Research: Goodwin's theory

Andrew Goodwin was a media theorist, who often spoke his mind about the common conventions within the media, and what was obvious to the eye if paid enough attention to. A household name known within the media industry as his theory has been, and is taught by many schools and universities across the country, he stated that main mainstream music videos all followed 8 key aspects to ensure full success and notability. This may have been argued, however, due to many audiences pointing out all the points he said it wasn’t hard to support his theory.

Goodwin's characteristics

• ·         Genre characteristics
• ·         Relationship between lyrics and visuals
• ·         Relationship between music and visuals
• ·         Star Image motifs
• ·         Notion of looking
• ·         Inter-textual references
• ·         Performance, narrative or concept-based?
• ·         Technical elements

Genre Characteristics

He stated that music videos often tend to reflect their genre through the use of specific characteristics which make them conventional. The rock genre, for example, is male dominated, tends to be a single voice in which that single voice will belong to a white heterosexual man, unique visuals are becoming a convention of the rock genre, as well low-key lighting, which is used to the usual dark low bass sound behind all the instruments.

The pop genre on the other hand, will consist more of interracial voices, while finding it easier to switch between single and grouped voices, a case of colour and lighting is more obvious as they sway to more lighter and obvious colours, as it has more of an appeal than a colour like black. An example of this is Justin Bieber's Sorry video, all the dancers wore bright coloured outfits rather than darkened colours, this was due to pop being a more happy and joyful genre than most other genres.

Relationship between lyrics and visual

There was the idea that in a music video for an artist/artists, there was a strong link between the lyrics and the visuals within. Goodwin separated his ideology of this into three different categories, Illustrative, Amplified and Contradicting.

When you find yourself with an amplified music video the directors main goal will be to try and amplify the lyrics into the visuals. In general, to amplify something is to take something and make it louder or place it onto a bigger scale. So in this case it would be a means of looking at the lyrics of a song and creating the exact visuals for them. Videos of this element make the song feel more surreal and allow for the viewer and audience to feel more engaged with the song and feel the same emotion that the artist is feeling. A video in which elements of amplification from the lyrics are visibly shown, is Coldplay's, Adventure of a Lifetime. 

Contradictive. Where the visuals of the music video may be quite surreal and slightly random, with no link whatsoever to the lyrics in place. Many songs have taken this on as a way to step away from mainstream and common ideas, but now with a huge variety of artists taking this on, it is only a matter of time before it becomes a mainstream feature itself. It is however, a very smart and unique skill and allows the artist to stand out from the crowd. It is often used amongst house and alternative music artists. A video of which i have seen collaborates with Goodwin's contradictive ideology, is No Money by Galantis.

Illustrative. The last of Goodwin’s three ideologies and the most simplistic idea. He stated that the visuals for the lyrics are put across rather plain and simple. A song about education for instance, using an illustrative ideology will involve loads of pigments of education within the video, such as being set in a library, or having the artist or performer dressed up like teachers, or a song called ‘flashing lights’ would be based around lights and flashing lights very obviously. It is the very obvious statement in a music video that make it illustrative. He also believed that music videos that were illustrative allowed for the viewer to feel more involved with the music video, further making it easier for the viewer to follow. It isn't as easy as it sounds to make a music video that is visually appealing yet so simple, for it to still be considered amazing. Macklemore's Thrift Shop, a song based on none other than a Thrift Shop.

Relationship between music and visuals


There was also the idea that there was a link between the music and the visuals. He first stated that, if the music is of an upbeat tempo, then the visuals will also reflect the tempo of the music. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the video will match the lyrics exactly but there will be a constant use of jump cuts and fast paced editing. An example of this is Justin Timberlake, Take Back the Night. Mid shots capture him singing and dancing to the song but aside from them, there is a constant use of establishing shots in a sped up montage. 

The next ideology was that, if the music is monotone then so will the visuals. The definition of monotone is when something never changes in tone, and remains the same throughout. A succession of sounds or words uttered in a single tone of voice. How Goodwin linked it to music videos with such succession is very intelligent, as if to state that the music video doesn’t differ to suit the lyrics, and instead remains the same basic video with or without an audio.

Star Image Motifs

The ideology that carried along with the fourth of his characteristics, was the star image motif. A motif is a ‘decorative’ image or design, especially a repeated one that may form a pattern. In this case it is the ideology that a star is made in one image to promote their name, and in order to succeed and keep this fame, all their actions and music will generate around the same thing, may be love, or their raunchiness, or even the use of naked performers in their music video. It is generally something that society or the music industry will associate with the performer based on how they have set themselves out to be. A star image motif however, may be a case where the artists record label sets out how they want them to promote their work in order to gain notoriety and notability, an artist may be quite extravagant and extrovert, yet behind the music and cameras they’re shy and slightly comfortable expressing their facial expressions and body language amongst others. There are artists who have followed this path and caused controversy in doing so. A major example of a star image motif is the extraordinary transformation of Miley Cyrus, from kids favourite heartbreak teenage girl Hannah Montana, over the years she grew up and of-course followed suit of society and started to open up more and more, she has since become a controversial artist, continuously exposing her body in her music videos, being involved in alleged affairs and being excessively rebellious outside the music scene.

Notion of Looking

The fifth characteristic of music videos that Andrew Goodwin pointed out, was that the notion of looking included men or women being portrayed seductively or if there is eye contact directly with the camera. He had the idea that these features were a big factor in music videos to help the artist promote their arts, as if to state that voyeurism is a convention used on a wide scale to sell the artists music through mainstream sex appeal. There's the case that because men will jump at the opportunity to see a nude woman, society automatically assume that it is only shown at one angle with women being topless, or wearing much less attire than men in music videos. As you can see with the music video for Signs by Justin Timberlake, the large amount of seductive body language expressed using the female actors on screen is obvious to the audience and is an example of this statement. 

However, with modern society continuously adapting to the way trends are changing, it is fair to say that it's not only shown at one angle as male performers in music videos do it too. In the current society, men are also portrayed in the same way as women, maybe not so much but it is highly visible. Fifth Harmony's song Work From Home with Ty Dollar Sign is a perfect example of the notion of looking from the other angle. Male construction workers, covered in sweat and toil, in a saturated orange filter to provide intensity and intimacy, as if to portray these male workers as being 'sexy', this defies the conventional notion of looking and creates a new meaning to this characteristic.

Intertextual Reference

Goodwin's theory expanded and dwelt into music videos having an intertextual reference with various other forms of media. The terminological meaning of intertextuality is the way in which one form of media is referenced in another form of media.

For example, global hit Purple Lamborghini is an unusual example of intertextuality, as the videos form of other media is a very prestigious character from a movie of which the song is featured on. Skrillex used the reference of this character from the film Suicide Squad which also featured Hip-Hop artist Rick Ross to add to the extra all star line up. The other reference is the name of song, Purple Lamborghini, this is a reference to the personal car of the character in the movies as he cruises through the city with counterpart Harley Quinn.   

                                                                                                                      
Another example of intertextuality from the 21st century is in the video for Bruno Mar's Just The Way You Are, the use of the cassette to create images on the canvas to match the vibe of the song is unique as it isn't anything from a movie like the first example, but more a brilliant technique to portray the ideology behind the song aswell as use this intertextual reference to signify the importance of cassettes in the modern era of advanced technologies.

Performance, Narrative or Concept Based

This is the seventh characteristic of Goodwin's theory that was put into a retrospect of how music videos are and what characteristics they had.

A performance based music video was one that involved the artist or artists directly performing their song towards an audience or towards the camera. This wasn't only pop or rock bands but also other genres soon adopted this settlement and started to base their videos as a performance. Will.i.am performed Check it Out with Nicki Minaj, to what looks like a small audience in the music video, while also performing directly to the camera. Performance based music videos would usually find it hard to do both at once but it has already evolved into a common characteristic in music videos. 

Music videos started off as being narrative, so it is presumably the most common characteristic of a music video from the early era to modern day. A narrative based music video is generally one that consists of a story-line behind the song, it is usually linked to the song and shows links between the lyrics and the visuals. This helps promote one of Goodwin's other characteristics of the relationship between lyrics and visuals. Jason Derulo's What If, is a perfect example of a narrative based video. The video is in reverse excluding the start but it is so perfectly shot, the link between the lyrics and the visuals are incredibly strong. 

Concept based music videos are rare and incredibly spectacular, house artists usually pull of videos of this type due to rarity of lyrics in their songs and more music.A concept piece is usually a video involving a single concept which in turn will be seen as an obscure, surreal experience for the audience. Concept visuals in a music video will be of a higher quality aspect due to modern standards, therefore they are more than likely to include special effects, as if you were watching a film. Intoxicated by Martin Solveig is an example of a concept idea represented through visuals. It is not a video i can merely explain but constant full body shots of the performers have them dancing or doing something rather in-particular.

Technical Elements

The last characteristic of Goodwin's theory of music videos. He stated that micro-elements involved in media forms, are needed to be reflective of the genre. Editing techniques and use of sound in a music video is variable in terms of necessity, as it has the opportunity to have a bigger impact on music videos than expected. 

On-screen sound is common in Hip-Hop/Rap and Pop music videos, as there might be short scenes in which conversations or a little cut-scene involving other characters in the video. Justin Bieber's, What Do You Mean, consists of various cut-scenes throughout the video in which conversations and confrontations take place. Another micro-element like a jump cut is often used in genres that consist of high tempo's like house, hip-hop and pop are used to show the vibe and the high-octane feeling the artist wants the audience to feel. There are videos that use micro-elements to engage the audience and make them feel like they are there during the recording of the video, fast paced editing also helps to hype the song a bit more as the link between editing skills and music creates an adaptable atmosphere.

Conclusion

In terms of music videos, Goodwin's theory and my own ideas, there are many pieces I can take from his theory. For example, I would love to make my video either performance or narrative based, as I have various ideas on how to link the visuals with the song and engage the audience. Negative responses would be that everything is from a heterosexual perspective, making it harder to create a video that opposed this common statement. I would use various characteristics from Goodwin's Theory in my music video, I am unable to decide now what I will use, but I have an idea.