Andrew Goodwin's a theorist who created an ideology which he applied to music video's, he applied six generic rules which can be tested against all music video's across a range if genre's.
1) The music video with demonstrate genre characteristics.
2)There will be a relationship between lyrics and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting)
3) There will be a relationship between music and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting)
4) Demands of the record label will include the needs for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style)
5) There is frequently reference to the notion of looking and particularly the voyeuristic treatment of the female body.
6) There is often inter textual references.
Here I'll apply Goodwin's theory to a range of music video's from different genre's, including one of Scala's music video's.
Application Of Theory 1
The original of "Friday i'm in love" is by The Cure who are an alternative rock band, but the cover changes the rock aesthetic to a classical/ choir type.
1) The genre characteristics of Choir's and therefore classical is performance and the people within the video are usually standing all together singing in plain outfits. This video breaks the first rule of Goodwin's theory because if the audience didn't have previous knowledge of who Scala were or that the song is a cover the genre would be very hard to distinguish.
2)Rule two is shown in a somewhat contradicting way with the girls being at a party so they could have been waiting for the Friday for the party but from the way in which it is shot and from the way in which the girls who are singing perform it it seems as if they're longing for a someone, perhaps a partner.At the end the two men enter which could be who they were longing for.
3) The music and visual link is illustrative , but this would have been achieved post filming in the editing suite, with the use of sweeping shot and slow motion the music video goes at the same pace and the music making it flow.
4) The girls that are singing are shown in more detail with up close shots, all the women are good looking and look glamorous giving the choir a more mainstream and glamorous appeal.
5)Within the first 20 seconds of the video rule five was reinforced with the objectification of womens body, with the Mis en Scene that has been chose with the girls featured wearing short and revealing clothes.
6) I'm unaware of any inter textual references within the video.
Application of Theory 2
Arctic Monkey's are a mainstream indie rock band, its a subtype of alternative rock.
1) The genre characteristics of indie rock is that lack of classic theme's such as love songs and a non-standard beat.
2)When I looked at the lyric's I felt like it was about a relationship (a sexual one) getting old and the woman in the relationship is going to or has cheated on the man she's with. But in analysis of the video with the sound of i saw conflict between the gangsters and clowns, but then it flashed back to the two leaders as children and it's clearly a broken down friendship. This means the lyrics and visual are contradicting, both about a relationship but the type is unknown.
3) The non-beat music fits the editing of the video, this would have been done in editing. The video is clearly a narrative one but because if the contradiction with the lyrics and visual there's hints of concept.
4) There is no representation of the band within this video, this may have been done by the record label because there music video is so distinctive and they already have such a secure fan base they're able to recognize that it's the band music video without having to see them within the video.
5) There is no female objectification within this video, this is probably due to the genre because it is more common of R&B and Hip Hop video's to have women within there video as property.
6) There is no inter textual reference that i can identify within the video.
Application of theory 3
Beyonce is a well known diverse artist who began in a girl group called destiny's child but is now a solo artist. Her main genre is r&b, but i picked this song because her now husband Jay Z features in to rapping.
1) The genre of r&b has changed a huge amount the original sound from the 70's was more soulful and seductive compared with the hip hop r&b edgy street sound of today that this song is based upon. The classic characteristics of the contemporary r&b genre is a hard repetitive and distinctive beat.
2) The lyrics seemed to based on her being infatuated with a man and because of the rapper starring in it is her husband we assume it to be him. In terms of a link between the visual being portrayed and the lyrics I believe there is but only in that she is trying to get his attention when he seems disinterested whilst rapping, personally I see the constant dancing and rush as fitting with the infatuation the lyrics and the beat.
3) There is a prominent link between both visual and the music with her dance moves and the beat being both at the same pace and the use of different locations and the cutting makes it an interesting watch and linked together perfectly with the lyrics.
4) The mis en scene shows off Beyonce's body which is iconic with her curves which the record label would have requested she be shown this way. With the use of Jay Z brings in an even bigger fan base, and the video is so iconic and was even criticized by some for being to racy and inappropriate to show before the watershed. This may have affected sales, but most likely not with the ability to view video's online the use of water shedding on music channels is becoming less and less necessary.
5) Even the main singer who shows power, is shown in a objective sort of way because of the way she is dressed and the way she dances throughout the video. This type of image of women is used consistently throughout the r&b / hip hop / rap genre to the point of which if the use of women in this way is missing from this type of genre's video's it would be a contradiction of the convention.
6) The inter textual reference is from a previous video featuring these two artists called Crazy In Love that seemed to be the beginning of their relationship and it has progressed to her being infatuated with him.
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