Andrew Goodwin - Music Video Theory; with Analysis of Music Videos

After years spent analysing various music videos from its origin of the 60's to the early 90's, Andrew Goodwin constructed a list of key features that can be applied to all music videos, Goodwin believes that all music videos possess one of these traits, if not, more.

A relation between lyric and visuals:
Goodwin believes that in some cases, the visuals will correspond with the lyrics heard in the song. There are three main approaches in which, this can be done: Illustrating, Amplifying & Contradicting.

Illustrating:
An illustrative music video will convey to the viewer the story behind the lyrics spoken in 'said' song. This can also include the lyrics being shown on the screen or lip syncing.

0:20secs, visual from the lyric "Oh my god! Look at his face,
you look like my next mistake"

1min 24 secs, visual from the lyric "I've got a blank space baby
and i'll write your name"

A prime example of this being used is the Blank Space music video by Taylor Swift (directed by Joseph Khan) released in late 2014. The song explores the ideology of Taylor Swift's meta-narrative, constructed by the media's portrayal - a serial dater/psychopath. Khan constructs this through illustration from beginning to end, with lyrics corresponding from "oh my god! look at his face, you look like my next mistake" with a close-up shot of the subjects face and "I've got a blank space baby, and I'll write your name", with a mid-close up shot of Taylor carving "SEAN <3 TAYLOR" into a tree. The overall music video/song recieved mostly positive responses, although some negative due to the reaction Taylor had to the media "“Half the people got the joke, half the people really think that I was like really owning the fact that I’m a psychopath… I have no complaints to how things turned out.”(Taylor Swift, 2017).

Amplified:
An amplified view in a music video 'stresses' the lyrics out further, whether in a metaphorical or literal approach, an example being if the lyrics of a song stated "I closed my eyes", the screen would perhaps fade to black rather than visually showing a person closing their eyes, offering an amplified perspective.

1min, 2 secs, visuals from the lyric "Cause baby you're
a Firework".

2mins, 6 secs, visuals from the lyric
"Ignite the light and let it shine"

Katy Perry's 'Firework' released in 2010, directed by Dave Myers uses an amplified approach into representing the aspirational message that Katy puts across within the lyrics, suggestive of the idea that we're all fireworks and we all have a spark inside us "I really believe in people and I believe that people have a spark to be a firework"(Katy Perry, 2010). This is put across in the visuals corresponding with the lyrics "Cause baby you're a firework, come and show them what you're worth/come and let your colours burst", with mid shots of people in the chorus including Katy Perry herself. The lyrics "ignite the light and let it shine" does the same, but this time with a woman giving birth, giving birth to a 'spark'. The video amplifies the idea as a whole of us having a spark, visualising the idea that we are a firework and have the power to shine in the future.

Contradicting:

A method used of representing the relationship between the visuals and the lyrics is the use of the visuals opposing the lyrics in the shots, creating a visual in which can be viewed metaphorically/actively.

0:29 secs, visuals from the lyric "I was in the winter of my life"

6 mins 31 secs, visuals from the lyric "I'm trying hard not to get
into trouble"

In the 2012 music video 'Ride' by Lana Del Rey (directed by Anthony Mandler), Mandler directs the storyline of a woman who is living a 'care free' lifestyle; "the perspective of a character who stumbled across a disconcerting alternate meaning of true freedom"(Baltin, 2012). However, they decide to contradict the lyrics of the song in numeral amount of ways. An example is from the very beginning, in the monologue. Lana speaks the words "I was in the winter of my life", however, in the clips, she is shown to be riding on a tyre swing in the middle of the desert. I, believe that Mandler decided to do this in the monologue to portray the emotion felt by Lana's character, how she could be in a warm place, yet feel so miserable. Another example of contradictory used in the video is within the chorus of the song, Lana sings the line "I'm trying hard not to get into trouble", yet she is smoking a cigarette outside a gas station, right as a fuel cargo pulls in. Obviously, this is an extremely dangerous act and she could have died on set if the props were real, therefore, this enforces the carefree message of the video, whilst contradicting the lyrics of the music video.

GENRE EXISTS:
Goodwin discovered during his research that music videos demonstrate genre characteristics, this isn't just subject to the song but also the genre of the video itself. Goodwin subjected these to five different 'genres':
- Stadium Performance
- Studio Performance
- Narrative
- Location
- Conceptual/Experimental

As the Stadium/Studio Performance genres are self explanatory, I will only provide examples for the other three.

Narrative:
Narrative based music videos can follow a storyline of sorts, whether loosely or closely related to the song, but allowing a deeper meaning towards the song. The music video can either follow to a passive or active audience, keeping its meaning vague or clear.

Screenshot from 3:21

Screenshot from 6:41, a recreation of the JFK assassination

In the music video 'National Anthem' by Lana Del Rey (directed by Anthony Mandler), Mandler and Del Rey follow the narrative of the love life of John F Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy, up to the point of JFK's assassination in 1964, with Lana Del Rey playing Jackie and A$AP Rocky playing JFK. As this narrative recreates everything, including the death scene, Mandler has said in an MTV interview that "It was never about re-creating a death scene, it was always about the person sitting next to him," he continued. "It was always about seeing it through her eyes, seeing this kind of castle crumble in the moment, and that shot where she's coming up out of the car, and the pain in her eyes, that destruction, it's like the whole castle is crumbling around her. That's what we were going for." as it follows the perception of Jackie. It is worth noting that Lana reads out a monologue at the end of the of the song, in conjunction of the shots of JFK being assassinated, it turns out that she was reiterating a letter that Jackie wrote about JFK, about their love. I believe this was done to really portray how Jackie really felt, how her whole world was completely torn after the death of her husband.

Location:
This is when a music video is filmed in a particular location that can be identifiable by the viewer, using props and particular iconography. This is a concept that can be used to draw in passive viewers.

Taylor Swift in Tokyo, preceding an overlay on video stating
she is in 'TOKYO'

In the music video 'End Game' by Taylor Swift ft. Ed Sheeran and Future (directed by Joseph Khan), Taylor Swift is shown to be in three iconic cities around the world. There is no clear concept towards this; it leans towards a performance based music video. However, Khan uses shots from all over the world in order alongside bold writing stating the location, in order to capture passive viewers attention and to help them relate to the location. The places filmed are Miami, Tokyo and London.

Conceptual/Experimental:

These music videos break regular conventions of music videos; with directors allowing unconventional methods to present visuals to viewers.

1:13, A shot of kids holding up the moon, whilst perceived
to be top of a mountain.

The music video 'Brazil' by Declan McKenna, follows from the "catchy indie-Britpop song with political, and even religious, undertones. Its lyrics critcise FIFA for awarding the 2014 World Cup to Brazil while ignoring the poverty and inequality in the country"(Fernandez, 2017). The music video can be perceived in a variety of ways, however, as the video doesn't follow a particular narrative/storyline, it is widely experimental due to the overuse of digital effects and use of green screen. I believe this was done in such a way to articulate McKenna's opinion of Brazil, that he believes the countries mindset and FIFA avoiding the important issues of homelessness, drug problems etc is a distorted perception. There are many reasons why the video follows the experimental genre, but one could be that the song itself is not confirmative of a genre and slots into Indie/Alternative.

Artist Close-Up

Goodwin expressed that a key feature of music videos is several close ups of the artist. This is due to the record companies requirement that the artist is strongly featured within the music video. Some artist will often develop motifs that reoccur across multiple videos

This includes:

- Artistic branding

- Celebrity culture

- Artistic portrayal

- Implications on looking good

This can be perceived in near all videos embedded in this blogpost.

Looking and Voyeurism

Goodwin also identified that within music videos that there is a concept of voyeurism. This is basically means the audience see something that they would or should not usually see.

This could be in the form of:

- Nudity/near nudity/revealing clothes

- exhibition

- an intimate location e.g. bedroom

- frame within a frame

The 'male gaze' is often used to attract a male audience. The male gaze is a focus on presenting things that appeal to men. This often means a voyeuristic view of, and an objectification, of women, The emphasis on looking also includes the artist looking directly into the camera helping the audience connect with the artist.

2:03, Grande looking into the camera, whilst showing off
her figure.

In the music video 'Love Me Harder' by Ariana Grande ft. The Weeknd, sexualisation is clearly defined through Ariana Grande in this video, and can be highly linked through the male gaze, as she is shown to be wearing revealing clothing and the camera is often shown to pan from her body to her face."In their traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness.” (Mulvey, 1989). The male gaze allows viewers to 'peak' in from a heterosexual males perspective, in order to either to gain satisfaction or desire.

Intertextuality

There can be intertextual references to numerous things in music videos like:

- other music videos

- films

- tv programmes

This can be homage (kind reference), pastiche (sarcastic but not a parody, which is usually mocking) or even use some type of brand synergy.

Scene from 'The Princess Diaries'

TWICE'S Recreation of the
scene.

In the music video 'What is Love?' by TWICE, The video recreates many films that belong to the romantic genre, the video focuses upon the girls choosing what film they want to watch on TV, seeing clips from some iconic movies, including: The Princess Diaries, Pulp Fiction, La La Land and Romeo and Juliet, the list goes on. The concept explores the idea that the girls are looking for the love that is found within these movies, but have yet to find it.

COUNTER-ARGUMENTS TO THE THEORY:

Although Goodwin seems to check all boxes in terms of his theory, there are still a couple of boxes that can see his theory as becoming 'outdated'.

Genre: Vertical Video

Vertical video's allow the performer to introduce a music video in a more intimate 'phone friendly' setting. This can variate in certain genres, however, I believe personally this wouldn't clash under the genre of a studio performance as in the examples above, the settings are much more intimate, especially in Taylor Swift's 'Delicate'. I believe this is simply due to the development of Vertical videos being introduced in 2012 onwards, due to the evolution of smartphones, not that Goodwin missed this when studying his theory.

Male Gaze: Voyeurism (Westernised Culture vs. The rest of the world)

I believe that due to Goodwin growing up in a westernised society, he has become custom to looking and voyeurism in westernised cinema/music videos. However, if we look at east-asian culture, for example Korean pop, we don't see sexualisation being used as an act to draw viewers in. If we look at MOMOLAND's debut single, 'Jjan! Koong! Kwang!', we see not one shot of the girls being used for sexualisation, despite being new to the industry, and needing to leave an impression upon the viewers. It is clear, rather than relying on Mulvey's 'Male Gaze', the group and east Asia rely on 'cute' concepts, such as the girls being dressed in dresses and outfits that are similar to school uniforms - the opposite of Sexualisation and revealing clothing.

Bibliography:

Anthony Mandler, 27th June 2012, [online] MTV News, 'Exclusive: Lana Del Rey's National Anthem director tells all' by James Montgomery http://www.mtv.com/news/1688562/exclusive-lana-del-reys-national-anthem-director-tells-all/

Jiselle Fernandez, 14th April 2017, [online], KFog, 'Declan McKenna Releases Music Video for Brazil' http://www.kfog.com/2017/04/14/declan-mckenna-releases-music-video-for-brazil/

Katy Perry, 11th September 2010, [online] MTV News, 'Katy Perry Reveals Inspiration behind Firework' by James Montgomery http://www.mtv.com/news/1651895/katy-perry-reveals-inspiration-behind-firework/

Laura Mulvey, (1989) “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” Film Theory and Criticism

Steve Baltin, 12th October 2012, [online] Rolling Stone, 'Lana Del Rey Frolics With Bikers in Ride' https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/lana-del-rey-frolics-with-bikers-in-ride-63911/

Taylor Swift, 24th August 2017, [online] NME Blog, 'Taylor Swift explained to us the story and misconceptions of Blank Space" https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/taylor-swift-explained-to-us-the-story-and-misconceptions-of-blank-space-14783