Andrew Goodwin identified 6 key features and 5 ways to analyze music videos. The 6 features are: 1) Demonstrating genre characteristics 2) Having a relationship between lyrics and visuals 3) A relationship between music and visuals 4) Meeting record label demands 5) Frequently using the "male gaze" and voyeurism of the female body 6) Making intertextual references to other media. The 5 ways to analyze are: 1) Examining thought beats and the structure, voice, and mode of address of the song 2) Considering narrative, performance, and believability 3) Analyzing the development of a star's meta narrative 4) Looking at the relationship between music and visuals 5) As

1. Andrew Goodwin (1992)
A mediatheoristwhowrote abookcalled Dancing in theDistraction Factory. Inthis,he suggeststhat
there are
 6 keyfeaturesof amusic video
 5 waysto analyse amusicvideo
Goodwin’s 6 Features of Music Videos
1. Music videosdemonstrate genre characteristics – certainfeaturesare expectedoutof a
videodependingonthe genre of the music
2. There’sa relationshipbetweenlyricsandvisuals – lyricsare representedwithimages
3. There’sa relationshipbetweenmusicandvisuals – the tone andatmosphere of the visuals
reflectsthatof the music
4. The demandsof a record label will include the needfor lots of close ups of the artist and
the artist may developmotifswhichrecur across theirwork (a visual style) – allowsrecord
label topromote a setimage for the brand/artist
5. There’sfrequentlyreference tonotionof looking(mirror etc.) and particularly voyeuristic
treatment ofthe female body – ‘male gaze’oftenusedtoattract a male audience
6. There are oftenintertextual referencestofilms,TVprogrammes etc. – Musicvideos
reference otherformsof media
Goodwin’s 5 Ways to Analyse a Music Video
1. Thought beats (‘seeing’the sound) – Step1: Lookat the musicitself.Take intoaccountthe
structure of the song.Step2: The voice of the song. The artist’svoice can formidentification
trademarks.Step3: The artist’smode of address.Songscanbe seenasstoriesandthe artist
the storyteller.
2. Narrative and performance – Songsfail to give usthe complete narrative.We onlytendto
geta gistof the meaningof the songand thenwe,as the audience,are expectedtofill inthe
blanks.Musicvideosshouldhave coherentrepeatability.The artistactingas the narrator
and participanthelpstoincrease authenticity.The audience needstobelieve thisisreal.
3. The star image – Meta narrative (bigstorythatdescribesthe developmentof astar over
time) hasan importantpart to playinthe musicvideoproductionprocess.
4. Relationshipbetweenmusicand visuals – Thisisshowninmany musicvideoswhena
character doesexactlywhatthe songsayse.g.whenlyricssay‘jump’andthe character in
the videoliterallyjumpsonscreen
5. Technical aspect of a musicvideo – The technical aspecthelpstoholdthe musicvideo
togetherthrough the use of mise-en-scene,special effects,soundandediting.