Music video theory

1. ANDREW
GOODWIN
MUSIC VIDEO
THEORY

2. The theory
oA relationship between the lyrics and the visuals,
with the visuals illustrating, amplifying or
contradicting the lyrics.
oThought through Beat.
oNarrative and performance of the song.
oThe star Image.
oGenre Characteristics.
oIntertextual references to other media texts may be
present.

3. A relationship between the music and the visuals,
with the visuals illustrating, amplifying or
contradicting the lyrics.
There are three ways visuals are used to promote a song:
Illustrate:
o Music videos use certain images and shots to illustrate/explain the meanings of
lyrics to their song and genre.
Disjuncture:
o In this situation, the meaning of the song is completely ignored in the music video
and therefor contradicts the lyrics.
Amplifying:
o (repeatability) This is when the images and camera shots are manipulated and
shown repeatedly throughout the music video and is drummed into our memory.

4. Thought Through Beat.
o The First step of this process is to analyse the music structure allowing you to
understand the chorus and the versus.
o The Second step (the voice of the main artist), The voice of the artist would be very
unique compared to others which gives the artist a form of identification that can
be related to the star image or performer.
o The Third step would be the story of an artist which he would be telling
throughout the song. [For example, Inherit the Crown by Suicide Silence is Eddie’s
story of taking over Mitch Lucker.] The music video can aid this by showing us the
story visually and establishing the vocals of the song.

5. Narrative and Performance of the
song.
o Goodwin believed that it was important for an artist to be involved in the music
video by performing or acting out the main role as the main character of the
singer. This helps to make the performance more realistic and helps give an
audience a connection and understanding of the song.
o Again, looking at You Only Live Once by Suicide Silence, the band perform their
piece with the singer Mitch Lucker being the main focus or role. This gives an
audience not only a connection to the song and lyrics, but to the main character
and the band as a whole.

6. The Star Image.
o A star’s image becomes a readily recognised symbol or sign that is used over
multiple media platforms. Dyer’s theory suggests that a ‘star’ is a constructed
image allowing a person to use a specific look to target an audience and advertise
a genre or media form.
o For the Genre I have chosen this is seen to an extent. This image could be
generated by tattoos, piercings and a specific way of dressing allowing the ‘star’ to
then appeal to a specific audience. This would create a larger audience as the
viewers would find this look appealing.

7. Genre Characteristics.
o This suggests that certain features are expected in a video depending on the genre
of music. This is aspects like Clothing, Location, Pace and Ideology.
o In my Chosen genre this would be aspects along the lines of an isolated location,
ambient or low lighting, face past editing with multiple shots of instruments and
the members. Others include casual clothing, limited props and live performances.
o This is seen throughout You Only Live Once by Suicide Silence as the video is both
performance and narrative, it is set in an isolated location with low lighting. The
costume is casual and the only props are the instruments and side characters. This
fits well with the theory as it depicts everything Goodwin says.

8. Intertextual references to other media
texts.
o In many music videos, the ideology is linked to other media texts and refers to
more than just other music videos. Certain Genres often link to specific forms of
media to share a certain view.
o For example, The band Enter Shikari often link to news papers or news websites as
they voice political ideology throughout their work. This allows the band to keep
an audience up to date with politics and other news events.

9. CONCLUSION.
To conclude, Andrew Goodwin’s theory helps understand music videos for specific
genres. This is because he allows an audience to understand the structure and form
of a video and how it is made to appeal to an audience. After researching into
Goodwin’s theory and applying it to songs and videos in the Metal genre I have been
able to make a few conclusions. To appeal to an audience I will have to use typical
conventions of my chosen genre in terms of mise-en-scene, shot type of editing. I will
also need to amplify my main image being the ‘star’ to attract a specific audience to
my piece. This will generate a larger audience as my star image will be someone
known and effective in the role. I will also need to depict my ideology with links to
other texts, this could be through costume or a narrative. This will help me generate a
target audience and will help sell my piece.