Andrew Goodwin's theory

Andrew Goodwin identified key features and themes that most music videos contain and commented on how their narratives tend to be constructed.

Firstly, the key features that he identified were:

·         There is a relationship between the visuals and the lyrics whether they illustrate them, amplify them or contradict them

·         There is a relationship between the piece of music and the visuals

·         Each genre has its own style and iconography

·         There is likely to be an element of voyeurism, particularly when it comes to the treatment and presentation of women

·         It is very likely that there will be a number of close ups of the artist usually by demand of the record company

·         There is likely to be intertextual references either to other music videos or to TV and films

  

In terms of the narrative and performance aspects of music videos, Goodwin states that typically songs fail to give the complete narrative and so a music video contributes to creating a whole product. Goodwin says that music videos should ignore common narrative, they should be more striking and interesting as this is important in their role of advertising the song and artist. In addition, narrative and performance go hand in hand in making a music video successful; they make it easier for the audience to repeatedly watch the video without losing interest. Furthermore, if the artist is the actor in the narrative as well as performing, it increases the authenticity of the music video, this is crucial as the audience need to believe it is real to ensure the most success.

A music video can have one of several relations between the visuals and the song:

·         Illustrate- the visuals can illustrate the lyrics and the genre

·         Amplify- meanings and effects throughout the song are manipulated and constantly shown to enhance the song

·         Disjuncture- the meaning of the song is completely ignored in the making of the music video