Goodwin's analysis and Laura Mulvey's analysis

Andrew Goodwin and Laura Mulvey’s analysis of music and music videos are very influential and, as such, should definitely be taken in to account when we are creating our own music video. Goodwin’s first point is that the music video should always have something to signify its genre so, for example, a boy band will have a heavily choreographed dance routine whereas an artist from the rock genre will favour a large performance for their video. As our song comes from the rock genre it seems that a large performance or a chaotic (yet choreographed) performance would be the best bet as it shows what the rock genre is about.

The second point on the lyrics relating to the video is, in my opinion, the most crucial of all the points as a music video should be made to get across the point of the song in ways that lyrics may not be able to much like movies cover certain things that are hard to picture in books. Because the song title is Feeling Good I feel it would be beneficial for the music video to go along with the lyrics rather than contradict them as this would come off as strange and wayward. Goodwin also states that the music (tempo, composition etc) should be similar to the music video or at least representative of it in some way. These two points will be heavily considered and debating before we even get to the filming stage because they are that important.

The point about close-ups of an artist and a motif can be one that could be easily ignored, especially if we don’t have the resources for a charismatic lead. Motifs are established through a series of videos so that can be ruled out but I still think close-ups are integral to the creation of a good music video so this may have to be interspersed with a story to accommodate it. We also have no pressure or ‘demands from a record label’ so things like this really don’t have to be taken in to consideration.

Points five and six from Goodwin (a notion of ‘looking’ and intertextuality) would be done on a video-by-video basis and may not be deemed necessary at all for our video to be a successful one. Out of all the points, numbers five and six are the only ones that aren’t important when it comes to creating a music video. Goodwin also mentions a voyeuristic look at women which brings me on to the next theory.

Laura Mulvey’s ‘Male Gaze’ theory is definitely an interesting one as it breaks down the barrier of a male-driven society and this shows the audience has to be taken in to account when creating a music video. To relate this to our video, it seems that when putting different genders and different portrayals of genders in our video we have to take in to particular consideration on why are we doing and how people will convey this. Although I have stated before the majority of our target audience will be male it doesn’t mean every single person will be male so a fine balance has to be achieved and it may just be best to not court controversy too much and stick very much with a gender-neutral or an abstract idea.