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. 

 

Postmodernism and The Music Video

What is Postmodernism ? 

Dictionary Definition :  " A style and concept in the arts charxctised by a distrust of theories and ideologies and by the drawing of attention to conventions"

Postmodern media rejects the idea that any media product or text is of any greater value than another. All judgements of value are merely taste. Anything can be art, anything can deserve to reach an audience, and culture ‘eats itself’ as there is no longer anything new to produce or distribute. The distinction between media and reality has collapsed, and we now live in a world  defined by images and representations – a state of simulacrum. Images refer to each other and represent each other as reality rather than some ‘pure’ reality that exists before the image represents it – this is the state of hyper-reality. All ideas of ‘the truth’ are just competing claims – or discourses and what we believe to be the truth at any point is merely the ‘winning ‘discourse.

To understand what post-modernism is you have to look at what came before. There is a theory that suggests that genres go in order of :

1.  Post- Modern 

2. Cannon 

3. Experimental 

If the experimental stage of genre aims to establish trends and the cannon stage works within those trends to fix them into our cultural understanding, then post-modernism looks at those trends, and adds something new in which creates a new experimental stage etc. Furthermore it has been said by some that the music video is a post-modern stage of the evolution of cinema as many artist are now starting to add a short stories/films into their music videos. So Postmodernism becomes the ‘new’ by referring to the ‘old’.

Postmodernism is also said to reflect modern society's feelings of alienation , insecurity and uncertainties concerning identity, history, progress and truth, and the break-up of those tradition like religion, the family or, perhaps to a lesser extent, class, which helped identify and shape who we are and our place in the world. Artists like Kanye West , Michael Jackson and David Bowie are all cited as examples of postmodernism in the ways in which they have created or re-created different identities for themselves.

Goodwin Analysis Jay Z 99 Problems Music Video

Genre Characteristics:

The music video is set in an rundown estate which is a characteristic  used in many hip-hop music videos. The Video shows black youth playing basketball on the estate dresses in basketball clothing which is also another characteristic used in the hip-hop culture.

Voyteuristic:

In the video there a several scenes of woman degrading themselves as they are dresses inaccurately porting women less than men. The camera angles have also been placed through the male gaze as there are close ups of women's bums and breast, suggesting that women are sexual objects for men.

Lyrics and visuals:

"Cause I'm young and I'm black and my hat's real low" 

when Jay Z raps these lyrics there is a shot shown where he pulls his hat down. In the whole music video Jay Z movements and action are like to the lyrics . For instance, when Jay Z he says 'cash money hoes' there is a close upshot of a woman hardly any clothes on. 

Intertextual references:

The choreography shown in the music video could be seen as a mimic of one of Michael Jackson's famous dance routine. This could be a way of Jay Z paying homage or showing his respect to Michael Jackson as he is a well known black entertainer around the world.