Andrew Goodwin's Music Video Conventions Theory

 Andrew Goodwin was a media theorist who wrote a book called "Dancing in the Distraction Factory" in 1992.

To be conventional is to abide by the rules that are expected of you. For example, boys having short hair or trainers being worn universally.

Said Music Videos have the Following Conventions

• A link between the lyrics and the visuals
• A link between the music and the visuals
• Reflect the common features of the genre of music (e.g fast cars down the beach in an RNB track)
• Use of intertextual references
• Notions of looking and voyeurism
• Demands of the record label evident eg budget etc
• Star image a key focus
• Performance based, Narrative based, and Concept based are the 3 types of music videos. 

Link between the Lyrics and the Visuals

Visuals reflect lyrics either metaphorically, symbolically or literally

An example of this is Taylor Swifts "Love Story" where the visuals match the video literally

Link between the Music and Visuals

Visuals reflect the pace, rhythm, and atmosphere of the music

The Prodigy's "Fire Starter" is an example of this because the music is sort of mental and the visuals match this by being very strange and not making a lot of sense.

Visuals and the Song

Disjuncture - the meaning of the song is completely ignored. The images in the video do not relate.

For example, in the song 'White Knuckles' you get lyrics such as "You'll never get that taste, out of your mouth You'll never get the paw prints, out of the hen house now" and the visuals have nothing to do with it because it is a bunch of guys with a pyramid of bins. There is no correlation whatsoever between them.

Amplify - The meaning of the song is exaggerated through the use of visuals

"I came in like a wreaking ball"

and then an actual wreaking ball comes in

Illustrate - The meaning of the song is made clear through the video. This is the most common use.

Reflects the genre of Music

For example pop. some main conventions of this are:

• Bright and Colourful - aesthetically pleasing to audience
• Timely Fashion
• Young People
• Male Gaze/Female Gaze

Reflective of the record Label

For example, Stormzy had no record label at the time, was British, with zero budget, his music video was filmed in an Ikea car park in Croydon

• Could reflect issues such as the record label's
• Financial Status
• Power/Connections
• Other signed artists
• Global Location
• Target audience

Performance/Narrative/Concept Based Music Videos

Goodwin believed that music videos have at least one of the following three elements as their core focus

Performance Based - videos focus on a singer or band performing to camera, often with instruments.

Narrative Based - Videos have a storyline.

Concept Based - Videos focus on some kind o arty, surreal, odd based concept. Can be quite memorable if done well.

An example of a Performance based music video is 'American Idiot' by Green Space

An example of of a Narrative based music video  is "Coffee and Tv" by Blur

An example of a Concept based music video is "Upside Down and Inside Out" by OK Go