Goodwin Notes

Goodwin’s Theory Goodwin found that there were 6 key aspects when analysing a music video:

1. A relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, with the visuals illustrating, highlighting or in contrast to the lyrics.

2. A relationship between the music and the visuals, with the visuals illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the music.

3. Typical genre icons and styles used.

4. Close ups of the artists face. 

5. The use of Iconography

6. Voyeurism- Watching them without their knowledge.


I am going to apply Goodwins Theory the Kanye West Ft Jamie Foxx - Gold Digger  

Relationships between lyrics and visuals 

"Get down girl go head get down "

 “You don’t want a dude to smoke but he can’t buy weed!" 

 “But when you get on he leaves you for a white girl”

“She got one of yo' kids, got you for 18 years”

2. Relationship between music and visuals 

The editing pace of the video is in sequence to the beat which is very common in R&B music videos as they tend to have a quick, sharp tempo to them which makes it easier to know when to cut to the next scene. There is no straight narrative to the video so it mainly relies on the beat of the  music to give a pace to the video and make it attractive to the audience. For instance, when the tempo speeds up so does the editing pace. This is done in the from the clip 0:20- 0:24, 1:30- 1:31, 1:34-:35 and 2:12- 2:13. 

Furthermore the shots themselves change to the beat of the music. For example a cut edit is used to zoom in or out of the frame very quickly this can be seen in the video from 2:32. By the visuals being edited together by the beat and rhythm of the music, it makes the video much more effective, catchy and unique as many would recognise or remember by the beat and rhythm.

3. Star image 

This  is an over the shoulder shot of the lead ‘gold digger’ this shows  Kanye stronger presence as he is looking down upon the woman. The mise en scene has once again changed , the lighting is softer with a warm pink tone applied and also the ‘gold digger’ is out of focus it shows the audience that Kanye is the main focus of this framing.  Also the close up is used so that the audience remember Kanye as an artist and to also to attract his target audience.

This shot is a close up of the featured artist Jamie Foxx , this is done so that the audience can also identify Jamie as he is also an independent artist and he also has to sell himself to his target audience. 

This image is an establishing shot of kanye and Jamie they are both wearing similar costumes which creates a distinctive look to the video as it shows that they have a strong relationship.