music, but I may be required to slow down/ speed up the footage in the editing stage to achieve this. We will see Nicola leave the shop and the camera will concentrate on the traffic. At this stage I will again put the footage into fast motion to show the passing of time. Jump cut to shot of the sea lapping the shore, possibly slow down footage depending on the rate the tide will be coming in. Followed by the shots of Jess etc. Cut to long shot of waves lapping beach again, except something will be written in the sand and footage will be sped up to show it disappearing.

Jump cut to the makeup sequence with graphic match between Nicola and Jess putting on their mascara. Nicola and Jess will then leave their houses. A close up shot will reveal Jess's eyes in her rear view mirror driving. Possible fast motion of traffic flying by again. Cut to an establishing shot of Ollies bar to reveal to the viewer where the 2 girls are going. Footage of people dancing in the club will possibly be fast motioned.

The meeting sequence will feature shot-reverse-shot to show the conversation flowing between Nicola and Jess. This will be followed by quick cuts to big close-ups of eyes and lips, to create a feeling of tension between the two. A slightly slow motion shot of their hands touching will then feature. Followed by match cuts of both saving there numbers into each other phones. As Jess leaves the building the image will slowly be faded out in time with the music.

Once the music has stopped, we will resume the narrative from the very beginning of the music video, showing both girls in bed waiting for a phone call, looking board. Jump cut to Nicola's phone ringing, emphasising the surprise. Finish with close up of Nicola saying 'Hey'. Fade to black.

Cinematography Treatment

I am cinematographer for the group, so will be responsible for directing the positioning of the video camera for each shot that we film, in order to achieve the appropriate effect for our video whilst ensuring we adhere to the various codes and conventions of filmmaking.

However, as we are aiming our promotional package for this video to be towards young people who enjoy alternative music out of the mainstream, I would like to incorporate experimental cinematography into the video and challenge some of the codes and conventions and perhaps break a few of the guidelines! I am hoping to include several "unplanned" shots in each of the locations, that when we are filming on set we can experiment with different angles and shot sizes with the camera in unusual places, to create a really edgy and interesting music video that pushes the boundaries of what shots you normally see in your average music video (mid shots of the artist etc).

As our artist Lawrence King is not featuring in our music video, we do not need to worry about including lots of close ups and shots of the artist in our video. Instead, we have a storyline of two characters meeting by chance throughout the day, culminating in them meeting at a bar later that day. The main point we need to convey to the audience is that these two women are attracted to each other.
To do this, I plan to use multiple close up shot-reverse-shots in the bar scenes to show their reactions when they first meet and talk in the bar and the fact that the close ups with show they are giving each other alot of eye contact will suggest that they are indeed attracted to each other.

As well as shots of our actors, I want to include lots of wide shots of our locations such as the college, the beach by the river, and the bar to show the environments the actors are in. We are lucky to have found a beach to film on with such pretty scenery so we need to make sure we show it off it its full advantage with wide panning shots! I also want to try to capture some birds flying over the rivers water using a panning long shot. We will film a low angle wide shot of the college entrance as the girls enter the building (at separate times). This will show that the college is a big place full of people and that there’s only a small chance they would meet each other unintentionally in such a big building, and that they are a “small fish in the sea” if you get what I mean!. When Jessica is walking her dog on the beach, we will use a panning wide shot from left to right shot, which will enable the viewer to see both Jessica, the dog, and the scenery they are in.

There is a scene that we are going to have where one girl is waiting at the traffic lights outside of the college waiting for light at the pedestrian crossing to go from red to green. For this I want to position the camera so we have a lot of depth in the frame – the “green man” on the traffic light in the foreground, and the college in the background with the marina with its many boats in the distance, all whilst there are pedestrians walking past and cars driving past in the frame. This will create a much more interesting shot than just filming a close up of the traffic light itself turning from red to green.

The bar scene is where I really want to try some unconventional shots, as well as dutch tilts perhaps to make a somewhat boring shot of a girl walking into the bar a little more interesting for the audience to watch. I know in the bar we are filming in there are metal chairs with thin slats all over them, I was thinking perhaps we could place the camera behind one of them and film, perhaps creating a voyeuristic effect, or maybe film through the translucent windows of the bar so it will be like the audience are drawn into these character’s worlds.

We are also hoping to include some time lapse of one of the girls driving along the road (with the camera rested on the dashboard so it will look like the drivers point of view as they are driving along the road), which will create the sense of a passage of time which, under normal circumstances, would take too long or would be extremely boring to watch in ‘real time’. 10 minutes of footage should be enough, and then in the editing room we will speed up the footage so it will only be a few seconds long. We could also like to incorporate a point of view shot from the front seat of the car while the car is driving but obviously this poses problems as to how we film this whilst driving the car! As a little touch showing attention to detail, I also want to include a big-close-up shot one of the girls holding a iPod (that’s playing a Lawrence King track), and also near the end when we see them saving each others numbers into their mobile phones, to show to the audience that they will hopefully be seeing each other again and that this is not the end.

As I learnt last year in our AS Project, I must remember to obey the Rule of thirds. You imagine breaking your image down into thirds (both horizontally and vertically) so that you have nine parts. The theory is that if you place points of interest along the lines then the image becomes more balanced and enables the audience can interact with it more naturally.

I must continue remember the basic guidelines such as the 180 degree line rule. The 180° rule states that two characters (in the same scene) should always have the same left/right relationship to each other, and that the camera should not cross the imaginary axis connecting the two characters. I watched this video on YouTube to refresh my memory of it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdyyuqmCW14

Also, I need to make sure I obey the 30° rule. This is a basic film editing guideline that says the camera needs to move at least 30° between shots of the same subject. This makes the shots different enough to avoid a jump cut, however too much movement around the subject may violate the 180° rule.

Similar Artist Research: Zero 7

Nicola's entry

I have chosen to research in to bands that are similar to the kind of music that Lawrence makes as he is not an established artist I need to research in to how bands like him promote themselves.

Zero 7 are a Grammy nominated ambient music duo from the UK comprising of Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker and they use guest vocalists on their tracks such as Tina Dico, Sophie Barker and Mozez. So far they have had four studio albums since 2001; Simple things (2001) When it Falls (2004) The Garden (2006) and Yeah Ghost (2009) and their music has been TV shows such as CSI, Smallville and Sex in the City and coke-cola

Zero 7 use youtube to promote there music, the have their own youtube channel on which they put their pop promos and they also have a link to their website which is promoting their new album “yeah ghost”. Their music videos are quite abstract for example the video for destiny is done in a cartoon style in black and white with tints of red and orange following a girl going about her day and seeing couple and relationships everywhere and then at the end of the music video the black and white turns to colour when the girl is walking down the street towards a café where someone is waiting for her, i think this video works well with the lyrics are the promo shows how couple/relationships work together and how destiny shapes the world around us, this video is more narrative based as we do not see the band performing which a typical convention for this genre of music. this video uses lots of mid shots and panning shots to show the girls travels and point of view shots showing what the girl sees on her way to meet her friend/partner.

Star Image/Construction

With this genre of music the bands are fairly low key and use the internet to do their advertising or use word of mouth to get there music out and Zero 7 are much the same as they use various artists to do the vocals on their tracks and i think this is they way most artists from this genre like to be, they like to remain anonymous and not gain all the fame and just have their music appreciated just for the fact that they make good music.

Narrative Synopsis

Synopsis for our music video, written by Jessica

We have chose to use a narrative structure for our pop promo. The concept will be based around movement of time and crossing paths. It will feature Girl A and Girl B, who will cross paths throughout the day and perform activities in parallel to each other. A night time a sequence will then show them meeting at a bar and sparking up a relationship.

The following synopsis is the chronological order of events.

• Both girls walking to college but on different routes
• Both girls will cross the same road/traffic lights on there journey
• Both girls walking back home
• Both girls getting ready, putting on make up etc ready for a night out.
• Both girl on there way to the city centre. Girl A walking and Girl B driving.
• Girl A sat down drinking in a bar
• Girl B approaches Girl A and ask if she can sit with her.
• The girls get chatting and have a laugh and a flirt.
• Girl B has to leave but asks Girl A for her number
• The girls kiss and Girl B leaves
• Both girls shown lying in bed at home hoping for a text from the other girl.
• A smiling Girl B eventually receives a text form Girl B
• Both girls go to sleep happy.

However, we are going to rearrange the chronological order of events to make the narrative more interesting. The stage shown in BLUE will actually be the beginning of the music video, to create tension between what is happening between these two girls. The end of the music video will therefore anaphorically reference the beginning and create a 'full circle' as such.

Similar Artist Research - Four Tet Music Videos

Below is Jess's research into the artist "Four Tet"'s pop promos.

Four Tet is the stage name for Kieran Hebden, who is a solo experimental, electronic DJ and musician that Lawrence King named as one of his influences. Similarly, The music from Four Tet is also predominately lyricless. Four Tet uses samples from r'n'b and hip hop to Jazz and other electronica mixed with Hebden's guitar tracks. VH1 describes him as "balancing organic and programmed sounds" in his music.



The video for Hands is filmed in soft focus to give the images a distorted feel. The images all fit into the nature theme, with animals, leaves and a jellyfish. The video is understated and concept based, meant as an accompaniment for the music, not a video in its own right. Its evident that the artist wants his music to be the talking point, not the music video.



She Moves She is one of Four Tet's adventures into a more professional artistic music video, directed by Ed Holdsworth. The music video is concept based, beginning with a train leaving a station, with the video shown as a point of view shot for the trains window. The images start unaffected at first, but become introverted, illustrated and mirrored. The colours are often enhanced or turned negative. The footage is show in fast motion, in beat to the music. At the end the images duplicate to the beat of the music until they become nonexistent.



The above video is for the Four Tet track Smile Around Your Face and features actor Mark Heap. The video is one very simple concept- a continuous close up of Mark's face. However, The close up tracks to follow Mark as he goes about his day, almost as if the camera is strapped on the front of his body. Nothing out of the ordinary happens on Mark's day; he leaves his house, gets the bus, take a tumble on the bus and gets a headache, takes his kids to the park and has a bath. However if you look a little deeper into the narrative the video becomes highly emotional. Mark is picking his kids up from another house (presumably an ex wife) and takes them to play at the park but has to take them back again. When alone later in the bath the cinematography suggests he is sad that he cannot be with his children and the time he has with them is precious. This is done by blending the shot of him in the park with his children and the one with him in the bath- making it almost feel like a daydream. After the sequence when Mark falls over of the bus the video is edited in such a way that we are aware that Mark has a headache. The colours are distorted and saturated, and are uneasy to look at.

Similar Artist Research - Four Tet Print Designs

Here is Jess's research into the band "Four Tet's" print designs.

I previously analysed Four Tet's music videos and I will now do the same for his print designs- album cover, posters and adverts.

Above is the latest Four Tet album design There Is Love In You (2010). Interestingly, the front of the album cover doesn't contain the album name or title of the artist. This would not be something I would use on my design as the artist we are designing for is up and coming, and promotion of his name is important. However, the individuality of this design and the rising popularity of Four Tet means that this cover is memorable as a Four Tet album. A black background in punctured by many round circles each with a different image within- a mixture of abstract forms and colour, flowers and nature.

Above is the Magazine advert for Four Tet's 2010 tour. The theme of the album cover has been carried over to the advert and is providing the background image. The Artist name has been included this time probably because some one flicking through a magazine may not know or assume that this is an advert for Four Tet, where as someone buying the album would already know what the album looks like and who the artist is. The Artist name is in a simple, modern, bold text that almost looks like it has been cutout of the background and contrast well so it can be clearly read. The symbols used to communicate who the support acts are add a friendly and fun touch to the advert. The style of text used to list the tour dates is classic and simple, a feeling of sophistication had definitely been created.

This is Four Tet's first ever album DIALOGUE (1999). It contrasts with their latest album as it has and artist title and album name clearly displayed in bold, central text. In regards to colour, The album uses greyscale which gives a feeling of simplicity (much like their first album). The nice effect of condensation behind the text brings an interesting focal point to the design. The black circle in the middle gives the illusion of a classic LP within the case, that is being distorted by the trapped condensation.

Production Meeting 4

Since the last meeting we have developed our narrative and concept for the pop promo further. Unfortunately we have a shortage of male actors so the storyline has changes so that the relationship will form between 2 girls. We will go on our first shoot next week... the beach! We wanted to include nature shots and we though that by showing one of the girl on location at the beach in the best way of incorporating this. The other girl will mainly be shot in urban location which we hope to film in Ipswich the week after.

Location finders checklists, Maps and risk assessments will be complete by Jess because as Editor she doesn't have too much to do at the moment. We need to gain permission to shoot in a bar and record shop, but the rest of the locations are public. Maya is busy drawing rough storyboards and completing shot lists. Nicola has also drawn up a rough art treatment for the pop promo, and busy deciding characters costumes etc.

Experimental Editing Effects

Our group know that we wish to time lapse some of our footage during the editing stage. To discover how much footage compresses down to the final product once the speed has been increased we did a practice shot. We decided Nicola would sit perfectly still in the middle of the college atrium whilst people move around her for 20 minutes.

I captured the footage in Final Cut Pro and put it into the timeline. I then used the speed option to essentially put the footage on fast forward. At first I tried 500% and 1000% but this did not make a significant impact on the movement around her. In the end, we set it at 9000% speed which is the video you can see above. This is the most suitable speed setting for this footage as the atrium wasn't that busy. 20 minutes compressed down 7 seconds worth of footage

Through doing this preliminary editing exercise I have got to grips with how to use Final Cut Pro and we have an idea of the length of footage we will need, and how much that will compress down to, to create time lapse sequences. Due to the location being different as well- the cars will be moving at a faster pace than the students in the atrium-I imagine 9000% will be too fast, I will use 2000-4000% region as we will want to keep it in pace to the music.

Similar Artist Research: Previous Marketing Campaigns

Album Covers

Here are two examples of album covers for Boards Of Canada.

This one is for the album Geogaddi released in 2002. It is of what appears to be silhouettes of people standing with their arms and legs outstretched , amongst some trees, around a star or planet. It is almost as if it is simply a tie-die pattern, and then on closer inspection you realise its actually humans and objects.The red and orange tones give a warm and friendly feel to the cover. It has a symmetrical look to it, and a psychedelic feel. This goes very well with the fact that the music is of the electronic/ambient/psychedelic genre. Personally I think the font size that has been used for the title of the album and the band name is too small, and when we make our own album cover we need to carefully consider the size of the font we use so that it is easy for everyone to read.



This one is for the album The Campfire Headphase released in 2005. It is a photograph of a man, but we cannot see his identity as the image has a green and blue smokey/liquid like overlay. It is almost as if water has been poured onto the photograph, making it damaged but giving a nice affect. I really like this cover and it has given me some good ideas on what I could make my album cover like. As our artist is fairly anonymous, we could have a photo of him (or someone similar as it wouldn't really matter) then overlay it with something such as an effect or colour, to give the impression that our artist is rather mysterious and unknown as you cannot see his identity.

Interesting typography has been used for the words "Boards Of Canada" with all the letter A's being changed, and we could experiment with fonts when making our album cover to give a unique and interesting feel to it and make it stand out from the crowd.

Print Adverts (Posters)



Here is a print advert for the album The Campfire Headphase. It is heavily based on album's cover - the same photo, typeface, look and feel. This increases continuity, strengthens the albums brand identity, and helps the audience to recognise that this advertises the album, so when they go into a record shop looking for it they will know what it looks like. I am going to do similar with my music album promotional package, and make the album cover and magazine advert very similar in style, as it works really well in strengthening the artist's and the albums identity. As the photo of the poster is quite bad quality, I can't see what is written in the smallprint underneath the title, but I presume it is the albums release date, and perhaps a link to their website, which is really crucial to put on a print advert so people know where to find more information on the album or artist.

Similar Artist Research: Previous Pop Promos

Music Video



This is the music video for Boards of Canada's song "Dayvan Cowboy", taken from the album "The Campfire Headphase". It was directed by Melissa Olson and has been watched over 820,000 times on YouTube. The video consists of footage from Joe Kittinger's famous parachute jump from 19.5 miles (31.4 km) altitude. Later on in the video, slow-motion footage of big-wave surfer Laird Hamilton is used. It is quite simple, no complicated narrative, just watching an amazing spectacle of someone jumping from plane and the view they had and imagining the adrenaline rush that he must of felt, and I think it works really well with the uplifting feel of this song. It "matches" the album cover and their overall marketing campaign, with a strong nature and artistic theme, and I think the music video has a very broad appeal in terms of who will watch it.

This is the only official music video Boards of Canada has (the rest on Youtube are fanmade). Some artists in this genre of music choose to simply not have pop promos and just have their songs. We hope to show that having a music video can be a great addition to your song, and can really help to create a promotional package that can help to promote the band/artist.

Similar Artist Research: Boards Of Canada

As the artist of our chosen song to make a pop promo for is not well known and hasn't had any previous marketing campaigns or pop promos made, I have been researching artists that make similar music and have had previous marketing campaigns and pop promos. Nicola has been researching Zero 7, and Jessica has been researching Star of the Lid and Four Tet. I have been researching Boards Of Canada, a Scottish electronic music duo.

Genres: Electronic, Downtempo, Ambient, Experimental, Psychedelic, IDM (intelligent dance music)

Years active: 1986 - present
www.boardsofcanada.com

Boards of Canada are a Scottish electronic music duo consisting of brothers Mike Sandison and Marcus Eoin. They are signed to Warp Records and have released several works on that label with little advertising and few interviews, while also having an obscure and elusive back-catalogue of releases on their self-run label Music70.

Their music is reminiscent of the artificial, warm and scratchy sounds of 1970s media and prominent themes include nostalgia, childhood and the natural world. They are said to take the documentary films made by the National Film Board of Canada (Canada's public film producer and distributor), from which their group name is derived, as a source of inspiration.

Major releases:

• 1998: Music Has the Right to Children – (Warp/Skam) #193 UK
• 2000: In a Beautiful Place Out in the Country – (Warp/Music70)
• 2002: Geogaddi – (Warp/Music70) #21 UK
• 2005: The Campfire Headphase – (Warp) #41 UK
• 2006: Trans Canada Highway (Warp)

Audience:
I think that the target audience for Boards of Canada's music will be fairly young people aged 18-30 (although there's nothing to say older people wouldn't like it), either male or female, and the key feature that defines their audience is people's music tastes - whether they have an open mind when it comes to what music they listen to and would enjoy non-mainstream music, and that will enjoy experimental and electronic music.

Analysis of a Music Promotional Package

I am going to analyse the music promotional package for the band JLS. This is the first album for the band JLS, who rose to fame after coming second on The X Factor in 2008.

Album Cover



This is JLS's first album cover and they have kept it very simple. It is a photography of each of the band members, all staring straight at the camera, and has been covered with a blue-ish tint. As the album has no title, just their name, "JLS", this has been made large and bold and placed at the top so that it will grab your attention when you look at it, so you know immediately who's album it is. "JLS" is underlined with a line of 4 different colours, this represents that their is 4 members of the band, and each one is an individual and has their own qualities. The star to the left of the word "JLS" could simply show that they are up and coming stars, even though they are a relatively new band.

I think that the reason they have kept it so simple with just a picture of the 4 band members is because this is their main selling point, that they are attractive young men that girls will fancy. The are represented as being well groomed, friendly and that they take pride in their appearance, and by looking at the photo you instantly know that this isn't going to be an album of the rap genre, you know straight away that they are a pretty non-offensive pop boyband.

Print advert

Here is a print advert advertising their debut album. It appeared Heat magazine in the 14th-20th November issue. I don't have a scanner so had to photograph the advert, so the white lines are from the cameras flash and are not on the advert itself.

This print advert is extremely similar to their album cover. It is the same photograph of the band, with the same blue/grey tint to it. The only difference this time is that they have added some key details about the album - its release date, the fact that its their first album, and two examples of songs on it. Their singles "Beat Again" and "Everybody In Love" are displayed on this advert as these are their two singles that have both reached number 1 in the UK singles chart. Also included in smaller print at the bottom of the advert is their official website address, this gives the audience an opportunity to go online and find out more about the band and their new album. The typeface used is very clear and easy to read, in a simple font and large size so no on should have any trouble reading it, and having it white on a black background makes it even easier to read.

Having a print advert so closely resembling their album cover really helps to strengthen their brand identity and create/develop their star image.

Music Video

JLS - Beat Again [2009]

Mise en scene - The video is set in what looks like a disused warehouse, and shows JLS dancing to the song in front of various coloured lights. The dance choreography involves moves revolving around heartbeats, corresponding to the title "Beat Again" and the songs lyrics. The band members are wearing blue and grey clothing, such as unbuttoned skirts showing some of their chest, jeans and trainers, giving them a relaxed yet attractive look. The lighting of the set is very dark apart from the coloured lights, this could be to hide flaws in the set on account of a low budget, as this was their first single release so they didn't know if it would be successful and make money or not. Sometimes, such as 0:15, lighting has been used to create a silhouette of the boys, where they have been lit from behind but not from the front.

Cinematography - Low camera angles are used throughout, perhaps to cover up the fact their not that tall. Lots of mid shots and close ups are used of the boys faces and bodys, to show how attractive they are to the audience. Wide shots are used throughout of all the band members dancing their routine, as it is completely performance based so seeing the choreography of the boys dance routine is crucial.

Editing/Visual effects - As the song has an upbeat mood, it is edited using fast-cut montage using loads of different quick and snappy shots of the band members, so many that one viewing may not be enough to grasp all the images, so multiple viewing is likely. There are very little/no visual effects in this music video, because it is performance based so they are not really needed.

Relationship between lyrics and visuals - There is a strong relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, and this is mostly shown through their dancing. An example of this is at 0:56, where it says "telling me that my heart won't beat again" and they imitate a heart beating using their hands on their chest.

Relationship between music and the visuals - There is a fairly strong relationship between the the music and the visuals -the camera shots generally change to go with the beat of the song. Longer shots are used when the music tempo slows down, then when it picks up again quick snappy shots are used.

Genre characteristics of the music style - This music video is very typical of pop bands music videos. It is performance based, as most of them are, and features lots of close ups of the band itself as their good looks are one of their main selling points, and the fact they come across as charming and sweet.

Representation - The four band members of JLS are represented as good looking young men, who are charming and athletic and can dance well. They are non offensive, and overall look very mainstream and look like a typical boyband, and are represented as the ideal boyfriend that a teen girl would want - attractive, caring and talented. They are all mixed race, which challenges the stereotype that boy bands usually just have white men in them, such as Westlife, Boyzone, Take That, Nsync, and Backstreet Boys.

Audience - The target audience that this music video is intended for is tween girls aged 9-12, teenage girls aged 13-18, and perhaps some women aged 18-30 who like boybands. It is aimed at heterosexual females, but also perhaps to a lesser extent, homosexual males.

Production Meeting 3

Today we brought together all our individual ideas and discussed them. All our ideas are quite similar in some respects so it wasn't that hard to all agree on a final idea. We want our narrative to center around a boy and a girl who cross paths throughout the day but never notice each other. Near the end of the music video they will finally meet and form a relationship. However, we are still keen to include nature shots to reflect the inspirations Lawrence King has within his music. Over the next few week we will pin down locations and characters, and then begin our treatments.

Individual Brief Ideas For A Pop Promo For A Song

Before we got into groups and picked a song to make a music video for, we individually chose a song and thought about a pop promo to make for it and the synopsis and treatment for it. Below is my individual idea for a pop promo for a song. The song I have chosen is "Before The Worst" by "The Script". I chose this as the song itself it relatively unknown so people won't have any preconceived ideas of what music video to expect from the song, and it doesn't already have its own music video.


Click here to listen to the song.

Click here for the song's lyrics.

Synopsis

The music video is going to have a fairly strong relationship with the lyrics of the song. It won't simply illustrate the lyrics alone, but key lines will play a part in the visual associated.

The video starts with a young man sitting on some steps in a busy town center or city area, with people rushing past going about their day to day lives. He sits and looks towards the camera and sings the lyrics to the opening of the song. After a few seconds, it cuts to a shot of him a few months ago, meeting a girl in the same area where he is sitting now (but in black and white to show its the past). Then throughout the rest of the video it goes over the same pattern, cutting from happy, scenes with him and his girlfriend in the past, such as in a bar, at the beach and playing in a snowy park, back to him sitting on the steps. It then cuts back to the past, showing them having an argument (that ends with them splitting up and showing him deleting her number from his phone) to now where he is single and depressed and sitting on the steps with people going past, wishing he could go back to those moments with her. He is remembering all the good times "before the worst", with "the worst" being when they split up.

Treatment

The present times with the man singing the lyrics will be in colour (although desaturated to give it a glum and depressed feel), but the flashbacks to the past with his ex girlfriend will be in black and white to symbolise to the audience that the time they were a couple is now over, and that he misses those times. The man will be dressed quite scruffily, which conveys the idea that he doesn't really care about much now that he is on his own with no-one else. The shot of him sitting on the steps will be high angled, to make him look vulnerable now that he is on his own. An extreme close up shot will be used of his mobile phone, showing him deleting her number from his phonebook, to convey to the audience the message that they have split up. There will be no added sound effects in the video, just the music track. Some shots of the past with the couple together will be slowed down, to show that the memory's are now rather distant and hazy, and also this will fit in with the tempo of the song well, rather than having fast action.

Primary Research - Lawrence King Questionairre

GROUP ENTRY

To gain further knowledge of Lawrence King and get an insight into his music we emailed him a questionnaire which he politely completed.

Hi Lawrence! Firstly, how would you classify your music into genres?

I tend to describe it as Experimental/ Ambient/ Electronica. However I'm not putting myself into boxes just yet, things may change!

What is the inspiration behind your music?

Mainly nature and the wonderful things it creates... sunsets, bright blue skies the sound of a pebble hitting the water etc. But also the journey of time within nature and the concept of day and night.

What other artists would you consider in a similar genre to yourself?

I like the works of Boards of Canada, Four Tet and Zero 7. We aren't exactly the same but you get the idea.

How come you don't have any music videos?

Music videos are less common in electronic music- we like to concentrate more on the music! However some of the bands I have mentioned before have done music videos and I do believe they can sometimes help do justice to the song. As I'm not a big artist yet, still a student, there wouldn't be much point to making a music video until i gain a bigger fan base after considering costs etc. Unless more students like you want to make them anyway!

What do you enjoy in music videos (any genre)?

Variety is key, some have a great story to them, whilst others you just see the band performing and its still great. I don't believe its necessary to see the artist unless its a band, then its cool to see them all play together. I enjoy some of the more weirder music videos from Aphex Twin as you genuinely want to keep on watching to see what the hells is going on. Its always nice to see things you have never seen before in music videos- new environments and cultures etc.

What would you like to see in the music video we make for you?

That's really up to you, I have nothing set in my mind, hopefully you have got an idea what my music is all about and use inspiration from that. But I'm all for being experimental and doing what no one has done before so go crazy! I wouldn't want it to be generic and copied.

And... Would you like to be in it?

Preferably not, I'm quite keen to remain anonymous as an artist. I want people to concentrate on the music not me. This isn't like pop music where the image of the artist is key to the success. (Lucky for me? lol)

Thanks Lawrence!

Research Questionairre

Research questionairre, by Jessica:

Age- Average age of participants was 19, but ranged from 16-26

It was important for us to gain the views from our target audience who we typically identified as 18-25, although we were limited by the people available to fill in the questionnaire.

Sex- M- 45% F- 55%

We don't believe there is any gender preference to the electronic music genre so we aimed to get equal views from both boys and girls.

1. How many music videos do you watch a week?

0- 5%

0- 5 - 10%

1-5 - 10%

5-10 - 10%

10-15 - 15%

15- 20 - 20%

20+ -30%

Many commented that although they may watch up to 50+ music videos a week it is done in an unconscious manner- i.e putting music stations on the TV to listen to the music, but they do not become absorbed in the video.

2. How important is it for a song to have an accompanying video?

Won’t listen without a video- 10%

Fairly important- 60%

Not bothered either way- 25%

Don’t watch music videos- 5%

The results tell us that the majority like to see music videos, and interestingly it is actually vital to some. Electronic artists often don't have music videos and we believe this is a disadvantage and they may loose a proportion of a potential audience albeit quite small. An intriguing music video is a good way to get someone listening to your music if they have never heard it before.

3. Do you enjoy music without lyrics?

Yes- 20%

No- 50%

Exceptionally - 30%

We asked this question as we needed to gauge how responsive are audience would be to Lawrence King's music. Unfortunately half of the people we interviewed do not listen to lyricless music but we hope this could change once they had been introduced to different types of music, and a music video maybe a good way of doing this.

4. Do you ever listen to Electronic or Chillout music?

Yes- 15%

No- 45%

Sometimes- 40%

45% of the people we interviewed do not listen to electronic music whether this be because of personal tastes or access to different type of genres. The electronic genre is not widely played or promoted on TV or radio so the results are not surprising. However many seem to like it occasionally and the medium of music video may help promote this further.

5. Do you think it’s important to see the artist in the music video?

Yes- 65%

No- 35%

It is useful to point out that mostly girls answered Yes, and when we asked why it was often because they like to gain fashion ideas from pop role models. Many participants also commented that if they were listening to music with out lyrics like dance music or d'n'b they often do not care about seeing the artists. The opposite is true with bands and pop stars. Our group therefore believe that it is not a necessity for Lawrence to be in the music video unless it would benefit our final piece.

6. Do you like to see a narrative (i.e story) in the music video?

Yes- 75%

No- 25%

From these result it is obvious that the larger majority like to have something to follow within a music video and we will definitely incorporate a narrative within our music video.

Primary Research: Lawrence King Introduction

GROUP ENTRY

Our group is in a unique situation compared to our other classmates in regards to our chosen artist; we discovered Lawrence King as he is a friend of Nicola and she had heard his music. Although this gives us an advantage as we can contact him directly for research it also means he is not yet fully established and so we cannot gain inspiration/direction from previous music videos.

A quick introduction to Lawrence King:

• Lawrence is 20 years old


• He is currently a student at the University of Hertfordshire


• He studies Music Technology


• His music is predominately in the Electronic genre


• You can listen to his music on his MYSPACE, LASTFM, SOUNDCLOUD


• Many of his inspirations and music collection are listed on his DISCOGS page


• Lawrence networks on his TWITTER page to share ideas and feedback with other artists.

Analysis of Pop Promo - "Bulletproof"

La Roux - Bulletproof [2009]
Electropop
Concept & Performance based



Mise en scene - The location in the music video is a computer generated room, with brightly coloured 3D patterns, light and shapes inside it. Elly Jackson (the singer in the duo band "La Roux") is shown sitting in a chair in a bright setting, looking towards the floor. When the lyrics start, Jackson looks up and walks towards the camera singing them, with random patterns and shapes in bright colours such as greens, oranges and blues moving behind her. She has iconic hair and makeup, including orange lipstick and colourful eyeshadow, and this highlights her individuality and personal style. The video combines a retro 80's feel with a futuristic theme, almost like shes in an retro computer game.

Cinematography - As the song is upbeat, movement plays a really big part in the cinematography of this video, the camera is almost never fixed in one place not moving, its almost always tracking or panning shots throughout, such as at 1:14 its tracking backwards whilst she walks towards the camera. This makes the video never boring or still, there is always something moving around and making it exciting to watch. Close ups are used of her face to show her iconic make up and hair, and wide shots are used to show her CGI surroundings to the audience.

Editing/Visual effects - Alot of post production work has gone into making this music video as nearly all of it (apart from Elly Jackson herself) is CGI - computer generated images. The screen is made to look like smashed glass near the end using an editing effect, this could mean that shes been broken before but will not let it happen again - as this time shes "bulletproof".

Relationship between lyrics and visuals - This energetic and colourful music video shows how she just wants to have fun now and not end up getting hurt in a serious relationship like she has been in the past, such as when she sings "been there, done that, messed around. I'm having fun, don't let me down. I'll never let you sweep me off my feet." Near the end of the video she walks quickly and confidently towards the camera, with hundreds of little coloured shapes falling around her, and it corresponds with the lyrics like she is telling someone who she has been hurt by before that shes not going to let it happen this time. Throughout the song, she sings along with the lyrics, making this music video performance based as well as the concept based.

Relationship between music and the visuals - There is a strong relationship between the the music and the visuals -the camera shots rapidly change to go with the beat of the song, and as Elly Jackson is walking, you can see squares on the wall flash to the beat of the song, helping to enhance the song. From 2:15-2:30, she can just be seen sitting and lying down and not singing along, compared to walking and singing in the rest of the video. This is because the pace of the song is reflected in the video, and at this point it changes from fast and upbeat to a slower and calm pace.

Genre characteristics of the music style - The music video demonstrates strong characteristics of videos for songs of the electropop genre - visual enhancements and effects, and an upbeat and energetic feel.

Representation - Lots of close ups are shown of her face and her iconic hair and makeup, including orange lipstick and colourful eyeshadow, this was most likely a demand from the record company to develop La Roux's identity. She is represented as young woman who is pretty in an alternative way, who is carefree and doesn't need a man in her life.

Audience - I think that the intended audience of this music video is teenage girls and young women aged 13-25 as these are the type of people who would listen to La Roux and this upbeat song. Men might also enjoy it as she is fairly good looking, but she doesn't dress provocatively so that might put some men off from watching it!

Overall, I think this music video is a very good example of one with less narrative and more concept based, and think it works very well for songs of the electropop genre.

Analysis of Pop Promo - "We Are Golden"

Mika - "We Are Golden" [2009]
Directed by Jonas Akerlund
Pop
Performance based



This music video features Mika dancing around his bedroom in his underwear and is said to be a "celebration of all the years Mika spent dancing around his bedroom as a teenager."

Mise en scene - Set in a bright and colourful teenagers bedroom, with a bright and cheery feel to it. The bedroom is really untidy, showing how when your a child its acceptable to have a messy room. Throughout the video, he wears just his underpants showing how when your young you could get away with that but now that he's an adult its not really accepted to just wear your underwear and no clothes. Lighting is used to make the bedroom look bright and fresh. He sometimes wears items of eccentric jewelery such as at 2:45 where he seems to be wearing a necklace made out of lego - this adds to the cheerful and lighthearted mood of the video and shows that he doesn't really cares what he looks like, he's just having fun and being like a big kid.

Cinematography - Wide shots (that are slightly low angle) are used of his bedroom and him dancing around to set the scene and show that it is set in a messy kids/teenagers bedroom. Close up shots are used of the tape at the beginning that has the words "We Are Golden" on it to show the audience the name of the song so they will remember it. The low angled shots used throughout I think are there to make the audience feel small and make it like they are seeing the world through a child's eyes again. Close ups of this face are used throughout such as at 0:41, this was probably a demand by the record company to reinforce his identity and so the audience recognises this is a song by Mika.

Editing/Visual effects - As the song has an upbeat,fast paced and happy mood, it is done using fast-cut montage using loads of different quick and snappy shots, so many infact that one viewing may not be enough to grasp all the images, so multiple viewing is likely. At 3:18 he is shown having lasers coming out from his head and body, this would of been done in post production using an editing program. Throughout the video, there are shots of him where the saturation has been edited in post production, making it look really unnaturally bright such as at 1:37, and adds to the vibrant feel of the piece. At 3:35 CGI has been used to make the ceiling of his room look like it is a stormy sky.

Relationship between lyrics and visuals - There is a strong relationship between the lyrics of the song and what is shown in the video. In the chorus it says "Teenage dreams in a teenage circus, Running around like a clown on purpose" and this is shown in the video with him dancing around his room in his underpants having fun and not caring about anything, just like being a kid again and "Teenage circus" means his bedroom, with its bright colours and shapes.

Relationship between music and the visuals - The music has a very happy, upbeat and vibrant feel to it and this is reflected in the visuals with their bright colours and Mika dancing around carefree in the messy but vibrant looking bedroom. In the video, the music starts once Mika has put the tape into the cassette player which works well. The video changes with the pace of the song such as longer shots are put in nearer the end where the music beat slows down at around 3:27.

Genre characteristics of the music style - The genre of the music is pop, and I think that this is a fairly typical video of the pop genre, its lighthearted and upbeat, non-offensive and not controversial, and just shows someone having a good time surrounded by bright colours and an interesting set.

Intertextuality - Mika can be seen wearing a gimp mask at 3:00, made famous by the film Pulp Fiction.

Representation - The only person in the video is Mika himself, he is represented as a fairly good looking guy (who may or may not be gay) who just wants to be carefree like a kid again and go back to being young where you can get away with doing loads of things that you can't as an adult.

Audience - I think that this video has very broad appeal as it is so lighthearted and has a fun and youthful feel to it. Mostly I think that children (boys or girls), teenage girls (as Mika is fairly good looking) and gay men (as its bright and colourful and he's just wearing his boxers) would like it the most, but really it could be enjoyed by someone of any age or sexuality if they liked his music.

Analysis of Pop Promo - "Karmacoma"

Massive Attack - "Karmacoma" [1995]
Directed by Jonathan Glazer
Trip-hop
Narrative & Performance based




Mise en scene - The video is set in a hotel, lit with high key lighting (harsh with little contrast). There is a man with long, unkept hair and beard who is very rough looking, and that helps to immediately give the impression that he is dodgy and probably not a nice character. The video is full of people dressed in strange costumes and make up, such as the man at 0:38 with a gun muttering to himself pointing the gun at different rooms, obviously in a state of distress and paranoia, and the way he is dressed just makes him look even more weird and like he can't be trusted. The man covered with oil among mirrors and cameras, I presume to be performing some kind of bizarre artwork. A man has been covered with brown oil at 3:54 and is pulling his finger out of his own stomach, this just adds to the completly bizarre feel of the video.

Cinematography - At the start we see a camera tracking shot going down the corridor of the hotel to set the scene of where this video is taking place, and a high angle shot is shown of a man sitting on a chair, who has been shot of stabbed. Close ups are used throughout of the Massive Attack members singing.

Editing/Visual effects - To establish a more downbeat mood, this video uses slow pace and gentler shot transitions compared with the fast cut montage of shots used for more upbeat music videos. Many special effects have been added in post production of the music video, for example there is a man that attempting to drown a mini copy of himself in a bathtub at 4:16.

Relationship between lyrics and visuals - There is hardly any relationship between what we hear in the lyrics and the visuals of the video, the song is quite cryptic and conceptual yet the visuals have a strong narrative, so they kind of contradict each other yet I think it works rather well with the trippy lyrics and feel of the song.

Relationship between music and the visuals - The shot transitions are in time with the beats of the music giving a very nice rhythmical feel. The shot durations are longer than you would expect from a music video, it's almost like mini film, which I think helps establish the narrative and show the several different characters in their own hotel rooms and what each of them is doing. The whole video has a very strange almost hallucinogenic feel to it, like its something a schizophrenic person would see, which I think works well with the trip-hop genre of the music and its downbeat, trippy mood.

Intertextuality - Intertextuality and homages to other filmmakers are used throughout the video - particularly to to the 1980s film The Shining, such as the two eerie identical twins, the shots of long and empty hotel corridors and the obsessive typing of a single phrase on a typewriter. The woman with black short hair wearing a suit is reminiscent of Mia Wallace played by Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction, in particular the scene where she suddenly has a nosebleed at 3:23.

Genre characteristics of the music style - The characteristics of trip hop, and alternative music are that the videos are usually very artistic and non-mainstream and lots of editing effects used. Similar songs Massive Attack have had such as Teardrop have also had very unconventional music videos that provoke a strong response in the audience.

Representation - Throughout the video at different intervals, we see members of Massive Attack singing the lyrics, which was likely a demand of the record company to reinforce that the song is by Massive Attack, and to strengthen the bands identity. The band are represented in the video as edgy and alternative, with quite a strong artistic and almost poetic feel to their work.

Audience - I think that the intended audience for this music video are young people aged 18-24, that are perhaps into non-mainstream music and will appreciate the artistic and alternative nature of the video.

Production Meeting 2

Today our task was to finalise our music choice. We had listened to some Lawrence King tracks in the week on Last.fm and the whole group enjoyed the music. Lawrence sent us some tracks that he thought were particularly suitable for a pop promo. We decided on the track -Gravity and Habit- as we felt the change in styles and tempo throughout the song would make for a more interesting pop promo.

Our initial ideas was a nature vs. urban idea, shots of the city and of nature. After speaking to Jon we realise we need to incorporate a stronger narrative in the promo. So for next week we are all going to come up with individual ideas which include a narrative and research what similar artists have done for their music videos.

What makes a good Pop Promo?

There are several things that need to be considered when thinking about what makes a good pop promo...

Relationship of visuals to music

Music videos usually make use of the tempo of the track to drive the editing, and they may emphasise particular sounds from the track by foregrounding instruments such as a guitar, keyboard or drum solo. The visuals can either illustrate, amplify or contradict the music.

Relationship of visuals to lyrics

Lyrics help establish a feeling and mood. Rarely will a music video simply illustrate the lyrics alone, but key lines may play a part in the visual associated. The visuals can either illustrate, amplify or contradict the lyrics.

Star construction

Star construction is made up of three areas:

1. Star image is how the star is perceived by the audience and the characteristics ascribed to him or her which may be a combination of a conscious construction by the media industry that they work for, and of extra textual publicity in other media. It can be controlled by the star up to a certain point, but however newspapers or magazines can take advantage of any weaknesses. Music promos play a significant part in the construction of image, by creating an associated iconography (visual features that accompany the stars performance such as costumes or settings).
2. Star vehicle is a product constructed around the image of the star in order to promote them (eg a music video). These can reinforce the stars existing image or try and change the image and create a new one. They showcase their talents, and play a large part in constructing and maintaining their image.
3. Star power takes several forms: Economic power through earnings generated by the sales of an associated product such as cinema tickets or CDs. Artistic power which is creative control of their own image and how it appears in the media. Finally, Ideological power in terms of their influence upon the audience, which may take the form of style (eg fashion) or attitude.

Intertextuality

Music promos often use existing texts in their promo to spark recognition in the audience. It increases the audience's engagement and attentiveness to the product, an important factor in a culture where so many images and narratives compete for an audiences' attention. Lots of music videos draw upon cinema as a starting point, as often their directors are film school graduates who intend to move on into the film industry.

Musical genres codes & conventions

While some pop promos transcend genres, others can be more easily catagorised. Some music channels only play videos of a particular genre. After watching music videos of different genres, you are able to see the range of distinct features which characterise the videos of different genres. these different features can be in terms of mise en scene, performance, editing styles and cinematography. An example of this is rap music - typical features of rap pop promos are that they are usually narrative and performance based, with men wearing alot of "bling" (gold jewelry, expensive watches etc), women wearing little clothes dancing, pit bull type tough looking dogs, close up shots of the women and lots of shots of things throughout showing that the men have money and power.

How audience are targeted

Certain genres of music are going to appeal to certain demographics of people. A rap song and music video may well appeal to a 18 year old teenage boy who aspires to be like the rappers in the video who have lots of money, women, pit bull dogs, gold jewelery and mansions, but it will most likely not appeal to a 50 year old women who has a passion for classical music. This is why music videos of different genres concentrate on targeting their video to members of their intended audience, and they could do this by making the artist have an image that this target audience would aspire to have, or perhaps be set in locations that the target audience might like to live in or visit.

Iconography & promotion of the band/artist

Close up shots throughout the music video of the artist are often a demand by the record company to the directors of the video, and help to promote the artist so they can be recognised by the audience and the audience will know exactly who is singing the song they are listening to.

The artist may develop their own iconography both in and out of their videos which over time will become part of their star image. The artist may have their own personal quirky style such as Elly Jackson from La Roux with her orange lipstick and green eyeshadow, and eccentric hair style in her video for her song "Bulletproof". This represents her as an edgy young woman that has her own personal non main stream style who likes to stand out from the crowd and be noticed and have her own iconic identity.

Style narrative, performance & concept

Narrative based music videos - these are like mini feature films, they have a story and usually have a strong relationship with the songs lyrics. This can be seen in the music video for 2Pacs "Ghetto Gospel" which illustrates the songs lyrics and has strong narrative throughout.

Performance based music videos - These are music videos where the artist can be seen performing their song throughout the video. Rock bands such as My chemical romance typically have their music videos as performance based and this helps to promote them to their audience.

Concept based music videos- A large proportion of the music videos seen on MTV and similar channels are concept based. These are conceptual visual interpretations of a song, and not just the band performing throughout. The visuals can be related to the lyrics, but they also might not be. An example of a conceptual music video is R.E.M's "Everybody Hurts," where the band is stuck in traffic, and the audience reads the "thought balloons" of everyone stuck in the same traffic jam, and at the crescendo of the song, everyone gets out of their cars and simply walks away.

Voyeurism and Exhibition

The idea of "voyerism" first came from Sigmund Freuds theories that referred to the fact that erotic pleasure may be gained by looking at a sexual object (preferably when the object doesn't know it's being watched). This has been applied to film spectatorship, and states that whilst watching a film we are all voyeurs, but that the film also presents us with a variety of pleasures that are not sexual ones. It has been argued that as film makers are mostly male, the use of women in film is often solely for the use of display, to facilitate a voyeuristic response in the audience. This can be used to explain why women (often dressed and acting provocatively) are typically used in male artists pop promos - as they trigger a voyeuristic response in the audience. References to voyerism can also be in terms of systems of looking (eg screens within screens, binoculars, cameras etc).

Exhibitionism is perhaps the opposite of voyeurism. An example of this is the more powerful, independent female artists such as Madonna, who are both sexually provocative as well as being in control of, and inviting, a sexualised gaze. This raises the debate of who is exploiting who? Is the woman being exploited simply to raise male profit margins, or is she simply showing her self confidence and sexual independence?

Use of ECMS

Editing - The most common type associated with music videos is fast-cut montage, that one viewing may not be enough to grasp all the images so multiple viewing is likely. However, to establish a more downbeat mood, some videos use slow pace and gentler shot transitions. More high budget promos could use blockbuster film style CGI special effects.
Cinematography - There is usually a demand from the record companies for lots of close up shots of the main artist/vocalist to strengthen the artists image and identity. Establishing shots will be needed to set the scene for the music video.
Mise en scene - This includes locations, props, actors/bands/artists, costumes, and lighting. Different genres of music video have their own stereotypical locations, eg hip hop video set in a ghetto, drum and bass video set in a club, rock video at a gig. What the artists wear and how their make up is done etc in the video adds to their whole brand image and how they will be perceived by the audience. The lighting can play a big part on the whole look and feel of the piece, such as dark low key lighting for a more downbeat, gloomy video.
Sound - Extra sounds are sometimes added in that are not part of the music track but that add to the overall finish of the video, such the sound of a tape being put into a cassette player at the start of the video such as in Mika's video for his song "We Are Golden".

Possible ideology in music videos

Ideology is rather complex, but in this instance is basically means the set of ideas or beliefs which are said to be acceptable by the creators of the media text. Some music videos have strong ideological messages where ideas/beliefs of the creators of the music video are conveyed to the audience. An example of this is Massive Attacks music video for their song "Teardrop" which shows a fetus in the womb miming to the songs lyrics, and is then aborted - Click here to watch the video. This video carries a strong anti abortion message/pro life ideology that Massive Attack obviously advocate. Another example could be a music video with a feminist ideology, meaning it promotes the idea that women are the equal of men, and so wouldn't show them dressing provocatively and acting suggestively and seen as a sex object as can sometimes be seem in certain genres of music video e.g rap and hip hop. Having a controversial ideology in a music video could be a good way to gain publicity for the artist.

Production Meeting 1

Today the class was given their brief by Jon, and we discussed what was required of us. Our first task was to organise ourselves into groups for our coursework. Our group consists of Maya Mathias, Jessica Hayward and Nicola Wright. Jon asked us to discuss our options for the music track for our pop promo. Nicola mentioned a friend, Lawrence King, that is doing music production at university, and that it may be possible to use one of his tracks. For next week we will try to contact Lawrence and get some tracks from him.

History of the Development of Pop Promos

The close relationship between music tracks and visual material can be traced back to the 1930s, with Oscar Fishingers visual interpretations to music, such as his work on the Disney film, Fantasia (1939). Many of his films were made on a contract with Electrola disks, with the end title advertising at the end of the music suggesting the audience could "Get it at your local record store".

In the early days of sound film-making, short films were made to showcase an artist. Films up to eight minutes long were played in cinema screenings as part of a newsreel, cartoon and main feature, to show the talents of singers such as Billie Holiday and Bing Crosby.

Another origin of the music video was musical feature films such as The Jazz Singer (1927) through to musicals of the 1940s, and rock and roll movies such as The Girl Can't Help It (1956). These all helped to influence the style of music video, and it became common for music video directors to quote moments from Hollywood in their videos. Documentary became a common form for the visualisation of pop music in the 60s, with sequences such as Bob Dylan's Subterranean Homesick Blues (1967). The band The USA band The Monkees used surrealism, jump cuts, wacky comedy and lots of action together with performance by the band in their music promos and these elements became very popular to use in music videos.

TV coverage of pop music attempted to capture the new teen audience from American Bandstand in the USA in the 1950s through to the UK's Top of the Pops in the 1960's. The need to have music acts on television every week (particularly chart based shows) led to the creation of short promo films that were sometimes used instead of a studio appearance when the acts were unavailable to perform. The Beatles made films for Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever, and other major British acts of the 60s such as the Who, the Kinks and the Rolling Stones also recorded pop promos.

In America, AOR (Adult orientated rock) was dominating the radio and making it harder for pop singles to break through. Meanwhile, cable television was growing, but hadn't yet generated sufficient income to pay for its own programming. A combination of these factors meant that it was now the right time for music television - filling an entire network with music video. The concept became attractive to advertisers making it potentially very profitable, and the only cost to the channel was royalties for airplay. MTV (music television) started broadcasting via satellite feed in 1981. At first there was not enough contemporary material to fill the schedule but the New Wave of British pop acts with their singles based music soon filled the space. They often had video airplay well in advance of radio play and took advantage of the first years of MTV's existence to break the American market.

The growth of MTV in the USA was rapid. American artists soon realised the potential of the medium and followed the British invasion with pop promo clips of their own. Pop promos themselves began to propel some acts to stardom, in come cases bypassing the traditional route of live performance. This was shown by Madonna, whose videos have always been innovative and high profile. The emphisis on image, performance, choreography and the use of the close up have been especially helpful to the success of female acts.

The music promo video had been established as a key factor for artist promotion, and by the end of the 1980s it was a prerequisite in the promotion of singles. With the development of the internet came websites for sharing videos such as the massively popular Youtube, where millions of music promos have been shared and watched which helped to boost thousands of artists popularity.