Goodwin's Music Video Analysis
Andrew Goodwin's music video theory is taken from his 1992 book Dancing In The Distraction Factory, and the six points outlined above will be the basis of the conventions that will be applied to my music video in order to understand how similar it is to other music videos as a whole, and as a product of a genre.
Music Video Analysis
Maximo Park - Our Velocity
I decided to use Goodwin's theory in order to analyse the music video for one of my favourite songs by one of my favourite bands - Maximo Park's song, Our Velocity. Below is a powerpoint showing my analysis of the video above.
Genre Characteristics
In order to fully understand Goodwin's ideas, I felt it would be necessary to identify what is meant by genre characteristics. In order to do this, I took three music video's from the same genre - for this task, I chose the female-pop genre - and analysed them in order to identify some characteristics that the videos shared.
Britney Spears - Till The World Ends
Beyoncé - Run The World (Girls)
Lady Gaga [ft. Beyoncé] - Telephone
When looking at these
three videos, it is very easy to see the links that emerge between them. The
three main links I found emphasis I found were:
- There is always a strong connection between message of the song and video, not directly the lyrics. In Till The World Ends the end of the world is demonstrated by the text the opens the video – the 21st December 2012, when the underground party is being held in the video, is the date which the world is apparently supposed to end in accordance with the Mayan calendar, highlighted in popular culture by the film 2012. In Telephone, the constant reference to telephones, and the murder of the husband is reflective of the songs message of stressful and pressuring relationships. And in Run The World the message of women being the more powerful gender is demonstrated by the female-dominated society that is portrayed.
- There is a prominent use of dance routines. All of the videos use commercial jazz routines at various points in the video, yet all the routines are stylised in order to suit the artist. For example, while the routine in Till The World Ends is very conventional commercial jazz, the choreography Run The World has elements of Fosse stylisation prominent in most of Beyoncé’s newer songs, such as Single Ladies. Also, Lady Gaga maintains here individual style through her routine’s, which involve many elements of couture street dance.
- Even whilst all the artists are female, the voyeuristic treatment of women clearly features. The dance routines, particularly in Run The World and Till The World Ends involve voyeuristic choreography, and the same can be said of all the videos in terms of the costuming, with often skin-tight or in some way revealing clothing.
Todorov's Narrative Theory
A common characteristic of most - if not all - music videos is the narrative within them. The narrative often stems from the lyrics, and can be adapted directly from the words or from overall themes and messages that the song is trying to get across. In order to understand the creation of narrative, I looked at what I felt was the most important narrative theory, Tzvetan Todorov's. Todorov suggests that every narrative progress through the following five stages:
- A state of equilibrium.
- A disruption of the equilibrium.
- A recognition of the disruption of the equilibrium.
- An attempt to repair the disruption.
- A reinstatement of the equilibrium.
This theory will be used to shape the narrative of my music video, in order to make it as easy to follow as possible.
Music Industry
"The music industry or music business sells compositions, recordings and performances of music. Among the many individuals and organizations that operate within the industry are: the musicians who compose and perform the music; the companies and professionals who create and sell recorded music (e.g., music publishers, producers, studios, engineers, record labels, retail and online music stores, performance rights organizations); those that present live music performances (booking agents, promoters, music venues, road crew); professionals who assist musicians with their music careers (talent managers, business managers, entertainment lawyers); those who broadcast music (satellite and broadcast radio); journalists; educators; musical instrument manufacturers; as well as many others."
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The music industry has grown hugely of the last twenty years, and the number of people working at various levels has also grown hugely, with several people now working on one song, rather than just one singer-songwriter.
However, the Internet has allowed the growth of small, independent songwriters to emerge and have great success, with the biggest platforms being Youtube and iTunes for videos and MP3 files respectively. The audience as a result has shifted, making people of all ages have easy accessibility to a wide variety of music, yet the ability to look specifically for the things they love.
However, even with these platforms, three major labels make up the majority of the music industry, and control what reaches the audience through major stores, such as HMV, and they are:
Warner Music Group
Sony Music
UMG (Universal Music Group)
