There are key concepts and features found within every different music video. These are the principles that music videos commonly follow in order to maintain strong structure and direction. Andrew Goodwin's theories can be used to analyse various different music videos and to identify whether the music video is performance based, have narrative as its prominence or is strongly based on concept.
Relation of visuals to the song
In all music videos, there are relations between the song lyrics and the visuals of the music video. There can either be positive correlation between the aspects of the music video and the song lyrics or the two factors are inversely related. The breakdown of music videos can be found with three different styles, these are;
- Illustrative
- Amplified
- Disjuncture
Illustrative
Music videos can utilize a concoction of images and pictures to portray the meaning behind the lyrics of the song and also help identify with the genre of music. It is often found that this is the most commonly used style within music videos where there are scenarios repeated accompanied with subtle meanings and then bold and outstanding images; when these three match up together in the video, it provides the audience with a sense of the story line in the video, however, leaves space for the audience to fill in the gaps and have their own interpretation of the music.
Amplified
Amplified narrative places emphasis on repeatability. The narrative of a music video should not conform to normal narrative of the film and it should often be left to the audience to finalise a judgement to what happens within the video after the end and they have the ability to finalise the story. This form of narrative within a music video engages the audience and keeps them riveted with the content of the music video where they are keenly interested in find out what is going to happen next or arriving at their own conclusions.
Disjuncture
This is when the lyrics to the song have no relation to the content of the music video and the relationship between the two are inversely proportionate. This contrast of song and video engages the audience in a different way than illustrative or disjuncture where they are engaged by the content of the video as much as the lyrics of the song and see these two diametrically opposed factors cultivate a sense of randomness and uniqueness. This furthermore means that the music video becomes memorable and the audience are captured by the video.
Narrative and performance
Goodwin identifies that in music videos we do not tend to get the whole narrative but are subject to make our own interpretation of the content within the media texts. Goodwin stresses how important it is for music videos to avoid common narrative as it works for them in the advertising of the music video. Music videos should have coherent repeatability, this is where the narrative and the performance within the video interlink and therefore the audience are open to keep watching the video and not lose interest. Where the artist acts as both a narrator and participant helps create to cultivate the authenticity of the music video however the lip synch and other mimed actions remain at the heart of the music video. It is mandatory for the audience to believe that this is real to determine the success and popularity of the music video.
What makes a memorable music video
Amplified
Amplified narrative places emphasis on repeatability. The narrative of a music video should not conform to normal narrative of the film and it should often be left to the audience to finalise a judgement to what happens within the video after the end and they have the ability to finalise the story. This form of narrative within a music video engages the audience and keeps them riveted with the content of the music video where they are keenly interested in find out what is going to happen next or arriving at their own conclusions.
Disjuncture
This is when the lyrics to the song have no relation to the content of the music video and the relationship between the two are inversely proportionate. This contrast of song and video engages the audience in a different way than illustrative or disjuncture where they are engaged by the content of the video as much as the lyrics of the song and see these two diametrically opposed factors cultivate a sense of randomness and uniqueness. This furthermore means that the music video becomes memorable and the audience are captured by the video.
Narrative and performance
Goodwin identifies that in music videos we do not tend to get the whole narrative but are subject to make our own interpretation of the content within the media texts. Goodwin stresses how important it is for music videos to avoid common narrative as it works for them in the advertising of the music video. Music videos should have coherent repeatability, this is where the narrative and the performance within the video interlink and therefore the audience are open to keep watching the video and not lose interest. Where the artist acts as both a narrator and participant helps create to cultivate the authenticity of the music video however the lip synch and other mimed actions remain at the heart of the music video. It is mandatory for the audience to believe that this is real to determine the success and popularity of the music video.
What makes a memorable music video
Both videos are memorable and show that the artist has made a statement and created a unique selling point. The artists and record labels that create these unique selling points within their videos often become subject to parodies or intertextuality in music videos and media sources to follow on from that. This means that the theme of the video is repeated throughout the music video and is recognised by the consumers and audience as stemming from the original source.
The process of making a music video
The process of making a music video consists of different contributing factors;
- A commissioner from a record label sends a track to 5 or 10 directors
- Each director sends back a treatment
- At this stage, the director is not paid for submitting their treatment.
- The director who has submitted the best treatment then gets employed to make a video for the song
A historical outlook
Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody - 1975 - Dir Bruce Gower
Really have an impact on sales - after the video release the song it soon catapulted to number 1. It is regarded as a work of art in its own right. It is an archetypal type of music video that is soon to be followed by many parodies and pastiche works.
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