History of music promos 1960s-present

The Beatles 'A Hard Day's Night' (1964 - present)
- This promo was important as it was the first of its type; it established the conventions for future promos.
- This promo established many conventions such as:
  - Montages
  - Narrative
  - Showing the band members and their roles
  - Fast cuts
  - Close ups of the band
  - Branding/advertisement
  - Audience reactions

'Top of the Pops' (1964 - 2006)
- This was extremely important in terms of the sales of a single or album. It created a need for promos as bands couldn't always perform live.

The Beatles 'Strawberry Fields Forever' (1967)
- Was the first illustrative music promo
- Included many promo conventions such as:
  - Fast paced cuts
  - Pans
  - Filters
  - Slow-motion rewind
  - Surreal

The Monkees 'A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You' (1967)
- Also included and established many conventions for the genre including:
  - Surrealism
  - Jumps/cuts
  - 'Wacky' comedy
  - Action and performances

Queen 'Bohemian Rhapsody' (1975)
- This solidified conventions within the genre
- Lighting and mise-en-scene were revolutionary within the genre
The pace of editing matched the song
- Fades were becoming more common

David Bowie 'Ashes to Ashes' (1980)
- Very surreal
- Variety of different editing and colour effects

MTV 1981
- The potential of music promos was realised.
Production budgets began to sore for music promos reaching over $1000000.

Aerosmith/Run DMC 'Walk This Way' (1986)
- Rock crossover with rap; revolutionary
- Brought rap in to the mainstream; became more popular

Narrative in music promos

Synaesthesia:
"A condition in which one type of stimulation evokes the sensation of another, as when the hearing of a sound produces the visualization of a colour".

We automatically look for a beginning, middle and an end in a narrative, however a narrative in a song can sometimes not run to how we think it will.
In songs the narrative rarely is complete and therefore often fragmentary.
Fragmentary narratives may help the repeatability of promos.

Andrew Goodwin suggests music promos can interpret/use the meanings created in the song lyric in one of the following ways:
- Illustration - the promo basically illustrates the ideas/narrative in the song lyrics.
- Amplification - Uses a key idea/image from the lyrics and develops it into a concept within the promo. A link remains between the lyric and the promo.
- Disjuncture - The promo bears no resemblance to the lyric or its meaning; abstract; often seen as unconventional/'arty' videos; creates a new range of meanings for the song.

30 Seconds to Mars - 'The Kill' music video analysis

30 Seconds To Mars - The Kill

 

The 30 Seconds to Mars ‘The Kill’ music video relies heavily on narrative to be entertaining to the audience. This music video parodies the 1980 film ‘The Shining’ which is a classic horror film. This example of intertextuality has been used to give the video a darker, more adult themed feeling. As this video parodies such a popular and acclaimed film, it means that it will attract fans of the film to go and view the music video. Furthermore, the location and characters used in this video are directly copied from ‘The Shining’; this means that it almost acts as an Easter egg to fans of the film who view the music video.

 

Moreover, the use of editing in this music video is also effective. There is a dual narrative in this music video that shows the narrative and the band performing. Showing the band perform is a common convention used in many music videos. It is done to show which instruments or roles in the band the band members play. Shots of the band performing are displaced with the narrative of the video. This has been done to make the video more entertaining to their audience.

Furthermore, mise-en-scene has also been used to create a darker, horror theme to the music video. The use of eye make-up and dark hair has been used to create a gothic mood to the music video. This has been used to compliment the horror narrative of the video - 'The Shining'.

The use of cinematography in this music video is also very effective. There are many close ups used of the singer - Jared Leto's face. This has been used to show that he is the front man of the band and that he is supposed to act as the main character in the narrative. Furthermore, close ups of his face have been used to show his gothic and dark style which compliments the narrative of the video.

Intertextuality

John Stuart: modern media "incorporates raids and reconstructs"

Julia Kristeva: "any text is the absorption and transformation of another"

The concept of borrowing from, modifying and recycling other media texts to create a new text is know as INTERTEXTUALITY.

Music Promos

1. What is a music promo?

A music video is a short film involving a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are usually made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. But the origins of music videos go back much further, they became more popular in the 1980s, when MTV based their channel around music videos.

2. Purpose/function?

- To entertain
- Inform
- Advertise
- To campaign/raise awareness
- Shock

Examples:
Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' video was made to entertain audiences
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOnqjkJTMaA

Band Aid's 'Feed the World' video was made to inform audiences of hunger and poverty in Africa
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsJn8RCTopc

3. Where can they be viewed?

Due to technical proliferation, music videos are a lot more available to promo audiences. People now have access to a number of devices that can be used to browse the internet. Music videos are mostly viewed through websites on the internet such as YouTube and Vimeo. This means that music promos get a lot more publicity now as nearly everyone has the opportunity to view them on their devices, such as phones and tablets.
Furthermore, music promos are accessible through music channels such as 4music, MTV and Capital FM. This means that people who don't have access to the internet are still exposed to music promos.

4. How has digital technology impacted on the exhibition/consumption of music promos?

The development of digital technology has increased the consumption of music videos. The development of technology has allowed more people around the world to have access to videos using the internet. The use of mobile data and WiFi, means that people can watch a video/music video anywhere they are. This means that the bands videos become more popular. 
Moreover, the increasing amount of video games consoles means that they can access the internet through their console and watch a music promo video;  another way in which a band can increase their popularity. 

Conventions of a music promo