The Structure of Music Videos
Rethinking Narrative Analysis
- Goodwin's opinion is that traditional narrative analyses don't really apply to pop videos because the approach narrative from a different angle to novels and films.
Reasons for Different Narative Structures:
Pop videos built around songs dont pose traditional narrative structures. (Normality - Problem - Resolution)
Pop video uses the singer both as the narrator and the character.
The singer often looks directly at the camera which is an extension of music-hall performance. It is also a way of trying to involve the viewer at home.
Pop videos rely on repitition (repeat images according to the chorus/verse)
Repitition of parts/rhythms of other songs (intertextuality) helps the audience familiarise themselves with the genre but this also raises expectations.
Music videos are played on TV and songs are played on the radio, (it may be an advertising film or TV tie-in making the song very familiar through repetition)
Pop songs/videos have a form of closure and ending, the build to a climax before fading away.
Three Types of Relations Between Songs & Videos
Illustration: When the video tells the story of the lyrics. Dance is often used to express feelings/moods, e.g. Madonna - Papa Dont Preach.
Amplification - When videos introduce new meanings that do not contradict lyrics but add layers of meaning.
Disjuncture: When there is little connection between the lyrics and the video or when the video contradicts the lyrics, e.g. Michael Jackson - Man in The Mirror where the song is about self realisation and the video is about/full of radical world events.
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Pop videos have easily recognisable feautures, e.g. Michael Jacksons yelp and twirl and women being presented as objects of male desire.
Instruments are presented by different objects for example in Rock The Casbah by The Clash everytime the piano plays an armadillo is shown in the video.
Videos try to appeal to as wide an audience as possible without alienating the core target audience, e.g. including clips of 60/70s so an older generation can relate and identify them.
Videos from songs written for particular movies often incorporate images from that movie in to the video, e.g. Celine Dion - Heart Will Go On (Titanic)
Music videos are played on TV and songs are played on the radio, (it may be an advertising film or TV tie-in making the song very familiar through repetition)
Pop songs/videos have a form of closure and ending, the build to a climax before fading away.
Three Types of Relations Between Songs & Videos
Illustration: When the video tells the story of the lyrics. Dance is often used to express feelings/moods, e.g. Madonna - Papa Dont Preach.
Amplification - When videos introduce new meanings that do not contradict lyrics but add layers of meaning.
Disjuncture: When there is little connection between the lyrics and the video or when the video contradicts the lyrics, e.g. Michael Jackson - Man in The Mirror where the song is about self realisation and the video is about/full of radical world events.
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Pop videos have easily recognisable feautures, e.g. Michael Jacksons yelp and twirl and women being presented as objects of male desire.
Instruments are presented by different objects for example in Rock The Casbah by The Clash everytime the piano plays an armadillo is shown in the video.
Videos try to appeal to as wide an audience as possible without alienating the core target audience, e.g. including clips of 60/70s so an older generation can relate and identify them.
Videos from songs written for particular movies often incorporate images from that movie in to the video, e.g. Celine Dion - Heart Will Go On (Titanic)
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