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| Andrew Goodwin |
Andrew Goodwin's theory on music videos states that there is a relationship between the lyrics and the music video of a song. He talks about this during his book "Dancing in the distraction factory". This connection can come into play within different ways with the examples Goodwin stating being: Illustrating, Amplifying and Contradicting. An illustrating music video would include imagery that closely matches the lyrics and portrays what the song is actually saying. An example of this would be in Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe", in this music video Carley Rae Jepsen is trying to get a boys number, this matches the lyrics of the song which talk about trying to get the boys attention and getting him to call her. Goodwin's next example is the idea of amplifying the lyrics, this means the music video will portray the lyrics in an exaggerated form. This is evident in the song "Firework" by Katy Perry. In this song there is a shot where Katy Perry is singing about fireworks while they explode from her body. This would be an element of Amplifying the lyrics through exaggerating the lyrical messages of this text. The final example that Andrew Goodwin talks about within this theory is contradiction, this element is portrayed through going against the lyrics and what they are saying, it can do this by either going completely against what the lyrics say or by just portraying imagery that may seem unrelated. An example of a song that includes contradiction within its music video is "Pressure" by Muse, although this music video starts off very regular with elements of illustrating as the band is shown performing, as the video goes on the stranger and further away from the lyrics it gets with the ending sequence including a sic fi action scene against gremlin style creatures, this completely contradicts the lyrics of the song and supports Andrew Goodwin's theory that a music video will follow one of these styles.
Andrew Goodwin also talked about the different genres of music videos, much like the genre of song itself music videos come in different styles, the different genres he mentions in his theory are: Stadium performances, Studio performances, Location, Narrative and Conceptual/ Experimental. Stadium and studio performances are pretty self explanatory and are set in either a live stadium with a reactive audience with shots emphasising the live nature such as shooting the crowds reactions, as of the case of stadium performances or in the case of studio performances they are usually in a professional environment such as a recording studio with shots emphasising their performance. Narrative performances will tell a story within the music video, this could be related or not related to the lyrics however a story will be told, and a conceptual music video will try to represent a thematic idea based on the directors ideas and tends to avoid conventions laid out before it ""experimental" music has come to refer to music that seems radically unconventional, pretty weird, as if to experiment with the very building blocks of musical beauty." (Harper, 2015)
Goodwin also mentions Voyeurism within his theory stating that within music videos include elements that usually the audience wouldn't see such as intimate imagery like nudity or intimate settings like others houses and bedrooms. Goodwin states that we see these more in music video than we would in real life and that directors include these to grab the attention of audiences. "However, it is clear that the shortcuts used by video directors to get the attention of the male audience have rendered vast tracts of music video uninteresting and/or offensive (far more offensive than pornography, in my view) and that this is one very obvious problem that is specific to video itself, since the opportunities for a particular type of boring voyeurism are so much more in evidence here than in previous forms of pop promotion." (Goodwin, 1992)
Finally, Andrew Goodwin also mentions that there is a lot of intertextuality within music video, however he talks about its purpose really only being their to pay homage or even represent some kind of brand synergy. "In fact, it can be shown that music television's intertextuality and its articulation of popular cultural history are often anything but blank. Consider, for example, the variety of ways in which music video clips "quote" from other texts." (Goodwin, 1992)
Reference List
Goodwin A., (1992) Dancing in the Distraction Factory
Jepsen R C ., (2012) Call Me Maybe [Music Video]
Available from:
Perry K ., (2010) Firework [Music Video]
Available from:
Muse ., (2018) Pressure [Music Video]
Available from:
Harper, A., (2015) What Does “Experimental Music” Even Mean Anymore? [Online]
Available from:https://www.thefader.com/2015/05/08/system-focus-experimental-music
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