Goodwins Theory

Goodwins theory is crucial to abide by and take into consideration when either analysing or producing a music video. The theory itself is split up into 7 different sectors. 

1. Music video demonstrating genre characteristics.
2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals.
3. There is a relationship between music and visuals.- Machines
4. The demands of the record label.
5. There is frequently reference to the notion of looking and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body .
6. There is often inter textual reference.
7.  Whether the video is primarily performance, narrative based or concept based.

For an artist to sell their music successfuly, gain a following and satisfy their audience, they need not only to mainly feature the above in their song, but also enable listeners to have an emotional connection to their music. The visuals are usually what shows the audience who the artist is, the background and lyrics then being the story behind the song.

For this post, I have decided to analyse Kanye West's "stronger", a hip-hop music video. It contains many instances of goodwins theory, with both the visuals used and lyrics.

The first instance is of goodwins theory seen is showing number 1 of the theory, as characteristics of the Hip-Hop genre are present. Kanye wants to look stylish and cool, wearing a leather body warmer, a nice watch and also his trademark sunglasses, that he made popular from this video. Hip-hop artists always want to show off their lifestyle and seem "cool" to their potential listeners, and Kanye in this instance has decided to do so by wearing flashy clothes and rapping about the expensive clothes he can afford. 

The 4th part of the theory could also be seen here, as the record label want Kanye to appear cool, flashy and stylish in order for potential fans to admire him, and for Kanye to gain a following, therefore the pair of them collectively making more money. This video was very successful in setting a trend in wearing "Shutter glasses", as Kanye is seen wearing above, which shows Kanye successfully achieved the "cool" guy status, as many people bought into these glasses.

The relationship between lyrics and visuals is present in a number of instances. The voice in the background behind Kanye's sounds robotic, and robots can be seen operating on Kanye's body, enhancing the effect of this voice and creating a link between the lyrics and visuals. Another example of this is when Kanye says "You could be my black Kate Moss tonight", and after that follows a shot of a young, skinny and attractive black female. This line was infact so inspiring, the model herself took note and appeared in a series of photos as blackface. his is an example of inter-textual reference, as another celebrity has been mentioned and also used in the video which is Cassie Ventura. This then leads to the voyeuristic treatment of the female body, with various shots of the girl in the video making provactive and sexual moves, with various close-ups on her. Towards the end of the video, Kanye is also seen getting closer and closer to her, making sexual advances.

Further lyrics also greatly meet the wants of the record label, as the lyrics "The christian in christian dior" are heard. Being a christian is associated with being a "good person" and having a good image, as if Kanye presents himself this way, it will not cause controversy towards him or have any backlash on the record label. He then mentions wearing Christian Dior, a very fashionable brand, which even further shows his style, what could be used to get him to sell more records. Using the name of this brand is also another example of intertextual reference, Kanye does this several times in the song, also mentioning Louis Vitton.

A relationship between the music and visuals are shown throughout, as the words stronger better and faster are used, and the robots are shown operating on Kanye, trying to make him better. Two minutes into the song, when a key keeps playing, it switches between a very long shot of Kanye rapping to the camera to Kanye being operated on, synching in with the music and timing of the beat.

Overall, the video does not appear to have much of a narrative. It could be argued Kanye is portraying himself as new and better than ever, hence the songs title "stronger" and the lyrics in the chorus "Stronger, better, faster". The video to the song is primarily performance based, Kanye is seen pretty much throughout, with him rapping the lyrics and also acting scenes, such as breaking himself free from a treatment ward. It is him acting and him performing the song, which shows it to be performance based.

In conclusion, I believe Goodwins theory will benefit me in making my own music video, as it shows what audiences usually expect from a video and what a typical successful video would contain. By following this theory, I believe I can make my music video to a good standard and impress my audience, as providing what audiences expect to see will satisfy my audience, and I will try to emplement the theory further in my own work as this project progresses, taking inspirational from popular and successful videos and trying to craft similar ideas in order to make my work a success. In my own video, a part of goodwins theory i'd like to show is a narrative based production, as I believe I can win my audience over with an interesting story which draws them into the production and is successful through displaying emotions.