RESEARCH FOR MUSIC VIDEO: A summary of the main points of Andrew Goodwin's theory, including examples of videos following his main ideas

Andrew Goodwin identifies a number of different aspects towards music videos. This includes:

·         The idea of traditional narratives not being applied to music videos, pop in particular. Because pop music is around music it does not exactly have a film structure, i.e. normality, problem, resolution but a fading and type of closure. The singer is performing, narrating and acting as a character furthermore the singer looks into the camera which gives a sense of audience interaction.

·         As pop videos rely on repetition to make a song easily recognised via chorus and or the beat. It is likely that there are intertextual references. For example it may have a tie-in with a particular advert, may be used in a film, TV show (Glee)

·         There is a relationship between the lyrics and visuals. The visuals usually illustrating which means the video is telling the story of the song. Amplifying where the videos add new meanings that may not contradict the lyrics but emphasise its meaning, or disjuncture meaning the video has nothing to do with the lyrics. This same relationship is between the music and the visuals

·         The importance of close ups and the singer’s image

·         Voyeurism is also used as a way to attract viewers to the video. This is usually done through females and their representation

·         Videos try to appeal to a wide audience as much as possible, without ignoring their main audience. For example in ‘Kanye West ft Lupe Fiasco – Touch the Sky’ the video and instrumental has a 60’s, 70’s style to it which older viewers may find entertaining, yet the element of rap, ‘bling’ and ‘sexy females’ still exist which still involves the target audience for rap music who tend to be teenagers and young adults. 

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