Research: Goodwins theory of music videos

Goodwins theory of music video's

Andrew Goodwin is a theorist that applied his own understanding to the world of analysing music videos, he came up with 8 very simple however generic ideas about what music videos within mainstream or popular culture consist of. He is regarded as an important theorist in the music industry and is also well known amongst people involved with music.

Goodwins theory that is based on 8 main principles:

• Genre Characteristics
• Relationship between lyrics and visuals
• Relationship between music and visuals
• Star image motifs
• Notion of looking
• Intertextual references
• Performance, Narrative or Concept based
• Technical elements

Genre Characteristics:

Music videos often reflect their genre through the use of specific characteristics which makes them conventional. So whatever the genre of the music video is, the specific characteristics which are conventional to the genre make us identify the genre by watching the music video. This applies to all genres.

Examples of genre's that carry the genre characteristics:
Hip hop - Fancy cars, big houses and portraying women in a sexual nature.
Classical - Smart dress, emphasis on high pitch lyrics. 
Rap - Crime, fighting, drugs
R&B - Love and relationships.

Relationship between lyrics and visuals:

A connection is shown through the visuals relating to the lyrics. Either being illustrative; explaining the lyrics visually, and lastly contradicting; being the opposite visual to the lyrics heard.

In the music video we see Lloyd Banks holding dollar notes in his hand between 10-15 seconds and the lyrics are ‘ Im so fly, I got money so that’s a good enough reason to buy the things I buy’

The use of amplifying images could be used in order to make the images larger and more powerful which would make the visuals seem more dominant over the lyrics.

Relationship between music and visuals:

Visuals show a connection to the actual music that is being heard. These are either illustrative, amplifying or contradicting. If the music is upbeat, so would the visuals. If the music is monotone, usually so are the visuals.

In this music video by Jay z - 99 problems, when the beat of the music gets faster and louder the dancers in the video start their dance routine.

Star image motifs:

The music video includes many close-up shots of the artist, demanded by the record labels to make them popular and identifiable.

Lady Gaga, throughout her career she has built up a crazy reoccurring image. Her music videos need to emphasise, support and reflect her strange, unique style, personality and music. Same star image motif portrayed in all her music videos to represent her style and personality. Moreover, due to her status in her past music videos her new music videos need to live up to that standard.

Notion of looking:

Particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body – women that are seen as a sexual object. There are a huge amount of music videos that could fit into this section nowadays. For example We found love by Rihanna.

However, some genres do not emphasis the ' Notion of Looking ' Less 'mainstream' genres such as Jazz of Classical do not emphasis on this as it does not fit into the genre characteristics of the genre.

Intertextual references:

In many music videos you will find there are often links to other films, TV programmes of other music videos etc, this is called intertextual references.

 This music video conveys intertextual reference to Marilyn Monroe: By all three of the artists dressed up in a white dress with a curly, blonde, short and classy win, red lips and also her beauty spot

Intertextual references can aid to promoting a video as people can relate to the music video in more than one way. A popular intertextual reference such as referring to Marilyn Monroe would attract a wider audience and interest into the music video would increase.

Performance, Narrative or Concept – based?

Performance based means the focus is solidly on the artist/band.

 In this example by Bloc party - two more years we can see that the focus is on the band, this can be done because the band using a variety of musical instruments and it could be more conventional for their music video to be concentrated on them.

Narrative based  means that it has a story attached related to the lyrics of the song. 

Example by Artic Monkeys shows elements that would fit into this section e.g ‘ so that she had a to roam the streets’ as we can see in the video she looks homeless, scruffy, roaming the streets.

Concept based is usually a single concept – obscure/surreal for the audience, more than likely including special effects

The Prodigy – warriors dance video shows no relationship with the lyrics of music therefore is random, different and concept-based.

Technical elements:

Technical elements also play a vital role in music videos. Some of the examples include:

Multiple close ups of the artist being used. This is done to create a sense of familiarity between the artist and the audience. Multiple close ups also signal to the audience the importance of the artist.

Cuts between shots normally follow the rhythm of the song. This gives an element of fluency in the music video.

Lighting reflects the mood of the genre. The audience could relate to the music video even more if relevant lighting was used.

Conclusion:

Goodwin's theory enabled me to be knowledgeable about the 8 main generic ideas about what music videos consist of. Goodwin's theory is significant because it is most likely to be the theory that my own music video would consist of. Therefore, being familiar with his theories would give me an advantage as I would know what do include in my own music video