Research: Goodwin's Theory

Goodwins Theory

Introduction

Goodwin said that there are 8 important aspects within a music video.This includes; Genre characteristics, Relationship between lyrics and visuals, Relationship between music and visuals, Star image motifs, Notion of looking, Intertextutual references, and Performance/ Narrative/Concept - based and finally Technical elements. Goodwin does not say that all of his ideas apply to every music video such as for niche music videos. he believed that The record label has a certain control over the artist they sign. It is (in the end) up to the recordlabel to decide what the artist should be represented as. For example, for women the label mayrequire the artist to come off as sexy in order to appeal to men and reach that target audience. For men the same thought process could be applied, being represented as sexy would reach outto the target audience of women. This is extremely important as particular (males or females) aremore likely to listen to certain (types of writing or art) of music. E.g. women who are interested incity-based music are more likely to listen to R&B. So men appealing as sexy would draw in women audiences.

Opinions on Goodwins Theory:

Postive points 

- Easy to apply to apply to all videos 

- Allows you to breakdown the content of a video 

- Allows you to analyse lots of media ideas

Negative points 

- Very reliant on mainstream music and popular culture

1) Genre characteristics:

Genre characteristics are associated with a particular music genre. For example; a conventional rock video the audience will expect a performance based music video. The conventional characteristics of a rock video will be dark colours, loud music. The artists actions and behaviour in a rock music video will be very powerful and energetic.Goodwin's theory analysed how important genre characteristics are because it means that the audience will be able to connect to the artist. 

2) Relationship between lyrics and visuals:

Goodwin said that there will be a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, this means that the lyrics will be connecting to the visual. For example, in Micheal Jacksos music video, his song is about the esryh and what peopled to harm it. The clip coating a mitring of different things happening in our world. When he says, ' What have we done to the world,' images of the earth appears. this shows that the audience could earn something from this type of music video and also it would not be hard for the audience to understand what the song is about as it is celery shown from the lyrics and visuals. For this music video, the lyrics and the visuals link to each other which makes sense for the audience because they will be able to understand the narrative of the music video clearly. 

3) Relationship between music and visuals:

There is a succinct relationship between music and the visuals. This either could be illustrative, amplifing and contradicting. As the music is up beat so is the lyrics. This music video starts off very slow and so does the visuals and once the beat starts to get faster then the visuals start to add up towards the beat. This helps the audience to be entertained, this type of song mostly attracts young adults because its the type of music that can be danced too. 

4) Star image motifs:

In this video by Taylor Swift, various Close- up shots are used to capture the artist. This helps the audience to focus mainly on the artist. Goodwin said that the close up shots used to capture the artist, will present the artist's life as a lavish lifestyle. The way Taylor Swift is dressed shows her as a wealthy artist, the location of the video is very glamorous as well. Star image is very important in music videos because it allows the audience to have an understanding of what type of lifestyle the artist has and this often leads the audience to see the artist as an role model. In the music video, we can see that the close up shots used to cap true the artist, shows the type of character she is, e.g. she is wearing a black gown which represents that she is powerful and is very wealthy. 

5) Notion of looking:

Goodwin said that most music videos use voyeuristic treatment of the female body. This mean that in most videos, the women are seen as a sexual object, the audience could see this as for the filming techniques. This is because women are used and exposed in clips, they are often naked and the camera lingers around the female assets. e.g. in this music video by The Weeknd, we are introduced to the artist saying but the audience attention is on the women because she is naked, where as the artist is not showing any skin. The male artist is wearing a suit which presents him as a powerful character because he is watching the female character who is tied up from the ceiling. The female looks very innocent and helpless, this is shown by her body language. The male artist is shown breathing against her body which shows that the female character is being focused to entertain the male artist. 

6) Intertextual references:

In some music video's there are intertextual references to films, to programmes. It is beneficial for a Artist to produce a song that relates to a film because the audience could connect to the artist and the film at the same time. For example, Beyonce has redone her song Crazy in love in another style, the song rhythm is slow and her actions allows  the audience to understand which film it relates to. The editing and filming techniques has allowed the audience to clearly understand the relationship between the film and the song. The artists actions in the music video relate to the film '50 shades o grey' as the film was known to be a sexual relationship based film. 

7) Performance, Narrative or Concept based:

Andrew Goodwin  said that a music video should follow or at least one of the following formats; Performance - Based, Narrative and Concept - Based. A narrative based video allows the music to come to life like a story. This song by Taylor swift is a example of an narrative based music video because the audience is introduced to a young teenage girl who has fallen in love with a boy, however that big is in another relationship. The close ups used to capture the teenagers facial expression allows the audience to know what kind of emotional the young teen is going through. This could be beneficial for the audience as they could relate back and connect to the video. The filming techniques are effectively used as each scene is connected to each other, also the locations that are used in the music video allows the video to be realistic towards the audience. 

8) Technical elements:

Goodwin says that the technical aspect helps to hold a music video together, these incldue; lightening colour which helps to set the mood fore the music video and help create emphasis on the significant parts of the song to create a dramatic effect and thrill the audience. Another, element that is used is Mise-en-scene this helps the artist gain authentication. and finally the beats of the song are also very useful as they help to create effective cuts that go with the rhythm of the song. 

Applying Goodwin's theory to Will Smith Miami Song and to The Weeknds Hills song:

I have analysed two different music videos which has helped me to understand how Goodwins's theory does not apply to all music videos. Chris Browns song is conventional and links to back Goodwin's theory because the lyrics of the song is linking back to the visuals of the song. Whereas, The Weeknds audience could only relate back to the lyrics as the visuals are do not make much sense. Will Smiths music video differs from the Weeknds song because Will Smith had a very fun and entertaining video, as Goodwin's theory relates to his song because there is notion of looking used in the clip. The artist is looking at females and is linking back to them as sexual objectives. The song is a Pop song and the genre characteristics for this music video is that he has a fun personalty and that his fun personalty entertains the audience.  On the other hand, The Weeknds song does not have notion of looking as his music videos are created for niche genres. 

Conclusion

This information shows me that my music video should contain Goodwin's theory as it is essential for my music video to meet expectations and look natural. Without Goodwin's theory, my music video will lack conventions that are vital for it to have. Features such as genre  characteristics are important as they must meet the audience expectations or the audience will not be intrigued and will not watch the video. Overall, when producing my music video I will ensure that I try to include all features, such as genre characteristics. If my artist play well in my music video then it would be easier for the audience to understand what genre my music falls under. I want my music video to be narrative based because i want to target at a wider audience and in order for me to achieve this, my music video needs to have a narrative as it will also help my audience to feel engaged in.