Alexander Stapleton

Discuss how Goodwin's work on the medium of music video

and its conventions can be applied to your own planning for
your production work:
Andrew Goodwin argues in his music video they that music videos are likely to
demonstrate typical genre conventions (such as sports cars in rap videos), they are likely to
include frequent references to the notion of sexualising the female body often in a
voyeuristic manner, that is often a presence of a solid relationship between music and
visuals, the record label have demand which the artists have to conform to and that music
videos often exhibit intertextuality through links to art, TV and film.
In reference to his theory, my group and I have to think about the way in which we are
going to represent the STAR in our music video, meeting the demands of a record label.
With this in mind we have decided that our stars clothing will be individual, unique and
eye catching. Furthermore, we feel that her signature aesthetic is a choker, thus we will
incorporate this accessory into our music video. In order to conform to the conventions of
other indie pop music videos, our star will also have to portray a relaxed and chilled
persona through various playful mannerisms which include sticking out her tongue,
laughing with friends and dancing to the music. However, we do also recognise that a
record label would expect Dua Lipa to be partly sexualised in order to appeal to a male
audience, therefore we will replicate this within our own music video, conforming also to
the conventions of Laura Mulveys Male Gaze theory.
In order to achieve this representation however, we will have to implement the necessary
technical codes. For example, in order to show the viewer our stars individual style, we
will use a range of close-up and mid shots in order to direct the audiences attention
towards the stars signature accessories including a choker and sunglasses as well as her
makeup featuring a nude colour palette. Furthermore, we will use slow tracking shots and
panning, to convey the idea that the star attains a relaxed and laid-back personality. In
terms of conveying a more sexualised undertone to our video, upward tracking shots and
close up shots of body features such as our stars lips will be used throughout. I believe
that these shots will effectively sexualise the star as posed by Laura Mulvey's male gaze,
without looking to vulgar.
Furthermore, when applying the conventions, the position of the audience is very
important in determining the effectiveness of the conventions which have been applied. In
relation to our own music video, we are going to position the audience in the eyes of a
friend to the character, as we feel that this conforms to our friendly carefree genre which
we wish to create. Furthermore, we will achieve this by the interaction of the character
with the camera, acting as if the person behind the camera is a friend instead of just
observing the action.
Through looking at Goodwins theory, my group and I had to decide whether we wanted
an illustrative, amplifying or disjunctive relationship with the music lyrics. After
conferring with my other group members, we have decided to use an illustrative approach
to our music video; linking the images used in our music video with the general meaning
of the lyrics. This will be achieved through the making sure our stars mannerisms,
appearance, acting and fashion what conform to the feel of the music and genre.
Furthermore, this also includes ensuring that the editing always conforms and follows to
the beat of the music.

Alexander Stapleton
The genre of our chosen song is indie pop, therefore we will be presenting the various
conventions and codes that this genre attains. This includes studio and field locations;
simple mis-en-scene and close up shots. Furthermore in relation to Steve Neales
repetition and genre theory, we will incorporate the convention of a performance music
video as we are using lip syncing, yet as we also wanted to conform to various conventions
of contemporary music video by deciding not to include a defined storyline that could
perhaps be perceived as being clich or boring. By not including this storyline, the group
and I feel that it will enable the music video to achieve a much more individualised look
by combining conventions of both types (performance as well as contemporary).
Overall I believe that our awareness and understanding of Goodwins theory will enable
our music video to appeal much more effectively to our target audience by conforming to
the genre conventions while also giving us the ability to justify our ideas with theory.