Common features of a music video.

Goodwins theory- American boy-Estelle Ft. Kanye West

Goodwin's theory states that there are 8 key aspects to a music video, these are:
1.Links between lyrics and visuals
2.Links between music and visuals
3.Genre characteristics
4. Intertextual reference
5.Notion of looking
6.Voyeurism (direct gaze,others looking at the artist, insight into artists life, screens and mirrors)
7.Demands of the record label (representation of the artist)
8. Performance, narrative and concept based music video.

I believe Goodwin's theory is correct, from studying many music videos from a variety of genres all of these 8 points have been present. The reason for this is without these points a music video is not really enjoyable to watch, each point helps to keep the viewers satisfied. Some videos may present these features different but that does not mean they are not included. Furthermore without some of the points e.g.1,2 and 5 a music video would not really be easy to understand these features help for things such as brand identity and recognition of an artist. Without Goodwin's theory artists wouldn't be able to create visually pleasing and worth while watching videos.


Below I have applied Goodwin's theory to American boy by Estelle Ft. Kanye West.

Links between music and visuals-The theory suggests that the lyrics in a music video will refer to the visuals shown and reinforce to the audience what is going on, in American boy Estelle says " I really want to come kick it with you. You'll be my American boy" This refer to Estelle talking to Kanye West and the other men in the music video and her showing her feelings towards them about wanting to spend time with them.

Genre characteristics- American boy is a mixed genre of R&B and Rap as it is a collaboration between two artists, although there are two genres they can be put together well as they have similar traits. In the music video Estelle is seen to be wearing a figure hugging dress and looking glamorous which is a usual look for a women in these type of genre videos. Kanye West is dressed more casually in jeans a shirt although he has an over sized fur coat which is showing his wealth and a typical garment of a rapper.

Notion of looking- This can be exemplified in several ways, such as when Estelle is looking directly the camera giving an intimate feeling and allowing the audience to feel involved as we have her gaze. Likewise we see close ups of Kanye whispering in her ear where the camera fixes on this as it seems to be very romantic and sexual which catches the audiences attention.

Voyeurism (direct gaze,others looking at the artist, insight into artists life, screens and mirrors)-  As Estelle is the main singer in this song she is present through out, in addition she is the only female present as everyone is an attractive male- this can help entice female audiences. Estelle is shown to be wearing a short glamorous dress and at several points we see her dancing which shows of her body to the viewers, unlike the men shown in the video she is wearing the most revealing item of clothing compared to them who are covered up fully.

Performance, narrative and concept based music video- There is very little performance in the video as the lyrics are strong enough to amplify what is going on. There is no narrative throughout as the video is not following a story line it is solely the artist signing to the camera. Although Goodwin's theory suggests the need for a performance the video is very modern and uses a white background with only the artists shown in black in white which compliments in effectively and has a simplistic feel to it.

Genre research- Hip Hop

Our chosen genre for our music video is "Hip Hop". We have chosen this genre as we feel comfortable with the music and we can relate to the style which will help us to create a good music video.

Hip Hop is a genre of music which orientates back from the 70's in New York, it originates from a mixed African and Latino Community which we around in New York at the time. Hip Hop culture has 4 main elements, these are Rapping, DJing, Breaking and Graffiti. The reason Hip Hop began was due to DJ's isolating percussion break from funk or rock music so audiences could dance to it. Back when this first began MC's would speak before the beat of the music, telling jokes or phrases that rhymed this then became more stylized and was  known as rapping. In 1979 Hip Hop had become a popular genre that was widely recorded although the lyrics began to be an issue from their referencing to drugs, violence, sex and misogyny. Never the less the genre kept up its success and now is widely listened to as a mainstream genre. 

Here are some examples of Hip Hop artists and music videos:

Hip Hop is a huge industry with many artists competing against each other. There are stereotypical costumes and locutions used in this genre for their music videos, these are expensive designer outfits that are casual but involve jewellery or hats and locations either in wealthy homes, bedrooms containing sexy women who are usually in provocative clothing or graphically designed backgrounds.
Our music video will need to abide by this conventions of a typical hip hop music video, we need to chose an appropriate location which audiences will automatically guess the genre from watching, the cast will need to be dressed in casual clothes that are designer and have a casual look to them. Finally the editing can match the pace of the song and have a modern feel to it.

Star Image- Rihanna

Rihanna is a very popular artist her work can range from a variety of styles such as pop to R&B.
As Rihanna is well known she has the power to influence her fans by whats she says, wears and does. She is viewed as a provocative female who is confident to show her body in a sexual mannerism. Her style is very unique and outrageous this is portrayed by her clothes that she wears and designs for her  fashion label which is sold in the high street store River Island. The clothes are very bright and full of mismatching patterns and words which sum up her character such as "DIVA" . In addition the portrayal of her outlandish style is also shown through social media sites such as Instagram where she names her account "Badgalriri". This shows to her fans that she is a bad girl who loves to be wild and have fun, likewise her images also add to this showing her to be a a crazy party girl who knows how to have a good time.
In 2012 Rihanna was spotted arriving to her own concert on the tube, she wanted to be one of the first artists to do this as a way of being in contact with her fans and allowing them to feel on the same level as her, this was not really achieved as she was surrounded by body guards and security taking the idea of her being an ordinary person away as she was protected throughout her journey.

Party girl Rihanna.

Rihanna on the tube with security.

Provocative behavior shown as Rihanna
is posing covering her breasts.

Sexual poses giving of her wild style.

Rihanna's style is very outlandish and bold, a lot of other R&B artists do not portray themselves like this due to it not really matching the pace of their music. Moreover for our music video we won't be incorporating her mannerism too much  as it will not fit our chosen genre, we may take some factors such as her egotistic confidence and the positive portrail of women, although not to yr extent where it will come across as voyeurism.

This is sad video which shows her emotions and displays her body.

 One of Rihanna's most erotic videos because of the title.

In regards to our star image creation for our music video artist I have learnt a lot from the way she Rihanna has portrayed herself, her loud attitude and personality is recognisable not only by fans but by everyone which helps to amplify her name and increase her popularity, the attention she receives whether good or bad is still helping to publicise her. For our artist star image I want to create a person who is a little more low key but still recognised by everyone for his attitude and different way to approach music and music videos. His persona will be confident and shown in his unique style which will hopefully be seen as trend setting.

What is intertextuality?

The word "intertextuality" in the music industry means a way in which one media text is referenced to another likewise by using a known subject that is familiar to the audience watching so they can generate nostalgic feelings and new associations as it is referenced in the music video. The main three qualities of intertextuality in a music video are incorporating, raiding and reconstructing as this helps the audience to relate back to the known subject therefore enticing viewers. In music videos it can sometimes be used as a way of advertising.

An example of intertextuality in a music video is found in the song Paparazzi by Lady Gaga, the video features shots of newspaper headlines and narrative reference to fashion magazines by the artist herself. This referencing is understood by the groups of people who are interested in fashion, news, famous people and social topics. Moreover the video uses generic conventions of Hollywood films almost paying tribute to the iconic period of film making in the 60's, it is also portrayed in the use of classical titles.
Another one of Lady Gaga's music video's known as Telephone is said to be a continuation of Paparazzi, in this music video we see reference to Disney from the wearing of Mickey mouse glasses which are also worn in Paparazzi. Lady Gaga has purposely used intertextuality in her work to brand her self so that her creations can be seen within others work.

Intertextuality is used to help promote and popularize a product this is why it is mainly used in a well known artists video. In the video above Lady Gaga displays herself wearing the Mickey mouse ears, as she is very popular with a huge amount of fans this helps to promote Disney and get her fans interested in Disney products as she is wearing one of their items so her fans must too, helping to start a "trend".

Intertextuality can sometimes be used in the genre of Hip Hop although it may not be as noticeable as in other genres like Pop. For our music video we feel it is not necessary to use intertextuality in out video as we do not want it to draw attention away from what the fans are watching. Sometimes it can take over the video and intertextuality is the only thing remembered by fans, this is something we do not want. Although we may include it on our website, and idea would be to have a collaboration with e company that we can use for our merchandise, this will help to promote our name and brand. 

Here is an example of intertextuality be used in a Hip Hop album cover:

Graduation the third album from Kanye West uses intertextuality in its album artwork. The use of the unique graphics of the cartoon bear wearing glasses shown on the album cover are noticeably recognisable as Kanye is seen to be wearing them in some of his music videos, other CD covers and on tour. Likewise the audience begin to pick up on this noticeable factor distinguishing him as an artist and promoting him and his products.

Jonathan Glazer- Music video director

Jonathan Glazer is a English film maker, his work also includes feature films, music videos and commercials. After Jonathan's successful career in advertising he began in the music video direction industry.  A couple of his creations include "Radiohead", "Unkle" and "Massive attack". Jonathan's likes to stick to a similar style as  it can be easily recognized his work is very unique and stimulating, for example, his videos consist of a very few camera shots that are focused around one everyday location. 

The videos usually contain little editing or cutting as he feels this would be taking out the crucial parts. Narrative is present which is quiet rare in a music video, an example of this would be in the music video "Karma Police" by "Radiohead" where a car is seen driving down a dim light road in the background we hear narrative revealing what is happening. 

Jonathan uses these ideas to build suspense as in several of his other videos it shows people walking at a slow pace down a road, almost shadowing this build up to the beat. Over all his videos contain a lot of mystery and thrilling moments  in order to keep the enigma. Many of creations do not make perfect sense but this is his plan as he wants his work to come across as diverse without the use of special effects and too much editing. 

Karma Police - Radiohead

We watch the video as if we were driving the car from the mans point
of view.

The video carries on with the car driving down the road, the location
stays the same likewise with the shot and angle.The only change
is the man appearing ahead.

The frame switches to the artist sitting in the car, and he is singing.
This is the only cut away shot.

The continuity editing carries on and we go back to our
original view, the video draws to an end as we come closer
to the man.

Lip Syncing

Here we practised lip syncing to see how well it would work. We asked a friend to learn the lyrics to a song and then sing that part, which we filmed, we then edited the short clip and matched the actual song to the lip synced video which we muted. We made sure this was done carefully and precisely so the lips matched the words, over all this practise run helped us too see how simple it was for us to achieve. 

Voyeurism in music videos

The meaning of the word voyeurism is to watch a person preform sexual behaviors such as undressing, dancing provocatively or intercourse to gain pleasure. Usually the person preforming these behaviors is a women and she is unable to see the viewers watching her, usually males. Some music videos are good examples of sexually objectifying women through the camera angles, shots and editing. Voyeurism is used to help sell products as it creates an interest for the audience, male viewers are amazed by the women shown keeping them hooked and female viewers look up to the women shown, almost aspiring to be like them.

Examples of voyeurism, the music video by Eric Prydz - Call on me, uses a significant number close up shots on the women who are wearing very revealing latex body suits to enhance their bodies. The whole music video is of a group of women dancing to the song in an aerobics lesson, we see a lot of low angle shots looking up at the women in very provocative mannerisms. Sexual objectification is present as there is only one male shown through out the video and he is shown to be dancing with the women who have positioned themselves around him as he is the dominant character even if there is only one of him. This music video will have created a lot of satisfaction for the male viewers watching.

Voyeurism is used a predominately in genres like Hip Hop, R and B and Rap that it has become a typical feature of the video.  Voyeurism is mainly used in theses genres when the artist is male and he is referring to the women in his video, they can be shown in explicit mannerisms and have little clothing to reveal their bodies.
We are thinking to work with the genre of Hip Hop for our music video, for this genre we will need to consider the fact that it is stereotypical to involve voyeurism and without it in the video it will not be a recognisable Hip Hop video. We will look to involve a number of females in our video that are attractive and can show off their bodies in tight or revealing clothing.

Here are some examples of voyeurism in Hip Hop music videos:

The silhouette is seen as a sexy outline of the womans curvy body.

The positing and dancing of the women is erotic but helps to attract a male audience

Conclusion of music video analysis

Kendrick Lamar - Swimming Pools

The opening of the video begins with a panning down of Kendrick it is then followed by a him falling back into darkness this works well as the background is one color really highlighting him. The quick changing between the shots of the women and the bottle look interesting and have a good effect on the video as the props match the lyrics. Another good feature is the reverse playback of the bottle smashing upside down, this creates a trippy effect for the audience keeping them mesmerized. As the visuals match the lyrics such as when the bottle drops on the word "drank" it follows Goodwins theory.

Displaying the artists name at the start of the video against a black background gives and effective look.

The beat changes from the female to the smashed bottle shown below to match the lyrics of the song.

This smashes as soon as the lyrics say "drank".

The same black background is used again later in the video which looks appealing.

Pusha T - Numbers on the boards

The key successful element to this video is the constant eye contact and looking at the camera from the singer, this keeps the audience interested and creates a bond between him and us, like he is singing personally to us. The jump cuts from the artist to the outside location and the movement of the feet follows the rules of Vernali's theory, likewise with the use of the slow motion effect.The use of the grey, vast landscapes creates a sense of space behind him and this is made to look interesting with the contrasting extreme close up of Pusha T. 

Lana Del Rey - Summertime sadness

The use of the old style effect put over the film making it look grainy and shaky matches the props and location really well giving it a olden days feel. The unusual moving backgrounds shown behind Lana complement the weirdness of the video keeping the audience hooked to the end, likewise the emotions shown on the actors faces are very bleak and sad this creates feelings and emotional attachments towards the song from the viewers.

The grainy effect used in the video makes in seem like it is aged.

This shot only reveals the silhouette of the artist herself, the contrast of the light background and yellow glow around the face works well to make it stand out.

This shot is 80% the sky and 20% the artist the unusual shots works well in this video as the colour is in keeping with the rest of the video and creates a sense of space.

Jay-Z - Izzo

The music videos opens with a pan shooting from outside the shop then to the inside where we see a child lip-singing the lyrics, this looks interesting. As there is no continuity editing the it follows Vernali's theory, this is used the keep the audience hooked and decipher the difference between a music video and a film. The majority of the video shows clips of different scenarios such as dancing and meeting fans, each shot has a different background and the camera is placed at a different distance to keep the viewer enticed. Lastly the slowed down effect used on the people highlights the emotions of the fans. 

Ariana Grande- The way

The style of this music video is extremely happy to match the beat and the lyrics, the colors used throughout the video are very bright and cheery, the use of the colorful shadow/film effect projected on the singers looks interesting and as a viewer it gives us more to look at. The camera seems to maintain the same distance from the singers throughout the video, almost like we are in the audience. 

Beyonce- Countdown

The music is most effective as it uses close up shots of Beyonce's face at the start, it then moves on to medium and long shots of her, these flash on the screen quickly, in time to the music and beat. The colors and duplicated screens of her match the pace and fit in to the idea of a "countdown" which cleverly ties into the name of the song.

Last years music video analysis

Today we watched some of the previous music videos made by the last year 13, we chose to watch a variety of music videos to see the different styles in each genre and understand  what techniques were used to create their final video. Below I have ranked the music videos that we watched:

Ranking order:

1)13E4
2) 13B6
3) 13A2
4) 13E7
5) 13E6
6) 13b4
7) 13A3
8) 13E
9) 13B3
10) 13A1
11) 13b1
12) 13E9

What have I learnt?
Watching the previous years music videos i have realized that there were some aspects to filming a music video that need to be done well in order for it to look professional, firstly some of the videos had really bad quality filming which brought down the video, secondly the use of a story line wasn't very effective as i feel it made the video look unprofessional and cheesy. Lastly some of the transitions and special effects were done to a poor standard making the video lack in excitement and look cheap. In contrast the majority of the music videos had good lip syncing which was perfectly in time, secondly most of the outside locations looked very effective as the natural lighting really compliment the filming. Lastly the range of shots were good in most of the videos which helped to add excitement and look visually appealing.