Music Video Theory - Andrew Goodwin

Andrew Goodwin has made a number of theories and common conventions about the structure of music videos.

These are:

A relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, with the visuals illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the lyrics.

A relationship between the music and the visuals, with the visuals illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the music.

Genre-related style and iconography present.

Multiple close-ups of the main artist or vocalist.

Voyeurism often plays a major part, especially in relation to females.

Intertextual references to other media texts may be present

''Cannonball'' by the Breeders does feature, briefly, images and clips of a cannonball rolling across the ground but apart from this there is no other large relation to the visuals. So that rules does apply. There are frequent closeups of the main artist and the presence of a large crowd can be seen as iconographic for certain rock bands, as they often have a presence in music videos.

''Weapon of Choice'' by Fatboy Slim would be a great example of this because the entire video is dancing which automatically links n with the pace of the music. There is, however, no presence of the original artist nor any specific iconography. The fact that the famous actor Christopher Walken is in the video might be an intertextual reference.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxGBuvOCs9o&ob=av2n

'Nancy Boy' by Placebo is an odd one. The use of grotesque sexual imagery could be a form of voyeurism but perhaps in a less sexual way. The liberal nature of the band could suggest that the way the band are dressed and presented could also be a form of voyeurism. There are frequent closeups of the main artist. The imagery of the video, while highly abstract, is somewhat related to the lyrics but the structure of the video hasn't got a clearly defined structure in line with the music.