Research into Goodwin's theory

Music theory is important to analyse because it helps us to break up a music video and understand what the directors and producers have done in order to reach an audience. Many music videos are different and offer all sorts of narratives, performance and effects to promote themselves and their music. By analysing a music video we can see what elements of the video such as lyrics, visuals, narrative, effects etc make the music video a success.

Goodwin’s Theory

Andrew Goodwin – ‘Dancing in the distraction factory’ (Rotledge 1992)

1.      Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (e.g stage performance in metal video, dance routine for boy/girl band)

2.      There is a relationship between music + visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting)

3.      Relationship between lyrics + visuals

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 may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style)

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

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

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

Lawson – Broken Hearted

The genre of this music video I would say was Indie/Rock as there are many Indie/Rock characteristics within the video. For example the clothes worn by the singers, they wear dark coloured vests with jeans showing an edgy side to them. Also the instruments used are guitars and drums, which associate with rock music. I would also say that there are elements of a pop genre due to the repetitive lyrics and also the catchy tune.

There is a relationship between the lyrics and the video due to the lyric explaining a story of how someone is broken hearted and also was there unfaithfulness and dishonesty within the relationship. This connects to the visual narrative because it shows a relationship split and how it has affected the characters. This is shown through close ups of the character’s, showing how distressed they are. For example there is a close up of the girl when she is sitting in the kitchen and looking at a picture of her ex boyfriend. The close up of her face shows her to be sad as if she over-thinking which is very conventional of a newly split person. There is also lyrics saying ‘did she cheat’, this is also shown on a TV programme within the video asking the TV audience the question also ‘did she cheat?’

There is also a relationship between the music and the visuals. The music is upbeat and of a fast tempo which connects to the narrative as the character’s minds are wondering constantly and want to try and keep themselves busy. The music also connects to the visuals, as there are many shots of where the band are performing and singing. Towards the end there is a performance towards a large audience therefore the upbeat music fits with the concert atmosphere.

There are some shots, which include voyeuristic treatment to the female body such as the opening shot which shows the attractive woman in bed which very revealing clothes. Including an attractive woman will entice an audience as men will want to watch to enjoy her presence visually and woman will aspire to be like her. Successful music videos commonly include attractive women as they are more pleasant to look at therefore an audience will more likely want to watch the whole video.

There is some intersexual references such as when the female character tries to watch the television to take her mind of her break up she is bombarded by images and video’s of her ex partner. This promotes Lawson as a band as when she flicks through the TV channels, there is a video of them performing. This shows that the band are popular and are of high demand as audiences want to see them.