Bring Me The Horizon - Sleepwalking - Analysis

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Conventions of a Music Promo

Camerawork:

Main shots used present the whole band; usually long shots, this brings emphasis to them. Making them the main focus. Close ups are also regularly used to gain the feel of closeness to the performer, just as most people wish to be in the front row of their favorite performer.  Low angles are used to present the performer as an idol, to gain a sense of them being on stage. Overall there is a very dynamic use of shots, to make the music video more intriguing.

Editing:

There is almost always a link between editing with the tempo of the song. Quite often, there is use of straight cuts on the beat. Most shots are focused on the performer, making them more significant. Cross cutting is used between the performance and narrative, usually integrated but there may be cases where one may be dominant than the other.  Montages are often used in music promos to give a symbolic meaning, often cut between them very quickly.

Mise en scene

Mise en scene reflects the mood of the song and the lyrics. They are affected by genre. Settings vary to add interest. Instruments are also presented, to bring authenticity. Costumes link to genre but also link to fashion trends, making fans to follow their trend. Lighting creates the mood and atmosphere; often you get high key lighting.

Narrative and performance:

Narrative and performance is interwoven. The performance is added to the music video to create the same atmosphere to that if the audience was at a gig. You visually can see the band playing. Narrative relates to the lyrics. There is the interpretation of lyrics through visuals. Some narratives may ignore lyrics and may be disjuncture, bringing attention away from the song itself but bringing more interest to the visuals itself.

Music Promo - What is it?

-       What is a music promo?

A music promo is Promotion of a song and the artist, either for an album or a single soundtrack. It is an advert of the band, including a song accompanied with visual representations. A narrative is presented as the band preform, most likely miming in a made up set.

-       Why do bands/ record companies make them? (Purpose)

A promo is to improve sales and increase publicity. The promo is usually in a video format to bring entertainment and forms a connection between the song and video. Overall it relates to brand identity, informing the audience with such information such as their genre. With the visuals, it increases memorability of the artist. By making the video promo unique, the higher likeliness that wider audiences will remember the artist, persuading them to buy it, therefore increasing sales. For an example Blur's music promo for their song 'Parklife' was very unusual, which in turn made it very popular.

-        Where are they exhibited?

Some music promos are exhibited on music channels, a traditional form of promotion.  A lot of bands, artists were promoted on ‘Top of the Pops’ and in TV channels specialized for music such as MTV. The use of traditional exhibition provides access to large audiences, allowing the increase in appeal.

There are also new media forms of promotion. Where artists directly use forms of social media and the Internet. YouTube and ITunes are an example of new media promotion, where it includes easy access to downloads but also makes it easier for bands/artists to upload content in areas such as Facebook and Twitter, where there is a large audience to attract. Also uploading to YouTube is free, and so highly benefits the artists/bands in profits.