Initial Idea For Pop Promo: 2

Initial Idea for Pop Promo – 2

SONG: Fireflies by Ron Pope

This song is very calm, with a building melody and focuses mainly on the lyrics. There is not a lot of instruments used, the key one being the piano, and thus the lyrics are pushed into the forefront. Therefore, when thinking of an idea for a pop promo, I read the lyrics through carefully in order to try and understand them and piece together a narrative story that would fit with the tone of the song.

In this pop promo, I would include two elements, a narrative and performance element. The camera would cut between the two elements as the song builds. The performance element would include one person (a boy; aged around 17/18) sitting at the piano and playing the song. He would be in complete darkness except for large numbers of fairy lights flickering all around him. The lights would surround the piano, hang from the ceiling and the walls in order to create a sensual atmosphere as well as imply the idea of actual ‘fireflies’. The camera would follow the boys hand movements on the piano keys, and would trail the lights in smooth sweeping shots in order to produce the idea that the room is slightly spinning.

The narrative section would include the same boy, and a girl. There would be a main set, including a sofa and a TV and then just general bits and pieces that coincide with a boy’s bedroom (posters/rug/clothes on the floor/full ashtray/beer bottle). The boy would be leaning with his back against the sofa, and the lighting in the room would be soft and minimal. Around the boy would be photos of the girl, photos of them together, as well as numerous sketches of her. Some of them should be crinkled, to give the idea that he has spent a long time looking at them. In front of the boy is the TV, and he should place a video in the player. The images on screen should be of a faded quality in order to suggest a home video. The footage should be shot on a hand held camera, so that the images are less fluid and thus more realistic. The camera will seem to go into the TV so that the audience seem to be living in this past moment. The footage will include the girl playing hide and seek with the person holding the camera in a park – running around trees and peeking out. The main essence to catch through this footage is happiness and an ease with which the two people interact. The second set of footage should be the girl lying on the sofa the boy is now sitting on, and making faces into the camera. Again the tone and atmosphere should be a relaxed one, and the girls face should express her love for the boy.

As the song reaches the crescendo, and the lines “love and lost, truth it cost”, the camera will cut to a scene on a street where the boy and girl are facing each other. As the momentum of the song builds, the camera will show the two having a fight and the boy walking away leaving her standing there. This is the climax of the piece and should represent the idea that what he thought was right, actually is not what he wanted. As the song draws to a close, the boy should rip up all the photos and sketches and pull the recording tape out of the video. Leaving it strewn all over the floor, the boy should walk out and the camera should do a sweeping close up pan of all the mess in order to suggest that what was once beautiful is now broken.

This image of Ron Pope expresses the kind of style I would dress the boy and the muted colours I would use.