Andrew Goodwin in Dancing in the Distraction Factory (1992)
has identified the following features of music videos.
Music
videos show genre characteristics, from the stage performances in metal videos
to dance routines for boy/girl band. There are relationships between the lyrics
and visuals, either through illustrative, amplifying and contradicting. The
demands of record labels would also include the need for lots of close-ups of
the artist, so they can develop motifs which recur across their work in a
visual style and helps them become more memorable. There is frequently
reference to the notion of looking through screens within screens for example
telescopes. This is mostly through the particularly voyeuristic treatment of
the female body in music videos. There is often intertextual reference to
films, TV programmes, and other music videos.
Laura
Mulvey’s theory relates to classical Hollywood cinema, it can be applied to
music videos. Mulvey states that women
are sexualised as male erotic desires; this is called the male gaze. In film
and audience men are active, while women are passive. Women do not have any agency, meaning they don’t move the plot forward. The audience is forced to
identify with male gaze. Cinema reflects the patriarchal society we live in.
Camera work: angle - high or low; long, medium or close
up; over the shoulder - point of view, tracking, pan, steadycam.
Editing: speed
(long or short take); Style – straight cut, dissolve, fade, wipe, jump cut.
Mise en Scene:
setting/location, props; hair/make up/costume; positioning of characters in
frame; body language/facial expression; colour; lighting – high or low.
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