Andrew Goodwins Music Video Theory - Continued

Om the whole, we do think that Andrew Goodwin's theory is still relevant to music videos today. Many of today's music videos show the 5 factors Goodwin outlined. 

SIMILARITIES 

For example, in the last post, we link videos such as J-Lo's 'I Luh Ya Papi' which presented the idea of 'looking' or 'spying' into the characters private lives. This also applies to the Notorious BIG's 'Sky's the Limit' in which we also get the sense of watching these characters live their lives (watching them in their houses/gardens etc). Other factors such as the idea that there are links between the lyrics and the visuals in music videos is still present. This is seen in almost all videos, especially narrative videos. Adele's 'Someone Like You' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLQl3WQQoQ0) is an example of this. The song tells a story of a separation and the hope that she will find someone else. To amplify the feelings and tone on the song, the video is in black and white and furthermore, she is seen walking through Paris (a city normally associated with love) with nobody around. This obviously illustrates the feeling of loneliness. 

DIFFERENCES

However, not all of Goodwin's theories are still relevant. In fact music videos have changed quite a lot. For example, Goodwin thought that certain genre's of music showed different characteristics (stage performances in Rock/Metal videos, dance routines for Girl/Boy Bands). But this is not always the case nowadays. Different genres of music have tried different types of videos, like Swedish House Mafia' 'Don't You Worry Child'. This video is entirely comprised of stage performances rather that a typical narrative or dance routine you might expect. Similarly, a lot of Girl/Boy groups choose to go with a performance based video. Like The Vamps 'Can We Dance' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqSww10eeKw)
Goodwin also said that there was a link between the lyrics and the visuals. Not all shot cuts are now on the beat of the music. Some dance videos might have longer takes because they are still narrative videos. David Guetta's 'Titanium' has much longer shots that do not necessarily change on the beat of the music; which is quite fast. This is because the video tells a story about a young boy and the longer takes help to emphasise the feelings and emotions of the story. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRfuAukYTKg&list=PL038C7EE384516468 )

Molly Beecham

Andrew Goodwin's Music Video Theory

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

 

Mood Board

This is our mood board in which we have portrayed our initial ideas through images. The genre of music we are going use is Singer-Songwriter and so the music is naturally quite emotive. For this reason we wanted to tell an emotive story, to match the lyrics. In the song we have chosen, some of the lyrics are 'This is the starting of my greatest fear' and 'I'll make it without you'. We decided that a narrative surrounding loss of some or any kind would fit really well. Like many feature films, we wanted the video to include many different characters with different stories; each having experienced loss but in a different way.

For example, the gravestone obviously represents death but the pictute of the father with his children could represent the death of their mother. Others such as the mother and the sick child are more self-explanitary. We have also included more upbeat images, such as the old couple holding each other. We wanted to include flashbacks in our video; some characters might have flashbacks of better times in contrast with the present. Key words include 'lonliness', 'love' and 'fear'.

Molly Beecham

Introductory Post

For our A2 media project, we are making a music video for a song of our choice. This involves researching and analyse existing media products. We also need to obtain permission for the artist themselves and need proof of this. Once we have done this, we film and edit the video. Before all of this, we must make a preliminary project, which acts as a practice for us before we make our final project; it gives us a chance to practice one of the main elements; lip syncing. 

By Molly, Molly and Jess