media

1. ANDREW GOODWIN
MUSIC THEORY
“”Music videos ignore common narrative as they are essentially
advertisement. As consumers we make up our own meaning of a
song in our minds: a music video can anchor meaning and gives
the record company/artist a method of anchoring meaning”
Reagan Harding

2. KEY ASPECTS
Andrew Goodwin identifies 5 key aspects of a music video that we as the
audience should look out for.
These are…
- Thought beats- seeing the sound
- narrative and performance
- the star image
- relation of visuals to the song
- Technical aspects of music videos

3. THOUGHT BEATS
First step- is to actually look at the music itself, this means we must take into
account the structure for the song. This will include the verses and choruses
of the song.
Second step- is about the voice of the song. This means the artist, as they
have unique voices this means they are able to form identification or
trademarks that fit well with their appearance and character. The singing voice
is seen as an expressive instrument and therefore it is able to make
associations of its own.
Third step- Goodwin also points out that songs can be seen as stories and the
artist is the story teller. This makes the music video a two communication
device, as its is them telling us a story and us listening at the same time.

4. NARRATIVE AND PERFORMANCE
“Songs fail to give us the complete narrative”
Andrew Goodwin believed that it was important for the artist to appear in
their music video, either this be acting out a role as the main character or the
singer.
By doing this it helps to make the song more realistic and it also gives the
audience a sense of a special connection and a much better understanding of
the song. A good example of this would be Kings of Leon- radioactive. In the
music video we see the whole band running around with the other characters
in the video. This really shows to us that what the song is about really did
happen, and we know the video isn't fake because they are in it.

5. THE STAR IMAGE
Andrew Goodwin referred to the star image as a vital aspect of music videos.
This means it makes the music video look more appealing to the audience,
whilst also brining a unique style to the video in the way he/she is portrayed
to the audience.
The star image is also very unique in the way the artist is presented e.g.
costume, moves and appearance.
This also helps to promote the artist/stars image in public, and it also helps to
promote the video while creating a public reputation for the artist.

6. RELATIONS OF VISUAL TO THE SONG
There are three ways that visuals are used to promote the song these are:
Illustrate;
Music videos can use different images and clips to relate to the meaning of
the lyrics and the genres. This is the most common form as it allows the
viewers to easily relate to the music video.
Disjuncture;
This is when the meaning of the song is completely ignore in the music video.
Amplify;
This is when images and camera shots are manipulated and shown repeatedly
through the music video and are ploughed into our vision.

7. TECHNICAL ASPECTS OF MUSIC VIDEOS
Andre Goodwin says that the technical aspects of music videos help hold them
together through the use of mise-en-scene, editing, special effects and sound.
Lightening and colour really helps to set the mood for the video and created
emphasis of specific parts of the song to create a dramatic effect and make it
more enjoyable for the viewer.
Mise-en-scene allows the artist to gain authentication and also make his work
appear more professional.
The beats of the song are also very useful, this is because they can help create
effective cuts that go with the rhythm of the song and make the video more
appealing and entertaining.

8. EXAMPLES
Robin Thicke- blurred lines
This video is promoting the beats by Dre pill.
This is done by incorporating the speaker into many different shots in the
video. This will then make people want to buy the speaker as it is being used
in an extremely popular music video. This then means that Dr Dre will get
more sales because of the well used promotion.

9. EXAMPLES
Lady gaga- telephone
In this music video lady gaga uses many different camera shots to promote
different products. The left picture we can see she has diet coke cans in her
hair, and the picture on the right we can see a police officer uses a beats by dre
laptop.
This is a very clear example of how many music videos are primarily for
advertisement purposes.