Andrew Goodwin has dedicated numerous theories of the "fusion of sound and image" of music video in his book Dancing in the Distraction Factory. Goodwin shows how musicology can illustrate the visual and believes visuals in music videos illustrate, amplify or contradict the music.
Goodwin dismisses "the suggestion that music itself lacks a visual component" as he states that a variety of techniques are used to visualise the tempo of the music: camera movements, fast editing and post-production visuals.
Goodwin believes that a music video must balance three elements: the voice, the rhythm and the backing. A "shift in emphasis" is seen when songs vary between the verse and chorus. Therefore Goodwin believes that there is a continual conflict between the three elements and a harmonic development resolves this at the end of the song. This is seen visually, lyrically and musically as the final cadence of a song is played.
Goodwin also believes different genres have their own musical style which is reflected in the iconography of the music video and this makes the artist identifiable to their target audience. He believes close-ups must also be used in a video and this links with a common theme in music videos of voyeurism.
Goodwin refers to the importance of musical repetition and believes that the visual aid should reflect this.
Goodwin ultimately believes that a music video is created to further promote the track and this is useful in our research so that we can create the best possible reflection of the music that we will choose as a group.
Alf Bjornberg's Theory
Bjornberg, like Goodwin, believes a music video acts as a visualisation of musical structures. Bjornberg however stresses more emphasis on the time of the music video being limited to three minutes which consequently leads to narrative ellipsis. This restriction of time also leads to the structure of the video to "go round in circles" so the narrative cannot be linear.
Bjornberg describes the verse-chorus form as a "multiple centripetal process" this is done musically by the cadential effect of the chorus and lyrically by changing between the problematisation in the verses to the confirmation in the chorus which Bjornberg believes is a common convention of music videos.
Bjornberg believes editing on the beat to be a significant characteristic of music videos which acts as a visual aid for the music however these conventions can be subverted to create an alternate effect.
From these two theories my group and I will be able to incorporate these ideas into the planning stages of our work. When creating our music video we must consider Goodwin's theory of the video being used to illustrate, amplify or contradict the music. Similarly, the structure of our video can use the typical conventions of the "multiple centripetal process" whereby the verse-chorus form have a cadential effect.
No comments:
Post a Comment