Music Video analysis

Goodwin's theory can be used as a good effective way of analysing music videos. The six points can be identified in any music video and I will use the theory to analyse videos of my choice. I have blogged below the videos I have analysed. 

1. Weezer- Buddy Holly

This particular video depicts the theme of the band members singing on a stage within a small america diner. The same diner that was a hit setting in the old well-known television show 'Happy Days'. The sixth point in Goodwin's theory talked about intertextuality being use within a video. I feel this video clearly demonstrates the idea of this as it is creating a parodic view on the old show. The video starts with a reporter talking about the band members performance, so it is giving the impression that they are performing their song on this show. During the video you also hear the phrase "stay tuned for more Happy Days" which again shows that the artists are mocking the show. The video also includes the laughing of audiences which is commonly used for television shows and ends with conversation. This video also meets the demands of the record label as it provides you with many close ups of each member in the band, and the main focus of the video is the band itself which the audience is sure to want to see a lot of in the video.

2. Usher- Love in this club

This particular R&B music video demonstrates the first point I listed in Andrew Goodwin's theory. It shows that the same genres of music do include iconography in their videos as many have very similar themes. Usher's video contains the typical situation of the artist in a club scene surrounded by beautiful women paying attention to them. In this video there is also voyeuristic treatment of the female body. As it is set in a club scene there are many women dancing around in small amounts of clothing that is drawing in a lot of attention. This idea is again used in many other R&B music videos. This video also shows a link between the lyrics and the theme of the video as it says "make love in this club" and the actual video itself is set in a club. There are also a lot of close-ups of the artist which shows it is meeting the demands of the record label. 


3. Michael Jackson- Thriller

I chose to analyse this video as I felt it clearly demonstrated the point in Goodwins theory of the relationship between the lyrics and the visuals. You can identify straight away that the theme of this music video is going to be horror due the name of the track. Because of this identification you expect to see thrilling images throughout and that is exactly what this video gives you. The close ups in this video play an important part on representing the thrilling lyrics of this video. The close ups are used to show the change between when the artist is normal and when he turns into the monster. The close ups help show the visual change which has relevance to the lyrics of the track. There is clear relationship throughout the video between the lyrics and the video itself, the lyrics clearly demonstrated by the theme of the video are ones such as ''it's close to midnight, and something evils lurking in the dark" and "Cause this is thriller, thriller night, and no ones gonna save you from the beast about to strike". The video is very narrative as a lot of the terrifying things mentioned in the lyrics are happening in the video. There is also a link between Michael and his dance routines as he makes them very unique in every one of his videos.