Pop Promos: The History

In 1981, MTV started broadcasting in the USA, beginning the all important music video phenomenon. Since then, music videos (pop promos) are just as important as the song and give the artist the freedom to visually represent themselves. The first music video played on MTV was The Buggles' Video Killed The Radio Star and since then, the trend has bloomed powerfully. Nowadays, a single is rarely released without a corresponding visual representation of the song.

As time went on, the importance of music videos increased drastically and have improved the careers of large handfuls of artists. Fans now feel connected with artists, artists have the freedom to portray themselves in a new way and music executives have the power to market their artists in an entirely different manner, utilising marketing techniques to the fullest. Arguable, Madonna was the start of the biggest marketing ploy which is now the biggest selling point of any artist in the industry; sex appeal. Music videos among female artists, particularly in pop, are made for the male gaze - artists wear very little clothes, act provocatively and songs are often about, or insinuating sexual subjects. Sex sells.

The popularity of music videos, from here, came to be what it is today but animportant factor to this shouldn't be forgotten: the directors. These specialist directors and visual artists became incredibly important, with MTV even listing them with credits following videos. Though the importance of these directors is unarguable, and the directors themselves confess to the significance of music videos, often, they see their job as a progression to directing feature length films and use these pop promos as merely a step towards this goal. An example of this, Spike Jonze, who has worked with Ludacris, The Beastie Boys, Weezer and Björk, has now moved on to films such as Adaptation and Where The Wild Things Are.

Since the turn of the millennium, MTV have changed and strayed from their roots as the home of the music video. Their main focus seems to be pop culture now, showing popular Reality TV such as The Hills and Cribs. Since then, other music video channels such as MTV Hits, Kerrang, The Box and TMF have claimed the thrown, entirely dedicated to music videos, both new and old.

Living in a digital age, the rise of online music videos and promotion has seen an indescribable increase. Youtube has seen a surge of music promotions with artists and labels creating official pages, uploading music videos and seeing a huge response from fans. This is the first time music videos have been really available on request and has had a community sense with fans commenting and "liking" a video. Within the year, all music videos have been controlled by the company 'Vevo' and are of a higher quality with much more hype.

Music Video Analysis: La Roux, Quicksand

Music Video Analysis
Artist: La Roux
Title: Quicksand (2008)
Director: Kinga Burza

Mise-en-scene is the absolute basis of “Quicksand” and has been exploited wonderfully. Elly Jackson’s costumes are very reminiscent of the 80’s; large shoulder-pads, oversized statement jewelry and a clear theme of animal print as noticed in her leopard print scarves and blazers, the dancers’ snake-skin-dresses and Elly’s turtle-shell-glasses.

I really liked how the cinematography was kept simple in this music video; there are no unexpected shots or angles and the camera moves little, if at all. One notable shot is the very first though, as the video opens with a close up on her lips as the vocals begin - a technique I think really just ‘worked’. This minimalist approach to the cinematography was enhanced thoroughly by visual effects and post-production though; 90% of the shots use a green-screen. The location is a variation of animated sunsets on a tropical beach which looks fantastic (and surprisingly convincing) with the warm lighting they used on the artist. Some visual effects that I thought were extremely effective though were; the second shot which is a mid-close up of (a hugely oversized) Elly lying down in the ocean as the sun sets, her face reflecting in the water; the use of props, such as when she sits on the oversized pineapple and cocktail; the acrobatics on a (yet again, oversized) woman and finally the closing shot, another mid-close up where Elly looks up and in to the camera and slowly her face turns in to a leopard (following in the theme of costumes.)

The music has a beat nearly identical to Prince’s When Doves Cry, accompanied by steel drums, a strong synth bass-line and other synths throughout the song. This music video accommodates all of these components as it has a very tropical feel to it (the beach, colours, cocktails/fruit etc). The typicalities of music videos, such as a cut for a new line or a beat, are also apparent in this video as well as miming the lyrics which surprisingly aren’t displayed with a narrative in this video. The colours in the video darken, the pace slows down and shots are longer in the slower bridge before the final chorus and cinematography takes advantage, using closer shots to display emotion before returning to the warm colours, visuals and normal cuts for the remainder.

This particular music video has no narrative which is quite disappointing considering the nature of the song - It is largely concept based. This being said, the fact that this is entirely conceptual, promotes La Roux to an extreme level as their 80’s ‘look-and-feel’ as well as their aesthetic style are expressed extremely powerfully. Elly Jackson’s retro-androgyny is what strikes me most in this video in terms of ‘the band’ which is clearly intentional as that very fact is the image they’ve tried to build up and is infinitely now prevalent. I think the fact this video does rely heavily on editing and visual effects is to actually highlight that point; it’s band promotion to the fullest - especially considering this was their first video. Her androgyny (short, quiffed hair, masculine attire and natural make-up) provides a mysterious allure among viewers and just gives her that ‘cool’, ‘edgy’, ‘different’ factor.

Audience-wise, there aren’t too many limits; I’d say this video makes La Roux appeal to a huge audience. The video its-self is fun and colourful for younger viewers, the music, fashion and image will appeal to the teenage/young adult crowd and surprisingly, I think the middle-aged to older generation will enjoy this too as it’s seen as the first creditable 80’s revival which is clearly expressed through not only the music, but the MES in this video.

Introducing...

Now that you're familiar with the brief, let me welcome you again. I really hope you enjoy what's to follow on the blog as much as I enjoy creating the content. I thought a more personal, detailed introduction was in order!

This is just a little update following the brief, telling you about my group and exactly what we will be doing. My group is the smallest in our A2 Media class and consists of just Kira Knight and I compared with others with at least 3 in a group. This may be seen as a disadvantage but I view this as a chance to be a lot more hands on with the creativity that goes into the music video and promotional materials. As if only two in a group wasn't enough, we are the band as well. GLITTERKNIGHT.

We will be recording the song (which I will update you on), editing, directing, filming and the subjects of the project! This tight-knit manner of work in the project is, in my opinion, the best way I work as I love getting really stuck in and passionate about a project like this. I think this will be a lot of fun.

We have decided to record the song 'Lights', originally by Ellie Goulding, and produce the following:

• A music video (Pop Promo)
• A CD/DVD Cover (as part of a digipack)
• A magazine promotional image (following the digipack)

Thank you for reading and, again, I hope you enjoy what's to follow!

Ben Halliday

Welcome

Welcome to my A2 Media Blog; this year I'll be focusing on pop promotions. I'll be producing a promotional package for an album release which will include a music video for an album track and two of the three following:

• A website homepage for the band
• An album cover for the release as part of a digipack (CD/DVD)
• A magazine advertisement for the digipack (CD/DVD)

Working in groups of up to four, each of us will explore and research what makes a good pop promotion, the roles involved, research, plan and eventually produce a promotional package. Splitting ourselves into individual roles, we'll take responsibility for various elements in producing the promotion, finally, and most importantly, producing the music video that essentially markets the band in question to relect their genre, look and feel and style as well as visually reflecting the song in terms of pace, mood and again, genre.

The promotional package will have to represent the band in a cohesive manner with every aspect being concordant in design, look and feel and representation of the band. The 3 must be similar and follow a theme, easily identifiable to a market. This work will be done as a group, each of us fulfilling our chosen role.