Pop Promo Analysis - (Rogue Traders-Voodoo Child)

Artist and Song: Rogue Traders-Voodoo Child, Director: James Ash

The use of M-E-S in this pop promo is very limited, for example there are not many locations on the screen, and the only one I can see is the plant desert location that is all. The use of props is high as they use playing cards, birth certificates for each band member sometimes, and also the whole pop promo is set in a book which is a prop. I think the director does this to give the emphasis that this is a book and these are pages that we are looking at and we have to use are imagination from the words that are in the book.

For cinematography in this video, it is mainly mid shots to show the band members, also they have close ups of a woman’s face when the same words repeat “ Voodoo child” and also there are two long shots of the women but that is to set a location of where she is. Again why I think they use just mid shots is try and show that this is a book and that in the book there are not many locations but more people talking.
To me I think that this whole pop promo is a whole visual effect, because the director is trying to make the artist and even the background are just pages of a book and instead of just words there are pictures so in a way this just an imagination of the words on the pages, this is the reason why most things are black and white such as the people, also if there is colour they are only dull colours, and even when there is one bright colour, (the lips) it turns to a dull grey.

There is some relationship between the lyrics and visuals, they make it quite clear because they have some words in the background which normally are the most important such as “here come the drums” I think they do this to emphasis the chorus more which should normally keep in someone’s mind which they want. Also there is one more relationship between the two which is when she talks about “poison running through me” it runs through a heart and it comes from the lips which normally poison is made. They do this maybe because it is a simpler and more cost effective way of addressing those lyrics.

There is a relationship between the music and visuals for instance, when the beat goes comes the band members on the certificates bang there head in the right beat to the music, also another thing is when the music sounds like a wind the visual turns into a wind of cards and top hats. The director did something like this because maybe that is a good beat to bang your head to and people can join in with the band members banning their heads.

To me, I think this genre is rock and the only clue to why I think that is, is because in the beginning where they show the book it is a dark background and a dull coloured book and normally in rock or metal genre they use hard key lighting to make it darker. Even thought the whole song is light but that is trying to represent the pages of the book.

I think there is no narrative structure in this pop promo but I think that lyrics make the narrative structure.

I think it dies promote the band, by showing all the band members even thought they are not playing any instruments, so there is no point of them actually being on screen but they are still there promoting themselves.

I think that audience for this would be between the ages of twelve to twenty-five because it is rock music and not many people enjoy it also I think that this pop promo is aimed at both girls and boys.