Research: Summary of the main points of Andrew Goodwins theory.

Andrew John Goodwin (born in Hillingdon, Middlesex) was Director of Music and Organist at Bangor Cathedral for 37 years.

Andrew Goodwin reinforces that traditional narrative analysis don’t really apply to pop videos. He highlights that there are a several reasons for this, however he also underlines that the reason for this isn’t because pop videos are trying to be avant garde – it’s simply due to the fact that they approach narrative from a different angle to novels and films.

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

(normally-problem-resolution).

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

         3.The singer often looks directly at the camera – this is an extension of (music hall) performance and trying to involve the viewer at home with the performance.

Pop videos rely on repetition

For a pop video to become popular it is vital that the audience is familiarised with the song alongside the  video.  Repetition in songs of parts and rhythms of other songs creates intertextuality, which means the song and video is recognisable. This allows the audience to understand the genre and have certain expectations. There are many ways to make the song familiar through repetition. For instance, the song would be played on the radio, the video would be played on TV and possibly the song could be used to advertise a film or TV tie-in. The structure of the music is significant - as it builds to a climax or to a constant repetition before fading away.

There are three types of relations between songs and videos:

Illustration

  This is where the video tells the story of the lyric “Pap don’t preach” (Madonna) for example. Dance is often used to express the feelings/moods in the song.

Amplification

   Occurs when the videos introduce new meanings. These do not contradict with the lyrics but add layers of meaning.

Disjuncture

    This is where there is little connection between the lyric and video. In other words it’s where the video contradicts the lyric. Michael Jackson’s Man in the mirror is an example of this. This song is about self-realisation but the video is full of radical world events.

Recognisable features in Pop videos

    Female stars such as Madonna and Beyonce use their sex appeal to attract males. However in their Pop videos they come across as being passive, this is mainly because they directly look back at the viewers through the camera. Female artist tend to be presented as objects of male desires. Michael Jackson used to give a bit of a yelp and/ or twirl in his videos.

Different instrumets used in music videos

   Instruments in the music are represented by different objects. For example Rock the Casbah by the clash, where every time the piano plays an armadillo is shown trundling along.