Music Videos & Goodwin's Analysis

Music videos are used as a form of marketing for the artist and have existed since the late 1920s.  The 1970s were a breakthrough year for the art of music videos as record industries discovered television as a means of promotion. Early music videos were produced as short televised promos for market an artist/band.

Concept music video: A music video that isn't necessarily just the artist performing but has a concept.
Non representational music video: A music video in which the artist is not present.

The advancement of digital technology (e.g, CGI, green screen) have allowed any artist to produce a music video cheaply and quickly. The first modern music video is generally considered to be Bob Dylan's Subterranean Homesick Blues.



Close ups (usually of the artist) are frequent in music videos as they create a sense of intimacy but mostly emphasize and sell the artist as a commodity. They are designed to be watched several times and involve fast cuts.

A key theory in music videos is Goodwin's music video analysis:

• Music video will demonstrate genre characteristics (e.g, stage performance in a rock video or a dance routine in a pop video)
• There will be a relationship between the lyrics and visuals
• Similarly, there will be a relationship between the music and visuals
• Demands of the record label will be clear, including the need for several close ups to sell/market the artist or artists may develop a recognizable motif/visual style
• There will be frequent reference to the notion of looking (e.g, screens within screens, telescopes etc) and voyeuristic treatment of the female body
• Lastly, there is often intertextual reference to other media forms like films, television programmes or even other music videos

This research from lesson was helpful because I learnt about the codes and conventions of music videos through Goodwin's analysis and so I can refer to this when we make our music video. It also helped contextualise music videos and emphasize that they are essentially a source of marketing, so certain things like close-ups need to be present.