Andrew Goodwin

Andrew Goodwin is an Australian theories who came up with a theory in the 1990's that applied to music video's. After years of anallysing the music industry he put together a set of key features which can be applied to all music video's. Not all features can be applied to every music video out there but atlas one of his features can always be applied. Goodwin said that there is always a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals and what can be seen on screen, this can either be, Illustrating, which is where music videos use a set of images to illustrate the meaning of the lyrics and genre, Amplifying, this where the meanings of the lyrics are added to that of the visuals and the visual aspects provide an extra layer of meaning, finally contradicting where the meaning of the song is completely ignored and the visuals take on a whole new narrative and or meaning. Goodwin also noticed that some music videos use the idea of cutting visuals to the music, this helps for the video to become very aesthetically pleasing.

Goodwin also discovered that each music video demonstrates genre characteristics, not just the genre of the music, but a genre for the music video itself. These include Stadium performances and studio performances, this mainly includes the visual of simply just a band playing and no narrative. The the others include location, where the video is set in a certain place to help devote meaning, narrative where the lyrics of a song can help to build a visual representation of the song and create a short story and finally conceptual/ experimental were the band seek to create a visual that is different an something nobody has ever seen before.

Goodwin also said that key features of music videos are close ups of the artist, this is due to the fact that record companies require the artist to be strongly featured within the music video. Some artist however also develop a range of motifs that can be seen frequently in different videos of theirs. These include things like artistic branding, celebrity culture, artistic portrayal and implications on looking good. Due to artist close ups, star iconography can be linked to this, this is something each star will develop in their music videos, this could be through branding, style, brand visuals and unique selling points.

Goodwin also applied the concept of voyeurism to music videos, meaning that the audience viewing the video will see something that they wouldn't usually see. This can be done n the form of nudity, near nudity and revealing clothes, which links with Laura Mulvey's theory of the male gaze which can be used to attract a male audience. The male gaze focuses on presenting visuals that can be seen as appealing to the eye of a male viewer, this often includes the objectification of a female. The artist can also occasionally looking directly into the camera to help the audience feel more connected with the artist.