UPDATED Goodwin's Theory in music videos

What is Goodwin's theory? Andrew Goodwin's theory helps the audience identify 6 key conventions of a music video. He stated:

• There is a link between the lyrics and visuals - either illustrative, amplifying or contradicting? 
• There is a link between music and visuals (through beats and editing in time with the pace). Goodwin also mentioned that visuals are commonly repeated within a chorus to emphasise lyric and beat repetition. 
• The record label demands close up shots of the artist (protagonist), making them stand out amongst other actors. The artist may develop motifs which recur across their work. 
• There are often intertextual references (to films, TV, other music videos etc) 
• There is frequent reference to notion of looking (screen on screen, making the audience feel involved as if they know the artist)
• Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics

Applying Goodwin's theory to music videos

'Bros' by Wolf Alice includes a variety of Goodwin's points in the music video. The narrative and visuals of the video closely relate to the lyrics, for instance the first verse says 'Shake your hair, have some fun' and 'Oh, theres no one that knows me like you do'. The video showcases two young girls (perhaps sisters?) who are running and climbing around in the countryside, laughing and smiling. Their facial expressions, the deserted and natural atmosphere that surrounds them and the close up camerawork of the characters, reflects their positive and strong relationship as if they do not need anyone else. The pace of the music also relates to the visuals - in the third verse, the intensity of the drums drops whilst the camera focuses closely on the faces of the two characters, making the viewer focus on them and understand their connection. As the pace of the music begins to progress faster, the video cuts with

shots from different scenes earlier in the music video. Instead of including close up shots of the band, their identity and relationship with one another is an inter-texual reference which is embedded within the girls, who both act as the protagonist/star image. This challenges Goodwin's point about a band being the main subject of their music video, so the ideas he came up with do not apply to every music video. Although 'Bros' does not include notion of looking, it gives a a secret insight into their relationship that the viewer can relate to on a personal level. 

The visuals of 'Summertime sadness' by Lana Del Rey, on the other hand, does not include many obvious references to the lyrics. Whilst she says 'I got my red dress on tonight', Lana is wearing a white dress. Red represents lust and white represents purity and delicacy, so perhaps Lana wants to be wearing red and 'feeling alive' like she sings, but 'summertime sadness' has prevented her from doing so. Therefore, the song title and lyric 'summertime sadness' is possibly the most noticeable reference to the visuals because Lana is displayed as being on her own and looking sad throughout the video. Additionally, the lyric 'I'll miss you forever' links to the nostalgic footage of Lana being happy and having fun. Unlike 'Bros',  'Summertime sadness' includes notion of looking so the audience feel sympathetic towards Lana. Her music is attributed to many styles, but the warm colours, light leak and film effect fits into the slow,soothing pace of the song and the dream pop/baroque/indie genre.

The points Goodwin came up with are not the only reoccurring features of music videos. Shown below are some other conventions:

• Miming/lip syncing
• Multi image - where the screen splits into several images at once
• Slow-motion with lip sync
• Chroma Key/green screen