Research: Goodwin's Theory

 

                      Goodwin's Theory

Andrew Goodwin identified certain features linked with music videos that he proved to be reliable after testing various music videos. Goodwin's theory is likely to apply to all mainstream music videos and some niche music videos. The features he has identified are evident within most mainstream music videos, even if they do not include every single feature. The features involved within Goodwin's theory include:

1) Genre Characteristics

2) Relationship between lyrics and visuals

3) Relationship between music and visuals

4) Star image motif's

5) Notion of looking

6) Intertextual References

7) Performance, narrative or concept based?

8) Technical elements

The eight main features associated with Goodwin's Theory are explained: 

• Genre Characteristics: Music videos often reflect their genre through the use of specific characteristics making them conventional. Each genre contains differing conventions including:

- Pop genre- Young people, popular culture, unrealistic, exaggerated.

Dance music video

- Dance- Backing dancers, star performance, extreme and long shots, concept based, edited backgrounds, green screen, don't rely on narrative, happy people, upbeat, colourful, undefined genre.

Rock music video

- Rock- Dark, passive aggressive, black leather clothing, male dominated genre.

- Hip Hop- Promiscuous women, fancy cars, mansions, expensive costumes.

R&B music video

-R&B- Topless male artists with tattoos and jewellery, females with minimal clothing, provocative lyrics, dancing.

-Swing- Old fashioned, formalised, classic instruments such as saxophone.

- Relationship between lyrics and visuals:  A connection is shown through the visuals relating to the lyrics. Either being illustrative; explaining the lyrics visually, amplifying, exaggeration of the lyrics linking to the video and lastly contradicting; being the opposite visual to the lyrics heard.

• An example of a music video showing a relationship between lyrics and visuals Includes, Katy Perry's music video 'Last Friday Night' which contains lyrics associated with the artist reminiscing on her Friday night, and describing the events that took place. She says 'Yeah, we danced on table tops, And we took too many shots', the visuals support these lyrics as the video contained a narrative consisting of the artist acting as a geek and having party with lots of other students. The narrative involved the students drinking and behaving rebelliously. 

- Relationship between music and visuals:
Visuals show a connection to the actual music. If the music is upbeat, so are the visuals, whereas if the music is monotone, so are the visuals.

• For example, in Ed Sheeran's music video 'Thinking Out Loud' the music is slow and mellow and the visuals reflect this as the artist dances with a female in a professional and ballroom manner. Therefore, the music and the visuals compliment each other.

-Star image motifs: The music video includes many close-ups of the artist, demanded by the record labels to make them popular and identifiable.

• For example, in John Legand's music video, 'Tonight', the artist is perceived frequently through the continuous use of close ups surrounding him, giving him full control and allowing the audience to identify him and his music effectively. 

- Notion of looking: This is when there is particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body, women that are seen as a sexual object. There are a huge amount of music videos that use the notion of looking nowadays, particularly songs in the R&B, and hip hop genre.

• For example, The Weeknd's music video, 'Earned It' contains a huge amount of notion of looking as there are various females who have minimal clothing and act in a promiscuous manner as they hang from ropes attached to the ceiling. The camera focuses on the females specific body parts to ensure that the notion of looking can be adapted. 

- Intertextual references: In many music videos there are often links with other films, TV programmes or other music videos etc. This Is called intertextual reference.  

• For example, in the 'Lalala' music video by Naughty boy, intertextual reference is evident as the narrative reflects the 'Wizard Of Oz', which is reflected through the heart and the strangers the young boy meets on his travels.

- Performance, narrative or concept based?-  A music video is likely to either be performance based, narrative based or concept based, however, it is unlikely for all three to be evident in a video.

• For example, Taylor Swift's 'Blank space' music video includes performance and narrative as the artist is portrayed to be singing but also involved in the narrative playing as the main character.

- Performance- Focus is solidly on the artist/band allowing the audience to perceive them properly without the distraction of a narrative.

• For example, the music video 'Four Five Seconds' by Kanye West, Rihanna, and Paul McCartney consists of pure performance as the artists are perceived to be singing the song without a narrative involved. This allows the audience to identify which singer sings which part of the song and the audience can listen to the song and the lyrics effectively without being distracted by a narrative.

- Narrative based- A narrative based video  has a story that is related to the lyrics of the song and this is portrayed through the characters acting it out.

• For example, Rihanna's 'Man Down' music video includes a narrative consisting of Rihanna  as a rape victim getting revenge on her rapist by shooting him. This is reflected through the lyrics which repeats "Man down" proving that she kills the antagonist.

-Concept based- A concept based music video usually revolves around a  single idea which is obscure and surreal for the audience further attracting  them and, encouraging them to want to watch the music video. The video is likely include special effects.

• An example of  a concept music video includes Sia's video 'Elastic Band' which is creates uncertainty for the audience due to the confusing content. The video consists of a young female and male who have minimal clothing on, dancing in a cage, and acting in a weird manner. The audience are unable to relate to the video and are left bewildered by the content.

• Technical Elements: Technical elements consist of the use of micro elements including cinematography, sound, editing and mise en scene within a music video. All music videos are likely to have technical elements which will make their music video conventional to it's genre. 

As a class we analysed Will Smith's music video  'Miami',  where we identified the features and examples from Goodwin's theory within the video. 

I analysed Chris Brown's music video 'Strip' and identified Goodwin's theory within it, in order to see if his theory was reliable in all cases.

My research into the two music videos proved that Goodwin's theory can be applied to all  mainstream music videos even if all the features are not evident in the videos, It is likely that more than one will be as these features  are what make a music video effective and conventional to the music industry. Both of the analysed music videos include all the features from Goodwin's theory, although the 'Strip' music video does not include an intertextual reference unlike the 'Miami' music video. Intertextual reference is the least obvious feature, and some references are difficult to identify in the way they are portrayed. Despite intertextual reference, the other features differ in the way they are presented in the music videos, however are evident. Overall, the music video that applies to Goodwin's theory most is Will Smith's, Miami music video, as this video includes all of the features the theory identifies, suggesting that this is the more conventional music video out of the two. 

Opinions on Goodwin's theory

Goodwin's theory has positives and negatives.

Positives:

• Easy to apply to all music videos, even if a music video does not contain all the features, they are likely to contain at least two.
• Allows you to consider and analyse all aspects of a music video.
• Allows you to break down the content of a video.

Negatives:

• Very reliant on the mainstream music and popular culture. This is evident in 'The Weeknd's' 'Tell you friends' music video, which is from the alternative R&B genre which is niche. As a result, this music video has a lack of features from Goodwin's theory, as it does not contain intertextual reference or the notion of looking due to the video being based on his life experiences rather than being made in order to follow the common conventions.

• It can be questioned as to whether Goodwin should even be credited for his theory as the features he states are natural to mainstream music videos. For example, iconography such as guitars and drums are conventional to the rock genre and are therefore commonly found in rock music videos, however, without these instruments the music would not have the same impact. Therefore, his stated features are likely to come naturally to directors of music videos most of the time without them having to consider Goodwin's theory. 

In my opinion, Goodwin's theory is reliable in that he identifies conventional features within his theory which are popular and easily found within music videos, therefore, at least one feature is likely to be evident in many music videos despite their genre of music and popularity in the music industry. Although the theory has some negatives such as being reliant on mainstream music and it being questioned as to whether Goodwin should be credited for his theory, I believe that his theory is useful and should be used when creating a music video, as it will ensure that a music video follows conventions and will prevent the video from lacking popularity. 

Conclusion

My research into Goodwin's Theory has allowed me to identify that the theory can be applied to all music videos as the features Goodwin identifies are all useful and make a music video conventional to the music industry. As a result of this research, I will ensure  that I take Goodwin's theory into consideration and use particular features he has discovered within my music video, even if my music video is not mainstream, as these characteristics are all significant and are conventional to music videos. I will ensure I have conventional genre characteristics evident  in order to promote my video to my target audience and ensure it is easy for the audience to identify the genre of my song, for example, if my genre is hip hop, I am aware that my target audience are teenage and adult males who can relate to particular themes, and therefore, I will ensure my music video identifies themes such as poverty and relationships. When i create my music video I will also try to ensure that my music video is made of narrative, performance or concept to make my music video more unique and appealing to a larger audience. I will also try and include intertextual reference within my music video, as this is not a common feature evident within all existing music videos, therefore using an intertextual reference that is linked with my song choice, can create audience reaction, which is likely to make my video more popular.