Andrew Goodwin- Music Video Theory

Andrew Goodwin was a director of Music, and was an Organist for thirty seven years at Bangor Cathedral. He states that there are five key aspects of a music video we as the audience tend to look out for:

1.       Lyrics relate to visuals

2.       Music relates to visuals

3.       Demands of record label

4.       Intertextuality

5.       Reference to notion of looking and voyeurism

6.       Genre of Characteristics

Coldplay – ‘Paradise’

The clip opens with sun-drenched shots of the South African plains, wildebeest silhouetted against the setting sun. We then cut to Martin (as an elephant) jailed against his will in a London zoo but planning an escape. When he finally busts out, he hops on the Tube, makes a beeline for Heathrow Airport and sneaks aboard a plane bound for Johannesburg, his home. After procuring a unicycle (some interpretive dance is involved), he rides through the countryside — at one point removing his elephant head to prove that, yes, it's him aboard the unicycle (this is the moment in the video denoted as ‘star image’ making it unique that it is him) — until he discovers his band mates, who, of course, are also dressed as elephants. The bass-heavy-beats makes the thought beats easily recognizable. The heavy beats are used in telling this story as it is very powerful and moving, showing how someone is making their way home.

Relation of visuals to the song shows someone trying to escape, on a humorous note, instead of a sad video showing a young, lost girl. Also the lyrics comment on ‘life goes on, it gets so heavy’- connoting heavy as an elephant. Goodwin’s theory on narrative and performance has the same conventions in ‘paradise’ as the elements are working together to keep us interested in this video, also the artist is working as an actor also, which makes the video more original and authentic. The technical aspects of the video are generating a meaning that it meant to be humorous, as a lighter note to the serious lyrics. Lighting and colour is setting the mood as a ‘paradise’ and subtle as in the lyrics she is dreaming. The editing at the beginning of the music video shows a lot of cuts, especially when the elephant is holding up different signs, helping emphasize the pace of the song, and the idea of ‘running away’. Towards the end of the video, when the elephant is reunited with his family, we see the shots in slow motion, as we are being made to take in this ‘paradise’.

Adele- ‘Rolling In The Deep’

‘Rolling in the deep,’ is another powerful song written by Adele, that has a heavy drum beat running through it, which is strongly shown in the visuals too. This is shown through a drummer being shot from behind, playing the beat for the track, which then shows a room filled with glasses of water, which then begin to bounce with the beat. The track has to have a strong beat as the lyrics comment a lot about her ‘heart being played to the beat’ and being ‘beaten.’ Other visuals in the video having links to the lyrics of beat are china and other plates being thrown at a wall from some stairs, and smashing to the ground rapidly, which are in perfect time with the drum beat.

On top of this, other thought beats include the lights flashing towards the end of the song when it reaches a climax. Also we are in view of a close-up shot of the drummer hitting the pedal on the bass drum whilst the lights flicker, which is referred back to a couple more times in the song.

Narrative and Performance is quite simple in Adele’s video. She appears to be sitting alone in a house opposite an empty chair, which should be occupied by the person she is furiously singing about. This is the only room we see her in throughout the video, however we are shown different shots, specifically close-ups to show her mixed emotions of angry and sad.

Technical aspects of the video have been considered to set the mood of the song, such as the dim lighting and use of shadows to show the miserable atmosphere, yet the little use of flashing has connotations of the highs of their relationship and how they almost ‘had it all.’ I think it has been set in an overly large, empty house to show how alone she feels and how she doesn’t want to make it homely without him.

There is a dancer that is frequently shown throughout the video which appears to be in a room with powder on the ground? A symbol of Adele trying to fight it, and brush it out of the way?

The shot of her is only shown when Adele calmly sings: ‘Don’t underestimate the things that I will do!’ imagery of the sword and the limits she will go to.

Demands of record label through lots of close-up shots.