Research: Andrew Goodwin's Theory

Andrew Goodwin believes that music videos do not follow a traditional narrative. He believes they present their narrative differently as opposed to novels and films. 

Here are some points he made:

·         Music videos are generally led by the song playing, meaning the song dictates the outcome of the music video.

-          Music videos rely on repetition; certain images/scenes are repeated with the lyrics/chorus of the song. It becomes evocative to the audience as it becomes familiar with their eyes.

-          The music video tends to be in sync with the beat of the music which determines the pace of the video.

·         The artist of the song is usually the narrator or the character in the narrative.

-          If the artist is in the video, they have the most screen time which makes it clear it’s their song. This also helps create their image, as what is constantly seen becomes their identity to the audience.

-          The whole narrative in the video may be based on three things, an intro, a climax and end however some videos have constant repetitions which repeat different scenes.

·         The performance of the artist also helps build a rapport with the audience.

-          The artist in the music generally looks towards the camera as it becomes a sort of monologue which helps involve the audience as it breaks the fourth wall.

·         There is a relation between the song and music video.

-          Music videos tend to be different or similar to each other as the visualisation may go beyond the meaning of the song. However some music videos may aim to give the audience some visual pleasure through heavy editing or an interesting narrative whilst some may be used in cross media convergence.

-          There are three relations which are:

1)      Illustration: The visualisations in the video are a representation of the lyrics in the song. For example, Summer Sadness by Lana Del Ray encompasses the sadness through the narrative of the Lana which shows a sad and depressing character. The repetition of the red composition symbolises her sadness on a microcosmic level. 

2)      Amplification: The video alters and manipulates the visualisation without contradicting the lyrics but adding new meanings.  For example, My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light em Up) by Fall Out Boy manipulated the visualisation as the characters who are ironically burning Fall Out Boys music are having Fall Out Boys song played over as they burn the music. The music is the proof of what the characters done which is supposedly bad and the proof is in the music by Fall Out Boy. 

3)      Disjuncture: The whole meaning of the song is conflicting with the visualisations of the video. For example, Kiss You - One Direction revolves around the idea of kissing girls and taking them out (im assuming it a girl) is contradicted as we see them skiing around, riding bikes, dancing in jail and kissing each other. They lyrics say "if you wanna take it slow" but they're on a motorbike riding pretty fast.