This document summarizes six key features of music videos: 1) relationships between lyrics and visuals, 2) relationships between music and visuals, 3) demonstration of genre characteristics, 4) record label demands, 5) references to notions of looking, and 6) intertextual references. It then analyzes Paramore's music video for "The Only Exception" based on these six features, noting how the visuals amplify the song's message through different scenes representing stages of life. Few direct matches exist between lyrics and visuals, but the video focuses on the singer and promotes her as an alternative mainstream artist, as record labels typically demand.

1. GOODWIN’S
THEORY
PARAMORE – THE ONLY EXCEPTION

2. SIX FEATURES OF A
MUSIC VIDEO
1) There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals
2) There is a relationship between music and visuals, this can either be:
* Illustrate - The music represents the visuals
* Amplify - The visuals enhance the meaning of the music
* Disjuncture - The visuals completely contradict the music
3) Music videos demonstrate different genre characteristics
4) The record label demands certain qualities E.g. Close ups of the performer
5) Reference to the notion of looking E.g. Voyeuristic treatment of the female body
6) Intertextual references E.g. Films, Books or Television

3. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
LYRICS AND VISUALS
This video is mainly narrative based with only a few shots of the band performing.
because of the story based nature of this video and the fact that the visuals reveal
underlying meanings, there are not many direct matches with the lyrics however
In a few places the lyrics do match with visuals on screen.
• “I saw my daddy” matched with a close two person shot of the main singer
hugging her father
• “You are” matched with a low level panning shot that is moving over a floor
filled with valentines cards. One of which says “You”.
“My Daddy” “You are”

4. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
MUSIC AND VISUALS
The visuals in this video amplify the underlying message that is being portrayed.
The idea of walking through different rooms and stages of your life amplifies the
Conceptual ideas of breaking up and going back in time. The visuals show different
Types of love, from family love with her father, meeting different men on dates and
The lasting and troubled love with her current partner who appears throughout the
Video. These visuals are redundant because we as an audience know that she is
Going to return to her partner and realise that she has missed him.

5. GENRE
CHARACTERISTICS
The genre of Paramore‟s music is indie/rock.
Genre characteristics for this type of music
Include shots of the band and main singer
Performing, this can be seen in the screen
Shot to the right, where the main band are
Playing instruments and performing on a red
Curtain backdrop, connoting the idea of
Stage/drama and suggesting a sense of
entropy.
Another genre characteristic for indie/rock
Music is the correct use of lighting.
This can be seen in the screen shot to the
Right, where we see the use of high key
Lighting, which gives a glowing effect to the
Scene, connoting star quality.

6. RECORD LABEL
DEMANDS
Demands from the record label, include the need
For artist screen time. To show this, the record
Label have decided that most of the shots in the
Video will be close ups of the main singer,
For example the one to the right, which shows
Hayley lying on a bed of valentine cards. The
Lighting is ambient to create a soft focus on her face
And skin, making her looking glamorous and pretty
But at the same her clothing suggests she is edgy,
unlike other mainstream stars.
The shot below shows Hayley to be an unusual
Character through the use of mise-en-scene. The
Colour of her clothing contrasts with the white
Dress of others sat around her, perhaps suggesting
A melancholy mood or a sense of unhappiness.
These features suggest that the record label want to
Promote her as an alternative mainstream star and
Someone who their target audience (indie/rock fans
And teenagers) to relate to.

7. REFERENCE TO THE
NOTION OF LOOKING
Throughout the video we follow the main
Singer walking in and out of different rooms, which
Stand for the different stages of her life. We notice
A reference to the notion of looking when we see
Her staring back at us through a mirror. This adds
To the emotional undercurrent of the video by
Showing her lonely and sad eyes staring at a
Picture of her parents in love.
The colours surrounding the singer are toned down
And subtle, this makes her stand out from the
Scene and could suggest that she is the different/
Difficult one, especially when we compare the
Love of her parents with the struggling love she
Has with her partner in the narrative.

8. INTERTEXTUAL
REFERENCES
There are not many obvious intertextual references within this video as it has
Been produced from an original concept. However the idea of walking through
A „passage of time‟ can also be seen in the film Notting Hill, where the main
Character (played by Hugh Grant) walks through 4 different seasons in a street
Market to show the passage of time in a year. This relates to Paramore‟s „The
Only Exception‟ through the theme of love. Both characters are walking away
From their relationship problems and debating whether they miss the one they
Are with.
The Only Exception Notting Hill