Andrew Goodwin’s Rules – Music Video Analysis

2.  1) Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (e.g stage performance in
metal video, dance routine for boy/girl band)
 2) There is a Relationship Between lyrics and visuals (either illustrative,
amplifying, contradicting)
 3) There is a relationship between music and visuals (either illustrative,
amplifying, contradicting)
 4) The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of
the artist and the artist my develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual
style)
 5) There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens,
telescopes, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.
 6)There is often intersexual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music
videos etc)

3. ‘Super Bass’ is a song
by Nicki Minaj from
her studio album Pink
Friday (2010). It was
co-written by Nicki.
Ester Dean, Roahn
Hylton and Daniel
Johnson (who also
produced it alongside
JMIKE).
The song fits
within the genre of
pop, hip-hop and
electronic music. It
also features
rapped song verses
by Nicki.
The song has been
complimented by
critics for its up-beat
catchy chorus and
beat.
Minaj said: “Super Bass is about the boy that you are
crushing over, [...] and you kind of want to get your
mack on, but you’re taking the playful approach”

4. Super Bass is a pop hip-hop song and it’s music video genre is image. Andrew Goodwin’s
rule states that certain music video genres have certain characteristics.
One of the characteristics of an image music genre
is focusing on the artist and their physical
appearance. We certainly see this rule taking place
in this music video. There is a lot of focus on Nicki
Minaj’s face, body, make and costume throughout
the entire video.
In image genre music videos there is also a
lot of attention given to visual detail (e.g.
mise en scene; costume and props in Super
Bass).
Image music videos often include
choreographed group performances with
back up dancers. Super Bass certainly has
this feature, so it fits its genre

5. In Super Bass, Nicki Minaj raps and sings about a man whom she is attracted to, she
gives details about him in the lyrics and they are illustrated during the video.
The image of an airplane
appears on-screen when
she Nicki raps ‘he is
always in the air’
The torso of a muscular
man appears on-screen
when Nicki describes him
as having the ‘right kind of
build’
Piles of bank notes appear
when she says ‘he got
stacks’ of money.
Nicki and her back up dancers also illustrate the lyrics
during one of their dance routines. They move their
hands towards and away from their chests when
singing ‘Boy you’ve got my heartbeat running away’
to imitate a beating heart.

6. A relationship between the music and visuals is established throughout the music
video. At the start of the video, during rapping lyrics with the faster music, the
scenes are sharper and shorter to keep up with the speed. The opposite happens for
the slower parts of the song, the scenes then are longer and the camera movement
is slower. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JipHEz53sU
The relationship between music and visuals in the video is perhaps most
evident when Nicki and her dancers move to the beat of the Bass and beat of
the song during their routines.

7. Pop and hip-hop culture songs almost always follow this rule. Super Bass is no different,
music videos are a way to promote the song and the artist so the record label will ensure
that the video is successful- after all, it is a business.
Close-ups of Nicki Minaj
occur constantly
throughout the video
showing her bright,
extravagant make up.
Nicki Minaj also adopts a quirky, bright and
bold visual style in this music video. There is
also a colour scheme which is followed
throughout the video.

8. Nicki Minaj music videos such as Super Bass are highly sexualised, she is well known for
her body image so her signature look is very apparent in her videos, this means that this
rule is found extensively across the whole music video.
Very obvious references to
the sexual treatment of the
female body.

9. ‘The Scientist’ is a song by
the British band Coldplay
from their second album,
A Rush of Blood to the
Head (2002). It was
written by all members of
the band collaboratively.
The song
focuses on a
man’s loss and
regret for the
accident and
desire to live
the old days.
It is built around a
piano ballad
which was
praised by critics.
It also won three
MTV Music Video
Awards for its use
of reverse
narrative.
Chris Martin said: “That’s just about girls. It’s weird that whatever
else is on your mind, whether it’s the downfall of global
economics or terrible environmental problems, the thing that
always gets you the most is when you fancy someone”

10. The Scientist by Coldplay is a music video of the narrative genre. As explained it is a story
about accident and lyrics reflect the emotion of the singer about the event. In this music
video a reverse narrative is cleverly used to show the character going back to when there
was no accident and they were happy. The effect was achieved by playing the story and the
accident backwards.
One key feature of narrative videos is
that they tell a story. The Scientist
certainly follows that rule by playing the
accident and the events building up to it
Narrative video may also
show the artist singing the
lyrics and performing
during parts of the video.
Again, this is found in the
video.
Narrative videos do not necessarily have
to include the members of the band and
may include actors.

11. Because of the nature of this video, there is a relationship between the words that are
being said and the video. The lyrics ‘Let’s go back to the start’ are constantly repeated in
the song and since the video is played backwards, there is a relationship between the
visuals and the lyrics throughout the music video.
Some obvious instances
when this happens are
when he says ‘Oh, let’s go
back to the start’ at the
exact time he starts moving
backwards in time.
At the start of the song, the artist says
that he is ‘Sorry’ about what happened
and he ‘needs’ his partner. At the same
time he is lying down on a dirty
mattress on the pavement, matching
the nostalgic and melancholy lyrics.

12. Throughout the music video we have scenes
where the artist is singing in time with the song,
showing the relationship between the music and
visuals. Having these scenes establishes him as not
only a character in the video, but also the artist
who performs the song.
We also notice a relationship
between music and visuals when the
artist sings ‘Oooh’ at the end as the
car drives away. The melody almost
imitates the movement of the car.

13. We see a lot of close ups of the artist performing in this particular music video. This could be
to establish the role of the artist in the video and to bring them close to the audience. Music
videos are a way to promote the song and the artist and close ups allow the audience to see
the artist singing the lyrics to their songs.
The way the artist sings and delivers the song in this video and the way the video is
presented sets a melancholy visual style to the music video, this style and mood is
carried through to the end of the music video.

14. ‘Go with the Flow’ is a
song by Queens of the
Stone Age from their
album Songs for the
Deaf (2003). It was
written by Nick Oliveri
and Josh Homme, who
also produced it.
The video follows the
band performing on
the back of a pick-up
truck driving down a
highway.
It won Best Special Effects and was
nominated for Best Art Direction at
the 2003 MTV Music Video Awards. I
was nominated for Best Hard Rock
Performance at the 46th Grammy
Awards.

15. Go with the Flow by Queens of The Stone Age is a performance genre music video.
Lots of footage of the musicians playing
the music is a key characteristic of
performance music videos.
This means that in a performance video
there is always a relationship between
music and visuals.
There is evidence
that the band is
performing their
song throughout
the whole music
video.

16. In the music video for Go with the flow, the band is performing on the back
of a moving pick up truck, the truck travels down a desert highway for the
whole of the song, perhaps to illustrate that they are going with the flow.
At the start of the song when the
artist sings ‘She said: I’ll throw
myself away’, the artist throws a
cigarette butt at the same time as he
say the lyrics, this is an obvious link
between lyrics and visuals.

17. Because of the nature of this video, close ups on
the artist face do not have the same effect as
they would on other videos. However, close ups
are still done, and look very unusual, perhaps
this was done on purpose to make the video
more interesting.
This video certainly has
its own visual style. The
record label and/or artist
may have chosen to
make the video unusual
because since
performance videos are
very similar they need
something engaging
and unusual to help
promote their song.

18. This aspect of music videos is certainly apparent in Go with the flow. The
silhouette of a woman doing a provocative and sensual dancing is a
reoccurring in the music video.
Some images
clearly
symbolise
sexual
activities.
A trident like object
stabbing through a
snake clearly
suggesting ideas of
penetration or
intercourse