Goodwins Points With 2 Music Video Analysis

Andrew Goodwin's 6 key points for a music video

Andrew Goodwin theorises that there are 6 key elements that should be included in any successful music video.

1.       Music videos should include genre characteristics such as, choreographed dancing for girl/boy bands or a large stage performance for rock artists.

2.       There is a relationship between the lyrical content of the song and the music video, such as the video referencing certain lines in the song eg. Katy Perry's T.G.I.F.

3.       There is a relationship between the music of the song and the music video, such as fast paced moments of the song should be reflected with numerous short shots and fast paced editing.

4.       Numerous close-ups of the artist and a visual style across their videos.

5.       There should be voyeuristic elements in the music video (shots looking through windows or telescopes).

6.       Use of inter-textual reference, such as referencing well known music videos or motion pictures, such as Lana Del Ray's video "Blue Jeans" which heavily references 50's cinema.

The Fray – Heartless

The video for the song ‘heartless’ by The Fray matches the soundtrack very well but is quite a unique styled video. I don’t particularly think that this video covers all conventions but is still very successful; firstly it does not include a typical choreographed stage performance or dancing scene. Yet the majority of the video is make up of thorough stop motion drawings in fine detail, where we see sketched pictures of the band performing, which covers a genre characteristic of a music video. The lyrical content of the song is quite sad and slow, almost put across with a message which engages an audience. The music video links to the lyrics by using many long duration close up shots of the main character which shows emotion. Furthermore the stop motion sketches follow a story of a character walking along the sheet of paper and getting hurt either physically or verbally, therefore this links to the lyrics successfully and shows the audience hurt/pain. The relationship between the music video and the song is communicated throughout: we see high angle shots making the character look vulnerable, numerous close ups showing emotion: the rest of the video is mostly stop motion, it does involve camera movement but all scenes are slow paced edited. In the scenes of the main character out of the stop motion, they mostly consist of the boy gazing out of the window or at the girl he has a crush on, communicating a storyline and covering elements. I feel the video is quite modern yet with a very individual twist.

Ellie Goulding – Your song

 
This song is quite a classic & is well known as it was also sung by Elton john, but the music video helped to make it more modern, current and re-market. The video includes certain genre characteristics such as shots of the artist singing in sync, her walking about which helps the audience identify with her, however it does not particularly choreographed like it would in a more dance/pop video. The lyrical content is about the love someone has for another, so the lyrics are sweet and simple yet happy. In the music video we see transitions from close up/medium shots of the artist Ellie Goulding singing and engaging with the steady camera, to hand held flashback scenes showing other characters in a different location, suggesting a memory and those are the people the song is about. As the music is quite slow with a small quiet beat, the music video creates a relationship with the song by editing in slow paced scenes. Furthermore the shots are quite simplistic by being located in a garden area and the singer is not over dressed but casual, making the video and song look & seem quite personal and relaxed. There are so many close ups of the artist throughout so the audience can identify with her, all with depth of field to keep the focus on only her, from scenes from Ellie in the studio to her in her wellies walking through mud, which gives a wide variation & encourages interest from the audience. I feel the video comes across quite old fashioned & quirky, the video appears to have a slight edit on saturation making it look more like a 70’s style perhaps. The location used in the scenes is quite unusual which makes the video different from others.