As part of my research I have tried to produce a classifaction of music videos;
- Narrative
-> Logical,
-> Disjointed,
-> Illogical.
- Computer Generated
-> Animation,
-> Retro.
- Home made/DIY
- Soundtrack/Film
- Performance
-> Abstract,
-> Dancing,
-> Historical,
-> Comedy,
-> Horror,
-> Emotional,
-> Scenic,
-> Artsy,
-> Montage,
-> Live,
-> Tour,
-> Fantasy.
Although there has never been a singular definitive classification of music videos one of the most widely known groupings of music videos was put forward by Andrew Goodwin. He identified a number of key features including;
- A relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, with the visuals illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the lyrics.
- A relationship between the music and the visuals, with the visuals illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the music.
- Genre related style and iconography present.
- Multiple close ups of the main artist or vocalist.
- Voyeurism often plays a major part, especially in relation of females.
- Intertexual references to other media may be present.
Illustrating - The pictures or images on the screen match the song lyrics e.g. a song about being in Las Vegas has images of the singers or actresses in Las Vegas. A video example of this is Pulp - Common People. This however runs the risk of being over literal and simplistic.
Amplifying - The video adds another layer of meaning to the song lyrics e.g. Oasis - Rock 'n' Rolla video the images that fill the video are of the band doing normal everyday activities and suggest that the rockers or people in bands are normal people too and like to do normal everyday things like ride roller coasters and visit theme parks.
Disjuncture - These videos are often based on abstract imagery and work by rejecting or completely contrasting to the song's lyrics. This is a very dangerous strategy to adopt as the audience may not understand what is going on and therefore not buy the single. For example the Arctic Monkey's video, Fluorescent Adolescent where random men are beaten up by psychotic clowns.
Laura Mulvey (1975) - Also argued that a lot of mainstream media texts are based from a males point of view or from the male gaze. For example the Kayne West Golddigga video or the Brittany Spears 'Ooops I did it again.'
Next I researched three different music videos to see the extent in which these videos follow Goodwin's or Mulvey's theories;
Eminem feat Rihanna - Love The Way You Lie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uelHwf8o7_U&ob=av2e
The first video that I looked into was Eminem and Rihanna, Love The Way You Lie. In this video there is lots of genre based iconography. Withing Eminem's videos there is usually some form of narrative within the video and this one is no different. Similarly there is also lots of multiple close ups of the main artists, both the singers and the actors.
The relationship between the music and the visuals is illustrative as the narrative speed matches the speed of the music. Likewise with the relationship between the lyrics and the visuals e.g. the actors are seen saying some of the lyrics of the song during their fight and Eminem also acts out some of the lyrics during his verses.
Kayne West feat Jamie Foxx - Golddigga
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vwNcNOTVzY
Throughout the video the audience is shown frequent close ups of both singers (Kayne West and Jamie Foxx) whilst also showing intertexual references to other media e.g. in the case of a men's magazine cover below.
Similarly this is a clear example of a video shot from the point of view of a man as all of the women are wearing skimpy and revealing clothing therefore it not only valid for Mulvey's theory but also of Goodwin's as it is another clear example of voyeurism as males will find it entertaining to see the skimpy clothed women on screen. Likewise there is lots of genre styled iconography involved e.g. the song is a hip hop/rap song so someone would expect stars like Kayne West or Drake to be involved with lots of scantily clad women dancing with them.
Similarly with the video above there is no clear narrative form within this video yet unlike the the Rhianna and Eminem video the audience is shown restricted narration where the narrative is tied to a single character and the audience only sees or knows what they know which creates a feeling of mystery in the audience as they do not know what is going to happen.
Finally there is also a relationship between the visuals and the lyrics and the visuals and the music. The relationship between the lyrics are illustrated clearly by the visuals e.g. when Jamie Foxx talks about money he makes a counting money action with his hand, whilst it is a similar story for the relationship between the music and the visuals as whenever the music skips a beat or changes the person on the screen, whether it be male or female, changes too.
Katy Perry - Teenage Dream
Like most music videos, Teenage Dream shows multiple close ups of the main artist; in this case Katy Perry. On the other hand in this video the relationship between the lyrics and the visuals is amplifying rather than illustrating. This means that whilst the visuals in the video do not match the lyrics what the artist is singing, the visuals hold an extra hidden meaning to the lyrics. For example in this video Katy Perry does many things that teenagers do e.g. parting and hanging out with friends.
Both Propp's, Levi Strauss and Todorov's narrative structures are irrelevant here. This video only tells a short story of Katy Perry and her boyfriend and friends partying and running away together therefore any narrative structure here would be useless. Within this video we are shown restricted narration as we are only shown what Katy Perry's character knows which primarily puts her as the focus of the video and allows the audience to have a deeper connection to her and her thoughts and feelings.
Finally within this video there is lots of voyeurism as throughout the video all of the women are wearing tight, revealing clothes which is clearly seen from a male point of view.
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