Andrew Goodwin key features of music video

Andrew Goodwin in dancing in the distraction factory has identified numerous key features within modern music videos. Within this post I will analyse each of these features and determine whether they hold true in today's society.

Music videos often demonstrate specific characteristics within their specific genre ( For example, Metal videos often display the band performing on stage.)

The first example I will use, displayed below is by Iron maiden, performing "The number of the beast" Followed by  Korean group performing their hit song, " I GOT A BOY"

To expand on what I have said above, Iron maiden can be seen dressed in the stereotypical Metal band attire, rather than normal clothing that you'd see on an average person, they have instead opted for leather jackets, and clothing that makes them seem more "Metal" Their theme is generally quite dark to work in contrast to the song, which is rather upbeat, rather than dark and depressing.

Girls Generation on the other hand are displaying very severe characteristics for their genre, wearing very colourful clothing that works well with the song, whilst also using the females natural sex appeal.

There is generally always a contrast between the lyrics and the music video, which can be seen within the above examples.

My next example is Daniel Powters "Bad Day"
This video is generally more story driven, showing a man and woman getting on with their boring 9-5 work day, whilst powter pops in every so often. The video works well with the lyrics as the story is made specifically to suit what is being sung at the time. The video displays the male character taking the lead, however the song does try to promote industry equality, there are some bias' that can be seen.




The next example is Adele-Rolling in the Deep.

The demands of the record label at this point will often include the desire for a multitude of camera angles, mostly close-ups of the artist. This can be seen clearly with Michael Jackson and Katy Perry, which will be mentioned in other posts.

As seen with the earlier example of the korean pop, which is a clear example of voyeuristic choreography. This is seen as the dance is often put together in a way that attracts the male gaze.

there is often inter sexual reference within most music videos. This is when a video by a specific group or artist references different texts. This is generally other music video's, It is not always limited to music video's, as video games and films are often sometimes used.

Above is an example of this, as the Red Hot Chili Peppers use a video game as their reference.

Suturing.

Suturing is the term used when describing how the audience is drawn into film. Suturing is done within Classical Hollywood by using narrative, editing, sound and mise-en-scené. The aim of this is to direct the audiences emotions towards a certain event within a fil.m

The movie Crash is a clear demonstration as we are drawn into knowing what is going to happen to the daughter in the clip but still feel emotionally connected when we believe she is shot. The idea of this is to entice the audience into the film ensuring that they continue watching.

According to the theories, the audience stitches itself into a film, hence the name sutures. We then relate the movies characters and/or world views expressed within the film and convert them into our own imagination with the use of the temporal and spatial gaps within the film.

The history of pop music

All the way back to the 40's where pop began, we had Bill Cosby, however it was very different back then to how it is now. Originally it'd be very specific and there wasn't a thing of music videos, that's why originally to see Bing Cosby perform you'd have to watch him in a film or on television.

From there we reach the early 50's, this is where we got introduced to Frank sinatra, he was very similar to Bing, however he also did Concerts, which was his only difference to Bing.

In the late 50's this is where Elvis became a thing, he was the first differentiation from the normal popstar, suiting the more rebellious group, however he only toured in America so any fans outside of America would have to buy his films.

This then lead into the beatles, they were the ultimate group, breaking many chart records and Television records, sometimes on a weekly basis, they were also the very first group to make a Music Video, as they were bored of screaming girls.