Music Videos

Andrew Goodwin from Dancing in the Distraction Factory 1992, Routledge, has identified the following features about music videos;

- They demonstrate genre characteristics such as stage performance in metal videos, dance routines for girl and boy bands, etc.
- There is a certain relationship between the lyrics and the visuals which are either illustrative, amplifying or contradicting.
- There is also a specific link between the music and the visuals which are either illustrative, amplifying or contradicting.
- The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups on the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work. Something like a visual style.
- There is a frequent reference to the notion of looking - (screens within screens, telescopes, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment towards the female body.
- There is often intertextual reference to films, TV programmes, other music videos, etc.

Considering that most music videos are either performance-based, narrative-based or concept-based, each of the elements above are used in them.

Narrative: The story that is portrayed throughout the video.

Concept: There is no relationship between the lyrics and the visuals. The video can be really random and nothing to do with the song.