Andrew Goodwins 7

features of music videos

Rob Wilson

The theories
1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics. (e.g. stage performance in metal
videos, dance routine for boy/girl band, aspiration in Hip Hop).
2.There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. The lyrics are represented with
images. (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).
3.There is a relationship between music and visuals. The tone and atmosphere of the
visual reflects that of the music. (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).
4.The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist
and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style).
5.There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, mirrors,
stages, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.
6.The artist may develop motifs or iconography that recur across their work (a visual
style)
7.There are often intertextual reference (to films, TV programmes, other music videos
etc).

Run The Jewels ft Zach De La Rocha Close

your eyes
Run The Jewels are a two man rap band featuring two
rappers know as Killer Mike and El-P. They have released
two albums and are working on a third. Close Your Eyes
falls into the American hip-hop genre. The video was
released shortly after the album that the song features on
known as Run The Jewels 2. The iconic video has over 2
million views on the website YouTube.

Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics. (e.g. stage performance in metal

videos, dance routine for boy/girl band, aspiration in Hip Hop).
This theory states that each genre of music has its own style/ stereotypes of what should be presented to the audience and also what the
audience expect from the genre of music. Close Your Eyes is a hip hop single and so there should be connotations of violence, gangs and
trouble with the police. This is all presented in the video which helps construct the video to make it a typical hip hop video.
To help create this video the director has used a narrative style of video to help portray to the audience a story and the meaning of the
video. The video has a strong opinion and presents a strong meaning of white police against black citizens in America which is a big issue
that they have in America of racism, and this video presents a fight between the two in a street on a smaller scale rather than protests, this
video gives the audience something to think about and it defiantly presents the image/message that it wanted to for the public. The
director has used a black and white effect also to portray this dull image that is being presented to the public which also helps portray a
Hip-Hop video. We see lots of stereotypes in this video such as the police, fighting and someone trying to flee from the police. In this video
the main artists do not appear in the main sequel which goes against Andrew Goodwins 5 aspects as he states there is a star image where
as in this video the star images (the artists) do not appear as the stars and the main image.
Although some aspects do not follow Goodwins theories the video would be seen as a typical hip hop video as we see violence against the
police, we see that the man is in trouble and also the living style of the black male which is shows to be quite poor from his clothing and
neighbourhood. This is to try and cause sympathy from the audience for the black male as we see he has not got a great upbringing/ quality
of life and that he may not be able to escape his problems and will have to rely on crimes to earn money for example. This also shows that
the character may not have a lot to aspire to as he may not have the same opportunities as others.

There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. The lyrics are represented with
images. (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).
This song does present a relationship between lyrics and visuals, the lyrics throughout the song talks about white police against black males
and how black males should unite to stand up against the police so that they can live without being unfairly treated. The artists rap about what
black males should do against the police, Take over a jail, give them COs hell showing the anger towards the police. where the f#ck the
warden? And when you find him, we don't kill him, we just waterboard him these lyrics show that they want to torture the police for what
they have done to the black males and to use this as revenge due to the effect the police have had on their life. As previously mentioned the
video presents the story of black males against white police and the video shows that they fight throughout the whole video but neither of
them win they are both seen as equals but due to racism this is not shown in real life.
The video is illustrative of the lyrics and portrays a story related to the lyrics and this will help keep the audience interacted as they should be
thinking about the meaning behind the video and the lyrics and this will help create a successful music video as people will want to keep
watching it. There are not many jump cuts in this music video as the main thing that we see is the fight but the director seems to just change
the shot that is used as we go from close ups to long shots and from low angle shots too high angle shots to keep the pae of the video up with
fight otherwise it would appear boring if the editing was slow paced.
This shot is what is known as the star image
During this scene/shot the policeman is getting
During this scene we hear the lyrics liars and
and this is the 3 artists at the start and this is
ready to arrest the male and we hear the lyrics
politicians which is relating the two together
the only time that they appear within the
running on repeat which shows that the
showing that maybe the politicians are
song. During this shot there is no music being
male is going to run away. These lyrics show
wanting this racism to happen but act as if
played showing that they do not have anything
that the male is not prepared to be arrested
they do not. The video shows that on the
to do with the video.
and is trying to get away.
street the police and male are equals.

There is a relationship between music and visuals. The tone and atmosphere of the
visual reflects that of the music. (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).
The tone and atmosphere in this music video appears to my quite dark and dull, which is linked to the genre of music as
the streets of America appear to be dark and dull and this is usually what is rapped about in common songs. They have
portrayed this by using a simple but effective effect of the black and white setting over the video. This shows that there is
not much light in the video and could give connotations that there is very little light in the streets of America so this also
has a deeper meaning. There is a rather aggressive tone used in the video as rap music is known as being aggressive and
violent for the general public, the fighting scene throughout the video shows the characteristics of violence.
The videos tone and atmosphere help present the song well and the it portrays the aspects of a rap music video really
well. The video helps amplify the song to us by providing us with lots of images and different meanings for the audience to
think about and analyse. To portray the atmosphere of a dark atmosphere the director uses a lot of different shots we see
a few different angled shots and several movements to keep up with the fight scene.

This shot shows a over the shoulder shot of who

the policeman is chasing and it also presents the
setting of the video of that it is in a
neighbourhood that appears to be dark and quite
poor.

This shot is of a low angle and this shows that he

is in trouble and also worried, the previous shot of
the over shoulder shot shows that the police man
is in power and that the black male has very little
power.

This mid shot shows their outfits and what they

are doing and we see that they are both tired and
cannot fight anymore there is no angle used to
show that neither of them have any power over
one another.

The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the
artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style).
This music video defies Andrew Goodwins statement as the artists do not appear that much in the video which shows that
the record label Mass Appeal are not too bothered about their artists being involved in the music video as much as
other record labels, although the video has the record labels logo in the corner so they are still advertising their branding
and their record label. The video was uploaded onto their YouTube channel so that their channel receives lots of views and
subscriptions which will help promote their branding which is part of the post production as they are marketing their
brand.
Their also appears to be no brands in the music video which shows that this video was purely produced to present the
message across to the public, usually brands are used in videos from sponsors or companies that pay for their product to
be advertised but this video appears to be very plain.
This is the only time the artists appear in the music
video and as we can see we see not much of them
at all and they are wearing very bland and dull
clothing. We see a close up of each member to
show who they are but it is only quick and does not
reoccur throughout the video.

This is a example of the close ups of the artists that

we see at the start of the clip and we see his facial
features and expressions but not much as the focus
is on him as the background is being blurred out.

This blacked out canvas that is used advertises us

the name of the artists and nothing else which will
show clearly who appears in the song. We can also
the Mass Appeal logo in the bottom right hand
corner which is advertising the record label.

There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, mirrors,

stages, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.
This statement does not directly effect this music video as it does not contain any females but I will try to relate this using
different aspects relating to the characters in this video. We often see a look of worry by the black male in this music video
as he is scared of being caught/ arrested where as in comparison to the policeman who looks angry and frustrated as he
cannot seem to catch/ arrest the male and this notion makes the audience aware that the policeman is not going to take it
easy on the black male and he will do what it take to attain him.
The characters are often seen as being out of breath and tired which shows that they have been fighting for a long time
and they dont appear to be getting anywhere. Other than these visuals we do not see many other notions, there is not
and screens such as TVS or anything of that nature in the video it appears to be quite plain. Near the end of the music
video we see the side of the back males face in a mirror shot (1) but this is only brief this could give connotations that he is
twice the man he was as he has overcome the power of the police. We have shot through the window to show that they
have both quit fighting as it does not seem to be getting them anywhere but this also shows that it is nightime and that
they have been fighting all day.

(1)

The artist may develop motifs or iconography that recur across their work (a visual
style)
This video is very different to the art of Run The Jewelss music videos as most of them are narrative where they are
performing to the someone where as this completely goes against their iconography. Their videos appear to be very
basic and do not require too specialist work yet all their videos look good which is important for us as it can inspire us
to use a basic video and still gain good a good video. Their motif/ logo does not appear in the video as well which also
shows how they were not too bothered about promoting themselves. They usually have a gun and fist pointed out
which is their motif and do it a lot in videos and at concerts and is also there logo on there album work.

There are often intertextual reference (to films, TV programmes, other music videos
etc).
There does not appear to be many intertextual reference to films and television programmes as it is a very different and
political video. Films it could relate to would be involving power and race so films such as Django Unchained which was
about white power and black male changing their power, this shows a key intertextual reference of racism and also both
videos are set in completely different times as Django Unchained is set in 1858 where as Close Your Eyes is set in modern
times.

Razorlight- Somewhere Else

Razorlight are a British indie rock band formed in the year
2002. They managed to top the British charts with the hit
song America. The song/ music video that I chose to do was
Somewhere else which featured on the album Up All Night.

Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics. (e.g. stage performance in metal

videos, dance routine for boy/girl band, aspiration in Hip Hop).
This specific song is a song about romance and how it is not going well between the main character and what sounds like
his girlfriend. This is a common theme throughout British rock of a depressive theme and that lyrics should co-ordinate
with the characters misery. This video demonstrates similar characteristics to the genre as of the dark themed setting in
the video using a black and white effect which also represents the characters misery and that he is feeling down. Although
the video is partly narrative the character is performing the song to the audience but it still also portrays a story around
the character which also helps illustrate the song.

The director has purposely used this type of video to show the story throughout his day and how he wants to be
somewhere else. The images portrayed in the video show us that the place appears to be dull and it almost explains to the
audience why he wants to be Somewhere Else. The mise en scene of the main character helps portray the characteristics
related to British indie rock music as we see him wearing primarily dark clothing and very plain clothing. A long dark trench
coat is being worn which is a common item of clothing for British rock bands such as Oasis. The camera work that is being
used portrays the main character as rather cool and that he kind of takes most of it in his stride. The audience that the
genre relates too would be middle aged men and men are stereotyped to like to go to the pub and so in the video they use
a few pub shots so that t relates to the public that they are intending to relate to. These genre characteristics are met by
thr video so that it appears to be audience friendly and relatable.

There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. The lyrics are represented with
images. (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).
Due to the video being partly performed and partly performing a story it is hard for their to make a relationship between the lyrics and the
video but the director has still managed to portray a similarities between the two. The lyrics are about how he is with a girl and how he doesnt
like it and doesnt like being with her hense the title Somewhere Else and we are portrayed lots of different images of where he is or where
he may want to be which means they are illustrative images. This may mean that he does not want to be with this female as she may be too
bright and bubbly for him where he wants to be in a dull basic world where it is simple which would explain the use of the black and white
effect.

The lyrics say that You give me everything I need, but I really really wish I could be somewhere else, Than here this shows the audience that
he doesnt want to be in a a relationship with this female as he doesnt want all of the hassle of her being a emotional reck. The lyrics
somewhere else show us that he may have been somewhere else emotionally but now he has changed. He says that she offers him everything
he would want/ need but he doesnt want it and wants to be where he appears to be in the video (local caf, pub)
In this scene we see that he is
surrounded by alcoholic drinks which
may show to us that he may have a
drink problem or that he relies on drink
to get somewhere else and that this is
the place that he wants to be.

In these scene we see that he is

playing snooker which appears to be
in a pub which portrays to the
audience that he wants to be there
instead of with this female.

This scene shows the audience a

image where we see that he is in a
pub with his friends which also
presents another place he would
rather be.

There is a relationship between music and visuals. The tone and atmosphere of the
visual reflects that of the music. (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

The tone that is set throughout this video appears to be rather dull and plain which is similar to the previous music video.
In this video the tone is that he is almost begging to the audience to be somewhere else or where he wants to be which
shows the audience that he is in misery. The music almost makes him appear to be walking away from his issues which
would make the tone appear the he is desperate to escape to somewhere else.
The atmosphere that is set appears to be dark and depressive due to the black and white theme running throughout this
portrays him as being dull and boring and that he doesnt have a bright spark. The character constructs a desperate
atmosphere and that he almost cant live with what he is going through and how desperate he is to be somewhere else.
In this shot we see that he has his hands on
his head which makes the audience think
that he is in pain and that the whole female
thing is doing his head in and he feels
trapped.

In this scene we see his facial expressions

and how angry/ unhappy he is which will
make the audience aware of how he is
feeling.

The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the
artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style).
The record label have defiantly matched this statement in the making of this video as the video primarily consists of the artist walking and
we see plenty of the lead singer Johnny Borrell and this is because he is the star image of the band and he would be the most recognizable.
The video consists of plenty of close ups of the artist as it follows him throughout his trip. The reason the record label would have asked for
this practise to be put into place for the video so that they can really get their artist out their and advertised to the general public so that he
becomes fashionable and people recognize him and also Razorlight. This will help allow them to generate more income as they will be able
to sell merchandise where he appears on it.
Throughout Johnny Borrells videos he usually appears with plain black clothing such as suits and black jackets as in this video and the
majority of his videos appear with a black and white setting over it which will be a motif for their work and make their videos recognizable
for the general public. His hair cut is rather wild and this could be seen as a motif by the public as it will be recognizable and almost a
signature for him such as Michael Jacksons glove and Elvis Presleys iconic features (slicked back hair, low buttoned top). His hair appears to
be scruffy, long and curly throughout his work keeping a consistency so that he remains recognizable to the public so that they would be
able to say thats Johnny Borrell which would be seen as a success as he will be seen by the public as a famous figure.
Another reason behinds these motifs is so that the record label for Razorlight (mercury) can become more popular and this means that they
should be able to increase interest and popularity from other brands as if they see Razorlight becoming a success with Mercury then the
bands will feel as if they want to be involved in the same success as Razorlight.
Johnny Borrell in the hit song
Golden Touch

Johnny Borrell In The Morning

Johnny Borrell Somewhere else

Johnny Borrell - America

There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, mirrors,

stages, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.
Here we see him appear within a mirror and his notion is not towards to camera it
appears to be straight forward to show that he is not being fazed by anything around
him we then see him come into the shot and he looks into the camera. A reason to why
he may not want to look into the camera is because he doesnt want to see himself like
this which would provide a sympathetic effect for the audience who are watching this
video.

Other than this clip there does not appear to be any features that appear within this statement although it is a performance video
we do not see him appear on a stage or with a instrument so the audience may not see him as performing the song. It almost
appears to the audience that he is singing to them as a 1 to 1 as Johnny Borrell keeps eye contact with the centre of the camera so
that it looks as if he is looking at the person who is watching the video which will keep the audience interacted with the video.
The director has used the male gaze as people will feel sorry for him as he seems down and depressed and people will feel
sympathy for him and this relates to the lyrics as the audience are aware of the struggles that he is having.

The artist may develop motifs or iconography that recur across their work (a visual
style)

As previously mentioned his looks are recur throughout the majority of his music videos of the scruffy and greasy hair look
and the mise en scene of dull clothing and dark clothing. We usually see him wearing black or white and this matches the
colour pallete of their album cover of black and white. This means that there is a consistency in their work and that these
dull coulors match their pallet throughout their work.
The hair will be known to the public as they will recognize Johnny Borrell due to this hair style and they will know that he is
the lead singer of Razorlight. The reason that he has this look is because it could be seen as a bit crazy or wacky and so this
will stand out to the audience as it is not your typical boyband hair style and this makes it quite unorthodox and makes it
stand out. The clothing is reasonably fashionable throughout British indie rock of long jackets as this appears to be a style
that is adopted from lots of bands such as Oasis. All of his music videos appear as black and white and this runs
throughout the majority of his music videos and this reflects the lyrics within the song as dull and depressive.
Here we see the iconic long black jacket and
his surroundings appear black and white.

Here is a photo of Oasis wearing the long

dark jackets.

There are often intertextual reference (to films, TV programmes, other music videos
etc).
In this video there is not any intertextual references in relation to film, text and TV programmes but it does have
intertextual references to his other work in his videos as of the black and white theme that is portrayed throughout them.
The video is almost set out like a TV programme as we see a quick snippet of his lifestyle and what is wrong with him.

Kasabian Shoot the runner

Kasabian are a British indie rock group of 4 who
have been making music since 1994 but have
been a huge success since their debut album
Empire which took off in 2006. The song shoot the
runner which managed to peak at 17 in the British
charts and as you can see in the photos below it
featured a very different and interesting video.

Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics. (e.g. stage performance in metal

videos, dance routine for boy/girl band, aspiration in Hip Hop).
This specific music video is very different to the majority of videos in a sense that it appears to be animated and this makes it very unique.
The video is a performance based video but it defies the usual aspects of a typical performance based video where there would usually be a
stage in which the band perform on and a crowd maybe but shoot the runner completely defies this by using sort of creative art work to
portray their performance.
We see the band highlighted in all these neon bright colours in which they stand out on a black background this shows that they are
standing out and that they would stand out if they were on a stage. The instruments are still presented and we see a character within
British rock of the drummer rocking his head and kind of going a bit mad so this matches the usual aspects of most rock videos. There is not
a routine for the band to follow as we them moving their instruments in beat with the song and moving their bodies with the music so they
appear to be dancing whilst performing.
A typical rock music consists of thing being smashed but in this video instead of items becoming smashed they appear to throw/ shoot paint
everywhere so this kind of follows the typical characteristics of a rock music video but with different items. Some rock music videos appear
within a studio so I think the director has used the black screening as there surroundings so they could either be within a studio or on stage.
Here we see the whole band performing and
they clearly stand out from the back ground
and we see their instruments which will
resemble that they are performing the song.

Here we see the paint splatters which would

resemble them smashing objects. The paint
kind of fills up the majority of the screen at
times which means it can be used as a fade.

There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. The lyrics are represented with
images. (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).
Whenever that the audience here the lyrics Shoot the runner the members of the band use gun fingers which would show a solid
relationship between the lyrics as he would be shooting a gun. Whenever they shoot the gun paint splatters over the artists which is a really
cool motion/ effect to have and this will help keep the audience interacted with the video as the bright colours that keep flashing make the
video looks really messy but personally I think it looks amazing and I think the majority of the audience would watch the full video without
switching it off due to how creative it is.
The images/ video that we are provided are illustrative images as we see the gun shooting and the paint flying around which illustrates to
the audience a gun shot. The video also provides disjuncture as the lyrics mention a women and how she is the singers queen yet she does
not feature in the video so it almost as if they have ignored this part of the song as it is not relevant.
The song is quite a faced pace song and the video keeps up with the song at all times by offering the exciting jumping around which creates
adrenaline for the singers and also the audience as the fast pace will create this adrenaline which is why songs like this are used before
sport matches as it is fast paced and up beat which should make the audience want to move around and get involved. There is part of the
song that slows down and we see that the characters are put into slow motion which means it stays in time with the song.
Here we see a example of the gun finger on the
lyric shoot the runner.

Here is a example of how the paint emulates a

gun shot as we see the white paint resembles
the smoke and when it splatters over the
screen that resembles where the bullet has hit.

Here we see the paint splatters over the artist

and this resembles the band member being
shot.

There is a relationship between music and visuals. The tone and atmosphere of the visual
reflects that of the music. (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).
It is hard to understand the tone or atmosphere from this music video as we do not see any other images other than the
band and the background is blacked, it is also a performance based video so it is hard to understand if they are trying to
get a message across to the audience or whether it is just simply a performance. From what we can see with the gun
fingers and shots it would appear that they are fighting one another and the link to the lyrics she's my queen it would
appear that they are all at war over a female and so this would create a aggressive atmosphere as they all want this
women.
The tone is very fast paced and so it creates a exciting tone for the audience as the video is filled with action which is what
is interactive with the audience. The guns create a fast paced tone as they are seen as dangerous and this will create a
effect on the audience as they will recognize the guns and they will think about warfare. This means that it is partly
illustrative as the gun shots are relating to the lyrics but as previously mentioned there is also disjuncture as we never get
to see the female and so they ignore this aspect of the song.

The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the
artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style).
Kasabians record labels Columbia and Sony Music clearly want to get the band image out their as we see lots of shots of
each and every band member and we see lots of close ups for the artists. The band are often presented as a four and we
see them playing there own specific instrument. A popular motif for Kasabian is Sergios hair as it is very long and curly and
he is often recognized by this as it is very different. The lead singer once had really long hair which was very recognizable
as Sergio and Tom both had these features which created a similar mise en scene for the audience to recognize.
Similar mise en scene is used within this video is used within the video Empire as we see the band members using similar
jackets if not the same which appear to be smart army like jackets which reoccurs throughout these videos. There are
several Kasabian videos that appear to have warfare in these videos are Empire, Shoot the runner, LSF (a prison break),
Club foot and Fire. These songs all have violence and war based story's, the reason behind this is because they appear to
be in war with online music downloads and that Kasabian are trying to restore the old methods used such as vinyl, CD, and
tape which is especially shown within the song Club Foot. The war based storys would appear to be a reoccurring motif
for Kasabian. The reason to why the record label have used these motifs is because people dont like war and dont like
violence but if Kasabian are presenting these images they will be know for it and so this will improve the popularity of the
band and also the record label.
Empire

Fire (heist)

Club Foot

L.S.F

There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, mirrors,

stages, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

There is not any other objects in the video other than the instruments that the band are using and so we do not see any
screens or mirrors. We do not know whether they are on a stage or in a studio but the audience get a feel that they are
defiantly performing to someone/something and so the camera follows the band as if it would do in a normal
performance video as we see the low angle shots to emulate a crowd member and lots of close ups. There are times that
Tom Meighan is looking at the camera to interact with the audience watching the video. The camera focuses on each band
member and what their role is so it may focus on the drummer for a while then move on to the guitarist. This would show
a high chance that they are in a studio rather than at a concert. We here the lyrics Your my queen and this shows that
some of the female gaze is being used as the women is being objectified and that she belongs to him so she becomes a
possession.

The artist may develop motifs or iconography that recur across their work (a visual
style)

As previously mentioned Kasabian have used similar costumes to other music videos that they have used and so this makes the
recognizable. They have followed similar styles to other rock music videos and bands as they use black jackets similar to Razorlight and
Oasis and so they clearly feel as if they are part of the trend of this dark, dull clothing that is simple. They do wear army jackets in this video
and the other music video Empire. As previously mentioned Sergios hair is quite recognizable as it is a bit wild and wacky and audiences will
know him for his haircut.
Also they use war based story's in their music videos so when one of their videos are played it is know for being a Kasabian music video.
They use quite controversial storylines as if Empire a child gets killed and this is frowned upon by the general public but it means that they
can gain publicity from this as it would be spoken about for being controversial. A reoccurring theme throughout their work is that they
appear to be fighting against modern music techniques such as downloads, Spotify, Itunes and illegal downloading sites as it appears to be
killing the music industry as artists are finding it hard to make any money from songs as it can just be downloaded illegally. This is
specifically shown in the song Club Foot as there are tanks that try to destroy radio.

There are often intertextual reference (to films, TV programmes, other music videos
etc).
It is hard to see if there are intertextual references for this music video as it is a performance based video but according to
the comment section the song follows a similar story line to the famous TV programme Game of Thrones which would be
a good move my Kasabian if it did as Game of Thrones is very popular worldwide and if they can get part of the success
that Game of Thrones has they have done well. The lyrics follow a story of how he is a King and she is his Queen so this
could be why it is linked to Game of Thrones.