Research into Goodwin's Theory - Miss Georgiou

Andrew Goodwin writing in 'Dancing in the Distraction Factory' (Routledge 1992) stated a theory in which he made about music videos. He came up with 7 points that he believes is the basis for and is evident in every music video. I am going to elaborate on each of his 7 theory points linking them to Ed Sheeran's 'The A Team' music video through analysis. Considering Goodwin's theory is essential when analysing music videos because he claims that these 7 points help to ensure audience engagement and the ability to build a relationship between the artist and the audience.

Goodwin's first point is that music videos demonstrate particular genre characteristics and conventions. The genre of this music video is Indie, which is displayed throughout down to the stereotypical features shown within. A typical characteristic of the Indie genre is that the music videos are primarily narrative in type and display a story that links to the song's meaning. For example, the music video displays a young woman who is living fairly rough, she doesn't have a 'proper' job but is inferred to be earning most of her living through prostitution where she is also at risk of being violently abused. The money that she then earns is spent on drugs and the video suggests that this is generally her life - an unhealthy, vicious circle. The start and ending of the video are very similar as they both display the outcome of her actions - her life taken away from her. The narrative is prioritised throughout as there is no performance aspect of the video from the artist himself. This brings me to another convention of the Indie genre, which is that because the narrative is so prominent, the artist does not feature very much in the video or not at all. This is displayed distinctively in this music video, as the artist only features within it once and for a very short period of time - so short in fact, that he could be mistaken for another actor. He is seen interacting with the young woman, representing him as being caring and thoughtful for someone in her situation and this is emphasised by the way he is the only one who stops on the street to talk to her, (shown below):

This represents him in a positive light as an artist and more likely for him to increase his likability and connection with the audience. The editing is also conventional throughout, as there is a black and white filter evident. This makes the video quirky and unique compared to other music videos, also displaying a particular emotion that may want to be put across, in this instance, it could be the simplicity of this young woman's life. 

The next theory point of Goodwin's is that there is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals. This is abundantly clear through the lyric 'her face seems, slowly sinking, wasting, crumbling like pastries' whilst displaying a close up shot of the young woman:

Her emotion is clearly unhappy and unstable in the way that her eyes are watering, her makeup is running and she is resting on her hand/wrist. The black and white filter adds to the sombre tone of her emotion and emphasises the fact that her life is obviously not creating a positive impact on her as a person. The running of her makeup reflects the 'sinking' and 'wasting' lyric, whilst the 'crumbling' lyric displays her watering eyes as she is breaking down. This makes the audience feel sympathetic towards her as her emotion is emphasised, but they also feel empathetic too, due to the way that the lyrics are linked with the visuals. This therefore allows the audience to build a relationship because they can feel more connected to the video. Having this emotion portrayed so clearly means that, the narrative is more believable and as this is a convention of indie genre music videos, this means that the convention is strengthened as it is more believable. As well as this, 'go mad for a couple grams' is sung just as the woman is buying drugs:

This shows how desperate she is, as the lyrics of 'the worst things in life come free to us, cause we're all under the upper hand' suggests the violence in which she is getting from the prostitution. It is ironic because although the violence is free, she's essentially getting paid for it because she is a prostitute which could be seen as abuse in itself. Followed by this lyric referring to drugs, 'go mad for a couple grams', illustrates that her life must be so meaningless that she feels so desperate to sacrifice her reputation and persona in order to seek happiness through drugs, as it is her only escape from her life and only way to make herself feel better. The way the visuals mirror this reinforces the meaning and desperation that she feels and makes the audience feel sympathetic towards her and the situation she is in. This is conventional to the indie genre as the narrative within is usually sad or follows a negative or influential story. Moreover, the way she clenches the drugs after she is handed them really emphasises how precious and valued drugs are to her:

The drugs act as something she can hold on to and depend on to make her happy, which suggests why she continues the same life in order to seek the temporary happiness which the drugs give her. Not only does this engage the audience into the video but it allows them to think about all the other people present in today's age that suffer from addiction to drugs/alcohol, etc. This visual helps the audience understand how desperate they can become and how much value can be placed on something that an outsider may seem as being easy to let go of. Conventionality to the indie genre is illustrated here, as the artist is not seen being related to the negative aspects such as drugs/alcohol, which could essentially put reflect them into a 'bad' light. The artist is singing about someone else, and so their reputation is not at risk and the character in the video can be fully and rawly explored. Another relationship between the lyrics and visuals is displayed at the very end during the last line of the song, where instead of singing 'angels to fly' which is previously heard throughout the song, it variates by altering to 'angels to die'. As shown below, this shows the woman dying, presenting her outcome and the consequence of her lifestyle. This makes the audience feel engaged as they have been able to witness how she has lived her life and the way in which it has effected her right until the very end. 

Similar to the last theory point, Goodwin's next point is that there is a relationship between the music and the visuals in the video. This is shown during the screenshot taken below:

The young woman is shown in shot, walking through the street to the beat/rhythm of the music. This ensures that the music is still an appreciated aspect of the video, which is important and essential when a music video is primarily narrative based. The rhythm and tempo is quite steady at this point reflecting her way of just going with the flow of her life, with no plans, nor sense of direction. This makes the audience feel quite relaxed at this point as, although they can witness that there is something not quite right about her situation, she is still living each day as it comes and making her way through life. Another part of the music video where the visuals and music share a relationship is near the end where the hook 'angels to fly' is repeated. From the moment screenshotted below, the music rhythm begins to feel slightly quicker as the guitar seems like its strummed more prominently, likewise with the young woman's actions becoming quicker. She takes off her coat, lights candles and takes her drugs in a faster-paced manner reflecting the way her death is quickly approaching. This makes the audience feel tense but engaged because a sense of foreboding is created, as they can predict what is going to happen and they know it isn't going to be good. 

The fourth point of Goodwin's is that the demands of record labels will want lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs that will reoccur across their work. Ed Sheeran doesn't actually feature with any close ups in this video, however, this was probably his first song to 'get him out there' and that made him to be widely recognised within the music industry. Audiences wouldn't have known much about him anyway an as an artist himself he has said that he felt 'concerned' from the way his look wasn't like a 'typical singer' in which we see today. However, as an artist he has become a global sensation and is featured a lot more frequently in his more recent music videos. This part of Goodwin's theory may be seen as unconventional in this music video however, although the artist himself isn't shown in any close ups, the actress in the video is, which helps portray the emotion within the song, which is conventional to the indie genre as they are expected to show a deeper meaning and emotion through the way the visuals are displayed:

Goodwin's fifth theoretical point is that there is frequently reference to notion of looking and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body. This is shown below:

In the first screenshot the woman is wearing revealing clothing with her hair up which also emphasises this. This shows her in a voyeuristic way as the lighting is also fairly dim which allows attention to be drawn to her. She isn't looking directly at the camera which makes the audience seem like she is oblivious to the fact that she is being watched and so the audience become voyeuristic. Likewise with the second screenshot, the fishnet tights are a stereotypical item of clothing as part of mise-en-scene for a prostitute. The way they are ripped demonstrates her vulnerability and maybe her overuse of them. This shows that she is not afraid to be treated in the way that she is as she knows what she can get out of it at the end - money for drugs. Her legs are shown in a panning shot which follows a hand that is on her leg which displays the audience being voyeuristic and gives them an insight into what her life is really like and what she has to go through in order to seek happiness by the end. 

The sixth theory point of Goodwin's is that there is often intertextual reference. This music video seems to contradict this theory as there isn't any noticeable intertextual reference. Films, tv programmes or other music videos are not featured within and so, not having this makes this music video quite unique. Fundamentally, this aspect of the music video is unconventional to Goodwin's theory, however makes it conventional to the indie genre. This is because in indie genre music videos, intertextual reference is rare as emotion is usually displayed through the characters displayed and the rawness of the acting within. This is achieved without the influence of intertextual reference. 

Goodwin's final theory point is that the video is primarily based on performance, narrative or concept. This theory point is reflected in this music video conventionally. It is evidently narrative based as throughout the whole video there is no performance whatsoever and only at the end do you discover a concept side to the video. Narrative all the way through engages the audience as they are able to build a relationship and connection with the young woman that the story is about as she is the main character and the centre of attention of the video. As discussed previously in this post the narrative is based on a young woman who's consequences of her lifestyle lead her to her death. As an audience, you see how this woman lives her life each day and what she has to go through in order to get what she wants - drugs. Only until the ending where the woman dies do you notice a concept behind the video. It teaches the audience that drugs are life threatening and although you may feel like they won't harm you to that extent, there may be a day when you don't expect it to happen and it does. It also teaches people to be caring for others in the way that the artist was when he stopped in the street for the woman to take the time to talk to her. 

By analysing Goodwin's theory, it will assist me with my planning my own music video as it has helped me identify what works within a music video in order to make the audience feel engaged and able to build a relationship with. I would like to make my music video conventional to the genre that my video will be in as I find that gives the audience some familiarity and relatable nature within it. I also like the links between the lyrics and visuals, as well as the relationship between the music and visuals - I think they work really well when trying to emphasise a meaning or relevance to a particular section in the song. Therefore, I would like to include these characteristics in my own music video.