Andrew godwin's theory

Andrew godwin has a theory for the structure of music videos; Goodwin feels that the traditional narrative analyse does not apply to narrative videos, it’s because they approach narrative from a different angle to novels and films.

The reasons for the different narrative structures are;

1.     Pop videos are built around songs- often songs do not pose traditional narrative structures

2.     The pop video uses the singer both as narrator and as a character participating

3.     The singer often looks directly at the camera- this is an extension of performance and trying to involve the viewers watching with the performance

Andrew Goodwin states that pop videos rely on repetition. Music video repeats images in the way the song repeats choruses or lines, the use of repetition in songs of parts or rhymes makes the listener become aware with the genre and have certain expectations.

Pop songs and videos in general do have a form of closure and ending. The video is often reflected in the structure of the music, the structure mainly is to build climax or to a constant repetition before fading away.

The visualisation of some songs may go beyond the original meaning. Sometimes the video may provide a visual pleasure that encourages repeated viewing which promotes the music. It is said that are three types of relations between song and videos:

1.     Illustration- this is when the video tells the story of the lyric e.g. Madonna ‘pap don’t preach’. Dance is often used to express the feelings/moods in the song.

2.     Amplification- this occurs when the videos introduce new meaning that do not contradict with the lyrics but add a number of different meanings

3.     Disjuncture- this is when there is little connection between the lyric and video or where the video contradicts the lyric e.g. Michael Jackson ‘man in the mirror’

pop videos have an easily recognisable feature, e.g. Michael Jackson’s signature twirl/yelp in his videos. Another example would be the women are presented as objects for male desires. On the other hand female artists such as Madonna and Beyoncé look directly back at the viewers through the camera and they cease to be passive.

Lastly videos also try and appeal to as wide an audience as possible without alienating the core target audience.