Introduction
Andrew Goodwin's music video theory states that every music video consists of 8 key principals. all of which I will analyse individually using example music videos to evidence the truth in the theory. I have analysed Goodwin's book "Dancing In The Distraction Factory" in order to inform my own music video production process.
Links Between the Music and the Visuals
In Goodwin's book "Dancing in the Distraction Factory" he theorises that there is a distinct link between the music and the visuals of a song. This is mainly in regards to the beat; if a song is very upbeat like "Locked Out Of Heaven" (Mars, B., 2012) the visuals will represent the upbeat nature of the song, this can be done by providing visuals of people dancing to indicate to the audience that it is an upbeat party anthem. The beat can similarly affect the editing style, when as song has a slow tempo such as "Take Me To Church" (Hozier, 2014) the cuts in the edit will be slower to match the beat to make the video more synchronised, this helps make the video seem more dramatic and makes the important message of the video stand out more to an audience as both visuals, beat and lyrics all reflect the melancholic slow atmosphere.
Links Between the Lyrics and the Visuals
Goodwin suggests that a music video will either amplify, illustrate or contradict the lyrics in a song. When using the term "Illustrate" I mean he gives the lyrics a visual example, for example, if the lyrics of a song was speaking of an apple, in order to illustrate the lyrics shots of apples would be used in the music video. When amplifying the lyrics to a video, you are trying to make them stronger so that the resonate with the audience for example, if an artist was to sign about something that makes them sad in order to amplify the message that they are sad close up shots of the artist frowning could be used to amplify the message. Finally, when contradicting the lyrics you would use footage of something the completely juxtaposes the lyrics for example, in Bruno Mars' music video "Locked Out Of Heaven" the lyrics have strong links to spirituality and religion (eg. "You bring me to my knees", "Locked out of heaven") whereas the video contradicts the message of spirituality by showing imagery of people drinking and smoking which are classed as quite sinful actions. This has been done in the video to suggest that less people believe in ordinary religion some people fill the void of religion with other things such as sex, drinking or partying.
Display of the Typical Genre Conventions
Music videos tend to reflect aspects of their signified genre for example, the band Arctic Monkeys is an indie rock band therefore the mis-en-scene of their music videos reflects this genre. For example, in "Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High" (Arctic Monkeys, 2013) the band is dressed in leather jackets with slicked back black hair to reflect the rock genre. In order to reflect the indie nature of the video, the video is set up as a conceptual video with lots of experimental editing techniques such as morphing the lead singers face to reflect inebriation, the use of drugs and alcohol is used throughout the video to link to the rebellious theme linked to indie rock genres.
A Variety of Intertextual References
The theorist suggests that music videos will make references to other media texts, a good example of this is in "Love Story" (Swift, T., 2009) which references the play "Romeo and Juliet" (Shakespeare, W., 1595), in this production, the mis-en-scene and lyrics both have intertextual references to Romeo and Juliet, Swift is dressed as a lady would have in the play and is located in an extravagant castle-like building. The lyrics of the song suggest that singer, Swift is Juliet and her unwelcomed lover is Romeo, this can be seen in the lyrics "You were Romeo, you were throwin' pebbles and my daddy said, "Stay away from Juliet"".
Notions of Looking
When an artist, band members looks towards the camera in a music video it gives the audience the illusion that the artist is letting them into their life and thus making the audience feel more involved in the action sinking them into the video further making them feel more engaged whilst watching a video. A good example of this can be seen in the music video "That's What I Like" (Mars, B., 2017) in which the singer is looking directly towards the camera whilst dancing, he points directly at the audience and some points in the video which makes the audience feel more included therefore making them connect with the artist better making them want to continue watching.
Voyeurism
Voyeurism is the idea of gaining sexual satisfaction from looking; usually this is referred to using Laura Mulveys Theory on "The Male Gaze" which theorises that media products are mediated by a heterosexual male producers and that women in media are placed there solely for the scopophilc pleasure of the heterosexual male audience. Many videos do still use this same technique in which they use specific angles and fragmented body shots of women to make them more appealing to look at for a male audience. The music video "Locked Out Of Heaven" (Mars, B., 2012) is a great example of how voyeurism is used in music videos, lots of slow motion shots of women dancing are used to sexualise them, close ups of sexualised body parts are also used for example, shots of the women's lips, eyes and bottoms are used to satisfy the scopophillic eye of the audience.
Demands of the Record Label
The record label which helps produce the music video will require certain things from their performer, this may be for them to look a certain way to maintain a certain image, or a specific amount of close ups of the artist must be used in the video to maintain the artists image. The record label has certain requirements in order to meet the needs of the artists audience for example, when Arctic Monkeys first started producing videos they catered to an audience of lower class british people therefore, they dressed in leather jackets and black jeans to make their image look rebellious so that their audience would connect with them, in 2011 their audience base change to a younger more female audience therefore, the record label required that the music videos must contain beautiful women for the younger females to identify with as they aspire to be the women that get to have relationships with the band.
Music Videos are Either Performance, Narrative or Concept Based
The theorist suggests in his book "Dancing in the Distraction Factory" (Goodwin, A. 1992) that all music videos fall under the category of performance, narrative or conceptual. Performance includes both studio and stadium performance in which the band/artist dance or play to the song a good example of a stadium performance is the music video for "Thunderstruck" (AC/DC, 2012) in which they use various shot types of the band playing the song, and then they also use reaction shots of the audience enjoying the music and dancing along, this makes the audience feel included in the event and aspire to go to the event after seeing how fun it looks which helps the record label sell more tickets. Narrative based music videos are productions which follow a storyline or give a message to the audience a good example of a narrative based video is "Why'd You Only Call Me When I'm High" (Arctic Monkeys, 2013) in which the video takes you through an inebriated journey through East London on a night out with lead singer Alex Turner who is trying to get a text back from a lady. A conceptual video is a video which presents an idea through the mis-en-scene of the video, this doesn't have to be related to the music itself. A great example of a conceptual based music video is "Fluorescent Adolescent" (Arctic Monkeys, 2007), the song is about a woman who dreams of her childhood whilst finding adulthood boring and sad . The music video however features two groups of men, one group of clowns and a rival group of well dressed men, they meet at and old warehouse and fight amongst each other, the video includes flashbacks in which we find out the bosses of the groups both use to be friends, the video ends in the clown burning his old friend to ashes in a car explosion. The video does not match the message of the video it is purely conceptual, this is quite engaging for an audience as it is sort of surreal compared to the mundanity of adulthood of which they speak of in the song.
References
Goodwin, A. 1992, Dancing in the Distraction Factory (Book)
Mars, B., Directed by Mars, B., Duddy, C., 2012. Locked Out Of Heaven (Online)
Available at - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-fA-gBCkj0
Hozier, 2014, Take Me To Church (Online)
Available at - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVjiKRfKpPI
Arctic Monkeys, Directed by Nabil, 2013. Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High (Online)
Available at - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6366dxFf-Os
Swift, T., 2009., Love Story (Online)
Available at - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xg3vE8Ie_E
Shakespeare, W., 1595, Romeo and Juliet (Play)
Mars, B., Directed Lia, J., Mars, B., 2017, That's What I Like (Online)
Available at - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMivT7MJ41M
AC/DC, 2012, Thunderstruck (Online)
Available at - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2AC41dglnM
Arctic Monkeys, 2007, Fluorescent Adolescent (Online)
Available at - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ma9I9VBKPiw
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