Music Video analysis

So as to create a music video that is believably within the pop genre – I shall analyse 3 real products:Britney spears, “Baby One more time”Ella Eyre, “If I Go”Avril Lavigne “What the Hell”

I will be using Goodwin's music video analysis theory to analyse these products.

Goodwin Theorised that Music videos show genre characteristics:

All three music videos wear clothing, supporting the period:• Britney Spears, wears 90s clothing with pinks so as to

represent the 90s girly style typical of the time, as well as the actors wearing sports clothing, this video is therefore exhibiting current fashion trends.

• Ella Eyre wears and actors in the video wear clothing typical of today’s fashion, e.g. slim cut trousers, trainers, as well as the male actors wearing baggy sports trousers, trainers and caps – this again represents the current fashion.

• Avril Lavigne wears baggy/ ripped t-shirts with distressed shorts and tights, this kind of tom boy/ pop rock look was popular within the 00’s

Goodwin Theorised that there is a relationship between lyrics and visuals, these are either:

Illustrative: The lyrics are directly copied by the actionAmplifying: The action is an exaggerated visualisation of the lyrics

Contradicting: The action contradicts or completely contrasts the lyrics

• Britney Spear’s video involves both illustrative and contradicting elements, for example, “my loneliness is killing me” is matched with a shot of the artist surrounded by people therefore not mirroring the lyrics, however “I shouldn't’t have let you know” is matched with a shot of the artist sitting alone in a large room, this is illustrative as represents loss and regret.

• Ella Eyre’s music video generally incorporates contradicting visuals as the song is about leaving a loved one however the entire video is shot in one room, around each wall so instead there is no sense of escape as the artist is kept within a room walking on each wall – giving the sense of a cycle also.

• On the other hand Avril Lavigne’s video is mainly illustrative as the song describes “All my life I’ve been good but now I’m thinking what the hell” while the artist steals cars and pushes her boyfriend around, this mirrors the care-free attitude of the track.

There is a relationship between music and visuals, for example, the beat and dynamics of the song:

• The visuals in Britney Spears’ video are illustrative in relation to the audio, e.g. at the slowest part of the song, when the music is low, the artist is shown alone in a large room, and when the music immediately increases, the artist is shown with a large group of dancers and a large use of lighting, this shows the contrast and mirrors the music.

• The visuals in Ella Eyre’s video are in general illustrative as during the quiet beginning of the song, as the audio loudens the room becomes brighter, also each cut is on beat and the editing matches the beat changes in the music – this makes watching more pleasant as the audience can keep up with both the audio and the visuals at the same time.

• The visuals in Avril Lavigne’s video are overall illustrative, for example, at the beginning of the song as the music builds up, the artist is in a lowly lit room with light coming through the blinds- matching the music slowly building up as the light does, as the music kicks in there is an immediate transition to a brightly lit location. Also the editing is on beat and each cut is made along with a beat of the audio, therefore allowing the audience to focus on the visuals in conjunction with the audio.