Research into Andrew Goodwin's Theory

I researched into the theory of Andrew Goodwin which states 6 key features which music videos contain. This would benefit my music video because I will require to fulfil most of these in order for it to be successful and look professional.
According to Goodwin's theory the six features included in music videos are:
1. Generic characteristics
2. Relationship between lyrics and visuals
3. Relationship between music and visuals
4. Focus on artist and unique visual style
5. Notion of looking
6. Inter textual references

Generic characteristics
By this he means based on the genre of music the video will include particular features which will define it as that genre of music, such as rock videos using live stage performances and shots of instruments or rap videos including objectified women, money and fast cars. An example of this in a music video would be with My Chemical Romance's 'Famous Last Words'  which has a rock genre. The music video shows this by the artists wearing dark makeup and costumes, live performance and low key lighting.

Relationship between lyrics and visuals
This describes the song's lyrics as being followed by what appears in the music video. For example in Macklemore's video for 'Thrift Shop' throughout the whole video the artist follows this rule firstly at the start when he says "Walk into the club" as he is walking into a club, followed by "dressed in all pink 'cept my gator shoes, those are green" whilst pointing at his shoes and wearing pink clothing and so on for the rest of the video.

Relationship between music and videos
For this Goodwin relates what happens in the video with the tone and atmosphere of the song either illustratively, amplifying or contradicting. This can be seen often in Enrique Iglesia's video for 'Bailando' in which there are many shots of people kicking a football at the rhythm of the music and at some points also clapping their hands. This helps amplify the beat to seem more effective.


Focus on artist and unique visual style
This states various artists focus most of the video's attention towards them as the centre of attention using a larger variety of shots of them and shot compositions that make them more noticeable. As well as this there is a clear style used in the video which follows a trend personal to that artist that most of their other videos follow. An interesting example is Skrillex who instead of featuring himself as the centre of attention often doesn't include himself in his music videos uses children as the protagonists of his music videos, such as 'Bangarang', 'Make It Bun Dem' and 'First Of The Year'.
Notion of looking
This relates to voyeurism and the sense looking at the characters in the video. Laura Mulvey's male gaze theory is often used in this sense to represent the generic conventions for the video, e.g. a Rap objectifying women. This can be seen in the video for 'Gold Digger' by Kanye West which

Inter textual references
Here Goodwin talks about the video including references from other music videos or from a different form of media. Robbie William uses this clearly at the end of 'You Know Me''s music video where he replaces the Lion from the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer logo
with a rabbit.