Andrew Goodwin Theory
Andrew Goodwin, he is a author of a world known book called ' Dancing in the distraction Factory’. In 1992 Andrew Goodwin introduced a Theory, which many people today use within their music videos, that is known as main ingredients on making a music video.
INTRODUCTION Andrew Goodwin has created a theory which he has put forward in a book called ' Dancing in the distraction Factory' Goodwin states out all the main features that the music video has when it comes to watching the relationship between the music video and the lyrics being heard. Andrew Goodwin has identified a number of key features in music videos. He says that music videos are often constructed by the link between the visuals and the song plus the artist. Relationships are built between these in the video, and the close-ups of the artists gives them the representation and publicity they require. Voyeurism is used to increase the video’s attractiveness, particularly to males, whilst intersexuality is often employed in humorous videos. They are: 1)A relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, with the visuals illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the lyrics. 2) A relationship between the music and the visuals, with the visuals illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the music. 3) Genre-related style and iconography present. 4) Multiple close-ups of the main artist or vocalist. 5) Voyeurism often plays a major part, especially in relation to females. 6) Intertextual references to other media texts may be present. Many of these features are present in all music videos, depending on the genre of the song and the aim of the record company/artist.
The ways in which music videos relate visuals to the song One idea Goodwin put forward was Illustrating music video, which is when the visual of the music video directly link with the lyrics of the song, which simply means what you hear is what you see. A example of when illustrating is applied to a music video, which is Ludacris- Run away it starts of with the shots of different characters that have 'ran away' which is the main subject from the lyrics. They also set the mood of the video by the videos camera language as the shots have many close up of the run away girls expressions, which sets the mood of the song as well as just illustrating the lyrics this gives the idea to the audience that the song runaway is unhappy and a sense of seriousness. The lyrics are bout telling the troubles in the lives of three runaway female's each ending up running away in the end to escape each of their own problems. Ludacris takes three separate stories to illustrate the message of running away, while the video shows you visuals of the three separate story he tells within his lyrics, which directly links with his lyrics. Example is when we see with the first story he tells is about a nine-year-old named Lisa, who get sexually abused by her mums husband at home, while Ludacris rapping about her problems the video shows footages of the girl unhappy and getting abused exactly how Ludacris explains in his lyrics going through her problems that interprets what his lyrics are about, this also happens with the other two stories he tells within his lyrics in which his music video helps narrates. The Music video end with a large amount of girls that have ran away from their problems here and the audience finally puts two together and links the story line form they actually see all the girls that have ran away. The music video illustrates his lyrics very this is a good way to attract more viewers to watch his video as it adds more emotion to his song since his audience can personally view it their selves rather than trying to visualise it from the lyrics and gives more understanding to his lyrics.
The ways in which music videos relate visuals to the song Amplification is when the video adds to the songs, which is designed to enhance the style and mood of the song. A example of when Amplification is applied to a music video, which is David guetta -She wolf is an example of amplification, This video is a very mysterious video which shows the back of a naked woman who is meant to be the 'she wolf' which is the title of the song, it then shows snow wolfs getting hunted down by arrows, the music video complements the song, as wee see all the way through a wolf running, the movement of the wolf running goes well with the tempo of the song, it then leads up to the climax of the song, as we then see within the video, explosion to the hunters that was magically created from the wolf. This video comes across as a dark and very gloomy adding to its mysteriousness. The video creates the mood that the lyrics put you in as everything in the video is dark and almost sad as you see the wolf running with a worm from the hunters is , this is a contrast with the lyrics and the location of the video. and at the end of the music video it then shows that the artist was the wolf as she changes back to the naked woman that was shown in the begging, with the worm on her back. The use of amplification encourages her audience to feel emotion from not lyrics but the video and pace of the song. The editing pace is applied to the beat and tempo of the song, when the tempo increases so does the editing of shots and images seen.
The ways in which music videos relate visuals to the song Contradict is when they video deliberately goes against the lyrics of the song and the mood of the song. Chris brown- Don't judge me is an example of a music video that creates a contradicting music video, the lyrics is about Brown encourages his lover that there is nothing going on between him and his ex-girlfriend as he sings, "You're hearing rumours about me / And you can't stomach the thought / Of someone touching my body / When you're so close to my heart / I won't deny what they saying / Because most of it is true / But it was all before I fell for you whereas the video isn't a typical love video as, It begins with Chris Brown walking through the desert, while intercut scenes of himself sitting in front of a couch. As the chorus begins for the first time, Brown is seen catching a ride from an army truck. He eventually arrives at an army base to prepare for a "suicide mission", which involves him riding a spacecraft into outer space to save the world from an alien ship invading Earth. A news reporter at the base (Brown's girlfriend) runs to him with the question, "People are saying this is a suicide mission, why are you doing this?" Brown replies, "I'm doing a service for my country and my planet. If that means saving the people I love and I care about, then that's what I'll do. As the spacecraft takes off, tears run down Brown's face before the spacecraft crashes into the alien ship, killing him. This is a creative way to give his audience something to think about, which would be the first thing for the viewers to think about on how the video links and the meaning of it. This type of video attracts a lot more attention then producing a normal one, so taking this as an example would be that it went Viral online an attracted many views. Producing videos such as this helps with exposure and people talking about you or the video.
Voyeurism and Music Video.
Voyeurism Call on me- Eric Prydz, the video shows Voyeurism but from a males prospective. The video shows these female exercising in which are shown in a sexual sense as the females are semi naked. In this video there are deliberate shots of the females that are focused upon their revealed body parts as the aim of this video is full on male gaze. In the video there is semi naked female exercising to Eric prydz song call on me. This is the main element of the song shot of the females body parts in a attempt to catch ‘male gaze’ although the song is sang by a male it does not stop him from attracting a male audience as he tries to do so by the way female are presented within his video given him a chance for more male viewers. The main subject within this video are the females which is full on in your face voyeurism.
Star Persona Star Person is what the artist is recognised by from such as their style , fashion since, everything that makes up their characteristics as an artist, the artist record label put together so the artist is easily identified which is an image which is portrayed to the audience. Artists can use their persona to almost keep their artist in the eyes of the public which is one way to make sure their artist sells and they attract a large audience. Artists can have a lot of personas such as 'Madonna' who has changed a lot of changes in her musical career because of her changing her image and style correlating with what's 'Popular or in 'Fashion' at that specific time. One of the examples of an artist who has changed dramatically would be Christina Aguilera. Her Star persona as she was once known for her rough/urban she changed from this to a completely well dressed formal character. Christina started of as this rough artist who made song such as ‘Dirty’ which just the video had images of the artist that shown her characteristics such as a dark lighting urban styled clothing and hard-core echography. The artist had stay this way for many years, until she then made a drastic change towards changing into a formal character her record label decided that she needs to take a more mature route to a sweet and innocent girl act. Christina then released a couple more mature songs and her image changed from a urban girl to a more formal one. The phase that she has to go through meant that something more jaw dropping had to come out of it and this is when Christians record company decided to as is she had grew up for the public to see a different side of her, the artist has been noted for her vocals, music videos and constantly reinventing her image and music. Christina slowly progressed into what you would call a Burlesque looking girl by turning her blonde which was contrasting to what her hair was before and a drastic change as it was before dark black. Her record label could see she was in need of a drastic change in order to make more sells as an artist although she had been very successful with her old image....
Iconography
Iconography is what you regularly see on artist which can be clothing tattoos hair ect.. This is a symbolic representation that can help you identify them by what stands out about them. Rihanna is a perfect example of iconography as she is one of the biggest artist trend setters, many girls have been influenced by fashionable pretty girls, such as Rihanna's the biggest relations as iconography for Rihanna was her Red hair style, as she kept her hair ‘red’ throughout one of her albums LOUD video this gave people her the opportunity to have her own unique style and to stand out from other artists with her red hair style. Example of how she gained iconography with the red hair successfully would be what we see throughout her whole album a sense of theme such as the colour red, had been strongly shown through her music videos even her album cover. She does this deliberately which is a way of branding herself by setting trends and recognition something people can remember her by, with this it can have a impact on sales, and the artists awareness with her audience and successfully becoming more known from being a fashionable icon.