Research - Andrew Goodwin. ‘Dancing in the Distraction Factory’ (1993)

Andrew Goodwin. ‘Dancing in the Distraction Factory’ (1993)

The Structure of Music Video.

Rethinking narrative Analysis.

According to Andrew Goodwin, pop videos do not need to have traditional narrative analysis like Todorov would argue. He feels that there’s no need to a beginning (Normality), middle/climax (Problem) and end (Resolution). This is because pop videos approach narrative from different angles. For instance: 

• Pop video uses the artist/singer as a narrator as well as a character
• The singer looks directly at the camera when performing in order to involve the viewer at home with the performance. This is known as direct address. 
• Pop videos are constructed around songs so they do not possess narrative structures.

Pop videos consists of repetitions. Certain images are repeated just like a song repeats its choruses and lines. Base tracks are examples of this. Andrew Goodwin feels that pop videos do not need to have traditional narrative structures because the video would be played on TV, the song would be played on the radio and also be used in advertisement for a film or on tv which would make the song more known through repetition.

Moreover videos are autonomous from the music they originate from. For instance the images created from the song may be very difference from the original meaning.  Sometimes pop videos advertises other product like films. From this we can argue that there are different types of relations between songs and videos. They are known as illustration, amplification and disjuncture.

• Illustration is when the video tells the lyrics. An example of this is Drive by by train.
• Amplification is when the video introduces new meaning. However it does not contradict with the lyrics of the song but adds layers of meaning. An example of this is Feeling Good by Michael Buble.

• Disjuncture is the opposite of illustration. Here there is little relevance between the lyrics and the video or when the video contradicts the lyric. A good example of this is Faint by Linkin Park. 

Todorov’s theory:

As humans we need a clear narrative structure in order to understand things. This is similar to music videos. Todorov states that music videos have beginning (Equilibrium), Middle (Disequilibrium) and an end (New equilibrium)