Andrew Goodwin's 6 features of music videos

In his book, Dancing in the distraction factory written in 1992, Andrew Goodwin believe there are only 6 key features to how a music video is created and brought to life. I felt it was best to use this theory and understand these features as this will help me develop and plan my very own video in a few months time. The 6 features are as followed:

1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics.

This is where to would see the same types of styles in the same genres for example a rapper would be commonly seen with jewellery and followed with a group and a dance routine for a boy or girl band.
this can be seen in the work of JLS, as the are a very typical boy band group, who perform in their videos and usually have a dance piece.

2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals.

This is just as it's sounds. The story of the song is brought to life in the video and will follow the same pattern as the song whilst the artist plays the song. Ed Sheeran's 'Lego house' is an example of this.

3. There is a relationship with the music and the visuals.

Similar to the last one but this chooses to play the music with the visuals on screen moving along with that tune. Seen in 'Bounce' by Calvin Harris. 

4. Making sure the 'Star' is utilised and seen by the public.

Music lately is all about the star image and more about the artist than the music they create. Well this is no different when the video is created. There will be close ups and common motifs which occur across their work to make sure that they are remembered. Seen most by artists like Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga. 

5. Frequent use or the notion of looking.

This is making sure that the viewers see what the person on screen is seeing. This is predominately used for men to look at the female body in some sexual expression. This was the case in 'What's My Name?' by Rhianna ft. Drake when Drake stares at Rhianna from behind in the supermarket.

6. Intertextual references. 

Music videos something make a reference to something else in television or music at that time or even the past that would only make sense if you know what they are referring too. This is also seen when there is a song from a films sound track and the video would feature scenes and references from the video. This is shown in the song "I See Fire" by Ed Sheeran, where the video shows clips of the film, "The Hobbit" as the song is played.