Andrew Goodwin’s 6 Features of Music Videos

WHAT WE DID: 

LINK BETWEEN MUSIC AND VISUALS E.G. CUTTING TO THE BEAT - SEE EVAL QUESTION 1A + LINK BETWEEN LYRICS AND VISUALS - UNDERWATER POOL SCENES + STAR IMAGE - LOADS OF CLOSE-UPS WITH COLOR POWDER


In his book Dancing in the Distraction Factory, Andrew Goodwin points out features and characteristics that can be found in music videos. There were 6 main features that he believed were the common conventions of the music video genre.

These are:

• Music Videos demonstrate genre characteristics e.g. a dance routine for a girl band/ boy band -very often a music video with a girl band/boy band contains a certain dance routine that others, such as teenage girls decide to copy. One older example is the one from the girl band Las Ketchup. They released a song in 2002 called Asereje, but was world famously known as "The Ketchup song". Their dance routine with the iconic hand movement does still exist today, 14 years later, in 2016 when playing the song or hearing it on a radio.                                                      

There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. The lyrics are represented with images, which can be contradicting, amplifying or even illustrative. A great example of a band that had an illustrative relationship between lyrics and visuals is my favorite band Fall Out Boy with their song "My songs know what you did in the dark". When the singing "light em up" fire lights up the screen. 

There is a relationship between music and visuals. The tone and atmosphere of the visual reflects that of the music. The beat of the music in the Joan Jett - I love Rock n roll music video reflects the movements they do such as clapping. The relationship between music and visuals is especially focused on the impacts on editing, and variation of pace, meaning that there is a selective cutting to the beat. 

4. There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, mirrors, stages etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body. An example of this is Guns N' Roses music video for Welcome To The Jungle, in which the camera focuses on the back of the female body rather than the front and is panning from her feet up until her bum. This ofcourse is also to have elements of male gaze. 

5. Star Image, having a lot of camera shots of the central protagonist so that he/she is the centre of attention.

6. There is often intertextual reference to films, TV programs, other music videos etc. In my opinion a good example to demonstrate this, is the music video by the french singer Stromae who created a song based on the music from the worldwide famous opera "Carmen". This music video therefore is an intertextual reference to the opera.