Goodwin's Theory

Andrew Goodwin came up with a theory to analyse music videos. The key features of this are;

- There is a relationship between the music and the visuals(with visuals either illuminating, amplifying or contradicting the music). The editing might match the pace of the tempo of the music.

- A particular music genre may have their own music video style and iconography (such as live stage performances in heavy rock for example).

- There is a demand on the part of the record company for lots of closeups of the main artist/vocalist.

- The artist may develop their own star iconography, in and out of their videos, which over time becomes part of their star image e.g. Lady Gaga.

- There is likely to be a reference to voyeurism, particularly in the treatment of women but also in terms of systems of looking. (*Voyeurism = screens within screens, cameras etc. Watching something from the outside and enjoying it)

- There are likely to be inter textual references, either to other music videos or to films and TV texts.

* inter textual- a text referencing another text e.g. referring to a film in a music video.

* iconography- e.g. Indie - performance, guitars, band members.
Pop - narrative, dancing, glamour, quirky, bright.
Hip hop- money, cars, bling, women
R&;B- darker colour setting, narrative, relationship between male and female character, glamour.