Andrew Goodwin established a theory in his 1992 book "Dancing in the Distraction Factory" identifying six main elements that audiences observe in music videos. These elements are: 1) the relationship between lyrics and visuals, 2) the relationship between music and visuals, 3) genre-related style and iconography, 4) multiple close-ups of the artist, 5) voyeurism and focusing on the female body, and 6) intertextual references to other media. Goodwin's theory provides a framework for understanding how music videos engage audiences through illustrating, amplifying, or contradicting the music, lyrics, and artist's persona.

1. Andrew Goodwin

2. History
• In 1992 Andrew Goodwin published his book
‘Dancing in the Distraction Factory’.
Goodwin established a theory regarding the
features of music videos looking into six
main elements which audiences are keen on
observing.

3. 1. A relationship between the lyrics and the visuals,
which illustrate, amplify or contradict the lyrics.
• The conventions explain how Goodwin notices the visuals in
music videos that have a complete similarity or contrast to
the lyrics. The lyrics either relate, exaggerate the meanings
or oppose the visuals. In most cases when the visuals relate
to the music video it allows the artist to convey their
message across express what they are trying to portray as
we can listen and see it that helps us understand what is
happening. Lyrics sometimes go against the visuals which
can also emphasise the meaning.
• An example of when the visuals amplify the lyrics is in Mist’s
‘Aint the Same’ where seen in the screenshot below the
lyrics say “Champagne, sun and sand” which is followed by
this long shot overviewing the destination where Mist, the
artist, is having a holiday at. This makes the audience
fantasise and have a sense of jealousy as a result – which is
the director’s intention.
•

5. 2. Thought beats: seeing the sounds (relationship
between the music and the visuals, which illustrate,
amplify or contradict the music.)
• Goodwin also identified the fact that visuals within a
music video may be edited in time to the
lyrics/change in pace of the song. He also stated that
the visuals in music videos are commonly repeated
within a chorus to emphasise the repetition in lyrics
and beats. This also includes videos that cut on the
beat and make visuals match to the sound.
•
• An example of a music video edited in time to the
pace/sound beats of the song: Bangarang by Skrillex
•

7. 3.Genre-related style and iconography
present.
• Goodwin recognized that most artists have a
trend of repeating certain actions within their
music videos in order to establish this as their
star persona. Iconography is a major symbol in
the music industry that usually associates to
the artist. Through seeing a symbolised
feauture or object it allows the audience to
automatically know who an artist is.
• An example of this is Amy Whinehouse’s hairdo
or Kodak blacks golden smile
•

9. 4.Multiple close-ups of the main artist
or vocalist.
• Record labels have a frequent pattern in
highlighting artists face which automatically
make them the brand image. This links to
the fact that whenever they see the artists
face they are able to link them to a previous
song they have sang and are more engaged
in listening their other tunes or looking into
what they promote.
• An example of this is Drakes song:
•

11. 5. The penultimate point made by
Goodwin is voyeurism or 'looking'
• In the music industry, there are many different
aspects that focus on looks but a key feature is a
female’s body that occurs in the majority of
music videos that enables the male’s gaze leading
them to fancy or like the feature of the female.
This sexualises the women and reinforces the
stereotype of females being a ‘sexual object’
which occurs in a vast majority of music videos.
• An example of this is Nicki Minaj’s song ‘Anaconda’
•

13. 6. The final concept by Andrew Goodwin is the
intertextual references to other media texts.
• One thing that occurs a lot is the production of
music videos, which relate or have a link to
different films or TV shows/dramas. This is
commonly used to create familiarity and
gratification for audiences that are aware of
the reference.
• One example of this is the Iggy Azaela ‘Fancy’
music video as she is seen wearing an identical
costume as one of the characters based on a
movie.
•