2. ANDREW GOODWIN’S THEORY
1) Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics
(e.g. stage performance in metal videos, dance routine for
boy/girl band, aspiration in Hip Hop)
--- Move, Little Mix ---
2) There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. The
lyrics are represented with images. (either illustrative,
amplifying, contradicting)
--- ‘Go mad for a couple grams’ The A team, Ed Sheeran---
3. ANDREW GOODWIN’S THEORY
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)
--- 24K Magic, Bruno Mars ---
4. ANDREW GOODWIN’S THEORY
5) There is frequently reference to notion of looking
(screens within screens, mirrors, stages, etc.) and
particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body
--- Blurred Lines, Robin Thicke ---
6) There are often intertextual references (to films, tv
programmes, other music videos etc.)
--- It’s Raining Men, Geri Halliwell makes reference to the
film ‘Fame’ through dance style ---
5. Intertextuality
= Intertextuality, a term coined by literary critic Julia Kristeva (1967), is defined as “the relational
orientation of a text to other texts”
• Intertextuality is a literary device that creates an 'interrelationship between texts' and generates
related understanding in separate works
• It is often used to is to give the audience something familiar to recognise to generate nostalgic
associations with the video and song or create new meanings to the song for that person in order
to help them remember the song
• This is more evident in music videos with intertextuality than other forms of media, like television
shows, who commonly use it as advertisement
6. Intertextuality
• An example of intertextuality being used within
a music video is ‘You Know Me by Robbie
Williams’, in the video Williams is seen dressed
up as a rabbit in an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ style
setting. This created intertextuality between
the film and the music video
• Another example is ‘Love Story by Taylor Swift’
where there is a strong reference to the story
of Romeo and Juliette through both the lyrics
and mise-en-scene
7. Intertextuality
• In the music video ‘Fancy’ by Iggy Azalea there is intertextuality to the 1995 film Clueless. The entire
video is virtually a shot-by-shot recreation. The film itself is iconic and so the references were easily
recognisable to the audience. The use of costume and setting to perfectly mirror the shots help the
reader have a sense of nostalgia and helped the artist create a viral video with over 700 million
views.
8. LAURA MULVEY’S THEORY
• The phrase male gaze was coined by feminist film
critic Laura Mulvey in 1975
• One part of her male gaze theory suggests that the
camera / audience always represents a heterosexual
man’s perspective of the scene objectifying women
• Another part of her male gaze theory suggests that
women are only portrayed as one of two possibilities.
Either a virginal innocent character or a sexy “whore”
(her words, not mine)! This is called the virgin / whore
dichotomy
• Gold Digger by Kanye West is a prime example of this
‘male gaze’
9. CATEGORIES OF MUSIC VIDEOS
• Narrative based video: A video consisting mainly of a story line relating to the lyrics and genre of
the song. This is a good technique to use for engaging the audience. This type of video is often
used for songs that feature in films, with scenes from the film cut into the video. An example of
this is Bruno Mars’ ‘It Will Rain’ video. This is the Twilight ‘Breaking Dawn’ soundtrack. This
includes footage from the film being played through a projector in the video
--- Breezeblocks, Alt-J ---
The narrative shows a couple’s physical fight in reverse. The
video opens with the aftermath of their destruction they've
created - the girl dead in after her partner threw a concrete
block on her. This video is on the amplification side of music
videos, the lyrical content is slightly related to the visuals but the
imagery still tells a story that you can relate to the visuals
10. CATEGORIES OF MUSIC VIDEOS
• Performance based video: Performance based videos feature the band/artist performing either
to the camera or an audience. This is a popular technique rock bands use as their concerts are
usually high energy and there is more interest for a viewer to watch the band perform as a whole
rather than an artist on their own. ‘30 Seconds To Mars- Closer To The Edge’ is a good example of
this. The video features footage of the band playing different venues on there tour cut together to
make the video. Another common genre that uses performance videos a lot is Pop, it allows the
artist to 'sell their identity' - self promote themselves to their audience
• Performance videos are generally the cheapest to make out of the three genres of music videos.
This is because they don't require an great deal of setting, just somewhere that is suitable for
filming
• Performance videos also offer another promotional scheme, they temp the fans into buying
tickets for their shows as they generally look really good at performing in their music videos
therefore it increases the chance of more people coming to watch them live
11. CATEGORIES OF MUSIC VIDEOS
• Concept based video: Concept based videos are sometimes unusual they are based around one
idea. They often concentrate on one specific editing technique
