Goodwin's music video analysis
Andrew Goodwin writing in 'Dancing in the Distraction Factory'
Goodwin's theory includes what a music video should portray including the key 7 elements:
1. Demonstrate genre characteristics
2. relationship between lyrics and visuals
3. relationship between music and visuals
4. includes close ups of the artist
5. aesthetically pleasing frequent portrayal of the female body
6. intertextual reference to films, TV programmes and other music videos
7. whether the music video is performance, narrative or concept based.
The music video i have chosen explores all 7 of these concepts clearly and helps to validate Goodwin's theory.
This clip in the music video shows that the video is a dance video. This is shown as the characters are jumping around, dancing and drinking with bright lights in the dark area creating a dance feel. This shows Goodwin's theory that music videos demonstrate genre characteristics as typically dance videos include stereotypical portrayals of dance scenes including dancing and flashing bright lights in a dark place.
The lyrics and visuals have a illustrative relationship and help to portray the story which the lyrics are saying. This is shown as the lyrics include "we found love in a hopeless place" and a male and female are shown in the music video to be wondering around different places together doing drugs, drinking and having sex. This portrays that they are in a 'hopeless place' and they're all loved up portraying the lyrics into a visual image. Also, the song includes the lyrics "and we're standing side by side as your shadow crosses mine". The video at this point shows an intimate couple who are always together bringing to life the lyric of their shadows becoming one as they spend all their time together. This evokes the sense of love and passion as most dance songs are about love and relationships and therefore helps to establish the genre. Overall, these images and lyrics help build a relationship with the audience as it allows them to understand what the characters are doing and their relationships.
The music video 'we found love' also includes close ups of the artist to emphasise their importance and for the audience to recognise them and therefore promote themselves towards their fans. This is shown frequently throughout the video as Rihanna is shown to be singing in a room on her own and there are clear close ups throughout the video of her face. This allows the audience to recognise the artist and her music and emphasises her fan base. furthermore, it also creates a relationship between the audience and artist as the audience can clearly see the artists emotions and then the audience start to feel the same and can relate to what is happening more. 
Within my chosen music video there is frequent notion of looking and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body. This is shown in the video when the couple are together and the man is touching Rihanna's body. Also, throughout the video Rihanna's body is often shown in a sexual way. This may be to attract a male audience as this would make them want to watch the music video and get them to enjoy the music video more as it would attract them. Also, this would attract a female audience as the panning shots of her body allow the audience to see what she is wearing, and then female fans would be inspired by her outfits and want to watch the video more.
The music video is both narrative and performance based. This is shown within the video as Rihanna has her own shots throughout the video where she is singing to the camera and performing. This allows the audience to recognise that she is the main iconic person in the video as she is standing on her own. This builds a relationship between the audience a On the other hand, the video is also narrative based as the video is about a young couple who are in love and embark on different adventures and the disagreements they have and you see an insight into their relationship. This is the narrative part of the video as there is the same storyline going on throughout the video. This allows the audience to gain an insight into the characters in the video and understand the song more as the video will correllate with the lyrics and allow the audience to understand what is happening more and build a relationship with the characters.
Your analysis of Goodwin theory demonstrates some understanding of how the theory can be applied to your chosen music video. You have made a start in identifying the main points, by focusing on the relationship that this would have on the audience. The screenshots that you have included, also help to support the points that you have made on the theory.
ReplyDeleteRead over your notes and ensure that you have included points on the intertextual reference point too. Finally you need to include a summary to explain how your research will assist you with planning your own music video and the characteristics that you would like to include within your own video.