Andrew Goodwin's Theory

Andrew Goodwin believes that the traditional narrative analyses don't apply to pop music videos. He says three things to explain:

• Pop videos are built around songs
• Pop videos use singer(s) as the narrator& character
• Artist often looks dirctely at the camera, involving the viewer at home with the performance

He also explains how pop videos are repetitive, they repeat images in the way that songs repeat choruses/lines. The reptition acording to Goodwin is how we become familiar with the genre of the artist then start to build expectations.
The three minute song a video is on must have an ending, which is reflected through the structure of the music.

Andrew also distinguishes 3 types of relations between songs and videos:

Illustration: This is where the video is not always literal. It often tells the story of the lyric, in most cases dance is used to express the feelings&moods in the song.

 

 

 

Amplification: This is when the video adds new layers of meaning to the song that do not express with the lyrics.

 



 

Disjuncture: This is where there is little connection between the lyric and video or expresses the opposite between the lyric & video.