Andrew Goodwin’s theory, in relation to music videos.

Laura Dickinson

Andrew Goodwin's theory allows us to analyse music videos in depth and cover all the vital elements that a video will contain. It allows us to see trends and connections between genre and content.

In His Book Dancing in the Distraction Factory Andrew Goodwin points out six characteristics and features that can be found in music videos:

• Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics.(e.g. stage performance in metal videos, dance routine for boy/girl band, aspiration in Hip Hop).

• There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. The lyrics are represented with images. (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

• There is a relationship between music and visuals. The tone and atmosphere of the visual reflects that of the music.(either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

• The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style).

• There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, mirrors, stages, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

• There are often intertextual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc).

When planning and creating our video we will be using these characteristics which he has specified in order to ensure that

the genre and narrative of our music video is clear…

Genre characteristics - In order to show the genre we will include shots of a guitar being played; this will connect with the alternative/acoustic style of rock which our chosen song uses.

Connection between lyrics and visuals – during our video the visual storyline follows the same story as the lyrics of the song, for example when he sings “if only I could be in that bed again, if only it was me instead of him” our video will show the first boyfriend in the bed and then will be edited to show the new boyfriend taking his place. However our video will not totally match the storyline word for word, for example when he sings “just your skin against the window” we will not be showing Jess leaning against a window as this section will be focusing on her new relationship. This ensures that our video is different to the original as the official video does not focus on a new relationship like ours will.

Relationship between music and visuals – we will be adhering to this, as when the music becomes sad towards the end we change the scene from focusing on the new couple, to showing the ex trying to persuade the girl to get back together with him. During this section we have used the rain to connote the ex boyfriend’s sadness and desperation as this will create a visual representation of how the music is supposed to make the audience feel.

In addition at the end where the singers voice becomes softer as the song begins to end, we will return to shots of the ex playing guitar and then he will walk away at the end, perhaps suggesting that he is giving up; this connects with the way in which the music implies the person should be feeling.

Close ups of artist and motifs – within our video we plan on using many close ups of all three characters. During the conversation between Jess and Tom we will show the two of them in one shot, and then show their close ups of their faces separately in the shots following. In addition we will use close ups of Jess and Jonny’s faces during the rain scene to show their emotions, as it is a music video and can’t use much speech (other than lyrics) facial expressions are essential.

We will also be doing close ups of Jonny’s face and hands when he is playing guitar as this will emphasise the focus on music and importance of lyrics and instruments. Throughout the video the shots of Jonny playing guitar will be used within each chorus, this is knows as a motif because the same selection of scenes and shots appear multiple times.

Voyeuristic presentation of women – within our music video the majority of Jess’ outfits are very feminine and sometimes revealing. This will make her attract the male gaze, as clothes such as skinny jeans and dresses which are pulled in at the weight show her nice figure.

Intertextual references – our film ideas have been influenced by many other texts, for example the film One Day has been a big inspiration for me and this is where the idea of using a ‘heartbreak’ storyline came from. In addition other videos and artists have had a big influence on our video, for example my ideas have been inspired by many of The Maine’s and Fossil Collective’s videos. In addition our video has been influenced by videos by Fun, The Lumineers and The Maccebees. The choices we have made about casting and styling the exboyfriend/musician have been influenced by Jakes Bugg’s style.

These are screen shots from Fossil Collective and The Lumineers’ music videos. These scenes helped to inspire our scene where Jonny plays guitar.

This scene from The Scripts’ video was one of the inspirations for the part of our video where Jonny looks at old photos; polaroid photos are more old fashioned, classic and ‘indie’ than the phone in The Scripts’ video.