Research for Music video: Andrew Goodwin's theory

Andrew Goodwin who’s known for being the old director of Music and Organist at Bangor Cathedral has said that he feels traditional narratives analyses do not really apply to pop videos. Mr. Goodwin has stated he considers pop videos approach narrative from a different angle to novels and films. Other reasons Andrew Goodwin gave was that pop videos use the artist/bands as both the narrator but also the characters. Another big reason for this is also because the performer looks directly into the camera which shows they are trying to make the viewer feel more involved in with the performance.

Pop videos are divided into three different categories:

1.       Illustration – where the video is telling you what the lyrics mean. A good example of this is Madonna’s “Papa Don’t Preach.

2.       Amplification – this occurs when the music video does not contradict with the lyrics but adds layers to its meaning. A good example of this is The Script – The man who cant be moved.

There is a lot in this video that adds to the lyrics in this song, one example is at the beginning the singer says “Gonna camp in my sleeping bag I'm not gonna move
Got some words on cardboard, got your picture in my hand
Saying, "If you see this girl can you tell her where I am? "  This then relates to what he does in the video 1:03.

Another example is when the singer says, “Policeman says, "Son you can't stay here"” a police car appears.

At 2:25 as the singer says, “Maybe I'll get famous as the man who can't be moved, maybe you won't mean to but you'll see me on the news” he appears to be on the news getting attention like a famous person.

He also says at 1:36, “Gotta stand my ground even if it rains or snows” which then relates to the snow at 3:28.

3.       Disjuncture – this is when the lyrics of the song hardly relate to the music video. A brilliant example of this is the video of Pixie Lott – Turn it up what happens in the music video has hardly any relevance to what the lyrics mean.