Vox Pops

We asked a few questions in our vox pops. The first one asked which was the persons favourite music promo. This not only gave us ideas on which music people in our target audience listened to, but also the genre of music they like. Most out our audience said pop music promos such as gangnam style and baby. This allowed us to acknowledge that audience listened to pop music. However, two of the people we interviewed said that they like more rock based promos, this also showed us that our audience do not just listen to one type of music.

 We also asked why they liked the promo they said a varying amount of reasons from one having "a hot girl in it", which relates to the  idea of male gaze and watching music promos with females in it, to reminding you of real life. This tells us that people like music videos for different reasons. This helped us decide on our themes in our music promo as they wanted a real life event as well as characters who they could relate to in real life.

The final question we asked was where they watch them and we received a few answers. All of the people said either phone, laptop or phone. This tells us that they use more modern, internet connected devices than standard, non internet devices such as TV as more said they use a phone than TV. They also answered that they usually watch the promo on youtube. This once again, supports the idea of modern technology but also, they watched them on the music channels on TV which also tells us they are into TV as well.

WITZC lyric w/analysis version 1

Here, our group worked on an analysis of the lyrics, it was written up by Emma.

Genre-Pop Punk

 

Genre is a denomination that something falls into in its field judged on its content and form as well as what its conventions fall into as well.

 

Pop Punk is a musical genre which contains pop rock and standard pop music to a varying degree, it originates in many different countries from the 1970s. However, some bands have included elements from more hardcore punk genres and included it in their music. This makes for varying sounds that can change by band or even by each individual songs as it is a constantly changing genre.

 

The lyrical themes do not particularly fit to one subject, but a lot of songs are based around modern occurrences and love. However, saying this, some bands also include psychological  themes in their music such as confusion and interesting subjects about decision.

 

The sound of pop punk once again, varies by the band. The vocals are either done by male or female or the occasional mix of both. The genre also has conventions of “poppy” vocals and choruses. However, some bands such as Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! Come under pop punk but include screaming in their music from hardcore punk and metal. The instruments usually consist of 1 or 2 guitars, lead and rhythm if 2 are used but otherwise just lead, drums and a bass guitar. The tuning of the guitar is often, if not always, up tuned to provide a lighter feel to the music.

This is All Time Low, a pop punk band from Baltimore, Maryland, USA. As we can see, they wear “normal” clothes that we would see in the streets everyday on people of their age, this allows them to be recognised and familiarised with the audience. So this represents them as normal people that we can all relate to, the bands in the genre are also mainly down-to-earth people who are usually normal and not considered bad people by the press.

This band is Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! Who come from Paris, they emerged from more of the punk side of pop punk but are still represented in the same way that All Time Low are, normal and down to earth, this is once shown again by their clothing.

 

The ideology to artists in this genre are friendships, relationships and life in general as often related to in their music, Many bands also write a song about their origins and where they come from to get the audience to know a little more about them as well as showing their love for their families and homes.

 

The target audience for pop punk is teenagers, male and female. This is because the poppy themes and songs are not hard on the ear for standard pop fans but also not too light for rock fans as well as the themes of the songs relating to the audience and teenage themes. Their target audience is of varying demographics as they do not particularly aim at one in particular. The class they would be seen to look at is middle and working as it is not a “posh” style of music.

 

We Are The In Crowd- Rumour Mill

This is a conventional shot from the pop punk genre of music promos as it is a long shot of the band, this is very common in this genre as more or less every band who create a pop punk promo use long shots of themselves. The camera is also constantly moving which gives us a feeling of pace and speed to the music whilst also making it feel more fun and energetic, like the music itself, as well as being up beat and lifting. The camera usually alternates between long and mid shots of the band and keeps up with the pace of the music and alternates to different instruments when they are the dominant one in use.

 

Long shot of the band

The editing of this music video is also very fast paced, especially when the song kicks into a faster beat and during the opening. This, similar to the camera movement, increases the speed if the music promo. The transitions used are standard straight cuts, This is because it is a fast, simple transition with multiple uses and keeps up with the music. However, focus pull edits are used in the promo to change the main focus of the shot to different parts.

 

 

From this shot, the editing cuts into 3 more very, very quickly.

 

 

The mise-en-scene of the promo is one that the target audience of teenagers can relate to as the setting is a standard town and many of the audience will live in one. The costume of the band members are also very stereotypical of the age group as well as the target audience, this will help with the band appearing normal to the audience as they do not wear upper class clothing.

 

 

 

 

Here, we can see the singer/ guitarist is wearing jeans and a t-shirt, this is very stereotypical of the target audience and age group.

 

 

 A tracking shot of one of the members in the narrative showing a normal, town set, mise-en-scene.

There is a joint narrative and performance in this promo, both of which, use members of the band. Some of the images set in the narrative are also rather humorous so provide entertainment. However, performance nor narrative is taken over the other, leading to a very split narrative and performance, they also do not relate to each other or come together.

Digipack layout

This is a CD digipack layout, they usualy have different things on them such as pictures of the band, lyrics, track listings and other information. A digipack is a 6 paneled CD case usualy reserved for special editions or limited releases. The spine will have teh bands name and the album name on it.

Six panels-Front,back, inside x4 (one in side will have a jewl case on)

2 outside panels fold inwards for a greetings card effect.
CD/DVD in a pocket or plastic jewel case

Moodboard for WITZC

This moodboard portrays different elements in the lyrics that we could relate to our music promo, for example, the song is about confusion in relationships and also running away from your past and looking back on yourself. I have also included direct references to the lyrics with the high heeled shoes and mirror. 

Genre-Post-Hardcore

Genre is a denomination that something falls into in its field judged on its content and form as well as what its conventions fall into as well.

Post-hardcore music originated in the hardcore punk movement and is seen as a hybrid genre of hardcore punk as well as having links to metal music within its fast tempos, guitar riffs and musical styles. Also, similar to punk, it is also one of the “do it yourself” genres where you do not need to be particularly talented to take part in music creation within the genre. Its origins started in 1980s USA when the punk movement started to decrease a little as it was becoming boring so bands started experimenting with different sounds and forms.

Post-harcore music has a variety of lyical formats that can range from a story being told by the band, to lyrics that relate to our everyday lives. However, Post-hardcore often also has lyical themes in crime and love too, mainly murder and lust.

The general music style of post-hardcore is a combination of different punk denominations and metal combinations. The vocals often include harsh screaming and growls, similar to extreme metal and hardcore punk, as well as clean, usually poppy vocals. This combination can either be done by one vocalist but is usually more. The singers also sometimes have a tenor (higher pitch) or countertenor (a technique that uses high notes but can also descend into deep notes and growls). There are also usually two guitarists, rhythm and lead, which usually have crushing and heavy riffs in it to faster, lighter ones. A bass guitar and drums are also implemented. Sometimes, a keyboard is also implemented to create a more electronic sound.

 

 

 

This is Alesana, a post-hardcore band that implement everything within the genre requirements apart from a keyboard, however, a piano is sometimes used. As we can see, post-hardcore bands are often known for having longer hair as well as tattoos and being associated with darkness as their music is seen on the “darker” side. However, this represents the bands in the genre as being emo, however, most bands often say they are not and in fact, dislike the term and being associated with it.

 

 

 

This is another post-hardcore band called Eyes Set To Kill, they are usually seen as non-conventional as they use female vocals as the main part of the music and male backing screams as additions, however, we can also see they are still associated with black and tattoos so we can see, even non-conventional post-hardcore bands are represented the same.

The ideology of being a post-hardcore artist is usually based around alternatives to what you are represented as.  Due to the black clothing and style, they are often associated with death and emos as said above, however, they sometimes base their music on love and life as well as what’s right and wrong which would be seen as subverting the aesthetic representation of post-hardcore. This is very important to many bands and some are even religious and implement some religious lessons into their music.

The target audience of Post-hardcore is teenagers and young adults as the music often include profanity and the occasional adult theme. The target audience is often also the middle and lower class as it is not seen as a “posh” or “normal” genre to listen to as it is a combination of many genres into one. This means that the audience is often socially awkward or very unique individuals.

A Skylit Drive- Crazy

 

In the A Skylit Drive-Crazy music promo, the cinematography is conventional of most music promos. For example, in most promos, there are very few stationary shots and the camera pans many times and almost has constant movement. It is also the same within this promo as there are barely any stationary shots. Also, in most post-harcore music promos, they amplify the use of close ups on the singer and instruments being played, especially the guitars. The same applies to this music video as most of the shots are close ups so it is very conventional in that case. However, there are many more close ups of the singer than what there is of the guitarists so that is somewhat unconventional.

An example of the post production effects.

The editing in this promo is very, very fast and is a lot faster than many other promos, however, this is staple of the genre as it is a lot faster than less aggressive genres. Also, a few post production effects have been used within it to slightly enhance the speed of t which is used effectively. Most of the edits used are straight cuts with a few being fades which are also barely used within the genre, this is rather unconventional but works very well. A few cross cuts are also included within the promo but very quickly which intersect performance and narrative, this seems to make them happen together.
The mise-en-scene of the promo is also rather conventional as post-hardcore videos usually use a setting that the audience is familiar with, as it does here. The setting is a city and it also emphasis this within in it as it shows the use of buildings and urban materials as some of the characters within the narrative part use it as a way to travel around. The costume of the band is rather conventional but unconventional at the same time. It is conventional because it is made up of mainly black clothing, however, it suits the punk genre more, but you could say this is because post-hardcore is a relative of punk.










A chain link fence, a common item in an urban environment.

 

 

Here we can see how the costume suits post-hardcore and punk as the clothing is post-hardcore related but the singers’ hair is more of a punk style.

In this promo, there is a mix of narrative and performance but majors as performance as there is more of the band in the promo than what there is the narrative. However, this is because, eventually 1:54, they both come together. This is unconventional as most music promos in this genre or similar have them completely split, however, it works well here as it makes the video more colourful as the characters start using coloured powder to add variety as well as the performance still continuing. The use of this coloured powder also subverts some of the conventions as post-hardcore is seen as a “darker” genre of music and is often portrayed as such. However, then the colours slowly turn into smoke which start to show the band in the white of the smoke and turns it into a slightly more exiting performance as well as showing a crowd dancing and the camera being within the crowd so it feels as if you are there.

The performance and narrative together with the unconventional colour.

Inspiration

There are many interesting music promos out there from which we can draw inspiration to create our own. One example of this is the Fat Boy Slim Promo for Praise You. This is a promo that subverts conventions of most music promos at the time. The whole promo is just of a dance group who are not that good, dancing in front of a cinema. This subverts conventions as it does not have a performance or even a narrative to It. It also subverts the editing conventions as there is very few different shots in it as well as not a lot of editing. This once again subverts the conventions as most promos have a lot of shots and fast editing. We could use this in our promo as subverting conventions could make it interesting.

The mise-en-scene and performance that subvert conventions

Another inspirational music video is Peter Gabriel’s-Sledgehammer promo. This is a very abstract promo as it parodies and copies works of art as well as having a mise-en-scene that is surreal. This leads to an interesting promo as it is out of the normal, however, where this is an inspirational aspect, it would be hard to do as well as possibly being seen as strange and not attractive.

 

 

 

An example of the abstract mise-en-scene.

 

 

A music promo that particularly inspires me is All Time Low’s promo for Time-Bomb. This is a very conventional music video in the senses of editing and style, because it is a performance and narrative promo, however, the narrative and performance have a cross over nearer the end as well as it using modern elements such as the mise-en-scene and props used within it. The song is also a similar genre to the song we have chosen. I feel it is inspirational because it has many elements and conventions we could use in our own promo.

The cross-over of performance and narrative

 

Another music promo I find inspirational DragonForce-The Game. This promo is heavy in performance with a little narrative in there. This could be a major element of our promo. Also, I find the camera work and cinematography within this promo also very inspirational. This is because it uses many different angles and movements around the band members which make it interesting and enjoyable to watch. This is inspirational as we could use something similar.

An example of a shot of the tow guitarists and a good example of an instrument close up.

 

Another music video I find inspirational is Dead by April- As A Butterfly. I find this an inspirational video because of the mise-en-scene used as it is effective as it is abandoned and lonesome as well as the costume being normal and similar to members of the target audience. This is inspirational because it creates an interesting atmosphere with the setting as well as linking to the audience with the costume. Also, this promo uses a lot of long and close ups to show the band and instruments, this is another thing we could use in our promo.

 

An example of the mise-en-scene and long shots used.