Andrew Goodwin theory on music videos
Every genre of music videos such as metal, pop and rap vary in characteristics as they all have their own unique sets of codes and conventions. Metal is a genre best known for being one of the most intense and hardcore music genres, sometimes associated with satanic groups, its fan base consist mainly of middle aged men which would require the codes and conventions to be much different in contrast to pop for example. Pop is a much more unisex and is more 'mainstream' being one of the most popular music genres currently, pops codes and conventions are directed more at people of all ages and are less intense. an example of genre characteristics would be 'Congratulations' by Post Malone, the begging shots, only 25 seconds in and you can see smoke coming form the actors involved with bottles scattered across the room,however its the conventions for rap very well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SC4xMk98Pdc <<< Post Malone Song 'Congratulations'
Relationship between lyrics and visuals
Goodwin suggested that there is a link between the visuals of a music video and the lyrics behind it, this can be shown through many modern music videos that are narrative and performance based and sometimes but not often concept videos. this is done to reinforce the lyrics and make them seem more impact full to the viewer. A good example of this would be Riptide by Vance Joy, in this music video, every individual lyric is shown visually to go along with it, this tells the story better and makes the lyrics much more memorable, for example the firs lyric, "I was scared of dentists and the dark" imitatively shows these too things.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJWJE0x7T4Q <<< Peter Gabriel 'sledge hammer'
Relationship between music and visuals
The relationship between the music and visuals are made so that it makes the music seem more impactful too, in a performance based video, if instruments are being played it gives more background for the music and makes it look more real. an example of this would be Charlie puths 'Marvin gay and get it on'. in this video you can see the use of instruments from start to end.
The demands of the record label
this title refers to the need for close ups of artists connected to large record labels, this is done for multiple reasons, firstly its done so the artist can become better recognized and to show that you're watching a popular artist, it is also often done to show the attractiveness of the artist which brings in peoples attention too. this is to make the visual style of the music video and music artist better, this in turn gives the artist a motif, for example Bruno mars has developed a motif for always wearing fancy cloths with chains and often sunglasses, this is perfectly shown in multiple music videos by Bruno mars such as '24k magic' 'Thats what I like' and 'Uptown funk'.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMivT7MJ41M <<< 'Thats what I like'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqyT8IEBkvY <<< '24k magic'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPf0YbXqDm0 <<< 'Uptown funk'
This could also be related to the notion of looking, by this, I mean, record labels often like to zoom in and do close ups of the artists because of the notion of looking. This is backed up because most artists associated with large music labels are also attractive. For example, Beyonce, Taylor Swift and Drake. they are often seen wearing the latest fashion outfits and the women are often seen wearing top end makeup applied by professionals. As you can see this photo of Beyonce who is portrayed to be a singer and creator, also passes for being a runway model, which is not a coincidence.
Intertexual references
Artists who are partnered with Sonys music company usually use their music videos to show some intertexual references, this is because Sony is not only a music company but also is large in technology and film. for example, when the James Bond film 'skyfall' was released at the end of 2012, they chose the theme song to be written and sang by a artist associated with Sony which was Adele at the time. the music video for the song showed clips from this film which also worked as advertisement for the song and the movie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6WIgKu1uJY <<< clip form Skyfall movie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeumyOzKqgI<<< Adele music video.
Male gaze theory / Laura Mulvey
The male gaze occurs when the audience is put into the perspective of a heterosexual man. this can be seen when the camera pans across the a women who is usually seen as attractive, this entices the male audience In feminist philosophy, the male gaze is the way in which the visual arts and literature depict the world and women from a masculine point of view, presenting women as objects of male pleasure. The phrase male gaze was coined in 1975. an example of this is in robin thick blurred lines, this is one music video that caused alot of controversial topics, the content of this music video had lyrics that matched the visuals, the lyrics talked about women and made them seem more like objects than human, this got alot of back fire, however this got the song more attention and is one of the most viewed You tube videos to date. the lyrics "Baby, it's in your nature
Just let me liberate you
You don't need no papers
That man is not your mate
And that's why I'm gon' take you"
suggests a very dominating nature where only men have a say in who this particular women can be with, ignoring her morals, rights and option to choose, this one of the reasons why people got so upset over this popularity of this song. The first scene shows the main artist Robin Thicke in bed with one of the models used, the next scene is of them wrapped around each other, this is supposed to represent sex, the lyrics make it seem like it was partially forced upon, however, the women in this video who are sang about seem very happy and cooperative with the 3 male artists, even though they are made out to be helpless and not capable to make their own decisions, this makes me think that these women are happy to be 'used' and showcased among the male artists.
The demands of the record label
this title refers to the need for close ups of artists connected to large record labels, this is done for multiple reasons, firstly its done so the artist can become better recognized and to show that you're watching a popular artist, it is also often done to show the attractiveness of the artist which brings in peoples attention too. this is to make the visual style of the music video and music artist better, this in turn gives the artist a motif, for example Bruno mars has developed a motif for always wearing fancy cloths with chains and often sunglasses, this is perfectly shown in multiple music videos by Bruno mars such as '24k magic' 'Thats what I like' and 'Uptown funk'.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMivT7MJ41M <<< 'Thats what I like'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqyT8IEBkvY <<< '24k magic'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPf0YbXqDm0 <<< 'Uptown funk'
This could also be related to the notion of looking, by this, I mean, record labels often like to zoom in and do close ups of the artists because of the notion of looking. This is backed up because most artists associated with large music labels are also attractive. For example, Beyonce, Taylor Swift and Drake. they are often seen wearing the latest fashion outfits and the women are often seen wearing top end makeup applied by professionals. As you can see this photo of Beyonce who is portrayed to be a singer and creator, also passes for being a runway model, which is not a coincidence.
Intertexual references
Artists who are partnered with Sonys music company usually use their music videos to show some intertexual references, this is because Sony is not only a music company but also is large in technology and film. for example, when the James Bond film 'skyfall' was released at the end of 2012, they chose the theme song to be written and sang by a artist associated with Sony which was Adele at the time. the music video for the song showed clips from this film which also worked as advertisement for the song and the movie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6WIgKu1uJY <<< clip form Skyfall movie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeumyOzKqgI<<< Adele music video.
Male gaze theory / Laura Mulvey
The male gaze occurs when the audience is put into the perspective of a heterosexual man. this can be seen when the camera pans across the a women who is usually seen as attractive, this entices the male audience In feminist philosophy, the male gaze is the way in which the visual arts and literature depict the world and women from a masculine point of view, presenting women as objects of male pleasure. The phrase male gaze was coined in 1975. an example of this is in robin thick blurred lines, this is one music video that caused alot of controversial topics, the content of this music video had lyrics that matched the visuals, the lyrics talked about women and made them seem more like objects than human, this got alot of back fire, however this got the song more attention and is one of the most viewed You tube videos to date. the lyrics "Baby, it's in your nature
Just let me liberate you
You don't need no papers
That man is not your mate
And that's why I'm gon' take you"
suggests a very dominating nature where only men have a say in who this particular women can be with, ignoring her morals, rights and option to choose, this one of the reasons why people got so upset over this popularity of this song. The first scene shows the main artist Robin Thicke in bed with one of the models used, the next scene is of them wrapped around each other, this is supposed to represent sex, the lyrics make it seem like it was partially forced upon, however, the women in this video who are sang about seem very happy and cooperative with the 3 male artists, even though they are made out to be helpless and not capable to make their own decisions, this makes me think that these women are happy to be 'used' and showcased among the male artists.
NJO - Good comments on Andrew Goodwin Christian. Your examples are also really good. Next step for you will be to complete some research on Laura Mulvey and male gaze theory.
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