Andrew Goodwin's Theory

Andrew Goodwin wrote the book 'Dancing in the Distraction Factory' in which he discusses certain traits that music videos have in common with his theory.

Andrew Goodwin’s theory:

Andrew Goodwin studies music videos, and in 1992 publishes a book on his findings called ‘Dancing in the destruction factory’

Within this book he points out that call genres of music videos have different convention codes, and put this into seven bullet points. This book is believed to be written to share this theory with the world, and to educate those who had an interest in music videos.  

     1. The Music video would demonstrate certain genre characteristics, for example,  a music video from a girl/boy band e.g. Pussycat dolls or Back-street boys, we expect certain things, for example group dance numbers.  We also expect this from music videos from rock/metal bands such as slipknot and ACDC, who are shown to be performing on giant stage with a giant audience.

 

 

 

2. There is a relation between lyrics and visual context which is often illustrated, for example Lilly Allen with ‘Alphie’  which shows exactly what is happening within the song ‘there’s not need to swear’ when the puppet Alphie is doing just that. This however is sometimes amplified by being completely contradictory to the piece, for example David Bowie ‘Let’s Dance’   the artist does not dance, and when talking about ‘holding her close’ he stand alone.

 

 

 


3. There is a relation between music and video, for example ‘Around the world’ by Daft Punk.
The video consist of many dancers, dancing to the beat of the song, for example, one set of dancers took the base line, while another took the lyrical beat.

  4.  The demand from the record label askes for close up’s of the artist. Britney Spears in ‘I’m a slave 4 u’ due to her producer, the music video shows more close up’s and long shots of the artist in the first 30 seconds then most artist have in the entire music video.

 

 

 

5. The artist may develop motive and/or iconography which would then re occur within music videos. This is shown within music videos from White stripes, such as ‘seven nation army’ and ‘the hardest button to button’ in which the drummer and guitarist is also shown playing

6. There is frequent reference to the notion of ‘looking, which is also the use of screens within a screen, such as CCTV or a hand held camera, which is used in the song ‘Alone together’ by Fall out Boy, which shows one of the band members, appearing on a TV screen, as well as the smaller screen on a camera.

7. Intertextual reference to products. This can be seen as product placement, which is commonly seen in music videos, such as a band (Sony), within the music video ‘What the Hell’ by Avril Lavigne which makes intertextual reference to the products. This can also be from films and/or TV programmes, for instance, the final audition used within the film ‘Flashdance’ is referenced to within artist Jenifer Lopez, ‘I’m Glad’ to which the location, characters, camera shots and performance is identical to the original scene from the film.  

 

 

 

 

By researching this theory it will be able to aid me with my own work because now I will be able to use his theory, and also points, such as 7 and 6 which could work well within my chosen genre and my created narrative.