Goodwin’s theory-Music video theorist-

A short introductionAndrew Goodwin, a director of music and is known for being a music video theorist. His theory is on the repetitive features in music videos, and stated that this exists to make it easier for audiences to relate and understand the media language.

He stated that are 5 key aspects to a music video:

1. Thought through beat

2. Relation between track and cinematography

3. Realism of narration and performance

4. The “Star Image”

5. Technical aspects of the video

Thought through beatIs the process of analyzing the technical aspects in the music video so that the audience can understand the media language.There are 3 steps involved and each involves the audience to analyze…How the track is structured. This involves understanding the use of individual verses, chorus, coda and how they are constructed to tell the audience a story. Examples would be the use of different major/minor key scales used, tone and transposition. If you go further and have the musical score you can analyze how the song is constructed based on the lyrics by looking at the time signature, dynamics, tempo and rhythm of the track.The “aria” of the song (Main singer’s voice) by looking at tone and dynamics of the voice. Each individuals voices are different, therefore creates a different “feel” for the audience. There would be different singing techniques for different genres. This involves the use of tonality, harmony and improvisation depending on the genre, For example a jazz singer is likely to touch on the lower end of the tone by adding an “accent” to their voice. While country singers will always tend to start from low tone and gradually increase their pitch and volume. The story, which the artist is trying to show us. This usually involves linking the different meanings between the technical aspects such as the cinematography used, lighting and most important the lyrics. Examples would be a music video where the story and cinematography completely follows the lyrics like Taylor’s You belong with me.

Relation between track and cinematography

There are 3 different ways the visual aspects can relate to the track:Illustration; The music video itself follows the generic conventions and cinematography is took in relation to the lyrics itself telling the audience a story. For example if the lyric was to “hello” then the character involved might be on a phone.Disjuncture; the lyrics is completely ignored and often the music video will portray an original story and show a live footage.Amplify; Repetition of same camera shots manipulated in such a way the main image is slammed into the audience’s mind. This is used to make the main image stand out.

Illustrate

This is a footage from Taylor Swift’s You belong with me. This MV is a great example of because the video “Illustrates the lyrics”. The MV follows through the lyrics step by step in relation to the main actors/actresses. This shot is went the lyric goes : “She wear short skirts, I wear T-shirts” and there you go, a shot of her complaining about the T-shirt. This creates Realism to the lyric and draws the audiences attention in such a way we can image ourselves in her shoes.

Disjuncture

You will often see this in songs where there a lots of instrumental solos and improvisation, because the cinematography will focus on the individual who is doing the solo by using close-ups on the instrument or full body shots of the play itself. This is an example from Red hot chili peppers, they tend to have lots of solos and many individual shots therefore, the lyrics is completely ignored.

Amplify effect

The whole video focuses on one person as an aria, therefore makes the individual stand out. These types of music videos is often used for singles artist because the only one that needs to stand out is them alone. Sometimes you might see back dancers, but in the end it focuses on one person. You will see this often in pop music videos. Cinematography that is used is usually different types of shots and angles that focuses on one person.

Star imageI would say that this is the most important aspect for single artists, because the whole purpose of the MV is for promotional purposes. Another word that could be used to describe this would be a protagonist. This person creates appeal to the audience and makes them wonder what will they do. This is the same effect as having a well-known celebrity in a movie, audiences are likely to watch MVs that they can relate to a person they know.

Technical aspectsThis makes a music video a music video. The aspects will change according the different genres but general ones would be: Mise-en-scene, cinematography, sound and editing. The mise-en-scene describes what is going on the screen and allows the audience to visualize and relate better, an example would, low-key lighting for rock MVs. By having these stereotypes, it allows the audience to relate to different genres better because they know what to expect from the specific genre.