2. Aspects to a music video
Godwin’s theory states that there are 5 aspects to a music video. These
5 aspects are:
1. Thought through beat – seeing what the lyrics mean in your head.
2. Relationships between the music and visuals.
3. Narrative and the performance of the song.
4. The technical aspect of a music video
5. Star image
3. 1st Aspect – Thought through beat
1st step – this process is to analyse the music structure therefore you’re
able to understand the chorus and verses.
2nd step – this is the part of the main voice of the song, the artist’s
voice would be very unique compared to others and will give the
person a form of identification that will be related to the star image or
singer.
3rd step – story of an artist which is being told throughout the song.
This will establish him as a story teller. Also the music video can aid this
by showing us the video throughout the vocals in the song.
4. 2nd Aspect – Relation between the music and
the visuals
There are three ways visual can be used to promote a song and these
are Illustrate, Disjuncture and Amplify. These are the definitions;
Illustration – Music videos use certain images & shots to
illustrate/explain the meaning of lyrics to their song and the genre.
Disjuncture – This means that the meaning of the song is completely
ignored throughout the music video.
Amplify – This is when the images and camera shots are manipulated
and shown repeatedly throughout the music video and we see this as
our vision.
5. Continued – Relation between the music and
visuals
Goodwin believe that any music video is able to promote a song by the
way it analysis the lyrics. However this is only shown through music
videos when the character does exactly what the lyrics are. For
example this happens in the music video ‘Stan’ produced by Eminem.
This video is about the character Stan writing a letter to his idol
Eminem and the lyrics are what Stan is writing in the lyrics.
(insert lyrics and video)
6. 3rd Aspect – Narrative and performance of the
song
Goodwin believed that it was quite important for an artist to be
involved in the music video either by performing or even acting out as a
character whether it was main character or singer. He believed this
because he thought it made the song look more realistic and it tends to
give the audience a connection with someone who created the lyrics
and take a clear understanding of the lyrics.
An example of this is Beyoncé – If I were a boy. Throughout this video
she sings to the camera for the audience to understand the situation
going on. Overall Beyoncé is a good artist to use for this example
because she uses this method quite a lot.
7. 4th Aspect – Technical aspect of a music video
The technical aspects helps to hold the music video together through the use
of Mise-en-Scene, special effects sound and editing. This is what Goodwin
believed anyway.
To help set the mood for a music video and create emphasis’ the key feature
would be lighting and colour because it creates a dramatic effect and
emphasis’ significant parts to thrill the audience.
Mise-en-Scene is also a vital part to the production of the music video
because it helps the artist gain authentication and it comes across more
professional if used.
Last of all, the beat of the song. This is very useful as they can help to create
effective cuts which go with the rhythm of the song and this is an advantage
to the music video because it becomes more entertaining.
8. 5th Aspect – Star Image
Goodwin believed this is a vital aspect to a music video as the image
itself makes the video look more appealing to the viewers while
bringing a style which is unique to the video in the way the image is
portrayed to the audience.
Throughout a video, if a star image is used, its more likely they will be
very unique and presented differently.
