What makes a good pop-promo?

When constructing a pop-promotion, there are a lot of factors that should be considered for a successful and effective outcome. First, it's key to understand why pop-promos are so important; especially early on in an artist's career.

Promotion of the artist is the main reason for the importance of music videos as well as promoting the song or album and building a persona. They help market the band and develop and look and feel - This is crucial to building a fan base and pushing sales.

Music videos, or pop-promos, are essentially the product of a variety of layers and considerations such as the relationship between the song and the visuals, codes and conventions of the genre, use of style, star image, iconography and sometimes, ideologies behind music videos.

The relationship between the music and visuals are broken down into two subcategories; lyrics and the music. The visuals must reflect the mood and tone of both the music and lyrics through mise-en-scene, editing and cinematography. In terms of mise-en-scene, colours, lighting, location, costumes and props are all incredibly important when constructing a relationship between a song and a music video. For example, if a song has a slow, sinister tone, vivid colours and provocative costumes don't have any relation. Editing and cinematography should compliment that very point. Edits should be in sync with the music and cuts should be made with lyrics in mind; perhaps between chorus/verse or in a change of beat, melody or even theme.

Establishing a star image and promoting a band's look and feel can be done through styling. The costumes, hair and make-up need to be carefully considered so the intended message is widely received and understood. In terms of promotion, close-ups, as well as a wide range of shots will help the audience familiarise themselves with the artist or band.

Codes and conventions of genres should, in most (not all) cases, be followed. Pop videos tend to be of a high-budget production value with the male gaze in mind. Sexuality is expressed through costume and performance. A total opposition to this would be a heavy metal genre video. These tend to less sexually-orientated and use darker colours, locations and edits are usually a lot faster with cinematography typically rougher. Though there are typicalities to each genre regarding visuals, these rules are sometimes broken and only compliment the song - it entirely depends on the individual song.

Lastly, how the artist acts in the video is hugely important to the success of a pop-promo whether it be an entirely conceptual, narrative or performance based video. The artist needs to appear comfortable and powerful in front of the camera. This voyeurism is a selling point in most videos which goes hand in hand in building a star image - the audience need to be able to look up to this artist. Obviously, demographics are also an important aspect and how audiences are targeted. Age, sex, and social identities need to be considered before an artist begins to think of a video concept. This is a crucial part of the pop-production process and determines who will engage and bring money to the product.