Andrew Goodwin's music video theory

Andrew Goodwin Theory

Andrew Goodwin is an Australian born operatic tenor. He began learning how to play the violin at the age of 5 and then went onto learn how to play the piano and organ when singing at St.Andrews cathedral. So he was brought up with his life revolved around music and this could have edged his thoughts.

Goodwin identifies 5 key aspects of music videos that we the audience should look out for 

which are:

1. Though beats ( seeing the sound)
2. Narrative performance
3.  Star image
4.  Relation of visuals of the song
5.  Technical aspect of the video

Though beats       

First step is to look at the music itself. We must take into account the structure of the song for example the chorus and the verses.

Secondly the voice of the song. The artists voice is extremely unique and can form identification or trademarks that work well with star image. Roland Barthes theory of the Grain of voice can be related to this. He sees the singing voice as an expressive instrument and therefore able make associations of it's own.

Thirdly, Goodwin also points out the artists mode of address. Songs can be seen as stories and the storyteller, making the music video a two communication device, them telling us a story and us listening.


Narrative performance 

• Goodwin says that we tend to make up our own idea of messages being sent in a song from a basic understanding of what it may actually be about.
• Music videos should be of the same standard every time, narrative and performance work together in order to keep the audience interested and not bored of a music videos.
• Goodwin believes that miming is still the most popular thing done in music videos today but however it is in the artists best interest to make it look as real as possible to the audience.

Star Image

• Star image is vital aspect of music videos.
• Artists want to obviously look unique in order to stay current and for audience to remember them. This star image develops overtime and plays a big role in the production process of music videos.

Relation of visuals of the song

Goodwin believes that there are three ways music videos work to promote to songs: 

Illustrate: Music videos set certain images to illustrate the meaning of their songs lyrics and genre.

Amplify: Repeatability, meanings and effects are manipulated and constantly reinforced and shown through video and drummed into our vision.

Dis-juncture: This is where the meaning of the song is completely ignored

                                                                                                                                                                 
Technical aspect of the video
Technical aspect of the video holds the music video together so its very important.

• Speed, camera movement, editing, cutting and post production are all forms of 'use of camera'.
• Lighting and colour 'help set the mood' and adds emphasis on key/dramatic moments and adds extra effect.
• Mise-en-scene, the setting is vital. It needs to look realistic in order to look professional appealing to a wider target audience.
• Beats- the cuts and the beats go with the rhythm in order to make the video more entertaining. People like music that sounds good and not like it has just been thrown altogether.

                    In this video for ‘Crazy In Love’ By Beyonce and Jay Z there are many genre related characteristics. This song is your typical RNB/Hip Hop song, and to demonstrate this, immediately at the beginning of the video Jay Z is in a fast car, wearing a hat and a gold chain. These are stereotypical features of someone who would sing this specific genre. Following on from this Beyonce is then in revealing clothing, performing a provocative dance, which again is more RNB/Hip Hop as it is a fast paste street dance style. When the song approaches the chorus Beyonce and a group of girls are all wearing track suits and hats performing street dance, which again are popular aspects of the RNB genre. Also in this particular video, the meaning of the song is in fact ignored (disjuncture), as the song talks about being in love but the video shows Beyonce dancing in a provocative manor. Towards the end of the video Jay Z and Beyonce appear together when he begins his rap. He is just standing looking directly into the camera whilst Beyonce dances around him, again no relation to the song. Both stars are constantly looking into the camera throughout the music video, this breaks the fourth wall and makes the audience feel as if the star is singing to them individually. On top of this as Beyonce is acting in a provocative manor is comes across more shocking so draws the audience in more. As I mentioned earlier Beyonce is extremely well known for her great body, and constantly in this music video there is close ups of her legs, her bum and her face whilst she is doing something sexual, for example licking her lips or pouting. This is amplifying because is is repeated constantly throughout the video to manipulate the course of the music video and the audience. And lastly the record company use a large amount of close ups on both Beyonce and Jay Z, as you can see it opens immediately with a close up of Jay Z, and there are many close ups of Beyonce’s face and body. This is related to star image and the demands of the record label company. Overall, the music video to ‘crazy in love’ clearly does have aspects of Andrew Goodwin’s theory constantly throughout.                                                                                                                                                                         

             Lady Gaga’s ‘Bad Romance’ also supports Goodwin’s idea of lyrics and visuals. The music video has definite visuals that link to the lyrics of the song. Whilst the lyrics are about having a bad romance or relationship, the video simply symbolizes this. For example Lady Gaga is being pulled around aggressively, this could imply violence/domestic abuse in her relationship. She is also quite clearly forced to drink alcohol, this could easily symbolize alcohol or drug abuse and even pressure from her lover to do these harmful things. On top of this there is also visuals that imply Lady Gaga is being sold as a prostitute, could this as well suggest her lover is selling her or paying for her? All of these factors tie together to create exactly what she states in her lyrics a ‘bad romance’, therefore the lyrics and the visuals successfully match up.