Goodwins Theory

Goodwins theory was that every music video will contain at least 1 of these 7 elements. These 7 elements are key to a good music video and also meeting the demands of the record label. These elements are:

Genre Characteristics- This means that certain genres will display certain characteristics to make it easily distinguishable from other genres. Such as rural areas for rap or bling dependent on the kind of image the rapper wants to portray for him or herself. Such as Kanye West in the start of his New Slaves' video.

Relationship between Lyrics and Visual- This means there is some form of match between what the lyrics are saying and the visuals that are being shown, this is used in most music videos as it helps describe the story the band or the artist are trying to get across. In the music video for Katy Perry's Roar when she says roar in the first chorus it matches to the visuals as a tiger roars and in the water and in the bugs.



Music matching Visuals- Some music videos will match the visuals with the beat of the song, this is to make the audience enjoy the song more and to make the visuals flow to make the audience pay more attention to what is happening. A good example of this would be Kanye West's POWER music video as the staffs that the demons are tapping on the floor are in time with the music.


Close Ups- Most record companies will demand that in music video there must be many close ups of the artist/band to promote their star image. This is vital for music videos as it makes the audience focus upon the artist and the image they are portraying. A example of this would be Lady Gaga, close ups is something she quite regularly uses in her videos as it boosts her pop star image.

The Artist Uses Motifs/Iconography- This means that again to boost the image of the artist they will use certain characteristics to give them a persona and appeal to a target audience. Ke$ha is an artist who does this, she tries to boost her image by making it look like shes always at a party or having fun. By this we can tell she is trying to appeal to mid to late teens and early 20s who attend parties and get drunk on the weekends.

 

Frequent References to The Notion of Looking- This is when artist will look at the camera or look at something, it is a technique that draws audiences in to watching because we see them looking at us and it makes the audience feel part of something. Many artists do this, as shown in the images above.

 

Intertextual References- This means that there are references to other media in the music video, this could mean referencing things that are on TV or the news or other music videos, it can range on all media platforms. Music videos do this to promote other media acts or against other texts to mock them or promote them. Plan B makes references to real life issues on the news in his song ill Manor, he does this in a way to mock the news and touch on pressing issues.