Andrew Goodwin's Music Video Theory

As written about in his book, 'Dancing in the distraction factory'  here are the six different points to Andrew Goodwin's theory:


- Genre characteristics
- Link between lyrics and visuals
- Link between music and visuals
- The demands of the record label
- Notion of Looking
- Intertextual Reference


Genre Characteristics / Signifiers:


Genre characteristics are what you would expect to see when watching a music video of a specific genre. For example when watching rock music videos you would expect to see the band performing throughout the majority of the music video, however when watching RnB music videos you may expect there to be some form of storyline, often relating to the lyrics. 


Link between lyrics and visuals:

Goodwin states that the lyrics will be making constant references to what is going on in the music video, creating a two way reinforcement of lyrics to visuals and vice-versa. The visuals also help to illustrate what is being sang/said.

Link between music and visuals:


The link between music and visuals are similar to that of lyrics and visuals. The link is there to contradict and reinforce each other. 


Demands of the record label:


The demands of the record label consist of two main points. These are the need for close-ups and motifs. The whole idea of close-ups is to help build up the particular artists image and ultimately to sell the artist, these are used in a large majority of music videos. The final point, motifs, are also used for similar effect. A motif is a running theme that will focus throughout a particular artist or bands music videos. This also helps create an identity and again ultimately leads to the wide spread sale of an artist. Motifs however can vary, they can be images recurring through several music videos or the artists appearance. In either case it helps to create an identity for that artist. 


Notion of Looking / Voyeurism:


Notions of looking links in heavily with Laura Mulvey’s ‘Male Gaze Theory’. This is basically ways people are represented within music videos. An example of this being how women are represented, Goodwin himself refers to women being presented as objects in music videos, once again linking with Laura Mulvey’s theory. 


Intertextuality: 

Intertextuality is the referencing of other texts, be it through mimicking, mentioning or simply copying. Intertextual references occur in a range of different texts one example being music. These uses of other texts can be used to challenge or agree with ideas expressed or to highlight artists or a specific message or image within a text.

Intertextuality in Music Videos

Intertextuality inclusion of other texts into another text, be it through mimicking, referencing or simply copying. Intertextuality occurs in a range of different texts, one example being music. Intertextuality can be used to challenge or agree with ideas expressed in other texts or to highlight artists or a specific message within a text.

Most commonly, intertextuality is used in music videos to highlight idols and icons. An example of a music video referencing another text is 'Madonna - Material Girl', where Madonna dressed and appeared as Marilyn Monroe had in 'Diamonds are a Girls best friend', not only this but the whole blonde 'Material Girl' look. This was to highlight her idol, this image has also lead to become part of her and her identity.

Storyboards

Equipment List

Equipment and Software used;


- Camera x2
- Tripod x2
- Laptop x1
- Adobe Photoshop
- Adobe Premiere
- Final Cut Express

Questionnaire - Audience feelings towards Music Videos

The aim of this questionnaire is to find out:
- What type of music videos people like
- Why they like them
- What they don't like about some music videos
- What they think of our ideas so far




Questionnaire


Q: What style/type of music video interests you?


A:


Q: What do you like about that style of music video?


A:


Q: What is it about other styles you don't like?


A:


Q: Could you give two examples of  music videos, one of which you like and the other of one you don't like?


A:
A:


Our Ideas:


Q: Do you like our ideas so far? (If yes what? - If no, what would you change?)


A:

Questionnaire Focus Group

Categories of Music Videos

There are three main categories of music videos, these are as followed:

 Performance

 Narrative

 Concept

Performance

Performance music videos are those which showcase the artist or band performing the song throughout the majority of the video. These types of music videos can occasionally feature separate footage other than the group performing however this isn’t very common and the amount of footage would be miniscule compared to that of the artist or band performing. Performance music videos can easily be created on a low budget.

Genres commonly linked with performance music videos include:

- Rock (Sub-Genres included, e.g. Metal)

- Hip-Hop / Rap

- RnB

Iron Maiden - 'Fear of the Dark' is a good example of a performance music video.

Narrative

Narrative music videos focus on telling a story. The story created will usually link with the lyrics however this is not always the case.  The artist or band can be part of the story however actors are also used in narrative music videos. Again like performance music videos these can occasionally cut back to feature the band or artist however this will not be as much as the footage which is telling the story.

Genres commonly linked with narrative music videos include:

- Rock (Sub-Genres included, e.g. Metal)

- RnB

Rihanna - 'Man Down' is a controversial music video which is mainly a narrative video. 

Concept

Concept music videos are those that attempt to base themselves to one theme or concept, as the name would indicate. The artist or band will not be featured much or even at all in a concept music video. Sometimes what is in the videos itself is not the concept instead the concept could be the editing technique.

There is no specific genre that focus on making concept music videos as they are not particularly common and can be used by a variety of different music genres.