Andrew Goodwin is a music video theorist who's theory from his book 'Dancing in the Distraction Factory' (1992), talks about the conventions of music videos.For example:
- Music Videos amplify/ relate to the lyrics of the song. This is pretty self-explanatory in that it means the video relates quite literally to the lyrics. An example of this would be Jessie J's 'Price Tag'. In part of this song the lyrics say 'Its not about the money' whilst Jessie J is shown next to a tree literally growing money, and wearing 'bling'. This shows that Goodwin's theory is still relevant as this video was released in 2011. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMxX-QOV9tI
- Music Videos demonstrate different characteristics depending on the genre of music. For example, Rock music videos quite often have live performances whereas typical boy or girl groups might have more of a dance routine based video. Other genres of music such as Hip-Hop, would be different still. Hip-Hop videos tend to be based on the aspirations of those sometimes represented in the video. The Notorious BIG's 'Sky's the Limit' is a good example of this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktDeFS8KZPs&list=RDktDeFS8KZPs). The people in this video are represented by children; everything typical of a Hip-Hop video (expensive materials items, scantily-clad women etc) are all played by children. This video therefore is subtly about aspirations and the fact that youths should aim for wealth and success in their lives.
- There is frequent reference to the notion of looking (screens within screens, mirrors, stages etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body. This means that quite often in music videos, we get a sense of spying almost. Like we are peering on the artists/ characters private lives. This is encouraged in so many videos and is almost a convention of music videos or at least for narrative videos; the sense of watching someones story pan out. Secondly, voyeuristic treatment of women is all too common in music videos in today's society. However, you could argue it is most noticeable in videos for Hip-Hop/R&B/Rap, although it occurs in most genres. This is because quite often these genre of songs surround the idea of aspirations and wealth/success. What comes with this however, is the idea that many beautiful, scantily-clad women connote wealth as well as expensive material items. You could also that it is a stereotype that the type of people represented in these videos and the artists themselves are more likely to vie and treat women like sex objects. However this is not always the case as shown in Jennifer Lopez's 'I Luh Ya Papi' video (analysed in more detail in another post)
- There is a relationship between the music and the lyrics and the visuals. The tone and the atmosphere of the visual reflects that of the music. This refers to the editing pace and how it relates to the music; whether the shot cuts are on the beat and the pace of the them. If the music is Dance/Dub step etc, you are more likely to have more shot cuts at a faster pace to match with the beats of the music (Swedish House Mafia - Don't You Worry Child: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1y6smkh6c-0). However, if the song is Singer-Songwriter, the music is probably going to have a slower pace and therefore the pace of shots and cuts is going to be slower as well. This can amplify the tone of the song or contradict if the video does follow this process.
- The demand of the record label will include lots of close-ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style). Quite often, music videos will have close-ups of the artist because the label are trying to market them rather than the music itself. This is especially for bigger names and more mainstream artists; bands such as Little Mix or The Vamps or solo artists such as Ed Sheeran or Ellie Goulding. For example, Ellie Goulding's 'Starry Eyed' is almost completely made up of close-up and this being her debut song, her label were most likely to market her as much as possible. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PULdPep_xfs
Molly Beecham
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