Andrew Goodwin

Andrew Goodwin

Andrew Goodwins theory is based on the idea that traditional narrative analysis does not really apply to pop videos. A three minute video will have the traditional structure of normality-problem-resolution or beginning-middle-end similar to that of novels and films. However this is projected in a very different way to novel's and films, usually either because the singer is also the character that looks at the camera to involve the viewer which contrasts to films for example where the narrator is usually not on screen, or that the video is based around the song itself and songs generally do not have traditional narrative structures and instead may have repetitive lines/choruses so shots and images will be repeated in the same way as the songs. Pop videos rely on repetition in tune with the chorus and lines, also their could be intertextuality where the audience become familiar with the genre which could which could in Andrew's theory work very well or very badly. 

Some videos are autonomous from the music they spring from. This means that the video may have visuals beyond the original meaning. There are three types of relations between songs and videos: illustration, amplification, and disjuncture. 

Illustration: Visuals which tell the story of the lyrics. For example dance is often used to express feelings and moods in the song.

Amplification: When the videos add new layers of meaning to the lyrics.

Disjuncture: When there is little connection between the lyrics and video.

Illustration 

This is a good example of Illustration. Here eminem tells the story and the video illustrates the lyrics of the story. The acting is used to show emotion and moods of the song.

Amplification 

This shows a good example of amplification. The song is about a guy asking a girl plenty of questions about Love. The video shows visuals of him getting arrested and having trouble and is showing new meanings to the song other than just him and the girl.

Disjuncture

Here we see a good example of disjuncture. For example at 0.39-0.41 he is talking about a range rover and lexus yet the visuals show a jaguar. Also at 1.54 he is talking about cristal (champagne) and the visuals show bottles of milk instead. Again on 2.23 he talks about white Louie boat shoes and a visual of a black trainer is shown. There is various visuals and imagery that are purposely inserted to either have no link to the lyrics at all or to contradict them.