Andrew Goodwin was a man who came up with a theory about music videos he identified 6 key aspects about music video about what we as the audience should look out for. His ideas suggested that music videos use these techniques to help focus the attention onto the artist and the music industry. He stated that music videos use many different techniques to do this, Iconography which is the use of certain images or visuals, star persona, voyeurism amplifying and contradicting,intertextuality. He published all of his ideas about music videos within his book that he had written, "Dancing in the distraction factory"
Illustrating
This technique is where the artist and music industry make the video deliberately correspond to the lyrics, what is happening within the video is what is being said within the lyrics. many music videos use this technique the most popular one is when the artist looks in a mirror and states that he/she is staring into a mirror, they use this image to make it look as if the artist is looking at them selves and their past and trying to reflect on themselves. In the music video by Eminem "when i'm gone" they use this technique in one shot of the video the artist Eminem states that he is standing looking in the mirror which the video corresponds to. At 3.03 of the song we can see where they have used this technique in order to convey him looking at himself and his past which relates back to the story being told throughout the music video. The audience feels more connected to the artist as they are able to see what he is doing in comparison to the lyrics, it also makes the music video more appealing as well as giving it a narrative which the audience is able to follow and in some cases relate to for example they can relate to his rocky relationship with his wife and family they can also relate to how his work is taking over his family life and how his family is unhappy with him constantly going on tours and working 24 hours a day.
Amplifying
This is a technique where the music video tries to emphasis the mood and tempo of the song for example if the song is a rock band which is seen as violent and fast paced then the music video would be full of low lit areas containing really violent scenes such as mosh pits of audiences onto the stage where they are singing. many artists use this such as slipknot, in most of their music videos the songs are quite violent and aggressive and very crazy, the video usually always connote this and help to amplify the feeling of the song to the audience. For example within their music video "duality" the tempo and feel of the song is fast paced and crazy and very aggressive and expressive for example at which is backed up by the video which contains scenes which connote this such as moshpits 0.27,seconds and of people, people vandalising stuff 0.31 baseball bats weapons 0.37 , it is shot in a broken down house where everyone goes mental which suits the tempo of the song. The video below is the song by the rock band slipknot which contains scenes to suit the song and tempo. This helps the audience to establish what genre the song is it also makes the music video more exciting and fun it helps the video by backing up the genre and making it more exciting and atmospheric for the audience.
Iconography
This technique is when the music video uses certain images and visuals used within the music video that relate to that specific genre of music, for example within a rap music video the things which make it iconic are the cars the women and money, it helps to connote the genre of music video to the audience theses things within the music video make that specific genre iconic for the audience. For example within the music video by ace hood "bugatti" we can see many of these elements which make this iconic of a rap music video it also establishes the genre of music video to the audience. For example we can see in the beginning of the video at 0.09 seconds of the video there is an expensive car which the artist is sat within also throughout the whole video we can see many flashes in which the artists are all seen to be wearing very flash designer jewellery such as diamond necklaces at 0.47 seconds into the video also we can see images of weaponry within the video for instance 0.28 seconds in we can see a person chasing someone with a gun in his hand. These elements are all iconic to the music video as well as the genre of music video it is in this case the genre of music would be rap hip hop and RNB. It gives an image of the artist to the audience about what their like the audience feels more connected as they get to know them more and feel a better connection with the music video.
Star Persona
This technique is when the music industry uses a wide range of close ups on the main artist in order to highlight the main artist, the artist requires them to have close ups as it helps them to gain exposure of themselves as an artist which helps them to gain more publicity and wider ranges of audiences. Many music videos do this in order to get the main artist noticed by the audience and other labels who may want to sign them. For example la roux in for the kill has many close ups of the artist throughout the whole music video we can see close ups of her face which exposes herself as the artist towards the audience in which the music video is aimed along to or aimed at. The whole music video shows a lot of close ups or mid shots of the artist and not much shots of anything else this focuses the main attention to the artists alone and nothing else. These close ups of the artist within the music video helps to build a relationship between the artist and the audience.
contradicting
This technique is when the music video deliberately goes against the lyrics and mood of the song, for example if the lyrics were moody and angry then the music video would go against that and use happy non aggressive happy scenes which go against what is being sung by the artist or band. This is used to make it go against what people usually think the music video will be like it makes the music video more innovative and interesting compared to the same ordinary sorts of music videos which everyone comes up with when making their music videos. For example the music video made by
Voyeurism
This technique is the art of looking, music videos use certain things within their music video to grab people’s attention it is present in many music videos especially when women are placed within the music video. It is also referred to as the "male gaze" by Laura Mulvey. They are used in many music videos mostly in order to grab the attention of the audience which is largely male they use attractive women at 0.08 seconds and also at 0.24 seconds of the video. They use this to grab and sustain their attention throughout the whole music video. Although it is mostly women used for this technique there are some cases where there are males used for this technique in the modern age it is becoming more apparent and more of a normal thing within music videos. The audience for some music videos are largely males so this techniques aims to reach that audience and grab their attention by using the use of attractive women it keeps their interest throughout the video. This gives a degrading look for women this music video shows women to only be sexual objects and possessions of men they should only be used their good looks.
Intertextuality is when one media text references another media text, this can be reflected with the style of the music video. for example the song by robbie williams "you know" is seen to take scenes from the movie alice in wonderland through the style and setting of the music video. Throughout the music video we can see the artist robbie williams dressed as a rabbit from the movie alice in wonderland. Also at the end of the music video the usual logo of the circle with a lion is now replaced with the rabbit from the movie that it is relating to, this engages the audience as they know what the reference is to and they fell more connected with the music video and what it is trying to refer to in this case it is refering to the movie Alice in wonderland.
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