Andrew Goodwin identified three different approaches to the structure of a music video according to the relationship between the sound and the image. He claims that a good music video is ; A clip that responds to the pleasure of the music, and in which that clip makes the music visual, either in new ways or ways in which accentuate existing visual associations.
Illustration:
The music always cuts on the beat (rhythm)
The images will illustrate the literal meaning of the lyrics often with the band singing and dancing.
The band image will be how you expect it according to the genre; such as dancing, singing and playing instruments.
Amplification:
The music cuts on the beat but can cut off beat to emphasis features
The lyrics will not always represent an obvious image but may use a narrative that would not necessarily be picked up from reading the lyrics alone.
The band takes on fictional characters in the video's narrative and do not represent themselves. E.G: The main singer being in love in the music video story
Dis-juncture:
Music cuts off beat. Sometimes (but not always) this could be seen as badly edited video so must be done so that it fits to that band image.
The video will show images that do not relate to the lyrics, sometimes this is used by bands who are already well established who can afford to take the risk for their 'image'
The band take on an image that is nothing like or the complete opposite of the expected image. E.G: the lead singer of Texas that dresses up as Elvis.
Disjuncture goes against the 'norm' and have an established fan based that can afford to take a big risk to create a mass 'abstract image'
Are there any images you could include to illustrate your points further?
ReplyDeleteI would agree. This is very clear, insightful summary of the theory. It would only be made better by the inclusion of a few images/clips or links to clips to illustrate it further.
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