The Qustionnaire & Answers (Specific & General)

Questions to find out more about the Band - Answers

1. Who/What influences your music? "Ballad Rock, Contemporary Pop, Heavy Stuff"
2. Who would you compare your music to? "Not many people, try to create our own stuff, some cover songs now and then"
3. How long have you been creating music? "During High School, few years back"
4. Could you see yourself ever being successful? "Connor, probably"
5. Who/What influenced your band name? "Just a random name: Distraction"
6. Have you ever done a gig? " One gig so far, at the Gardeners Arms, it went well"
7. How do you promote your music? "Random gigs in Ipswich"
8. Would you say music is a big part of your Lives? "Sort of, yeah....it will be involved in my future"
9. What influenced your style within music? "Rock & Roll, some RnB"
10. How long has your band been together? "Since we started this course at Suffolk New College"

Questions to ask when meeting The Band - Answers

1. What are your names? "Zak, Jake, Jake, Lee, Bradley, Connor"
2. How old are each of you? "17-20 years old"
3. What's your favourite genre of music? "Rock, classic and contemporary"
4. What are your favourite hobbies?
5. Tell us a little about yourself?
6. Have you ever met anyone famous in the music industry? " members of Black Sabbath"
7. Is music your main focus in life? " one of them anyway"
8. How often do you practise? "All the time in College"
9. What instruments can you play? "Guitarists, Drummers, Singers and Keyboards"
10. Show us your party tricks? (may establish friendship)

Synopsis & Treatment for Music Video (1st Draft)

It was my idea to have our group as the band itself, using the Guitar Hero instruments used for the popular well-known game series on PS3, XBOX 360, Wii etc. It will be a fun, unique representation of a real band and a counterpart of what a real-live audience would expect from a live rock performance. My narrative has not been given much thought but I propose a sequence of events that would involve the story-arc and then suddenly cut back to a live performance of the guitar hero band, for example: My Kid Rock MV example as seen below. i was thinking of possible adding extracts from popular films that show some kind of relation to the Rock and Roll genre, for example films such as The Terminator, Iron Man 2 (involved heavy use of AC/DC in it's soundtrack) and School of Rock. This music video will not be completely overtaken by film extracts because we too wish to promote our band image even though our performance is not 100% genuine, my aim is too do something that may not have been done in Media before and something that will contrast to the other productions in the class.

In the narrative scenes I would like to show what members of the band do on a regular day i.e. maybe they meet up, go into the town etc. This will all be taking place while the music is all synced over however I may use the sound equipment to add some dialogue at the beginning and end of the music video. The Guitar Hero performance could take place in one of the studios or classrooms of the media department in Suffolk New College which i think is an original and easier idea to act on because it is a place where we are all welcome and it is unlikely that we are to be let down when the time comes.

If my group members do not approve entirly of my proposal I will at least merge my ideas with their very own proposals in order for me to at least contribute to the plan of the final music video.

Report/Overview of Pop Promos

A good pop promo includes a relationship between the visuals and the music for example; Bjork in "It's Oh So Quiet" included dancing and singing as a result of falling in love and very cheerful bright music even in dark backgrounds; this music video was the very definition of what you feel on the inside when you are madly in love which is usually only expressed like this in musicals on stage and on screen as it featured people of the public getting involved in her feelings and helping her do all the wacky stunts and dance lifts. A good Pop Promo should have a beautiful use of Mise-En-Scene like Bjork's did and should always introduce its own style in order to make it stand out from the rest at that time; Movie Directors involvement in music video helps bring a unique viewing to audiences e.g. David Finchers "A Perfect Circle" by Judith: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqNsy4TM_zI this expresses the style that he created from films like Se7en and Fight Club and merges it with the type of music you would hear in one of his films.
Music Videos tend to always have a certain genre with maybe a few crossovers now and then but the genre that is always included in a music video is the musical genre that is based around the music videos main narrative. Some music videos are released along with a film in order to use extracts from the film to mix in with their own performance e.g. Elton John recorded a song made especially for Disney's The Lion King called "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" in which Elton was projected into the Disney universe around the narrative to perform his song.


Intertextuality is a reference in a to other media texts such as Katy Perry's California Gurls included frequent references to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Alice in Wonderland.

This makes a certain music video more likely to attract a wider audience that are already fans of the secondary media texts that are being used, This is one way of an audience being targeted.
To promote a singer e.g. a female singer, the institution that hires her uses her body to attract a male audience through exploitation. This has been proven to work and garnish more money for the singer and institution making the certain more wealthy and making the female singer more famous.
Iconography depends on the genre of music and whether a singer/band can dominate that genre for a period of time i.e. Michael Jackson became a Pop Icon due to his huge success with Music Videos throughout the 1980s for example his music video "Thriller" gave MTV a mega jump start to becoming a globalised source of music.

Cheryl Cole is now seen as the UKs Pop Icon due to her increasing success since going solo and producing a string of no. 1 hits; this has proven to be successful with a number of members in girl groups going solo to blossom their career.
very music video can have a narrative behind it, no matter how strange or surreal. Most MVs rely on the intertextuality for their narrative. "Fight For This Love" by Cheryl Cole was based on a real event occuring in her life, so the narrative was inspired by a true story which is a rare thing to come across in pop culture.

"Come to Daddy" by Aphex Twin was extremely unique and disturbing but they try and make audiences see that behind all of that there is a solid narrative based on a certain concept.
There are some examples of Ideology in music videos which can give us beliefs and values e.g. "Sabotage" by The Beastie Boys made the band look like a bunch of thugs acting like stupid kids vandalising, drug using, drinking. This is their style but due to Ideology it can never be fully understood and accepted in Globalisation.

Kid Rock Promo Pack Analysis (Video, Advert, CD Cover)

KR"All Summer Long" CD Cover
"Kid Rock" is always in capitals as is his song title, makes the cover and his image stand out more. Very Large Capitals at the top of the page in order for the background and Kid Rock to have equal domination in this picture. Smashed glass effect can represent accidental vandalism due to drunk side effects which can be seen as part of the fun that is described in his music video. His mirrored sunglasses can be either natural or an effect to elongated the beauty of the scenery (lake, woods) where he and others spend the summertime.
Kid Rocks Jersey makes it clear that he is in Alabama country; probably his birthplace or just his location for summer vacation. His fasion style suggests the mid-late 1970s (rock era) intertextuality is established. Natural Lighting in outdoors surroundings with a nothing-special house, possibly a living quarters for farmers long ago, now abandoned awaiting demolishment. Heavily wooded area creates the sense of freedom with less law enforcement and worries. Blue skies (intertextuality) of the old saying "not a cloud in the sky" meaning nothing to worry about, everything is fine.
The reason that it is only Kid Rock in the photo despite the fact that there were loads of characters in his music video that contributed to the main narrative and none of his band members (instrument players) simple and basic; he promotes himself hence only "Kid Rock" is on the cover, name and face. The band and extras are not important in this CD cover. Genre of music established slightly by scenery is in the Southern Rock, Americana category.

In this CD cover it would appear that Kid Rock has slightly changed his image through clothes and props whereas in the one above he appears as a common punk found in Alabama with nothing unique to offer audiences and to build his own star image. This more recent CD cover looks at Kid Rock in a whole new light as it almost completely changes the way he was represented in "All Summer Long" His logo is still the same font/style but more of a gold colour which could represent his step up from last time, almost everthing in this photo is gold including the cars leather seats, the pistol handles and the golden field background along with the bright sunshine. He is now dressed in smarter clothes such as Leather, Denim, Snake-skin boots which adds more of a cool American Dude image to the star. I would not think that this photo-shot is completely associated with the song as "Born Free" expressed the same freedom sense as "All Summer Long" did, the car and the field can represent life on the road which some people do call "freedom" The props such as the strangly large amount of guns that are within reach and that blend into the cars features. There is that intertextuality to money like there is in most music videos because everything that features in this photo looks rather expensive. Alas it is return of the large sunglasses so he has kept a small part of what used to be him in "All Summer Long" and his facial hair remain keeping that rough yankee look.

Print Advert: Kid Rock Concerts

"Kid Rock" is all in Large Capitals which obviously will dominate the advertisement, which also includes another large title in different font (adding more of a retro classic rock feel to the upcoming concert) It is also an intertextuality reference to Lynard Skynard (will be performing cover songs) Most of the poster is taken up by the ludacrisly oversized title however it still includes quick answers to questions a potential audience may have (Date, Price, Location, Website, Special Offers, Sponsor & Fireworks) these come in a wider range of colours due to logo design; brightening up the poster. "Rock Rebels 2009" is not a logo for a major company but just a symbol of representation of the fans and bands of rock and roll to make this concert become more genuine and true, avoiding to look like a poser concert (makes it look alot cooler as well) a very distinctive graphic.



Seeing Kid Rock on the front cover of Rolling Stone magazine is definatly a represntation and obvious point that he is moving up in the hall of fame with his music and star image. Rolling Stone is a very well known music magazine, one of the highest ranking mags in the USA which has extended its reach going almost worldwide. The wacky interview topics beside Kid Rocks picture is bound to catch people eye and tickle their fancy. This may be presented in some form of inspiration to young musical prodigy that need a hero and role model to follow and start off in their footsteps. This was a great oppertunity and a great way to market his career "people and subscribers will buy and read the magazine and will most likely end up purchasing his music and potential future music he will create" His extremely strange fasion sense will give him attension and cause readers to either show some strange sign of respect or to just think he is weird nevertheless this image makes him stand out in the rock genre and gives him his own style to be remembered by many. Also appearing as a bit of a ladies man can have a general positive effect on his star image as well.






Dating Pamela Anderson is definatly going to cause alot of young male teens to look up to this man and aim to be like him.