Andrew Goodwin

 Music video theory 

Andrew Goodin's music video theory breaks down every music video into eight different elements:

1. links between the music and the visuals: This refers to the idea that whatever is shown on screen resembles the beat of the song. An example of this would be if a video is upbeat the dance will reflect the rhythm of it . This is also the same in regards to the editing of a music video. An example of this would be if a song is very slow the cuts between shots may also be slow. 

An example of this would be ....

In this video, Sam Smith's dancing matches the rhythm of the song as it speeds up his dance movements speed up.

2. Links between the lyrics and the visuals: This refers to the idea that the video represents the lyrics of the song. This is done very often to illustrate the lyrics, using props or actions in the mis en scene. 

An example of this would be .....

At the beginning of this video, it talks about letting down guard, due to love, which is presented in the video throughout such as when they are in the bank watching each other and not paying attention (letting down guard) and one gets shot.

3. Display of the typical genre conventions:  Music videos may represent their specific genre of music in their music video, for example, a rap genre may show low angled shots, money, and bling. 

An example of this would be ....

 Lose your self by Eminem uses multiple long angle shots as well as represents gangland culture, commonly shown in the rap genre.

4. A variety of intertextual references: This is when a music video makes references to another media text. For example, Writings on the wall, as it references Spectre.

5. Notions of looking: This refers to the idea that the singer is directly looking at the camera in the video to create the illusion that they are letting the audience in, therefore making them feel more involved. 

An example of this would be....... 

In the song Human, the singer looks directly at the audience throughout to portray his message clearly and strictly.

6. Voyeurism:  Voyeurism refers to the idea of looking at something for sexual satisfaction, women are more commonly used in this way through the use of camera angles and fragmented body shots. An example of this would be 'Earned it' by the weekend this song would also go under intertextual references.

7. Demands of the record label: If the artist works for a particular label, they may be required to do certain things in their performance, this may include close-ups or a certain setting which would be done to keep up the artist's image.

Pitbull has kept an image of himself to look fun and free like he can do whatever he wants, this image of the artist has been maintained by his record label.

8. Andrew Goodwin believes music videos are broken down into three different areas either performance-based, narritve-based, or concept-based.

Performance-based is when the video shows the actors dancing or playing in a band to the song, essentially going along with the rhythm. An example of this would be...

Narrative refers to when the video is portraying a story or a certain message across to the audience. An example of this would be ... 

Last but not least, concept-based this refers to the video presenting an idea which is displayed in the mise en scene, it doesn't have to relate to the music.