2. Goodwins Theory
Goodwins theory is based on 6 main principles and these are
applied to different genres:
• Links between Lyrics and Visuals
• Links between Music and Visuals (Complimentary,
Contradicting or Amplification)
• Genre characteristics
• Intertextual reference
• Notions of Looking (objectification of women)
• Voyeurism (direct gaze, other people looking at artist,
insight into artists life, screens and mirrors)
3. 1. Links between lyrics and
visualsTaylor Swift sings the chorus of her song which is
“shake it off”. Therefore the director uses a long
shot to show the artist and the backup dancers
shaking their whole body which is associated with
the tittle of the song.
Taylor Swift’s lyric says “I’m lightning on
my feet” and the visuals show a long
shot of a man getting up on his feet as
quickly as he can. This may connote
that she has immense dancing skills.
Another lyric that Taylor Swift sings that
links with the visuals is “that’s what they
don’t see” the visual for this is a black piece
of glass around the dancers eye which
shows that he cannot see anything in
addition he is doing a silly dance which may
emphasize the fact that he cannot see what
4. 2.Links between music and
visuals
Every time the artists throws her hands
up in the air it goes the same time as
the beat which shows consistency of
the music and visuals.
Another aspect that links between
music and visuals is the cuts. Most of
the cuts are found with the beat of the
song. This helps the audience to
visualise the cuts and edits and make
the video a visual experience at the
musical notes
5. 3.Genre Characteristic
Costume: Most of the pop music videos have similar
costumes and these costumes are funky. The
costumes that are used are not clothes that would
be worn by others on a normal day. However the
artist is wearing a ballet dress which is associated
with femininity.
Settings: there are very plain backgrounds and the
setting seems like its in studios. There are not many
urban locations in this video and there are not many
different locations compared to other Pop music
videoes.
6. 4. Notion of Looking
In this music video the
backup dancers are always
looking at the artist if the artist
is in the shot. This may
connote that the artist is very
special and is like an idol.
However if the backup dancers
aren’t staring at the artist, the
artist is looking directly into the
camera which may suggest that
the artist is trying to make a
connection with the audience
which is ideal because this may
make some of her audience
start looking up to her.
7. I think that there are approximately 134 close up shots of the artist.
There are many reasons the director does this, for example multiple
close ups are a way of promoting the artist and advertising the artist to
the target audience. These close ups may also be used to spread the
artists image through the music industry so they will be very popular.
This will then lead to idolization of the artist. They will also show off the
way the artist does her make up and certain features of her face such
as the way her eye brows are done.
5.Multiple close ups of
artist
