G324 - Goodwin's Theory on Music Videos

In 1992, Andrew Goodwin published a book called "Dancing in the Distraction Factory" after many years of researching into music videos. In this book, he came up with 7 codes and conventions that most music videos have in common.








1 - Music videos demonstrate certain genre characteristics; such as heavy metal and rock videos containing lots of performance shots and audience members.






2 - There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals; such as showing the life of a depressed child in a video for a song about coping and getting over depression.


3 - There is a relationship between music and visuals; such as having the shot changes on the beat.


4 - The demands of the record label will include the need for a certain number of close-ups of the artist; such as Blackground Records.



5 - The artist may develop motifs or iconography that recur across their work; such as the frequent use of drum imagery in music videos for White Stripes.







6 - There is frequent reference to the notion of 'looking', particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body; such as the sexualisation of female artists..





7 - There are often intertextual references to film, TV and popular culture; such as the reference to James Bond in Madonna's "Die Another Day" video.




This will help me when creating my own music video as I will be able to refer back to this list and ensure that my music video contains some of these aspects in order to ensure its success.