Things to think about when looking at a promo

Narrative
how is Narrative used? Balanced with performance? Cut into performance? Merged with the performance?

Narrative – does it AMPLIFY the lyrics? Or does it focus on a specific of the lyric and ILLUSTRATE it? Or does it CONTRADICT the lyrics (known as DISJUNCTURE)

Remember the narrative may not be constructed in a traditional manner – may be partial/disjointed e.g. use of montage


This Coldplay video 'The Scientist' is an Amplification on the lyrics against what is happening in the promo.


Intertextuality

this refers to the process one media text may take from another existing text – it may be a carbon copy, a pastiché, a homage, e.g. a music video may borrow elements from a well-known film.

This ‘borrowing’ of images, narratives etc. and reconstructing them can be seen as ‘post-modern’

Beastie Boys Sabotage is an example of intertextuality as it is a pastiché of an American police drama like Starskie and Hutch.


20^th Century Art Movements and the Music promo

-       Expressionism – My Chemical Romance – Black Parade, RHCP – Other side, Lady Gaga – Alejandro



-       Surrealism – Foo Fighter – Everlong, Marilyn Manson – Beautiful People


-       Pop Art – Lady Gaga – Telephone, Rihanna – Rude boy, Beyoncé – Countdown

The money side of a promo

After looking at a range of different music video's its clear that everybody is looking to be different and create a music promo that people are going to remember. Some artists feel as though they don't have to spend mega amounts of money to do this.

Fat Boy Slim Praise You - this music promo made by Fat Boy Slim is set in a shopping mall with a low end dance group that has the song playing on a portable music player and they just do a dance to it. Its safe to say that they dance is not an advanced dance with no technical aspects. This sort of takes the mick out of other dance video's that have a high budget, dancers that could be models and SFX or a green screen. This music promo is very unconventional as it has very little camera shots, it appears to have been filmed on a handheld camera with no tripod or with any care. Normally a high end music video would take a lot of planning and care taken into it to make it memorable, this music video, with a song that is done by a well known artist, appears to have been planned in very little time or with no planning at all and they have just had a novice camera man send the video into them and used this as the music video. Audiences remember this music promo due to its unconventional aspects and because of its audacity.

Some artists use a lot of money to create a video of there choice to try and create a memorable promo.

Duran Duran 'Rio'- this music video cost about $1million which is clear with the amount of editing, on screen SFX. Duran Duran were one of the first artist to spend mega amounts of money in the 80's. the music video consists of a glamorous setting where the band would have flown out to. This shows that they are showing off the glamorous lifestyle in which they now live as being a big, well known band. Shots of them on a yacht and shots of them on a beach with girls in glamorous/lavish outfits and makeup to keep the glamorous theme. The colour in the promo has even had some effects put onto it to make the colours saturated . This editing would have cost them a lot of money let alone getting all the equipment and the band and actors within the music studio out to this lavish setting. This music promo made the band seem as though they are loving the life in which they live and that they wanted to show people what they could have if they had the 'talent' that they had.

Spending money on the promo doesnt mean that people are going to remember the video or the song low budget or high budget promos have different effects on the audiences that they are trying to target.

Digipaks

Katy Perry
 Katy Perry's Teenage Dream Digipak relates to her music video California Girls which shows a shot of her on a pink/candy floss cloud in the nude. the cover relates to her sweet, pop music by having sweets and cakes over the cover images. by having the candy floss cloud over all covers it creates a house style and creates a link to her genre in music. the CD art of a sweet and a doughnut keeps the effect going through even more with the sweet, sickly pop music. the images include the pop singer so that people know what she looks like and as she is wrapped in sweets/candy floss makes her and her music desirable. She keeps the Digipak playful with the colour scheme of the writing and the bubble font. The inside images of Katy Perry show the singer dressed in a prom dress and tiara, in America prom for a teenager is a big event (mini wedding). showing Katy Perry dressed like this could mean that she relates to the female American teenage dream of being prom queen or going to prom and looking the best. This then relates to her title for her album/Digipak.

Britney Spears
Britney's Femme Fatale Digipak tries to create a seductive and elegant mood. the black and gold insides with the initials of her name on one side and the FF on the other side in elegant, curly font creates a classy feel as its dramatic yet simple. the middle image is of her in a seductive pose in similar colours to the rest of the art work, like Katy Perry's Digipak she is trying to make herself and her music desirable. the front cover has an image of her face filling up the cover with her hair framing her face to create a dramatic/seductive feel to sell her music. The font is in the same style as the to black panels and again in gold creating a house style for the pop singers Digipak. Throughout the Digipak there is always some aspects of gold in it, this could be to say 'Britney's music is golden' and that it is worth buying. The back cover is again a seductive image of the pop singer with the names of her songs that are available on the CD to listen to. The CD artwork is simple and classy with a grey shine to it and also the Digipak includes a lyric booklet for each song.

Both of these Digipaks represent the genre in which these artists are and what there music represents. Katy Perry's has more of a fun/sweet effect whereas Britney's is seductive and elegant.