Tuesday, 27 September 2011

A summary of Andrew Goodwins theory


Andrew Goodwin feels that traditional narrative analyses don’t apply to pop videos.  The reasons for the different in narratives are :
1.     Pop videos are built around songs – these songs do not have a traditional narrative structure which is – normality , problem , resolution.
2.     The singer is the narrator and character
3.     The singer often looks directly at the camera – they are trying to involve the viewer with the performance
He states that pop videos rely on repetition , which is seen in the images , choruses or lines. This means the audience becomes familiar with the genre and has certain expectations.
Pop songs / videos do have closure. The song has an ending and so does the video , it either builds to a climax or has constant repetition until it fades away.
However there are three types of relations between the videos and songs. These are :

1.     Illustration- The video tells the story of the lyric. For example Ed Sheerans ‘The A Team’. The song tells the story of a female who sells her body for drugs – and the video conveys this by showing the viewer what goes through.



2.     Amplification –  This is when the video adds meaning to the song , which don’t contradict the lyrics but add a deeper meaning. Firework by Katy Perry does this by telling the story of different characters who all struggle but find their inner ‘firework’.


3.     Disjuncture – These type of videos have no connection with the lyrics and sometimes the video may even contradict the lyrics completely.









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