Key Features of Music Videos

Andrew Goodwin proposed in "Dancing in the Distraction Factory" (1992) that all music videos have certain key features that distinguish them from other types of short films.

1) Music Videos demonstrate genre characteristics, for example in most rock and heavy metal music videos, there is usually scenes of the band performing their respective instruments on some sort of stage but with boy/girl bands, there are scenes of the group performing some sort of choreographed dance in their music video.

B2K - Boy Band

Good Charlotte - Rock Band

2) He proposed there being a relationship between the lyrics and visuals either illustrating, amplifying or disjuncturing the point/issues being made through the song.

• Illustrative music videos give literal meaning to the song’s lyrics in a visual form. An example of an illustrative music video is the one for Gym Class Hero's 'Cupid Chokehold', where it does clearly illustrates the lyrics of the song. For example, when the words "Take a look at my Girlfriend" are sung, the artist looks at his girlfriend walking.

• Amplified music videos really give emphasis to the concepts of the song. An example of an amplified music video is the one for Kanye West's 'Homecoming', where it clearly shows him coming back to his home town of Chicago and making his 'homecoming', it shows him walk around the city he knows so well.

• Contradicting music videos do not follow the concepts being raised in the song. A good example of this would the music video for "Bitter Sweet Symphony" by The Verve, which consist of the lead singer of the band Richard Ashcroft lip-syncing the song while walking down a street. The actual video doesn't really match the message the song is trying to send, which in itself is quite hard to decode the lyrics.

Goodwin also thinks that the reason for the excessive use of close-ups on the artist is to comply with the demands of the record label the artist is signed to. In the music video for 'Wrecking Ball' by Miley Cyrus, there is a constant close up shot of Miley as she is singing, as this could be seen as a personal song for Miley, the close up could be used as a way of driving the emotion she feels and allow the audience to empathise with her as she sings.

3) Artists also develop a peculiar motif which occurs throughout their work. Kanye West often featured a bear in most of his albums, single covers and music videos. He called it the ‘Dropout Bear’ and used it as a mascot and trademark in most of his earlier works.

Kanye West's first three albums all featuring 'The Dropout Bear'

 












4) He suggested there being a frequent reference to the notion of looking for example screens within screens, telescopes etc. An example of this is the video for 'Evolve Or Be Extinct' by Wiley, it has us watching people holding iPads with Wiley performing on the them. In terms of editing it has a range of shots from close to medium shots, quickly switching between them to stimulate the viewer.

5) He also believed there being a voyeuristic treatment of female body within music videos. There are numerous examples of this, with there provocative angles to show off their bodies and having sexualised close-ups to build their brand image and promote sales in their singles.

6) Last but not least, he explained that there is often intertextual references to films, TV programmes and other forms of media. The music video for Britney Spears's 'Break The Ice' which uses intertextual references to the anime animation style used in many South Korean comics and cartoons.