Andrew Goodwin Theory of How To Analyse Music Videos

The Andrew Goodwin is a music video analysis who wrote 'Dancing in the Distraction Factory' in 1992.

Goodwin identified six key aspects the audience should look for when analysing a music video.

These six aspects are:

1 - Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (e.g. stage performance in rick videos, dance routine).
For example: A video of a stage performance is typical for a rock genre video, a dance routine for a Pop band and luxurious cars, large groups or a lot of women are in rap videos.
Music videos can also link to film genres, which is known as Intertextuality. For example, rock/pop songs tend to be used in teen movies.


2 - There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. (Linked to #3 example)
3 - There is a relationship between music and visuals.

For example, either illustrative, amplifying or contradicting; this can be seen in 'Whatever You Like' by T.I.

4 - The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artists and across their work (a visual style).
An example of a visual style could be Justin Bieber as he has been in the media a lot, due to his run ins with the law and his change from a teenage singer to an adult.

5 - There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.
The notion of looking includes men or women being portrayed in a seductive way or if there is eye contact being made with the camera. The notion of looking can be referenced by the use of props.
Voyeurism is used to sell the artist's music through sex appeals; a recent example of this is of course Miley Cyrus. In today's age voyeurism is angle shown form one side of gender, and that gender is females.

6 - There is often intertextuality reference ( to films, TV Programmes, often music videos, etc).

A good example would be Destiny's Child doing 'Independent Women' referencing Charlie Angels or Beyonce  doing 'Listen' referencing her role in the film 'Dream Girls'.

Development of Technical Codes

The most important innovations in the development of the modern music videos was the video recording and editing processes, with the development of a number of associated effects such as chromo-key of green/blue screen.

The arrival of high quality colour videotape recorders and portable video cameras allowed many pop acts to produce promotional videos quickly and cheaply, compared to the usual high costs of using film. 

• 1990 - Most common form of editing associated with music promo is fast cut montage.
• Split screens, colourisation are also commonly used effects.
• Many images impossible to grasp on first viewing thus ensuring multiple viewings.
• Non-representational techniques, in which the musical artist is never shown, become more common.
• Lack of edits, long take/Steadicam also a common experimentation. 

The rise in popularity of music videos led to huge demands for good quality videos and genre themed channels.

MTV and VH1 were one of the first music channels, however the advance in technology and inventions of Sky, Freeview and other cable networks also led to channels like Channel Aka, Kerrang and 4Music. This rise and impact of musical and video sharing also led to the increased popularity for YouTube, which around the world is known for expressing new talent whilst also finding talent.

Camerawork - The way in which the camera is placed and the way that it is used when sequencing images will have a significant impact upon meaning. This is the same as any movie image text. Close ups dominate most TV and music videos this is to create intimacy which will therefore create a connection with audience emphasising the artist's song and voice.

Camera Movement - Camera movement may join the movement of the artists and performers, this may include walking, dancing, etc. On the other hand it can also be used to create a dynamic feel to the stage performances, for example, the performers being circled in order to make them appear clearer on the stage.

Editing - 'Fast Cut Montage' editing is contemplated to be the most popular form of editing when associated with music promos. Fast cut montage is where many images are rendered, displaying them quickly so that it leads to multiply viewings by the audience. However there are videos that use a slow pace and smooth transition to enable the mood created with the lyrics.
'Digital Editing' helps to enhance the editing, this is where the original images are showed with the created visual pleasures. These effects are such as split screens, colourisation and CG (Computer Graphics).

Convention of a Music Video

Since cinema was invented it created the ability to bring songs and music to life.

The Early Years

Amazingly, music videos have been around since the 1920s. Many jazz musicians, such as Bessie Smith, made short films to assist popular songs.

Since then there has been trademark music videos, such as: Bob Dylan - Don't Look Back (1965) which was credited as the first modern music video, Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody (1975). 

In 1970 the tv recording industries discovered TV shows as a great opportunity to promote their artists.

(Bob Dylan - Don't Look Back)


(Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody)

Camerawork - with any video, how the camera is being used and how the images are being sequenced will have a great amount of impact upon meaning of the video itself.

The close-up does dominate, as in most TV partly because the size of the screen and because of the desire to create a sense of intimacy for the viewer.

Editing - Fast cut montage is probably most used form of editing associated with the music promo, rendering many of the images impossible to grasp on first viewing thus ensuring multiple viewings.

Lighting - Some music videos are black and white which help highlight a particular mood and some videos have artificial lighting which put the artist(s) in an enhanced look.

Sound - Sound is mostly the vocals from the artist(s) but sometimes the producers let the artist or other people involved in the video say something, for example, a crowd in the song saying the words out loud while the music stops playing.

Props - Props are important in helping to add to the scene and creating significance on a particular object or simply people.

Mise en Scene - Mise en scene's put importance on the representation of things. For example, The Game Feat. Lil Wayne 'My Life', where they use the cemetery to reflect on the message of the song. The mise en scene shows them walking through the cemetery as people seem to disappear in an instant, which shows how frequently people are dying in his life.
The Game Ft. Lil Wayne - My Life (www.youtube.com/watch?v=udxZ9zkDzpo)

Intertextuality

Intertextuality is when media texts are connected to another media text; this can either be represented in the style of the music video or be done in a humorous way, e.g. parody. This can allow the audience to take away further meaning of the video.

From Madonna 'Material Girl' (Mary Lambert 1985) the intertextuality links back to the 1953 film 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes' starring Marilyn Monroe. Very since then, there has been many example of cinematic references which dominate music videos, for example:

Robert Palmer - Addicted To Love & Shania Twain - Man I Feel Like A Woman


Some text refer directly to each other, such as Remakes of films, extra diegetic references to the media/society in the animated videos, such as Robbie Williams music video for the song 'Let Love Be Your Energy', the video has a cartoon based video which has intertextuality to video games and to the song 'Califonication' by Red Hot Chili Peppers . The interpretation of these references is influenced by the audiences' prior knowledge of other texts.




In 1968, Roland Barthes announced 'The Death of The Author' and 'The Birth of The Reader' thereby declaring that 'A text's unity does not lie in its origin but yet in its destination', In other words there is no longer such a thing as original text which is very postmodern. This in the process highlights how interpretation lies within the audience and this is subjective and it is the audience that creates meaning.

Intertextuality is commonly used a lot in modern music videos, artist such as Robbie Williams, who's concept in the music video for his song 'You Know Me', is taken to a world, just like in Alice in wonderland and he is dressed up identical like the rabbit from the film. This thereby creates Intertexuality between the music video and the film. at the end of the video, you see him as the rabbit in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer trademark instead of the traditional lion, thereby creating Intertextuality between the two.

Three Main Categories for A Music Video

There are three types of music videos that are made within the music industry. These three videos are:

• Narrative Based Videos
• Concept Based Videos
• Performance Based Videos

Narrative Based Videos

A narrative based video normally tends to have a story line and throughout the video the story line is followed. The video normally has a protagonist normally played by the artists themselves & the characters are mute, with a few words in some scenes, in order for the audience to focus on the song.
A good example of this is P.Diddy 'Bad Boy For Life' where it shows the artists being the new outcast of the neighbourhood, who is a rapper and turns the neighbourhood into a party hot spot, but then at the end a rock group moves in, with Diddy saying ' damn! there goes the neighbourhood', the same attitude everyone had towards him when he first moved into the neighbourhood.

Concept Based

A concept based video is a video that is stylised to be based around a single concept/idea. These videos tend to use a particular filming and editing technique. A concept video normally doesn't fit to with the video, but still has a story behind it. The videos unique editing normally makes the video sell because it has an unusual video something that the audience haven't seen before.

A good example is Red Hot Chili Peppers 'Californication'. In the video the band uses a game-like video, which shows each band member being a game character.


Performance Based Videos

Performance based videos normally have a band or artist performing a song. These songs are normally performed at a concert/gig or simply just in the studio.
Performance based videos normally have bands such as Linkin Park, Queen, ABBA, etc.
A good example is Jay Z Ft. Linkin Park 'Encore', which shows them doing a live performance, but also has edits.