VIDEO ESSAY – ANDREW GOODWIN'S

RULESBy Tatum Evans

ANDREW GOODWIN’S RULES:1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (e.g. stage performance

in mental video, dance routine for boy/girl band)2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals (either illustrative,

amplifying, contradicting)3. There is a relationship between music and visuals (either illustrative,

amplifying, contradicting)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)

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

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

‘I WANT TO BREAK FREE’

The first music video which I am analysing is ‘I Want To Break Free’. ‘I Want To Break Free’ is a song by Queen, from their eleventh studio album (The Works). It was written by John Deacon, and directed by David Mallet.

"We had done some really serious, epic videos in the past, and we just thought we'd have some fun. We wanted people to know that we didn't take ourselves too seriously, that we could still laugh at ourselves. I think we proved that."

The genre is rock. Broad characteristics in the music video are the amount of energy from the band members and also the catchy hooks, such as the band dressing up as woman – which I well known.

The first scene is meant to be a take on the well known TV soap coronation street.

THERE IS A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LYRICS AND VISUALS (EITHER ILLUSTRATIVE, AMPLIFYING, CONTRADICTING)

The only relationship shown is at the beginning of the music video when the whole band is shown dressed as women and living in a suburb area with the use of establishing shots.

By being dressed as woman and doing house work as if wanting to break free from the work and wanting to be with the person they love. Other than this the other visuals do not relate to love or ‘wanting to break free’ – it is more performance based and a spectacle due to wither standing in a crowd and lip synching or wearing a skin colour all in one suit doing unusual movements.

THERE IS A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MUSIC AND VISUALS (EITHER ILLUSTRATIVE, AMPLIFYING, CONTRADICTING)

At the beginning of the music video the hoover is moving forwards and backwards at the same time as the beat of the music. A solo instrumental of an electric guitar is shown also with the hoover when Freddie Mercury pushes it far forward with the long strum of the guitar. As well as the hoover showing the beat of the song we can see another band member tapping his foot in time once it cuts to the kitchen. Around the 2.40 mins point of the music video the beat stops and the visuals change into a different cut of a new scene. This happens again at 3.50 mins.

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)

There are several close ups of the lead singer Freddie Mercury throughout of the whole music video. Also, the camera zooms in towards Freddie whilst he does big hand gestures, showing the audience that he doesn’t give a care but it makes them want to watch him. We are shown that Queen is a band who are normal and are having fun whilst making music videos, for example, they don’t care about dressing up as girls or making a spectacle with close ups of Freddie Mercury in skin colour clothing.

THERE IS FREQUENTLY REFERENCE TO NOTION OF LOOKING (SCREENS WITHIN SCREENS, TELESCOPES, ETC) AND PARTICULARLY VOYEURISTIC TREATMENT OF THE FEMALE BODY

There are several moments where band members are making eye contact with the camera, as if they are singing to the audience. An example of this is when there is a high angle shot of Freddie Mercury looking up towards the camera. Also, at 2.48 mins we are shown a man dragging two women across the floor in revealing clothing and see them in slow motion flinging their head back.

THERE IS OFTEN INTERTEXTUAL REFERENCE (TO FILMS, TV PROGRAMMES, OTHER MUSIC VIDEOS ETC)

PERFORMANCE-BASED? NARRATIVE-BASED? CONCEPT-BASED? This music video of Queen is the majority a performance-based music video. This is due to Freddie Mercury lip synching towards the camera. However, the scenes in the music videos of the suburb household also shows narrative of four women living together doing everyday stereotypical woman activities (cleaning, reading the newspaper).

CONCLUSION The lyrics of ‘I want to break free’ are generally about love. However, in this music video we do not see any focus of love between two people. We see men dressed as woman doing chores, men singing in a crowd and some spectacle dancing and costumes.

‘MAMA SAID’ This music video is of the song ‘Mama said’.

It was written by Lukas Graham – in which this music video was filmed on where he grew up.

The song was written by Lukas Forchhammer, Morten Ristorp, Stefan Forrest, and Morten "Pilo" Pilegaard.

The song was released as a digital download on 23 June 2014 through Copenhagen Records

This music genre is pop.The broad characteristics of pop shown in the music video is that it is dance orientated, the artist dominates the video and it is energetic.

THERE IS A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LYRICS AND VISUALS (EITHER ILLUSTRATIVE, AMPLIFYING, CONTRADICTING) In the first verse we hear the lyrics , “We never really went buying clothesFolks were passing on this stuff in plenty loads”. At this point we see Lukas Graham walking around his old home showing that it’s a poor area and the clothing the locals are wearing are ripped and not valuable. Once the second verse starts playing Lukas Graham is talking about Hollywood. At this point the visuals change from his home to working in the studio with producers and being on stage singing to thousands of people.

THERE IS A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MUSIC AND VISUALS (EITHER ILLUSTRATIVE, AMPLIFYING, CONTRADICTING) The visuals cut to a different take on the environment as the beat sounds. For example, the start of the music video its giving establishing shots of Christiania (Lukas Grahams home) and every time the beat sounds a new visual is cut to. As the beat quickens when it comes to each chorus the visuals normally last for either one or two beats, but still cutting on time.

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) Throughout the duration of the music video there are lots of close ups of Lukas Graham. As well as close ups there are long shots of Lukas Graham and his band behind him whilst being on stage. These demands are allowing us to see Lukas Graham as a genuine person who cares about the unfortunate.

THERE IS FREQUENTLY REFERENCE TO NOTION OF LOOKING (SCREENS WITHIN SCREENS, TELESCOPES, ETC) AND PARTICULARLY VOYEURISTIC TREATMENT OF THE FEMALE BODY In this music video there is no notion of looking or voyeuristic treatment of the female body, other than close to the end where we see all the children recording their vocals on the other side of the glass window. By having no voyeuristic treatment of the female body it shows that this song is serious and meaningful.

THERE IS OFTEN INTERTEXTUAL REFERENCE (TO FILMS, TV PROGRAMMES, OTHER MUSIC VIDEOS ETC)

PERFORMANCE-BASED? NARRATIVE-BASED? CONCEPT-BASED? This music video was mainly concept-based. It told us about Lukas Grahams upbringing and how it was quite hard but he managed. It gave us an insight onto poorer parts of the world. There was some performance based in the music video as well, like when we saw long shots and close ups of him singing on stage and in the studio. We were also shown shots of the children who recorded ‘Mama Said’ with Lukas Graham through the studio window.

CONCLUSION Altogether, Lukas Graham is getting across the fact that no matter where you were brought up you can still achieve your dreams. He sings, “The older kids they started bugging me, But now they're all standing right in front of me”.

It tells us that most children from poor areas have little belief that they can make a good carer in life.

‘STRONGER’ My final music video I am analysing is ‘Stronger’. This song was written by Kanye West, released as the second single from his third studio album, Graduation (2007).

The genre of this song is rap. The broad characteristics shown are that the artists are shown as dominant (mainly through low angle shots and the editing of music videos are blurred vision.

The music video was directed by Hype Williams.

‘Stronger’ was shot guerrilla-style over nine days in Tokyo, Japan.

‘Kanye almost had a brain aneurysm, editing this video for three months. Literally, 10 weeks of editing going back in. Then he still was not satisfied, so he shot more footage in New York. [...] Kanye put everything else on halt. He was in the editing suite till 4 or 5 in the morning. He went way over budget editing, sitting in them expensive editing suites. He kept going — and not only kept going, but he wanted to shoot more footage.’

THERE IS A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LYRICS AND VISUALS (EITHER ILLUSTRATIVE, AMPLIFYING, CONTRADICTING)

The lyrics match the visuals in the part where the images of past protests have taken place. This is showing that the lyrics ‘Stronger’ are implying that these protests are powerful and the people in it are strong by making a difference. They are also shown with police uniform on which shows their authority. We see in the music video that Kanye is strapped up to machines which are being handled by robots. Shows that the machine could be making him ‘Stronger’.

THERE IS A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MUSIC AND VISUALS (EITHER ILLUSTRATIVE, AMPLIFYING, CONTRADICTING) Like the other two music videos I have analysed the visuals cut to the beat of the music, even if the visual holds for more than one beat. For example at 0.22 mins the beat stops which means the visual of the robots stays on the frame for longer and then changes when the beat comes back.

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 whole duration of Kanye West’s music video there are close ups and medium shots of him singing to the camera. The audience are shown Kanye as a singer who's passionate about his music but is also a bit of a gangster due to his baggy clothing and chains.

THERE IS FREQUENTLY REFERENCE TO NOTION OF LOOKING (SCREENS WITHIN SCREENS, TELESCOPES, ETC) AND PARTICULARLY VOYEURISTIC TREATMENT OF THE FEMALE BODY Kanye West is always somehow including the audience in his music video by looking up towards the camera lens and creating eye contact. There is shallow focus when Kanye is singing towards the floor. In some parts of the music video there are females wearing little clothing and have a lot of make up on. They are also shown doing sexualised dancing.

THERE IS OFTEN INTERTEXTUAL REFERENCE (TO FILMS, TV PROGRAMMES, OTHER MUSIC VIDEOS ETC)

PERFORMANCE-BASED? NARRATIVE-BASED? CONCEPT-BASED? Kanye is being put through a machine controlled by robots. This can be concept-based by showing that the future is going to be controlled by others unless we become more powerful. We see Kanye do this when he comes out of the medical room and takes down the guards coming towards him. There is also performance in this due to seeing Kanye have close ups of him singing to the camera. For example, when we see Kanye in clear colour and black and white everywhere else on the frame singing the words “That's how long I been on ya”.

CONCLUSION The ‘Stronger’ music video has some contrasting scenes in the music video. At one point we see machinery and Kanye West lying still with gloomy colours, and on the other we are shown a tracking shot of bright colourful signs on buildings.