This document provides an analysis of conventions in music videos according to 7 features identified by Andrew Goodwin. It then analyzes 4 music videos based on Goodwin's features: 1. Ben Howard's "I Forget Where We Were" defies conventions by not showing the artist and having no clear relationship between lyrics and visuals. 2. Earl Sweatshirt's "Whoa" follows conventions by showing the artist prominently and having dreary visuals matching the song's feel. 3. Modern Baseball's "The Weekend" matches lyrics to visuals unlike typical indie videos and shows the band, fitting the indie genre. 4. The videos analyze reference to "looking", motifs, and

1. Detailed Analysis of Music
Videos

2. Andrew Goodwin’s 7 Features of
Music Videos
1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics. (e.g. stage performance in
metal videos, dance routine for boy/girl band, aspiration in Hip Hop).
2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. The lyrics are represented with
images. (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).
3. There is a relationship between music and visuals. The tone and atmosphere of
the visual reflects that of the music. (either illustrative, amplifying,
contradicting).
4. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the
artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual
style).
5. There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens,
mirrors, stages, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.
6. The artist may develop motifs or iconography that recur across their work (a
visual style)
7. There are often intertextual reference (to films, TV programmes, other music
videos etc).

3. Ben Howard – I Forget Where We Were
Although is slower and is played by a solo artist (Ben Howard) as supposed
to an entire indie band, this video follows conventions of the indie genre.
This video follows a storyboard convention, as throughout the entire music
video, no performance is shown. However, a cinematic or storyboard video
usually includes aspects that tell a story, the ideas and scenes in this video
appear random as they have no apparent storyline to it.

4. There is a relationship between lyrics an
visuals. The lyrics are represented with images
(either illustrative, amplifying or contradicting)
This music video is entirely
abstract and random seen as
there is no blatantly obvious link
between the video and visuals
that appear on screen and the
lyrics in the song that are heard.
The only link to the music is the
pace and tempo. both the video
and the music follow a similar
style as both are relatively slow
and have a melancholy feel and
atmosphere. The majority of the
video is shot in slow motion,
which matches the sow chords
and riffs being played on the
guitar in the song

5. The demands of the record label will include the
need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist
may develop motifs which recur across their work (a
visual style)
The usual style for an indie music
video would include a
performance aspect, this may be
due to record label demands. This
means that this video does defy
genre conventions. In a
stereotypical indie music video
the artist would be made clear,
however in this video Ben Howard
is never visible, and the two
characters have no link to the
creation of the song. artist is
never scene in the video and the
only two people present appear
random and have no link to the
artist.
(Not the artist)

6. There is frequently reference to notion of looking
(screens within screens, mirrors, stages, etc) and
particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female
body
Throughout this video both
characters/actors are displayed in
limited amounts of clothing. This
isn't or may not be for a male or
female gaze but instead to fit in
with the mise en scene of the
video, with both characters being
on a beach. If either notion of
looking is more dominant the its
that of the female gaze, in this
instance the male is shown to be
wearing less clothes when on
camera.

7. The artist may develop motifs or iconography that recur
across their work (a visual style) &There are often
intertextual reference (to films, T" programmes, other music
videos etc).
The artist is never scene in the video
and the only two people present
appear random and have no link to
the artist. The artist has no personal
iconography as the same scenes are
not linked to him or are in any of
Howard’s any other videos. The
video has no apparent intertexual
references and no particular regular
notion of any iconography of any
sort and appears completely
independent.

8. This video also goes against modern day conventions through the use of the size of the
video. Usually, modern day videos use a 16x9 size ratio, which fills a whole YouTube
screen. However in this video, the size of the picture has a much smaller width,
leaving large black borders around the sides of the picture, when watched on a
modern day device. This is done to make the picture appear older, as older film
cameras used dimensions and sizes similar to this.

9. Earl Sweatshirt - Whoa
This video follows various conventions of the rap genre as it
has performance aspects to the video. Throughout the video
the artist is singing the words to the song, whilst continuing
to carry on, as a storyboard would. This video uses both
conventions of a storyboard and a performance video.

10. There is a relationship between lyrics an visuals. The
lyrics are represented with images (either
illustrative, amplifying or contradicting)
Similarly to the song, the video
appears dreary and slurred
because of the slow motion
footage and the dull colours
used when editing in post
production, the slurs in the
background of the song give the
musical aspect a similar feel to
that of the visuals. The effect
also gives the video a slightly
contorted feel, separating it from
real life and making it feel almost
fantasy like. The lyrics aren't
entirely related but the musical
content is.

11. The demands of the record label will include the
need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist
may develop motifs which recur across their work (a
visual style)
The main artist’s face (there are
featuring artists) and presence is
very predominant in this video,
this may be due to the demands
of the record label, but for
whatever reason, the artist is
made clear in many ways.
Throughout the video the main
artists of the song is shown to be
the one singing or rapping, his
face is also the one most
regularly on show.

12. There is frequently reference to notion of looking
(screens within screens, mirrors, stages, etc) and
particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body
The notion of looking and the
use of male gaze in this video is
meant to be ironic and
humorous. This is as the model
or the female part present is a
stereotypically good looking
woman as she is much older
than a stereotype for this genre.
The use of humour in the male
gaze matches the rest of the
video in an attempt to contort
reality.

13. The artist may develop motifs or iconography that
recur across their work (a visual style) &There are
often intertexual reference (to films, T"
programmes, other music videos etc).
Earl Sweatshirt (the main artist of
the this song), is also a member of
the hip-hop group ‘Odd Future’.
Throughout this video there are
various members of the Odd
Future musical group that are
visible on screen. This repeated
vision of the group makes the
groups iconography obvious and
states that he is interlinked with
this group. His is a part of the
artists visual and musical style.

14. Modern Baseball –The Weekend

15. There is a relationship between lyrics an visuals. The
lyrics are represented with images (either
illustrative, amplifying or contradicting)
This video does coincide with the
lyrical content present in the
audio of the song. For example,
towards the start of the song,
the lead singer describes the
description of a girl, “hipster
with glasses”, a girl following this
description given by the music
becomes visible on the screen
soon after this is sung. This
feature of video making isn't
usually a convention of indie or
rock music and usually follows
more of a pop genre.
The musical aspect to the video matches the
visual aspect as the fast paced tempo is
reflected in the dancing audience that are
watching the band play, in the performance
aspect of the video.

16. The demands of the record label will include the need
for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may
develop motifs which recur across their work (a
visual style)
Throughout the video the
members of the band are visible
in many of the shots. This may be
due to the record label’s demands
or instead to simply fit the
performance aspect of an indie
genre convention. This video
follows many conventions of the
music’s genre. This song and video
would fit into the ‘indie’ genre.
The video follows conventions as
it includes both performance
aspects and storyboard aspects.

17. There is frequently reference to notion of looking
(screens within screens, mirrors, stages, etc) and
particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body
Throughout this video there is
no obvious link to any notion
of looking or that of a female
or male body. The main
theme is off a party scene and
that of which no obvious male
or female gaze is present. For
that reason this video has no
notion of looking.

18. The artist may develop motifs or iconography that
recur across their work (a visual style) &There are
often intertexual reference (to films, T" programmes,
other music videos etc).
This band don’t appear to have any
iconography that intentionally run
across all their work. The only possible
link between other videos is the use of
the members in the videos and the
theme of parties or friends. There are no
massively obvious intertexual
references, however the video does take
the appearance and style of many
American high school movies and many
other videos from other American indie
rock groups, including many
stereotypical activities of adolescents,
like drinking and smoking.