Summary of the Main Points of Andrew Goodwin's Theory

‘Dancing in the Distraction Factory’ (1993)

 Chapter Four Summary

The structure of Music Video - Rethinking Narrative Analysis

 Music pop videos approach narrative from a different angle to novels and films.

The reasons for the different narrative structures are as follows:

-pop videos are built around songs and often songs do not present traditional narrative

structures (normality-problem-resolution)

-the pop music video uses the singer both as narrator and as a character

-the singer often looks directly at the camera, this part of the (music-hall) performance and trying to involve the viewer at home with the performance

Music videos rely on repetition. Often the video repeats images in the way the song repeats choruses or lines, (we become familiar with the genre and have certain expectations).

The video would be played on TV which will make the song very familiar through repetition.

Pop songs, and therefore videos, do have a form of closure and ending. The ending of the video is often reflected in the structure of the music –it builds to a climax or to a constant repetition before fading away.

There are 3 types of relations between songs and videos:

ILLUSTRATION: this is where the video tells the story of the lyric. Dance is often used to express the feelings / moods in the song

AMPLIFICATION: occurs when the video introduces new meanings that do not contradict with the lyrics but add layers of meaning

DISJUNCTURE: this is where there is little connection between the lyric and video or where the video contradicts the lyric

Pop videos often have easily recognisable features.

A feature is the way woman are presented as objects of male desire. Some artists e.g. Madonna and Beyonce deliberately present themselves from males to look at but what is different in their video is that they directly look back at the viewer through the camera and they cease to be passive. an example can be found below

In some videos the different instruments in the music are represented by different objects.

Videos also try and appeal to as wide an audience as possible without alienating the core target audience.

Videos that are from songs written for particular movies often incorporate images from the movie in the video.
An example (below) is the music video of 'This Girl' by Laza Morgan. A song which was featured in the film Step Up 3D which in the music video incorporated imaged / clips from the film.