Andrew Goodwin's Key Features

In 1992, Andrew Goodwin wrote a book called "Dancing In Distraction Factory". In this book, he was able to identify some features that he sees in music videos. He was an important figure in our media and he identified the following 5 features about music videos:

• He thought that music videos showed stereotypical traits. He thought that characteristics and the content of the music video would depend on the genre of music that the video was reflecting. For example, if an artist was playing rock music or heavy metal, their music video would contain some kind of band performance which would show the artist playing their instruments and singing. Another example would depict a boy or girl band singing a pop song and their pop song would contain some kind of dancing within the video. The song "Hero" by Skillet is a good example of this as they are playing heavy metal music and they are performing within the video. In the video, there are lots of close up and mid shots which show the band singing and playing their instruments which reflects Andrew Goodwin's Theory. With regards to Mise en Scene, they are playing in a big open space with their performance. In terms of editing, there are lots of edits with lots of short takes which makes the video fast paced which also proves Andrew Goodwin's theory. 

• Another stereotypical trait that Andrew Goodwin believed is that there is always a relationship between the lyrics of the song, and the music video that has been made with it. This relationship can either be: illustrative, amplifying or contradicting. This is an example of an illustrative music video. This is because the lyrics in the song are demonstrative of the video that has been filmed for it. The lyrics in the song are about how Bruno will do anything for this girl that he has fallen in love with and everything he would do to be with her, and the video shows him struggling and doing some hard labour in order to be with the girl. With Mise-En-Scene, Bruno is shown to be wearing an orange shirt which symbolizes that he has already been in prison and is still willing to do anything for the girl. There are also lots of close up shots which show the struggle in his face, but still willing to do anything for this girl. Also, there are lots of shots which are quite a few seconds long, which again shows his anguish for this girl. 

• Another stereotypical trait that Andrew Goodwin believed in is that the record labels always demanded closeups of the artists face during the video. In the video for "Firework" by Katy Perry which is seen below, there are lots of close ups of her face all throughout the video. She is shown to be singing when the close ups appear. She also looks very similar in every shop as her face is shown to be the same in each shot. In terms of cinematography, there are lots of closeups of Katy Perry's face. The editing switches back and forth between shots of her face and the story that she's trying to tell. The mise-en-scene is also designed to make her look appealing with the bright colours that she uses in terms of clothing, and just the general lighting on her face. 

• Another stereotypical trait that Andrew Goodwin believed is the characters always looking at things. This is called The Notion of Looking. This can be seen in a number of different ways. This could be shown through artists constantly looking at other things. It also could be seen as characters looking at screens or looking through telescopes. In the specific example below of "Love is All Around" by Wet Wet Wet, the characters in the video are always seen to be looking at mirrors. Lots of medium shots are used in this video, which show mirrors and what is seen in the reflections. In terms of editing, there are lots of long shots which last quite a few seconds, which means the audience get to look at the mirrors more, which gives off the notion of looking proving Goodwins theory. 

• The last stereotypical trait that Andrew Goodwin believed in is that there is often intertextual reference to other medias in music videos. Intertextual references are when other other kinds of medias (other music videos, TV programmes, films etc) are used in a music video. This can be done to mock and cause offence, or just to have fun with. In the example below of "Walks Like Rihanna" by The Wanted, they use a lot of intertextual reference in this video. There's one particular scene where they are sitting near a car in dull colour lighting, which is a copy of the music video Take That did for their song "Back For Good"  which also can be seen below. In terms of cinematography, The Wanted even copy some of the shots from the original video. There's a scene in both video where there's a closeup of one of the band members where water goes down their face which is a clear similarity. Looking at Mise-En-Scene, the same colour scheme is used, with the dark lighting being used. Both videos have also been edited in the same way, as there alot of slow motion shots in both videos.