Lyrics and VisualsGoodwin states that the lyrics in a song will tend to make consistent references to the visuals on screen and illustrate the visuals, which reinforces what the lyrics say. A good example of this is August Alsinas music video: No love. The lyrics say: And I'm the one to blame, ain't no loving me, So don't come looking for love, and in the music video as seen in the picture below on the left hand side the female actor Nicki Minaj pushes him away as if she’s not looking for any love from him. Also on the right hand side there is another example of lyrics matching the visuals, as the lyrics are know you’ve been hurt by someone else, and both actors are holding each other in close embrace as if to ensure each other everything will be alright.

The notion of looking includes men or women being presented as seductive or if their eye is in contact with the camera. The notion of looking can also be referenced by the use of props such as binoculars, televisions screens, mirrors and cameras.

Voyeurism is used in many music videos to sell the artists through sex appeal, a recent example of this would be Nicki Minaj’s anaconda video or Rihanna’s Pour It Up video.

Notion of looking

Music videos mainly tend to include demonstration of typical genre characteristics

Example: Rap music videos tend to have lots of women surrounding one man (who is usually the artists) wearing minimum clothing and either dancing on/ around them or trying to flirt with him.

Many music videos also link to film genres, such as Rock music videos tend to have been influenced or based around a horror movie, this is called Intertextuality.

Demands of the record labelRecord labels have a lot of power and authority over the way their artists are presented to the audience and it is ultimately down to the record label to decide how an artists is portrayed to their fans and the public. For women, record labels mainly aim to make female artists come across as sexy to appeal to men and target that specific audience. A perfect example of this is Rihanna who is seen as a fashion icon and in all her music videos wears minimum clothing and having an extreme amount of sex appeal. Even at real life events such as award shows Rihanna sticks to this identity and wears minimum clothing. For men, many record labels aim to achieve the same presentation to appeal to women. A great example of this is Trey Songz who creates sexual music and who’s music video’s are mainly explicit and involve scenes of love making.

Narrative basedGoodwin’s theory also includes Narrative which is a part of genre characteristics. Narrative in a music video allows a music video to come to life, as if telling a story. Some music videos use narrative throughout and some go back and fourth from narrative to close-up shots of the artists. Goodwin also claimed that often the artist will be involved in their music video by performing or acting out a narrative as the main singer or character. It helps to make the audience empathise with a song and gives the audience a thorough and further understanding of the song.

Intertextual referencesIntertextual references are references to either film, television programmes or other music videos within a music video. Two of the most well known examples of intertextual references would be Destiny’s Child for their song ‘Independent women’ acting as Charlie’s Angels which was originally the concept for the published film ‘Charlie’s Angels.

Another great example of intertextual references is Bob Sinclair’s ‘Everybody Dance now.’ This music video instead of making intertextual references to film uses other music videos to make intertextual references, some of which in this video include reference to a number of Elvis’ music videos and Justin Timberlake’s ‘Cry Me a River.’

Music and VisualsAnother one of Goodwin's conventions of Music Videos was that there is a succinct relationship between music and visuals, whether illustrative, amplifying or contradicting. For example, Coldplay’s music video for their song ‘Magic’ is set in a circus tent and the video involves Chris Martin undergoing several different magic tricks, such as levitating a spoon with his hand or having knives thrown at him whilst lying on a spinning board. All of which illustrate the song and song title as it is called ‘Magic.’