Andrew Goodwin's theory on music videos.

Andrew Goodwin’s theory of music videos states the separate components present in music videos.

These are the key points of the theory.

• There is a link between the visuals and the lyrics

• This link either illustrates, amplifies or contradicts the lyrics in the song

• In music videos, the meaning of the video can either be illustrated (explained and enlarged to the viewer), amplified (meanings and effects are repeated and portrayed constantly throughout the video so that it is drummed into the heads of the viewers), or contradicted (here the meaning of the song is virtually ignored and has no place in the video).

The most common method is to illustrate and very often amplify the meaning of the text. The mise-en-scene, the themes and the events of the video all combine to portray the message of the song.

• There is a link between the visuals and the music. Again this link either illustrates, amplifies or contradicts the music. The cuts and edits of the video are in sync with the rhythm and beat of the song, matching specific notes or drum beat

• Each music genre has certain characteristics

• Every genre of music video has specific features that are associated with that genre. This would include style of music video and iconography.

Examples of this would include

• Girl bands / artists – would include lots of close up shots of the artist, lots of dancing and portrayal of the artists as beautiful and sexy, lots of colour both in clothing and scenery

• Rock bands – would include a lot of performance in the videos, close ups of the strict and their instruments, typical rock star clothing such as leather and tight tops, long hair

• Hip-hop / rap – lots of close ups of artist, casual clothing often sport based such as basketball, lots of scantily clad women portrayed as sexual objects for the men,
• There is often some element of voyeurism / looking

This is often particularly true in the way women are presented. Women are often presented in a way that will appeal to men. They are shown as beautiful and objects for men’s pleasure.

The record company will make certain demands of the video

This will probably include lots of close ups of the main artist. This allows the record label to promote the artist and possibly create a particular image for the artist or band, which will target particular audiences and bring the artist to the forefront of the public’s attention, thereby selling records.

• There are often intertextual references 

• These could be to other music videos or to films or television.

This theory can be used to analyse music videos and he outlines five points which the audience should consider when watching a music video.

• Thought beats – where you see the sound

• Narrative and performance

• The Star Image

• Relation of visuals to the song

• Technical aspects of the music video

Thought Beats

Step 1 – Look at the structure of the song and understand the chorus and the verses.

Step 2 – Analyse the main voice of the song. The voice of the artist will be totally unique to them and will be part of their trademark. This will be instantly recognisable by the audience and will form part of their star image.

Step 3 – Look at the way the artist is addressing the audience. The artist is a storyteller, telling us a story. He is showing us the story of the video through the vocals of the song.

Narrative and Performance

A music video can contain elements of narrative and performance.

Narrative is where the music video is telling us a story which is linked to the story of the lyrics. The lyrics of a song can only tell part of the story. It is then left to the individual listener to imagine the scenes from that story in their head. The job of the music video is to put images to that story to allow the listener to see those images on the screen.

Performance is where the artist or band is shown actually performing their song which is important for their star image. This tends to be a large part of rock and heavy metal music videos.

Star Image

The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist. The artist may develop a visual style all of their own which will be instantly recognisable and will recur across their work.

Relation of visuals to the song

There are three ways in which the visuals can be used to promote a song

Illustration – Certain shots and images are used to explain and illustrate the lyrics to the song and the genre of the song

Amplification – Camera shots and images are repeatedly shown throughout the video. This helps those images to be drummed into the heads of the audience

Disjuncture – The meaning of the song is completely ignored in the video, or indeed can be contradicted.

Technical aspects of the music video

The technical aspects of the video are the aspects that hold the whole video together and actually make it work as a whole. These would include mise-en-scene, camera work, editing, sound and special effects.

This will aid me in creating my own music video as it has shown me the codes and conventions required to make a successful video. It will also help me to attract a larger audience as the video will contain the conventions that will appeal to large audiences.