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.