Tuesday 19 June 2012

Goodwins theory of a music video - analysis



1) Music videos demostrate genre characterisitcs.

In motionless in white's video for Immaculate Misconception the genre characteristics are shown throughout. As  a genre it is classed as "metalcore" which is a branch off from heavy metal. As a genre it is considered dark and often angry and hateful, which the video shows at the start with chris tackling the protestor. The band perfrom on stage infront of a live crowd, typical for metal videos. It shows the band performing, and playing their instruments, as opposed to in pop videos where the person may dance. The theme of anger in metalcore music is shown as Chris (vocals) screams and sings at the man he tackles at the start, and directs his anger at him. The club they are perfroming in is dark, fitting in with sterotypical views on "Heavy" music. All of this fits in with goodwins theory, as the video matches the genre characteristics.














2) There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals.

There is a very strong relationship between lyrics and visuals in this song. The song is about being different, and standing up to people who lie and pretend , as shown at the beggining with Chris tackling the protestor. There are also many lines such as " I dont care if this offends you, and your worthless god" which is shown on screen as Chris recreating the scene of the crucifiction from the bible. When the man from the start enters the club and chris screams "So come and F***ing get us!" and walks towards the man to confront him, followed by his loyal crowd (Again to show him as a jesus like figure). Another line "I am who I am, This is what we are" is reflected throughout the entire video. The makeup the band wears, the clothes, the style, the music is all different to what people may consider normal or even acceptable. Its showing the band (and in turn the fans) dont care about being different. Once again this meets goodwins theory as the lyrics and visuals match very well on screen.








3) There is a relationship between Audio and visuals.

The music and visuals work well together, they are quite illasturtive and create a dark and eery tone to the whole video. The whole video is dark, with hardly any lighting to fit the music. The only light is the orange flashing strobe when the band are on stage, allowing a view of the crowd for spilt seconds at a time. The band headbang, and move to the beat of the music at the same time whilst on stage. Contrasting to pop videos with dancing, this headbanging and crabbing is the metal equivelant. When the music is faster paced, there is generally more movment on screen, but with it still being kept dark.
The audio, the visuals and the lyrics all fit in together to match and create a good video. It sticks to the metalcore "sterotypes" or formula for the videos the bands produce, again meeting goodwins theory.

4) The record labels demands will be met with lots of close ups of the artist and they may develop motifs across their videos.

Motionless in white are no different from any other band that make music videos on the basis that there are a lot of close up on the band, inparticular chris. As chris is the singer/screamer and the frontman of the band, he is the one who can move the most and have the most focus set on them. Chris doesnt devlop any particular moves that he uses in every video, but the makeup however is used in every video.  To fit in with the metal theme (and the theme of being different) the band uses a lot of heavy make up on stage. Chris does however lean over into the crowd quite a lot, but this isnt special to motionless in white, as frontmen of most bands tend to do this when performing live. This still meets goodwins theory, although it isnt as strong as genre characteristics, or the relationship between lyrics and visuals.







5) There is frequent reference to the notion of looking.

This is one area where metal videos differ widley from others, The fouse is more on the actual music than on the visuals of a person. There are no mirrors used, and no screens within screens at all. The only thing that is used is a stage, for the band to perform on. The only focus of looking (more so for people who are newly exposed to the genre) is the shock factor of the makeup, the piercings and the stretched ears. There are only a few women in the video, but these are just members of the crowd, and are not used to attract attention with skimpy outfits or any sexual referneces. The notion of looking in metalcore videos as a whole is focused on the lead singer/screamer of the band, as these are often the most popular members. Immaculate misconception doesnt really meet this critera very well, and metal as a genre doesnt focus on looking as much as pop videos would.

6) There is often intertextual reference.

There isnt much reference to other forms of media (eg tv, film or other videos) in Immaculate misconception. It can be seen in some music videos for there to be the bands name, or the record labels name in film style at the start of the video, but not here. The only slight reference to TV is at the start with the protestors, as it appears to be a modern day protest that would be seen on the news, and in the past there have been many protests outside venues against metal bands. In this particular video there are hardly any references at all, but most other music videos do use referneces. This video doesnt fit in with goodwins theory.

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