Theory

Andrew Goodwin

1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics

(e.g. stage performance in metal video, dance routine for boy/girl band)

2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals

(either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting)

3. There is a relationship between the music and visuals

4. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artists and the artist may develop motifs which reoccur across their work (a visual style)

andrew goodwins theory proves the idea of visual content not only from the video its self but also from the lyrical content. the relation between the video and its lyrics should be connected and paint a picture both visually and lyrically. 

Carol Vernallis 

Carol Vernallis studied the editing and camera work in music videos in detail. She said that editing is more often used in music videos than in films.

She observed the following:

• Base tracks a constantly used to give an specific strusture to the music ideo
• The camera moves in time with the music/beat
• Jump cuts are used regurlarly
• Some edits such as effects effects and wipes are obvious to draw attemtion to themselves
• 'Continuity' editing rules are not followed to draw attention to what is on screen

Carols theory helps relate to the editing structure of the music video, it helps influence the shot types and camera movements to fit the type of beat in the music. for example a fast Dubstep song will have short and fast cut scenes in the video were as love songs will have long scenes and slow fades. 

Vladimir Propps 

Propps Narrative theory is based on his analysis of folk tales and legends from various countries. He arrived at the conclusion that the story of any music video is built up following folk tale guidelines as in there are always certain ‘types’ of characters, he narrowed it down to these 8:

-Hero – Who is on a quest

-Villain – The opposing foe to the hero

-Donor – Character who provides a tool(s) to the hero character

-Dispatcher – Who starts the hero on his quest/way

-False Hero – Character who tries to divert the hero from his quest

-Helper – self explanatory, helps the hero

-Princess – who is the reward for the hero

-Father – who rewards the hero for his efforts

Propps theory discusses the idea of a fairy tail story bassed around a strong story line. this type of theory is mainly applied to love songs where there is a lover who has a aim of a lover but something is in there way e.g. in Justin Beibers song "aslong as you love me", this theory is less relevant to rap genres as the main story line is about there past life only. 

Todorovs Theory 

Tzvetan Todorov suggested there were 5 stages to a narrative:

1. Equilibrium – A happy start
2. A disruption of this equilibrium by an event – A problem occurs
3. A realisation that a disruption has happened
4. An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption – the problem is solved
5. A restoration of the eqilibrium – A happy ending

Todorovs Theory is similar to Propps theory in the idea of trying to achieve a goal and finally succeeding but unlike Propps theory, Todorovs can be related to a selection of genres such as rap for example Krept and Konan 'my story' which shows the story of his life all happy then people kill his dad he plans to get revenge but a big singer grabs his attention and he becomes a big rapper himself. 

Claude Levi 

Claude Levi-Strauss was a french anthropologist and ethnologist that had a theory of narrative. Levi-Strauss narrative theory reflects his interest in how much of our world is described in terms of opposites, such as Night and Day, Good and Bad, Light and Dark. He noticed that these oppositions tended to structure texts such as stories, plays and films.

Levis theory was used in a lot of music videos to build a type of feeling such s black and white to show flashbacks or hard times in the world such as in Dappys song 'the ending' it shows a black and white london to show the struggle and pain, this colour really helps prove this feeling as it feels like a colourless world and tells a story for itself.