Techniques of Music Videos

Andrew Goodwin’s theory; Goodwin established the theory of the seven components that would make up a music video which included visuals that would illustrate, amplify or contradict the lyrics and music; for example, a music video that illustrates the lyrics or music is portrayed by visual images that are in some way helpful to the viewers who struggle otherwise to identify the meaning of the song. Genre characters are often evident to his theory, for example, an R’n’B song often includes dancing, an exotic location and romance. Also, intertextuality is often used to make the viewer feel smart by including a reference to a film or person that they should/do know. Notions of looking is when the main character of the music video’s story comes to some sort of realisation, for instance, in ‘Broken’ by Lifehouse, the main character discovers that he is in the crash (having seen the future) which he then tries to tell his past self. Depending on who the artist is and how favourable he/she is, the record label will push for a lot of close-ups, for instance, the record labels will push for female artists to be exploited more in music videos; consisting of a lot of close-ups, ultimately sexualising the video through the camera shots and movements.

Other theories; in other theories, for instance, Steve Archers has pointed out that there needs to be a strong and logical relationship between the narrative and the performance. For example, in music videos there may be a cut evident from the narrative to the performance by the artist which will have been carefully choreographed. Another theorist, John Stewart, has opted that a music video allows more access to the performer than a stage performance can; the mise-en-scene, in particular, can be used to emphasise a lifestyle.