Goodwins conventions of music videos

1. Goodwin states that the lyrics in a song will tend to make consistent references to the visuals
on screen and illustrate the visuals, which reinforces what the lyrics say. A good example of this
is August Alsinas music video: No love. The lyrics say: And I'm the one to blame, ain't no
loving me, So don't come looking for love, and in the music video as seen in the picture below
on the left hand side the female actor Nicki Minaj pushes him away as if she’s not looking for
any love from him. Also on the right hand side there is another example of lyrics matching the
visuals, as the lyrics are know you’ve been hurt by someone else, and both actors are holding
each other in close embrace as if to ensure each other everything will be alright.

2. The notion of looking includes men or women being presented as seductive or if their eye is
in contact with the camera. The notion of looking can also be referenced by the use of props
such as binoculars, televisions screens, mirrors and cameras.
Voyeurism is used in many music videos to sell the artists through sex appeal, a recent
example of this would be Nicki Minaj’s anaconda video or Rihanna’s Pour It Up video.

3. Example: Rap music videos tend to
have lots of women surrounding one
man (who is usually the artists)
wearing minimum clothing and
either dancing on/ around them or
trying to flirt with him.
Many music videos also link to film genres, such as Rock music videos tend to have been
influenced or based around a horror movie, this is called Intertextuality.

4. Record labels have a lot of power and authority over the way their artists are presented to the
audience and it is ultimately down to the record label to decide how an artists is portrayed to
their fans and the public. For women, record labels mainly aim to make female artists come
across as sexy to appeal to men and target that specific audience. A perfect example of this is
Rihanna who is seen as a fashion icon and in all her music videos wears minimum clothing and
having an extreme amount of sex appeal. Even at real life events such as award shows Rihanna
sticks to this identity and wears minimum clothing. For men, many record labels aim to achieve
the same presentation to appeal to women. A great example of this is Trey Songz who creates
sexual music and who’s music video’s are mainly explicit and involve scenes of love making.

5. Goodwin’s theory also includes Narrative which is a part of genre characteristics. Narrative in a
music video allows a music video to come to life, as if telling a story. Some music videos use
narrative throughout and some go back and fourth from narrative to close-up shots of the
artists. Goodwin also claimed that often the artist will be involved in their music video by
performing or acting out a narrative as the main singer or character. It helps to make the
audience empathise with a song and gives the audience a thorough and further understanding
of the song.

6. Intertextual references are references to either film, television programmes or other music
videos within a music video. Two of the most well known examples of intertextual references
would be Destiny’s Child for their song ‘Independent women’ acting as Charlie’s Angels which
was originally the concept for the published film ‘Charlie’s Angels.
Another great example of intertextual references is Bob Sinclair’s ‘Everybody Dance now.’ This
music video instead of making intertextual references to film uses other music videos to make
intertextual references, some of which in this video include reference to a number of Elvis’
music videos and Justin Timberlake’s ‘Cry Me a River.’

7. Another one of Goodwin's conventions of Music Videos was that there is a succinct
relationship between music and visuals, whether illustrative, amplifying or contradicting. For
example, Coldplay’s music video for their song ‘Magic’ is set in a circus tent and the video
involves Chris Martin undergoing several different magic tricks, such as levitating a spoon with
his hand or having knives thrown at him whilst lying on a spinning board. All of which illustrate
the song and song title as it is called ‘Magic.’