The document analyzes Catfish and the Bottlemen's music video for "Soundcheck" using Goodwin's theory of five key aspects of music videos. It summarizes that the video focuses on the band's performance of the song in a warehouse, with thought-provoking lyrics about a relationship sung directly to the camera. Technical aspects like camera shots and black-and-white filtering help focus attention on the instruments and lyrics. The lead singer serves as the star through his focus on singing the message of the song.

1. GOODWIN'S THEORY
APPLIED TO INDIE
MUSIC VIDEO
CATFISH AND THE BOTTLEMEN – ‘SOUNDCHECK’

2. GOODWIN'S THEORY 5 KEY ASPECTS
• Thought through beat (what lyrics mean)
• Relationship between the song and visuals
• Narrative and performance of the song
• Technical aspect of the music video
• Star image

3. THOUGHT THROUGH BEAT
• The lyrics can be easily
understood and are very
thought provoking. The
lyrics create a narrative in
the listeners head as the
video is performance based
so it’s left up to the
audience to create
characters to fit the lyrics.
It is evident that the lyrics are aimed at creating a
narrative, it is sung by the male lead singer as if he
is singing about or to a female ‘you’re figuring
your life out’ this suggests that the song could be
written about or to a certain person. The story
behind the lyrics suggests that he met her at work
and tried to catch her attention and he explains
how he wanted things to be and even though he
tries to tell himself he ‘don’t feel the same about
you’ (about the girl), he does and he just wants a
chance to prove himself to her

4. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE SONG AND THE
VISUALS
‘you grew up in a
small town’, visuals
show lead singer
singing directly to the
camera as if directing
the lyrics to the girl
he is singing about.
Very low lighting
visual before the song
begins shows the
band tuning their
instruments and
setting up their set
this visual is key as it
links to the title of the
song ‘Soundcheck’
Just before the chorus of the song
begins the camera cuts to a long
shot of the whole band I think this is
essential as previous to this the
focus has been on the main
character. This shows the
instruments/ all of the band
members involvement in the song
before zooming back in to the lead
singer to focus on the lyrics
The visuals cut from one band
member to the next keeping in time
to the beat and the instruments used
in the song. For example the drum
beat is heard in the song and a close
up shot of the drummer is used which
then cuts to a band member singing
when the lyrics are heard.

5. NARRATIVE AND PERFORMANCE OF THE SONG
This song is mainly performance
based as it shows the band
performing the entirety of the song in
a warehouse type setting. This setting
is a typical convention of the indie
genre which tends to use simplistic
settings for performance such as
studios, rooms, hallways and
warehouses to focus the attention on
the lyrics and instruments used to
create the song.
The only aspects of narrative
are when the lead singer sings
to the camera when singing
lyrics about a girl as if he is
aiming the song at her and at
the beginning of the song
when the band are moving
slightly suggesting that they
are rehearsing.

6. TECHNICAL ASPECT OF THE MUSIC VIDEO
• The main technical aspects of the music video are the
camera shots and lighting because the music video as a
whole is quite simple. The camera tracks around the
band members as they sing to show the whole setting
and instruments as well as just the singers.
• A filter would have been added when editing this music
video to make it appear to be black and white this adds
a nostalgic feel to the video and matches the plain
theme.

7. STAR IMAGE
• The star image is the lead singer of the band he is constantly tracked or cut back
to as he sings most of the lyrics revealing the message and idea behind the song.
• The camera does zoom out and focus on the other band members, for example
when there is a drum solo the camera zooms in to a mid shot of the drum and
the drummer.
• However because this song is very performance based it is clear that the lyrics are
the main focus which is why the lead singer is the star image and constantly in
focus.