Research for Music Video... Andrew Goodwin's Theory

Andrew Goodwin feels that traditional narrative analyses don't apply to pop videos. They aren't like the thrillers that we made last year where you portray the beginning of a story, his theory is that we ought to approach music videos differently to novels and films. His reasons for the difference in narrative structures are as follows:

• "pop videos are built around songs - and often songs do not pose traditional narrative structures (normality-problem-resolution)."
• "the pop video uses the singer both as narrator and as character"
• "the singer often looks directly at the camera - this is an extension of performance and trying to involve the viewer at home with the performance."

According to Goodwin's theory "pop videos rely on repetition". The video normally repeats images throughout choruses or specific lines in the lyrics. Music videos often use intertextuality which means that the singer allows us to become familiar with their genre and let's us develop certain expectations. "Pop songs, and therefore videos, do have a form of closure and ending. The three minute single that a video is based on must end and this is often reflected in the structure of the music - it builds to a climax or to a constant repetition before fading away."

There are different types of music videos, and according to Goodwin there are three types. "The visualisation of a song may go beyond the original meaning. Sometimes the video provides a visual pleasure that encourages repeated viewing which therefore promotes the music."

Illustration:

This is when the video tells the story directly to the viewer in accordance with the lyrics. This is usually where the lyrics are directly related to the video. 

Amplification: 

Usually occurs when the video introduces new meanings to the lyrics, they do not contradict but add layers to the idea of the video. Lady Gaga's 'You And I' demonstrates this well, also the intertextuality factor applies as this video reminds me a lot of Marilyn Manson's 'Tourniquet'. 

Disjuncture: 

There is very little connection between the lyrics and the video, I think the perfect song to illustrate this is 'Mona - Listen to your Love'. I'd definitely score this video somewhere near the top of my list, it is edited brilliantly to the pace of the song, have a look for yourself... 

"In some videos the different instruments in the music are represented by different objects. An example: Rock the Casbah by The Clash, where every time the piano plays an armadillo is shown trundling along." Videos try to appeal to all ages of audiences. Videos that are including older artist's often use clips from when they were young to make it appealing to and older audience as well as the youngsters. Sometimes even songs are created for particular films and the video incorporate the general idea of the film. A good example is Celine Dion 'My heart will go on' for 'Titanic' or a more recent example would be Leona Lewis 'I see You' for 'Avatar'.