Andrew Goodwin

Andrew Goodwin's Music Video Theory

In todays lesson, we looked at Andrew Goodwin and his theories about music videos. He identified several 'key features' which he found to be necessary in making a successful music video:

• Music videos demonstrate characteristics of the genre of the music, for example, using a live performance with lots of strobe lighting and fast cuts for a heavy metal song, or  using country setting with slower cuts for a country song.
• There should be a link between the music and the visuals, as well as a link between the lyrics and the visuals- either showing them, emphasising them or contradicting them.
• There should be lots of close ups of the artist due to the demands of the record label wanting to promote their artist. 
• Reference to the notion of looking is frequently used e.g. looking through telescopes or showing a screen within a screen and also voyeuristic treatment of the female body.
• There is sometimes intertextual references to films, TV programmes etc. 

After researching into these key features in more detail, we will be able to apply them to our own task when we come to make our music videos.