Andrew Goodwin's Theory.

Andrew Goodwin’s theory on music videos.

Andrew Goodwin’s theory:

·         Music videos follow a verse/chorus structure.

·         The artist has a number of different roles in the video. (The narrator, the participant and as a character.)

·         The singer often looks directly at the camera, (breaking the 4^th wall) this is used to try and involve the viewer at home.

·         Music videos rely on repetition.

·         The visualisation of a song may go beyond the original meaning.

·         Women are presented as objects of male desire in music videos.

·         There are three types of relations between songs and videos.

1.       Illustration- The video tells the story of the lyrics.

2.       Amplification- This occurs when the video introduces a new meaning that does not contradict with the lyrics of the song but adds layers of meaning.

3.       Disjuncture- The video has little connection with the lyrics.

Some examples of illustration, amplification and disjuncture music videos:

Illustration:

Madonna's video 'Pap don't preach' is an example of an illustrative video. You can tell this as the lyric illustrate what we are seeing in the video. For example when Madonna sings 'Pap i know your going to be upset, i was always your little girl' we see a farther hugging his little daughter.

 

Amplification:

 

Just Jack's video 'The day i dies' is an exmaple of amplification. You can tell this through watching the video, you can see the character is unhappy in his life (he misses the bus etc) but when he dies hes happy about it. It's adds a layer of meaning- it is saying that people don't need to fear death, and that it is okay.

 

 Disjuncture:

Michael Jackson's video 'Man in the mirror' is an example of Disjuncture as the song is about self-realisation and relection, however the video is about extreme world events.