Goodwin's Theory

Goodwin’s music video analysis

Andrew Goodwin proposed a theory regarding the content typically found within a music video. There a 7 main points that he considered:

1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics

(e.g. stage performance in metal video, dance routine for boy/girl band).

The genre of this song in particular falls under RnB/Hip Hop and there are many generic conventions evident throughout the video. For example, there are many brands that are shown such as Burberry and New Era snapbacks (seen in this picture). This appeals to the target audience as they feel that if they own/like the same clothing seen in the music video, they are to become similar to the artist themselves and therefore feel more involved and special as they have bought into the artist’s lifestyle. Females portrayed in minimal clothing are both conventional and evident in this video also as it creates the illusion that the artist is popular amongst the female gender and therefore will appeal to a male target audience as they will idolise the artist in order to feel they are more popular with the female gender. Furthermore, such content is sexually appealing to the male gender. 

2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals

(either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

 With the song being called ‘Hot in Here’ the music video consists of many people taking their clothes of because of the ‘heat’. During this particular moment in the song, the artist sings ‘it’s getting hot in here, so take off all your clothes’ forming a relationship between the lyrics and visuals as this person is taking off their clothes. Not only does the audience now have a deeper understanding of the song but they also the song also becomes engaging as it takes place in a club and therefore encourages the audience to play it at clubs/parties in order to widen the potential target audience. The revealing of a female body is conventional within this specific genre as it perceived to be important to this style of artist. Therefore the audience get a short representation of the artist’s interests and consequently appeals to them which may encourage them to think similarly to become ‘more like the artist’.

3. There is a relationship between music and visuals

(either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

In Rihanna’s music video ‘Unfaithful’, there is a relationship between the music and visuals because at this point in the song we can both hear and see the piano being played creating an illustrative connection between the two, just as Goodwin proposed. This represents the artist as being talented rather than the average singer, appealing to the target audience as this representation provides coherence in her talent and therefore gives her something unique for the target audience to admire. Also, the target audience learn about the artist making them feel they know more about them and therefore allows them to build a relationship as they may have identified similar interests between the artist and themselves also.

4. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style).

In the music video, there are many close ups of the artist as Goodwin proposed. This allows the audience to be ‘closer’ with the artist and therefore the video will appeal to them as they feel more included in the video due to close proximity with the artist. This effect would not have been created if the artist was not to be seen in the video, making it less appealing as the target audience would not have felt involved nor have their desire to see the artist being met. For this artist in particular, a recurring style consists of lots of close ups within his videos, so that the audience were aware of the plaster he wore on his face. Consequently the reasoning as to why he wore the plaster became an enigma and therefore a talked about topic, an example of keeping his target audience interested.

 5. There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

Within the music video there is an occasion where a camera is used to film the surroundings, an example of a notion of looking that Goodwin proposed. The camera is then later used to film a women dancing, which could be perceived as voyeuristic treatment of the female body, almost as if she were a 'show'.

6. There is often inter-textual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc).

 In the video of ‘My Boo’ the artist begins the video by him watching television, however he is watching another music video by himself. By referring to this video the target audience are now aware of another video and therefore are encouraged to watch that video also. As a result, the audience are provided with a coherent impression of the artist and therefore encouraged to maintain their interest in the artist.

It is also worth considering:

7. Whether the video is primarily performance based, narrative based or concept based and how elements of each is used in it.

Through the analysis of various music videos regarding Goodwin’s Theory, I have learnt that the proposed theory is effective in constructing a successful music video.  Each of the reasons Goodwin suggested have a correlation with the success rate of a music video. For example, the close ups of an artist during the music video allows the target audience to be close to the artist and begin to build a relationship with them. However if they artist was not included in the video, the target audience may begin to become disinterested in the song and therefore this affects its success. Consequently, this will assist my planning in terms of the making of my own music video so that it is effective in appealing to the audience i.e. close ups of the artists to build relationship, generic conventions to buy into artist’s lifestyle in order to feel increasingly similar to them etc.



 But further examples are needed, to expand your knowledge further. 
- get other examples from different videos

You also need to explain the style of the video and the purpose of having a performance, concept or narrative music video

- performance, visually see the artist, more involved, allows audience to engage with them
- narrative - understand the song in more depth as they can both listen and see the content
-concept, makes the audience think about social/universal issues