Research: Andrew Goodwin's 6 Features of Music Videos

Andrew Goodwin released a book called 'Dancing In The Distractions Factory' which features a theory suggesting which features and characteristics that can be found in music videos:

These are:

1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics.
(e.g. stage performance in metal videos, dance routine for boy/girl band, aspiration in Hip Hop). 

2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. The lyrics are represented with images.
(either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

3. There is a relationship between music and visuals. The tone and atmosphere of the visual reflects that of the music.
(either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

4. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style).

5. There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, mirrors, stages, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

6. There are often intertextual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc).

EXTENSION: MY VIEW ON DANCING IN THE DISTRACTION FACTORY

Reading parts of Andrew Goodwin's book 'Dancing In The Distraction Factory' has helped me realise the different stages of what makes a music video. Although some music video's do not follow the attributes created by Goodwin, most of the music video's I have watched do involve most of the 6 rules which apparently make a music video. I believe that those 6 rules really do help make a music video a music video and not a short film, a short film obviously follows a plot and a script however a music video uses lyrics, empathetic sound and a storyline to make an interesting video and also so it can match the music side of the video. 

I will now go through the 6 rules and analyse each of them and give some of my own personal examples...

1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics.
(e.g. stage performance in metal videos, dance routine for boy/girl band, aspiration in Hip Hop). 
The reason I believe that most music video's follow certain characteristics is because they want to attract an audience from that particular genre, for example if a band were making a music video for their rock-genre song, they would use such characteristics like blood, gore and just general crazy doings to show the audience what type of genre the band is and hopefully the audience would become interested.

2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. The lyrics are represented with images.
(either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).
Some music video's make sure that their lyrics are represented with images and actions, however other's don't. I believe that directors make sure that the visuals link in the lyrics so that the audience will be able to understand the lyrics more clearly, for example if there wasn't visuals to match the lyrics then some of the audience may not follow the lyrics as properly. Other directors choose not to link their visuals with the lyrics because they want to tell another story to try and reach out to the audience and make them interested in watching the music video.

3. There is a relationship between music and visuals. The tone and atmosphere of the visual reflects that of the music.
(either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).
Directors choose to make the visuals reflect the mood and atmosphere within the lyrics as it helps makes the music video link in with the lyrics well and the final product would look good. if the visuals didn't reflect the atmosphere of the lyrics, for example if the lyrics were quite depressing and the visuals were upbeat, then it wouldn't look good at all, however if the lyrics were depressing and the visuals were also telling a depressing story then it would make much more sense to the audience. 

4. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style).
The use of close-ups and frequent shots of the artist help the audience understand who is the artist and what they look like, it also helps develop motifs within the artist, for example if in the music video the artist was wearing some sort of stand-out items of clothing the directors may choose to keep showing the artist to help build up a motive of the artist wearing out-going clothing which can be used in other music video's which can help with stuff such as popularity and sales in that piece of clothing etc. 

5. There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, mirrors, stages, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.
Directors in their work always look for ways to make their piece of work stand out to different people, the use of Voyeurism is a very common way of gaining more interest from a male perspective, for example if in the music video there were women who were acting in a seducing fashion then men would want to watch it, therefore gaining more interest in the music video and the artist.

6. There are often intertextual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc).
Directors would try and link their music video's into other media references such as tv programmes or other music video's to try and spark more interest in their music video, for example if a music video linked their visuals with a popular tv show then the music video would gain interest from anyone who was interested in that particular tv show.