Andrew goodwin (research) tasks 3&4

Andrew Goodwin

-Andrew Goodwin says that traditional narraitive anaylsis does not apply in pop videos. This is because they approach narrative different than a book or film. Some reasons that narrative is different are; pop videos are usually built around songs which don’t have traditional narrative, the singers are more than one character and has more than one purpose in the song and the singer looks directly at the camera.

- Pop videos rely on repetition and they often can be very repetitive with lyrics, images and rhythms. The reputition in songs means we get used to particular genres and then build expectations of that genre. Also the songs have to work on there own without a video so they can’t be to dependant on the video as they get played on both the TV and on radio. Some songs can have adverting in there video also

-Pop video’s are usually around three minutes long and need to have some form of closure and ending.

-Pop videos often have easily recognisable features. For example, the way women are represented in them, they are shown as objects to males that can be completed dependant and weak compared to them. Some female artists try to show independence away from men, such as Bayonne- single ladies.

-Pop videos try to appeal to a wide stream audience so they do a number of different things to try to appeal to it without taking away from the main purpose.

-There are three different types of relations between songs and videos: illustration, amplification, and disjuncture.

1) Illustration        

This is where the video directly links with the lyrics and the lyrics tell a story with is shown through out the video.

For example Cee-Lo Fuck you

This video is a pop video about a man being heartbroken and rejected all through the start of his life, then his luck changes and gets a girl. It has a very good and interesting narrative which directly links to the lyrics. The narrative is shown in three of his life stages which are labeled clearly by cartoony looking labels.

2) Amplification
occurs when the videos introduce a new meaning that do not contradict with the lyrics but adds a new layer of meaning.
For example, Lily Allen- smile.


Lily Allen’s song smile is a pop song; this is one of my options for my music video for a2.
It is about her being hurt by her boyfriend and her getting revenge in all different way. Lily is the narrator and plays a part in the song, so the song still has a clear narrative. Certain things are acted out which are not said in the lyrics but go with the song and adds new meaning and extra entertainment to the song.

3) Disjuncture
 This is where there is little connection between the lyric and video or where the video contradict the lyric.
For example,  Katy Perry-California girls.

California girls is another pop song which is disjuncture to the lyrics. The song generally has little narrative as its talking about California girls and the song is shoot in a ‘candy land’ of some sort which doesn’t tie in with the lyrics but still makes some kind of sense.