Andrew Goodwin’s Music Video Conventions

Relationship between the visuals and the lyrics.• Goodwin has three different ideas based around the relation between the music video and the music itself which are:

illustrating, contradicting or amplifying.

• A contradiction between visuals and music is highlighted by Jessie J’s song ‘Price Tag’. The song repeats the lyrics “its not about the money” and focuses on life not being judged me wealth and materialism. However, the visuals contradict this idea as Jessie J is seen dancing under a tree made of money and appears to be somewhat embracing the money instead of excusing it which is what her lyrics imply.

• An example of amplifying is shown through T-Pain’s song ‘Buy U A Drink’. The song is based around T-Pain and his friends spending all their money on girls and specifically drinks. The video is set in a bar, where, as assumed, T-Pain is buying multiple drinks for the girls surrounding him in the club/bar.

• The illustrative theory is shown clearly in the song ‘All of The Lights’ by Kanye West ft. Rihanna. For a major part of the song, the lyrics flash up on screen as they are being rapped/sung.

Relationship between the visuals and the music.• Similarly to the relationship between the visuals and the lyrics of a music video, the relationship between the visuals and

the music focuses on the same three areas of contradicting, amplifying or illustrating.

• The music video for Foo Fighters ‘The Pretender’ highlights the amplification of the visuals and music. As the beat is about to drop, the enemy (riot police) of the protagonist(s) (The Foo Fighters) charge towards the band ready to attack. Suddenly, the beat drops and a red wave, representing the music, slams toward the riot police disorientating them and disenabling them to charge toward the protagonist(s).

Different music genre’s have their own music video style and iconography• Rap and Hip-Hop usually has the video style with quick paced editing skills. As most rap music is fast tempo and relies on its bass there is a lot of opportunity’s to

edit. Additionally, rap/hiphip-hop music videos are often concept based with elements of performance. This genre focuses on wealth and fashion; examples include Rick Ross – ‘Diced Pineapples’ and A$AP Rocky ‘Fashion Killa’ where Ross shows off a yacht and expensive home and Rocky conveys a fashionable approach through his clothing and lyrics.

• Pop videos usually consist of dance routines and fantasy based videos such as Katy Perry’s ‘California Girls’. There is usually a mixture between concept and performance with pop music.

• Rock/Indie music revolves mainly around performance with hints of narrative and concept. Foo Fighters’ video ‘The Pretender’ shows them performing for the most part of the video with the concept on riot police trying to stop them performing and making noise. Also, The Script ‘ We Cry’ is majorly scenes of performance with a concept of the world falling apart.

• R&B songs are usually concept based with performance incorporated into the concept scenes. An example is ‘Recognise’ by PARTYNEXTDOOR ft. Drake as it shows the concept of the video with them singing the lyrics at the same time.

• Many artists have an iconic image or sound that they incorporate into their music videos. Such examples include Rick Ross’ trademark “Uh” sound included in each of his songs. In addition, The Weeknd’s hairstyle has became a very important part of his image as a unique artist as it is something no-one is noted to have. Furthermore, Lady Gaga is noted for her crazy and stand-out dress sense which has become something to expect when you see a Lady Gaga music video.

Intertextual Features• Intertextual features in music videos are scenes are features that refer to things such as movies, books, television etc.

• Many rappers include intertextual references in their lyrics through the use of metaphorical and creative language.

• In terms of visuals, many music videos have been created based upon movies, such as Take That – ‘Rule The World’ which is based on the movie ‘Stardust’.

• Other examples includes Eminem’s song ‘Without Me’ where the whole video is based upon the comic characters Batman and Robin.

• Also, in Drake’s song ‘Own It’, he makes a reference to popular chat show Maury.

Voyeurism in music videos

• Voyeurism in music videos relates to parts of the video that we shouldn’t be able to see. Usually, voyeurism is associated with sexual scenes and often appears in female music videos. Examples include Rihanna’s ‘Stay’ where she is naked in the bath; we as the viewer aren’t supposed to see her and she is unaware of us seeing her which adds toward the mystery of the video. As we are watching the artist in a private moment, we are understanding their true identity and discovering how they act when they think that no-one is looking.

• Also in Robin Thicke’s ‘Blurred Lines’, the women are portrayed as sexual objects through the positioning of themselves as well as the camera angle.