Goodwin’s Music Video Analysis

• Andrew Goodwin writing in ‘Dancing in the Distraction Factory’ (Routledge 1992)

1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (e.g. stage performance in rock video, dance routine in pop).

2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals

3. There is a relationship between music and visuals

Goodwin’s Music Video Analysis• 4. 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).

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

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

Intertextuality and Cinema• Many music videos draw upon cinema as a starting point,

since their directors are often film school graduates looking to move on eventually to the film industry itself.

Directors Who Started With Music Video Include:

David Fincher: Madonna Vogue and Express Yourself.

Gone Girl, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Fight Club.

Spike Jonze: Fatboy Slim Praise You.

Her, Where the Wild Things Are, Jackass 3D.

Michael Gondry: Bjork, Foo Fighters.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Green Hornet.

Intertextuality

From Madonna’s ‘Material Girl’ (Mary Lambert 1985, drawing on ‘Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend’)…

…to 2Pac and Dr Dre’s ‘California Love’ (Hype Williams 1996, drawing on ‘Mad Max’) there are many examples of

cinematic references which dominate music video.

Intertextuality

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) Madonna Material Girl (1985)

Madonna Material Girl

The intertextual image is not necessarily of Monroe, but of the

Hollywood archetype of the sexy blonde

who uses her looks to get what she wants.

Intertextuality

• Television is often a point of reference too, as in The Beastie Boys’ spoof cop show titles sequence for Sabotage (Spike Jonze 1994) or REMs recent news show parody ‘Bad Day’ (Tim Hope 2003).

Intertextuality• Visual reference in music video coming from a range of

sources, though the three most frequent are perhaps cinema, fashion and art photography. Fashion sometimes takes the form of specific catwalk references and sometimes even the use of supermodels, as by George Michael in both ‘Father Figure’(Morahan/Michael 1988) and ‘Freedom’ (Fincher 1990).

• Probably the most memorable example of reference to fashion photography is Robert Palmer’s ‘Addicted to Love’ (Donovan 1986), parodied many times for its use of mannequin style females in the band fronted by a besuited Palmer. Shania Twain copied it for her ‘Man I feel like a woman’ (Paul Boyd 1999) and Tamra Davis directed a $350 parody of it for Tone Loc’s ‘Wild Thing’ (1988).

Intertextuality

Robert Palmer Addicted To Love (1986)

Shania Twain Man I Feel Like A Woman ( 1999)

IntertextualityJohn Stuarts description of the music video “incorporating,

raiding and reconstructing” is essentially the essence of intertextuality.

Using something with which the audience may be familiar to generate both potentially nostalgic associations and new

meanings. It is perhaps more explicitly evident in the music video than

in any other media form, with the possible exception of advertising.

TaskResearch and find three different music videos which

include the same ‘intertextuality’ features.

EXAMPLE:

1985: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zM0KAh5w7Rs&safe=active

1997: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6kmOyaONbA&safe=active

2013: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrUvu1mlWco&safe=active

TaskWrite briefly about how they have used intertextuality. Then

discuss:

What effect does intertextuality have when used in music videos?

Will you use intertextuality in your music video? Yes/no. Why?

Will be in the format of a song sample? A film influence?