Goodwin's Conventions of Music Videos

Music Videos in Relation to Andrew Goodwin’s Theory

The first video I analysed was ‘Make me wanna die’ by the rock band, The Pretty Reckless. This coincided very well with Andrew Goodwin’s theory, as it opens with the band playing their instruments; a feature Goodwin states is “a typical characteristic” of the rock genre. This genre is also made explicitly clear throughout the video by the dark lighting, used to cast dark silhouettes, and the use of flames as a representation for the anger the singer is feeling.  As aggression is also iconic, in Goodwin’s eyes, as part of the rock genre, it was clearly important to the band that they provided a visual representation of this anger, in this case in the form of flames.  Goodwin’s theory also states that all music videos often use intertextual references, which is again evident in this video.  This reference is created by the character of a young girl, costumed in a long red hood.  This is most likely a reference to the story of Red Riding Hood and is within the video to make it appear like a dark fairy-tale, and to represent the corruption of innocence.   Finally, the video also uses “voyeuristic treatment of the female body” in order to attract attention.  This is created by the lead singer stripping as she holds eye contact with the viewer. However, rather than appearing oppressed by this, the singer looks as if she has control and her stripping loses it's sexual feel as it is understood by viewers this is meant to be the singer revealing her soul, not her body,

The above mentioned girl dressed in a red hood.  In my opinion this is meant to represent corrupted innocence as a beloved fairy tale character has been forced to beg in a dark alley.

The lead singer stripping in a graveyard as she sings at a camera. Although a voyeuristic aspect, the singer appears in control and she is not stripping to be sexualized, but rather to reveal her soul.

The second video was also of the rock genre, a song named ‘Centuries’ by the band Fall Out Boy. However, this is a different variation of Rock and comes under the genre of ‘pop rock’ and therefore has different characteristics to my first video.  The video does contain intertextual references, mainly to Christianity and legends, in order to state that the singers want to be known for ‘Centuries’ like these tales.  However, unlike the first video the band is not playing their music and there is very little voyeurism within the video.  On the other hand, the band does use music and visuals, such as a change in tempo and a sudden movement or action, in order to keep other features of music videos evident.

This shot shows a giant gladiator being beaten by the band using a sling and stone. This is an intertextual reference to the tale of David and Goliath: "when David hurls a stone from his sling with all his might and hits Goliath in the centre of his forehead, Goliath falls on his face to the ground, and David cuts off his head." This is a biblical tale which has been known for "Centuries" and is a visual indicator that the band wants to be known for as long as this tale.

The final video was by Ed Sheeran, ‘Give me Love’ and was of the indie pop genre. Due to this genre, we are not expecting to see a band or people singing but we may expect to see people dancing in time with the tune.  This appears later in the video where the main character enters a club and appears to be listening to the song, rather than it narrating her life like before.  This music video also uses a lot of voyeurism but in a more subtle, less sexualized way.  For example, the first shot is of an attractive girl alone in her bedroom but she appears forlorn and miserable.  Then, throughout the video we are granted with midshots and close ups of people kissing.  However, these shots are used to show a connection between people and not just sexual intimacy and to represent what the main character, the forlorn girl, does not have.  The lyrics and the visuals are also key to representing this, for example “Give me love” is a shot of two people kissing which then cuts to the main girl.  This makes it clear to viewers that it is her who needs love and not the two we see already enjoying it. 

A long shot of the attractive protagonist sitting alone and miserable in her bedroom. The misery and loneliness on face means this shot is not voyeuristic like it could be, but instead puts the viewer at a level shot with the protagonist so they can feel sympathy for her.