Gallows- London is the Reason

Mise-En-Scene (costume, makeup, lighting, location)

Grey suits worn with white shirts and black ties, I think this might be to promote their latest album “Grey Britain”.
You are still able to see the lead singers tattoos on his neck, and head. This way you still realise they aren't quite who they appear to be.

Two men dressed in orange radioactive suits are placing body down but one is clearly wearing adidas trainers

Free runners wearing hoodies g

Location is in the streets of Londoniving them a thug like appearence

An old black taxi looking vehicle transporting them

Police/security have pig faces, this is to represent the British phrase that the police are “pigs”

Low key lighting used for most of the video whereas some is pure daylight

Flare light used

Unfocused shots are used to make the viewer feel uneasy and uncomfortable

Cinematography (shots, framing, camera movements)

Establishing shot of whole band
Through the whole video it's quite slow paced
Smooth shots with many different shots used
Many close ups or mid shots
Many close ups in the taxi of the lead singers face

Editing (transitions, pace, continuity)

Pace is faster when the fight starts and the song drops in
During the song it's all fairly slow paced and calm

Special effects (colours, graphics, CGI)

Slo-mo at start

Shots are dimmed down and given a grey scale tone

All of the video is in slo-mo as if we are being led to something, which we are, a minute before the end the song drops in and then there is a fight between the “pigs” and “thugs” and that is when the shots return to standard motion

During the fight the shots cut from slo-mo shots to standard motion shots.

Mika- We are golden

The promo cover is a lot like the video, vivid, bright and fun, illustrated like his last album cover, consists of a lot of doodles.

By Jonas Akerlund Video Director

Mis en Scene-

Very bright lighting to emphasise the child like genre of the video

Most likely set in the daytime

Everything is verey ecentric

Lots of objects in the room

Cluttered, with typical child's items, such as toys, and purely random objects of interest

All abstract

Tape recorded/ boom box

main prop in intro shot

Creative looking room, artists room

Mainly blue- more male?

Cinematography-

Quick sharp shots of items in the room which resemble adolescence

Close ups of him on the bed jumping about- wearing a scuba mask on face etc

Looks straight into camera often, close up or mid shots

Very fast paced video

Camera is everywhere

View looking up to him, inferior audience

Choppy shots, neat

Swinging from camera (lampshade)

Editing or visuals-

Bright coloured background all the walls are painted in a blue, which is typically a boys colour

Looks through what looks like a kids tunnel tube, playground activity.

Wearing neon's contrasting clothes

UV lights

Roof opens up at end to reveal sky

Lasers coming from his head, wearing a hat

Glowing body

Everything above shows how much of a child's fantasy this is, with all the colours toys and even lasers, the video tunes in with a younger generation.

Genre characteristics of musical style-

Very childlike video

Lots of dancing with toys

Very cheerful

Isn't choreographed well, because he is just being playful which again relates back to a child dancing in their room.

Would appeal to a gay audience, Mika appears to be waxed and practically naked just like children are when younger but very playful and flirtatious

Very messy

A lot of energy

Looks at self in mirror and tries to tense his muscle

Lyrics and visuals-

Completely relates to each other;

Teens

Boys- typically known to have a messy room

'Being golden'

'Being young'- dancing about, immature

Teenage circus he mentions, circus being traditionally bright and quirky

Fancy dress

Fun loving

Music and visuals-

Orchestra of kids sing the chorus

Music fits with playing of tape

Background street noise at the intro and end

Very fast paced video with fast lively parts

Child fantasy (toys)

Audience-

Appeal to a gay audience

10+

The album cover has a child on the front with a book over it's face, you can't put a gender too it

Girls and boys, girls more for the music maybe and perhaps boys for the video

3 analyses of pop promos

Tenacious D- Tribute by Liam Lynch-


(Long Version)

Mis En Scene-

Theatrical attributes of script

A song booth, disco ball and microphone looks slightly cheesy and cheap, but it contributes to the video and the idea of them being rock stars

2 very ordinarily dressed men

They both have a typical grungy look, almost dirty, which has connotations of them being like rock stars with their grungy looks, yet they still look ordinary

Props in sound booth such as their instruments

Dark lighting from behind but a heavier lighting from the front onto their faces.

Later on in the video they are on a set, which is meant too look fake, desert road scenery.

Cinematography-

Looking into the camera as if they are looking at the booth screen but are also looking directly at the audience.

Close ups of the pair

Many mid shots

Over the shoulder view of the couple as they walk towards the devil

Above the veils head is an over the head shot, looking down at the pair, inferior.

2:09 direct look into camera, mid shot

Mid shot of song booth while passers by watch

Lastly close up of old woman at the end cackling.

Editing or visuals-

The devil in the video is glowing but the scenery around him is very simplistic

Flames around his legs which strengthens the image of him being a devil, and has the charateristics you'd expect of a devil

Burst of light from behind as the song harmonises and crescendos which makes a large impact on the video with wind/light.

The couple appear to be caught in wind and you can see the effect it has on them as its blustery through their hair, and you can see it on their faces.

Devil does guitar solo, guitar appears from flames

Devil disappears into the ground

Old woman at the end has her eyes turn red to symbolise that she has now part of the demon in her

Genre Characteristics and of musical style-

Physically holding the guitars

Song is all about the greatest song in the world

Going into booth to record

Lyrics and Visuals-

Fit very well together, good amusing storyline. Cheesy but purposely, a spoof. They take themselves very seriously.

Video fits perfectly with visual

Very simplistic video

Act out what they say in the lyrics

A real performance

Harassing passers by singing to them

Music and Visuals-

Introduction- Kyle and Jack fight about where they are recording, it's a karaoke booth Kyle says, and that you can only do song covers.

Jack is trying to fix the recording booth, with some tools he's brought, which he happens to have on him

Then Kyle starts because the light has turned on.

Acoustic very calm and quite music

Dark scenery mostly

Audience-

They should definitely have a sense of humour

11+

But considering it has the 'devil' in it, not for older generation or devout Christians

Promo-

Fun loving

Humorous

Easy listening

Amusing

Not taking themselves too seriously

2 podgey guys, that know they are, as you can see by the album cover.

What makes a good pop promo?

Making a good pop promo in my opinion is all based on the genre of the band to begin with. You want the video to suit the music you are doing and too publicise well the band in a positive way, or however they want to be portrayed to their audience.

With a pop promo your objective is to sell that band, to sell that particular song to their audience or a wider one. Appealing to who you think it's worth promoting too.

Although many examples of the genre feature the macho rock stars and scantily clad dancers that have become cultural clichés, certain music videos are notable for their cutting-edge techniques and artistic innovations, and some of their directors have achieved auteur status.

History of the development of Pop Promos

Top of the pops was a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. It was traditionally shown every Thursday evening on BBC1, before being moved to Fridays in 1996, and then moved to Sundays on BBC Two in 2005. Each weekly programme consisted of performances from some of that week's best-selling many popular new artists, with a rundown of that week's singles chart. Additionally, every year there was a special edition of the programme on Christmas Day featuring some of the best-selling singles of the year.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_of_the_Pops)

Although the program was based around live performances from the bands and artists, it was still a way of advertising the artists, with it being chart music, they didn't use videos, and would them playing live to an audience, unless a particular band couldn't make it only then would they show the video. In its extensive history, Top of the Pops has featured many artists, many of whom have appeared more than once on the show to promote many of their records.

With the arrival of the sound films and talkies in 1926,something named ' musical short films ' were then beginning to be produced. Vitaphone shorts (1926–30), which were produced by Warner Bros, featured many bands, vocalists and dancers. Vitaphone was known as a sound film process used on features. This was not the original The first process was called Fuchessound. Vitaphone was the last, but most successful.

A pop promo is more widely known as a music video. It's a short film, or just described as a video that accompanies and song, or some music. The idea behind them is really a marketing ploy, it'll help boost sales of the song artist band and music. Although the origins of music videos go back much further, they came into their own in the 1980s, when MTV which was originally purely music based their format around the medium, and later with the launch of VH1.

The term "music video" first became popular in the early 1980s.

Music videos primarily use a wide range of styles of film making techniques, including animation, or live footage, set ups, or have a more theatrical theme even some are filmed like documentaries, and non-narrative approaches. Some music videos blend different styles, for a unique approach as there are many many videos out there, you always want yours to stand out amongst the others.

The band interview and quetsionaire

The band consists of Jake(guitar), Ade(drums), Jamie(vocals) and Jack(bass).(From left to right). Hardcore / Punk / Progressive is the genre they have given themselves.
They describe themselves as 4 kids who are sick of everything.

On the left is the current artwork someone has previously created for them.

Ten Years

Jamie Jack Jake and Ade, are all part of a band that formed in 2007. They all attended Claydon high school and became close friends. All finding they were very similar to each other, have been un separable ever since. Finding they all had a talent when it came to playing their instruments, decided to form their band. When it came to deciding what genre, it was decided that it should be hardcore, as around this time, there was a lot of metal out there, so their decision was to be ‘’outside the box’’. They intensely focused sound that perfectly caught the dark undercurrents of the music scene.

At the age of 17 they all decided on forming a hardcore band after their closest friends, another band, named Dungeons had formed a hardcore band with influences from Anti Flag, Black Flag, Gold kids and the Legacy. The last two of which have played locally in Ipswich. Including Dungeons themselves.

They first had their vocalist as a man named Ben, they then decided against the idea, and the guitarist Jamie, was then made the vocalist, so a band of 5 went to 4. I benefited them greatly, and they began to start recording their music professionally.

Most of the lyrics were based on past experiences from the band. Their tagline on there My space was ‘ 4 kids sick of everything’ which portrays the image they were trying to get across. Ten years have played many gigs locally in venues such as:

The Spread Eagle

The Rose and Crown

The twist

And they have traveled across parts of the country to play, touring.

1st post brief

This year out objective is to create a 'Pop Promo' the idea is to show representation and ideaology. We will have to find a track for our pop promo, this can either be from a band we already know, or a artist or band well known. If so, it would be harder to create the promo. We need to create album artwork, being an album cover, an advert for a magazine etc. The promo itself will last around 3 minutes.

R.A.I.L.I.N.G
Who the intended audience is
E.C.M.S
Forms and conventions
Visual effects
The relationship between the lyrics/music and visuals
Use of intertextuality
Whether it is performance based or concept based
How it promotes the band's image

We don't have too long to do this, christmas is the deadline, but already we have our band and song.