Applying The Goodwin Theory To Music Videos

The Andrew Goodwin Theory is made up of 5 key aspects which are what an audience look out for when watching music videos. Which are as followed:




1. Thought beats- seeing the song within your mind/head
2. Narrative and Performance
3. Star Image
4. The relation between the songs lyrics and the visuals
5. Technical aspects within the music video



Thought Beats:

Step one: the listener will look into the actual music and interpret it, by the chorus or verses, but all within there minds

Step two: the artist will be identified from the rest of the beat and will be unique, essentially you will hear the voice within the song.

Step three: the story within the song will become recognised. The music video itself will help aid in telling the story behind the song, and intern the artist becomes a story teller.

Narrative and Performance:

The Goodwin theory suggests that we normally tend to make-up our own interpretation of the message behind the song from just a basic understanding of what the music maybe about.

Narrative and performance should be used together to insure the audience does not become bored, but engaged into the performance and also the story of the song.

Goodwin believes that miming is still the most popular thing done in music videos today, however states that the artist should try and make it as real looking as possible.

Star Image:

Star image within music videos is very important as it is a key aspect within the visuals of a music video.
Artists always want to be unique as they want the audience to remember them. Artists star image usually develops over time and changes to keep them current, star image also plays a big part in the actual production process of a music video.

The Relation Between The Song Lyrics And The Visuals:

Music videos use certain images to help illustrate the meaning of their songs and to help portray the actual genre by using the conventions in which that genre usually uses. The music video is essentially just telling the story of the song but by using images and visuals rather then words.

Technical Aspects:

Technical aspects essentially what puts the music video together. This includes camera movement, editing, cutting, speed of the shots.