Andrew Goodwin's "Dancing in the Distraction Factory"

The book analyses both the medium of music videos and the business. Goodwin gives detailed analysis into the social and political significance of music television at the time of the books publishing.

Goodwin's theory identified seven key music video features:
1. Typical characteristics of music videos relating to music genre.
2. A relationship between music and visuals.
3. A relationship between lyrics and visuals.
4. Close-ups of the artist and artist branding as required by their record label.
5. Development of an artists visual style in their music videos over time.
6. Voyeurism within music videos and the male gaze.

In the book, Goodwin explains as to how music videos often demonstrate genre characteristics. An R&B video will often feature voyeuristic images of scantily clad women and have an emphasis on wealth

Illustration is one of the three ways the music and lyrics relate to the accompanying visuals of the text, according to Goodwin. When the visuals illustrate the music for example, there may be a cut on a beat in order to add emphasis to such or to ensure the visuals keep up with the pace of the music. By illustrating the music, a stronger engagement of the audiences' focus can be made. Visuals can also either literally or metaphorically show the audience the meaning or emotions of the lyrics. The artist/s may also be illustrated by showing them performing or dancing to their music.

The second major way the music and lyrics relate to the visuals is through amplification. Amplification, as Goodwin refers to it, is the ways in which the visuals add more to the music and lyrics. For example, a fictional narrative related to the lyrics may be established to add more meaning and context through the visuals.

Disjuncture is the remaining third method of relation. When the imagery is in disjuncture to the music and lyrics, this essential means that they have no recognisable relation to one another. This method may be utilised to add a sense of irony to an otherwise happy song for instance. A popular example of disjuncture in a music video is Justin Bieber's video for 'Sorry', of which only features females dancing in a choreographed sequence. The lyrics of the song do not relate to dancing in any way. However, in contrast the choreography and editing does in fact illustrate the music.

In closing, Goodwin reasons why he believes music videos should be viewed as more than just postmodern pastiches and also criticises taking a postmodern approach to music television analysis.

Visual Mood Board

Here (above) I have created a visual mood board depicting possible sources of influence for my music video production. The board showcases a variety of influential cinematography ranging from music videos to films and still photography.

Secondary Research: Andrew Goodwin

'Dancing In The Distraction Factory:
Music Television and Popular Culture' is a 1992 book published by media theorist Andrew Goodwin. This book essentially established the classic codes and conventions that most music videos contain, of which for the most part, still holds up today.

Goodwin theorised that music videos tended to have these key features:

1. Intertextual references: whereby other music artists, films, television or any other popular culture is referenced in a music video.

2. A lyrical and visual relationship: lyrics can be illustrated by, amplified or contradicted by the visuals it is accompanied with.

3. A musical and visual relationship: similar to feature number 2 mentioned above. However, in contrast, it is instead between the music and visuals.

4. Voyeurism and the notion of 'looking': The male gaze (the portrayal of the female body and personal as an object or inferior to the male) and reference to screen within the screen, cameras, filming and the gaze of the stars. In general, we're shown stuff out of what we'd see in ordinary life.

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Bibliography

1. http://www.slideshare.net/naamah/goodwins-theory-intro-and-tasks -
Naamah Hill, Teacher at Thurston Community College Published on Jun 15, 2011

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Client Feedback

 

 

 

 

Client Comments:

"Expanding on Question 5, the only reason I would not be likely to hire you for another promotional video is because of the lack of more effective communication. I would than have been able to give more effective feedback as to the changes I would have liked. As well as this there should be more footage of a variety of students. However the editing of the final piece and the footage used is excellent. Some shot types, camera and lighting techniques are lower in quality than others, however the message of how productive and fun the trip was comes across and this was the main aim. The footage used from the flamenco show, interviews with students and footage from the galleries are great examples of this. The editing and pace of the video shows the relaxed and creative vibe enjoyed in Madrid. Overall I am very satisfied with your final production, well done."

Evaluation

For the promotional video unit, I decided to make a video for the Creative Arts department of my college. As I was already going on the departments student trip to Madrid, I had the fortunate opportunity to shoot footage while there for the promotion of the departments future trips abroad. I was set with the task of creating a video that would primarily highlight how productive and fun the trip was for the students in regards to educational and personal experiences. Prior to creating my own promotional video, I studied videos of this kind, looking at their different forms and conventions. Upon producing a promotional video for my client, I faced a variety of potential problems such as those to our health and safety and having to stick to a college mandated daily schedule and curfew.

While shooting in Madrid, I kept my shot list on me to remind myself what shots I had explicitly desired and discussed with my client. You may notice however that some shots are noted as "sequences" as due to not having the opportunity to location scout in Madrid beforehand, I would likely take many unexpected shots of the city while on the trip that I could incorporate into montages of some sort. The trip itself took place over the course of three days which meant that I had a brief window of opportunity to capture all of my footage. While filming the flamenco show, I had a limited perspective upon which I could record the show. Unfortunately I was unable to take the college's zoom lens with me on the trip as it was currently being used by another student in preparation for their exam. In order to capture close up footage of the show, as seen in my final video, I asked to borrow a fellow students personal zoom lens to which they kindly allowed.

When it came to choosing royalty free music to play in the background of my video, I decided upon a guitar cover of Grimes' "Oblivion" by Montreal artist Matt LeGroulx. Making sure the music I decided upon was royalty free was essential to my client as there was no budget for music licensing for use in the video. Editing to this music was particularly challenging due to its slow paced and relaxed nature. While doing so, I quickly realised that the video was going to be primarily video footage instead of stills as the stills seemed to be too jarring with the pace of the music and the spacing between the synth notes was too long to hold on one still frame. Two weeks after returning from the trip, I presented my client with the first draft of my video. After watching the video through a couple of times with my client I had received multiple comments. The first comment mentioned was that the interview with Amber and Louise needed to feature sooner along in the video. I agreed with my client on this matter and hence later made an adjustment so that it would appear within the first minute or so of footage. I felt that having the interview feature sooner in the video would better establish a student perspective of the trip that would affect how the audience viewed the remainder of the video. Trying to establish this student perspective was imperative to my client as they believed the endorsement of such would better sell the trip. I believe that the interview combined with their engagement with the activities conveys an authentic positive and beneficial experience. 

More student engagement with the activities on the trip was also another comment made by client. While reviewing my footage I had also realised that I had perhaps not shot enough footage of students engaging with activities such as taking photographs or discussing some of the artwork with one another. Fortunately however, I was able to use some personal footage shot by Louise (of whom also featured in my interview) which included shots of her and other students engaging in different activities. In order to appeal to the parents/guardians of students that would most likely want to see the educational benefits of the trip, I made sure the interview included the students talking about how the trip has helped their studies. This was one aspect of the interview of which my client was particularly pleased with. Nonetheless, if I were to add an addition to my final video it would have been some footage of their post-trip work to prove their claims of how the trip influenced their work and thus improved upon it. I did not include the footage in the end as I had ran out of time to further edit it into my video and I do believe this may affect the perceived authenticity of their claims. Overall I consider my organisation skills to be the key cause of my problems experienced while creating the video. Despite this, I agree with my client that my video is effective and useful as it meets the primary brief of 'highlighting the creative arts faculty and the student engagement in the trip'.

Release Forms

The students and faculty of my college, King Edward VI College, of whom a few feature in my promotional video, have all signed releases at enrolment that will allow the college to use their images for promotional purposes such as this. Hence there was no need to require additional release forms.

Promotional Video