Music Promo Analysis

Travis- Flowers In The Window

The music promo by Travis takes a more unconventional approach resulting in the video, at first, looking obscure and un-relatable to the song however the director has amplified the song lyrics and made represented them in different forms. For example, as theme of pregnancy is shown throughout the video, it could be suggested that the "Flowers" represent babies as a further lyric "let them grow" would suggest that they are describing a child as it grows. The women are seen to do more masculine jobs such as being a car mechanic or driving a lawn mower which emphasises that there are no men around other that the band members. This could be seen as role reversal as the phrase "it's a mans world" (suggesting that women don't belong) has been changed so that there are more women and very little men implying that women are now being seen as more dominant figures in society. At the very end of the music promo the audience is introduced to a man who is chained up and is in a caged area suggesting that he is being held captive to father the women's children which again is role reversal as before woman's rights were introduced they were only expected to carry a child and look after it whilst the men went to work. This emphasises role reversal and is an unconventional way of showing women as being the more dominant force because an audience would not expect to see a place where men are few and some are many. The purpose of this video could be to shock people because the video is very unconventional and not what people would expect to see in a promo that is about flowers/children. The shock element appears at the very beginning when the audience is introduced to all the women who have baby bumps and that there are no men other than the band. It would shock people because the video is so obscure and something that an audience member wouldn't necessarily think of when hearing the lyrics "flowers in the window". There is no performance during this promo and it makes it appear more like a short film rather than a promo. In previous videos the band were the main focus and as the band started to get bigger they started doing less conventional videos which featured a performance showing that their purpose was no longer to promote the band members but for people to watch their promos for the music and the entertainment that surrounds the song.

The sound of the promo is very upbeat and cheerful which makes the promo seem more pleasant and more appealing to a target audience. The song is non-diegetic as they use lip sync with the band to make the promo sound exactly like the single which allows the audience to know exactly what they are going to hear when purchasing the song. The car driving is diegetic and this gives the promo a more conventional appearance and gives it some sense of normality before the unconventional part of the video appears.

The editing is slower compared to the pace of the music. It could be used to draw more attention to the events which are unfolding and also to emphasis the obscurity of what is happening around them. It also emphasises how surreal the concept is because it's such a diverse and unconventional promo that requires the audience to fully absorb what they are seeing to understand visually what the lyrics are saying.

The bands costume is quite basic. It consists of jeans and a t-shirt showing them as being quite casual people but also shows them as being more masculine as the environment that they are in shows them being dominated by females and their costume allows them to separate themselves from the abnormalities. The females costumes over emphasise the baby bump and their femininity as they all have their bump showing. They all have overly bright coloured costumes which mainly consist of a crop top and a short skirt which are seen as provocative pieces of clothing which is a contrast to what an audience member would stereotypically see a pregnant lady wearing. The props that the women use are seen as stereotypical female objects that they would have in every day life, for example, the tea cups that are used at the club are very feminine as they are pink with flowers on (which links back to the song) showing women as being sophisticated even though the environment they are in is the opposite as they are in a "gentlemen's club" but due to the role reversal the women are portraying what the men would be like if they were there. The lighting for the promo starts off as natural daylight which highlights the obscure surroundings and events which are taking place. However the lighting at the club is dark but with areas of orange and pink showing it to be a feminine environment however in the next shot where you see the lead singer in a darker lighting but with a green tint which differentiates him from the females at the club and emphasises his masculinity. The setting of the
promo appears to have a western theme at the very beginning as the first shot is of a car speeding down a road in the middle of nowhere and they arrive at a small town which again has a western theme however all that changes when the women appear. The town seems to be quite mysterious at the start but is also colourful which emphasises the surrealism of the promo. The bright colours would also entice younger audience members to watch the video as they feel bright colours are eye catching and create a positive vibe.

The first shot is an extreme long shot which sets the scene and shows the environment that the band are in. It also make that audience feel uneasy as they do not know where the car is going or why they are in such a strange environment. Throughout the promo the shots break the 180' rule as it cuts from being on the left side of the town to the right side and visa versa which disorientates the audience and emphasises who unconventional the promo is. The most common shot and framing is the close ups of the bumps. The bumps are the main focus of the promo because it emphasises how strange the environment is and it also shows how contrasting the women are from the band members.