2. • Andrew Goodwin realised that there are six reoccurring features in all music
videos. These features are what add to the success and popularity of a music
video.
3. FEATURE 1:
• Genre Characteristics.
• There is always specific things that you will see in a music video of certain genres, for
example:
-In pop videos the singer/band always seem happy and content. The setting will always be bright
and colourful. Maybe even a man made/synthetic set made for the purpose of the video.
-Rock videos are often darkly coloured with next to no colour. They feature a lot of symbolism,
crows and skulls.
-In dance videos the main focus tends to be on a crowd the artist is performing for. It is often at
a gig or festival.
4. FEATURE 2:
• A relationship between vocals and visuals.
• The visuals/acting on screen is reflective of what the lyrics are trying saying/trying to get
across, for example:
-In ‘give me love’ by Ed Sheeran, there are lyrics that say “blood turns to alcohol” and the visual
is of blood on the actors shirt.
-In ‘Dollhouse’ by Melanie Martinez she sings “Mom, please wake up” and the camera pans up
the sleeping form of the mother on the couch.
• This shows that visuals linking to the lyrics are important because they add to the effect of
the lyrics of help understand the message the lyrics are trying to get across if they don’t
understand exactly what they are meaning to say.
5. FEATURE 3:
• The relationship between music and visuals.
• The tone and the atmosphere of the music is reflected in the video.
• A lot of the editing is also done to the sound of the music, for example:
-In ‘Emperors new clothes’ by panic at the disco, toward the end of the video there is a loud,
jerking undertone to the music, which is reflected in the quick paced editing.
-and in ‘dollhouse’ by Melanie Martinez, at the beginning of the video the singer is moving as if
she were a clockwork doll to the sound of a clock ticking in the music track.
• The editing to the beats in a song add to the effect of the video because it emphisises the
sound of the track.
6. FEATURE 4:
• Close up of the artist/s.
• Lots of close ups of the artist help create a motif which may be reoccurring theme in later videos.
-e.g. Melanie Martinez always has at least one mid sot close up during the opening, chorus and end
of her songs.
• The close ups may include a regular close up of the artist, a close up of the band/artists image or
visual trademarks.
• Some artists include a close up of the name of their song on a background that is relevant to the
rest of the song,
-for example. Katy Perry had a short clip of someone spelling “Bon Appetit” on a pizza dough
background, the worked because it was the name of the song being spelt of a food background,
which is the theme of the song.
7. FEATURE 5:
• References to looking.
• There is frequent reference to the action of looking;
-Screens within screens, mirrors or windows.
-In ‘Give me Love’ by Ed Sheeran the woman playing cupid looks round corners and through
windows at couples and singles.
• There is a constant voyeuristic treatment of the female body, and sometimes the male body
(The Gaze).
-In ‘Touch’ by Little Mix, there is a lot of the artists grinding on the male back up dancers,
causing the viewers eye to be drawn to them, the fact that they are dressed provocitivly also
adds to The Gaze.
8. FEATURE 6:
• Intertextuality.
• There are often references to different things inside music videos; Film and TV, The News,
Mythology/History, and even other artists music videos.
-There is army/dictatorship imagery in ‘Alejandro’ by Lady Gaga, which could be a reference too world
war 2/Nazis and Hitler.
-‘Give me love’ by Ed Sheeran features the mythological image of Cupid, but it could also be
referencing the book/film ‘Skellig’
• This adds to a music video because when the viewer is watching it and they understand the
reference it may help them to understand the music video an lyrics a little more than they may
have done had the reference not been there,
