Key Features in Music Videos

Key Features in Music Videos

Andrew Goodwin, in his book "Dancing in the Distraction Factory", has identified the following features of music videos:

• Music Videos demonstrate genre characteristics, e.g. Heavy Metal;- long-haired men in leather, loud music, screaming and shouting (singing), etc; Boy/Girl Bands:- dance routines, etc.

• Examples of this include:

Indie Rock/Indie Pop/Pop Ballad/J-pop - Tsuki Amano - "Koe" (Voice)

Japanese emotional lyrics (English lyrics here)
Slow tempo (ballad style)
Flamboyant outfits, hairstyles and make-up

• There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals (illustrative, amplifying and/or contradicting).

• Examples of this include:

Illustrative - Five for Fighting - "Superman (It's Not Easy)"

"Even Heroes have the right to dream" - shows a cabinet full of children's toys - symbolises children's imagination and innocence
"Up, up and away, away from me/Well, it's alright" - setting changes to the singer high up in the sky, above the clouds - conveys a calming feeling

Amplifying - Cryoshell - "Creeping in my Soul"

The word "creep" is constantly repeated in some way or form to create a haunting, yet thrilling atmosphere in the song and video.

Contradicting - Utada Hikaru - "Hikari" (Light)

Almost all of the lyrics do not relate to the visuals. (English lyrics here or here)

• There is a relationship between the music and the visuals (illustrative, amplifying and/or contradicting).

• Examples of this include:

Illustrative - Bonnie Pink - "Kane wo Narashite" (Ring a Bell)

English lyrics here.
There are several special effects/features in the video that emphasise the beat of the song itself, namely the shape-shifting cube.

Amplifying - Tsukiko Amano - "Ningyou" (Doll)

English lyrics here.
There is both fast and slow tempo in the music and both fast and slow-paced scenes to go with them. However, the respective tempos and scenes don't always run together at the same time.

Contradicting - Fall Out Boy - "Immortals" (Theme Song of Big Hero 6)

The entire video is just a vinyl record (in the design of the character Baymax's face) spinning round playing the song. Other than the spinning record, nothing else in the video completely matches the song's beat.

Contradicting - Lisa Miskovsky - "Still Alive" (Theme Song of Mirror's Edge)

The pace of the video does not match the song's drumline beat.

• Requests are made by the record label to try to create motifs/a visual style that will recur in the artist's work, e.g. lots of close-ups of the artist.

• Examples of this include:

abingdon boys school - "Nephilim"

English lyrics here.
The video has many close-ups of the band members, as well as many Long Shots of the whole band. This motif is seen in their other music videos.

• There are often references to the action of looking, e.g. looking through a screen or telescope, someone pointing you in a certain direction, etc; and Laura Mulvey's "Male Gaze".

• Examples of this include:

JAMIL - "The Rock City Boy"

English lyrics here.
Though not an extreme case of Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze, throughout the video, the main character (JAMIL) takes quite a few glances at the girl (J-Pop singer Takahashi Minami), whom he has a crush on, and even thinks about her in a dazy sort of way.

• There are also often intertextual references to other media, e.g. films, TV shows, other music videos, etc.

• Examples of this include:

Cryoshell - "Closer to the Truth" (Theme Song of BIONICLE 2008 - Toa Mistika)

Refers to, features and promotes the popular toyline, BIONICLE, by Lego (specifically the 2008 toyline) through clips from the toy adverts

Cryoshell - "Gravity Hurts" (Theme Song of BIONICLE 2008 - Toa Phantoka)

Refers to, features and promotes the popular toyline, BIONICLE, by Lego (specifically the 2008 toyline) through clips from the toy adverts

Anastasia - "Everything Burns" ft. Ben Moody (Theme Song of Fantastic Four (2005))

Refers to, features and promotes the 2005 movie, Fantastic Four, through clips from the film and the music video being in a comic book format to symbolise how The Fantastic Four started off as a comic book story. Also, there are occasions in the video where the character, Johnny Storm (a.k.a. The Human Torch), flies past the two singers, Anastasia and Ben Moody, and, at the end of the video, the Fantastic Four logo made up in flames can be seen in the sky behind Ben Moody, referring to the film's ending.

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