Music Video Theorists

Goodwin

Goodwin's book Dancing in the Distraction Factory was an investigation on music videos and how visual language and imagery was used within them. During his book he came up with codes and conventions for music videos.

• There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals.
• There is a relationship between the music and the visuals.
• Particular music genres have their own music video style and iconography.
• There is a demand on the part of the record company for lots of close-ups of the main artist.
• The artist may develop their own star iconography, in and out of their videos. Over time this will become a part of their star image.
• There is reference to voyeurism, particularly in the treatment of women, but also in the ways of looking where there are screens within screens.
• There will be intertextual references, either to other music videos, TV, films. This could relate to the actors.

Lynch

Joan Lynch (1984) stated there are three basic music video structures.

1. Narrative.
2. Performance.
3. Concept (which would often be influenced by experimental film).

Gow

Jon Gow (1992) identified 6 genres of music videos. 

• The anti-performance piece - videos which do not contain performance of the song.
• Pseudo-reflexive performance - videos which display the process of video production.
• Performance documentary - the videos will contain documentary footage of onstage performance and offstage activity.
• The special effects extravaganza -videos in which human performance is over shadowed by special effects and impressive imagery.
• The song and dance number - videos which focus on the physical ability of the dancers and vocal presentation (lip syncing).
• The enhanced performance - videos which blend performance elements with other visual elements. 

Overall I will refer back to these throughout the process of my promotional package. I will relate these theories to current music videos to see if they are still conventional during my generation.