Goodwin’s theory- In Practice

The application of Goodwin’s theory to the music video

production.

Lyrics and Visuals According to Andrew Goodwin, music video’s usually have certain characterises.

One of these states that there is usually a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals.

The Music video, is based upon a plot in which the central character is being chased by his guilt, through the thicket, which is used to connote his imagine that is empty and lifeless.

The song title ‘No Way’, is emphasised by the fact that there is no way in which heis going to be consumed by his guilt ( the coat).

Certain lyrics in the song “Do we need them? Do we believe them?” is conveyed in the lyrics, by the central character, by him being pursued by his guilt.

In this sense, it would be fair to say that the visuals amplify the lyrics and illustrate the story told through the visuals.

Music and Visuals The music is up-tempo, is relatively fast. Goodwin claims that fast cuts that are

closely knit are usually present in such music. However, this is not strictly true when it comes to our music video production.

The cuts are on beat, but are not frequent enough to say that this convention is always true.

It would then be fair to say that the edits do amplify the music to some degree, also do not fully portray the full extent of the characters despair in his escape from his guilt.

Towards the end of the song however, the edits become more frequent as the track reaches a climax where the singer can be heard screaming.

Style and Iconography Andrew Goodwin also claims that certain genres of music have their own style of

video. For example, R n b tracks usually have choreographed dance routines and feature bling etc.

He also claims that heavy metal tracks feature live performances and sometimes gig shots.

The genre of our the music in the video is neither of these. It would be fair to say that this genre is of a heavy rock, almost punk/rock style of music.

This video does not conform to Goodwin’s theory in a sense that there is a live performance or dance routines.

The group wanted to create something that would be unique to the genre of music we had chosen to work with.

We believed that the settings in which the video was shot, along with the clothes the main character was wearing and the colours that are used fitted the brief and the music perfectly.

A Narrative analysis of our video.

All videos are subject to personal interpretation, but are also open to analyis from specialists such as vladimir Propp and Tzvetan Torodov and Claude Levi-Strauss.

All experts formulatre their own criterion and they all believe that stories are subject to different interpretaions.

For example, Claude Levi-Strauss believed that in all stories, there are binary oppositions and according to our music video, this is true.

Torodov believed that all stories have an equilibirum, Dis-equilibrium and a new-equilibrium. This is pretty much a beginning, middle and end.

Vladimir Propp believed that all stories, but studying folk tales, have 8 spheres of character, which are all comomn in stories.

Binary Oppositions. Our music video is built upon the narrative theory, conceived by Levi-Strauss. The underlying plot of our video is that the main character is trying to run from

his conscience. The binary opposition comes into effect when the character running in the black

coat is chasing after the lead character. The lead characters mood in symbolised by the surroundings, and the use of

matt colours clearly demonstrates this. The binary opposition is the character in the black coat, the guilt, and the lead

character…the person being chased. This is similar to “Guilty Conscience”, by Slim shady and Dr. Dre, where a series

of events unfold, and the characters are torn between their conscience, whiwch consists of good Vs. evil.