1. Theories linked to my video...

2. Andrew Goodwin
In Goodwin‟s book, Dancing in the Distraction Factory‟ he writes about what he defines to be the characteristics
of music videos. It is important that when creating our video we use some of the characteristic as this will allow
our video to have a clear narrative and genre. I am going to explore through each of the six characteristics and
state how we are going to use it in our video...
1 - Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics
In order for our video to fit with our chosen genre of Alternative Rock (Pop Rock) we are going to have our artist
Jonny playing an acoustic guitar. Also, we are going to include many natural locations in our video to help portray
its genre.
2 - Relationship between the lyrics and visuals
Some of the shots in our video are going to adhere to the lyrics of the song, such as „sharing pillows and cold
feet‟. At this point we are going to have the couple in bed sharing pillows and then a close up shot of their feet.
However, there are parts when the visuals don‟t adhere to the lyrics such as „does he hold you when you cry‟.
This helps to make the video more interesting to viewers and creates a sense of variation.
3 - Relationship between the music and visuals
The visuals in our video will adhere to the music. When the song is about all the good times they used to have
together, we will be showing shots of the new couple enjoying themselves. In contrast to this, at the end of the
song where the song is about wanting her back, we are going to have shots of Jonny trying to get back with
Jess. We have used the weather to emphasise the happy and sad bits of the music. It is fairly sunny when the
couple are present, however at the end it is dull and rainy. This helps to make the audience feel sorry for Jonny
as it really emphasises his loneliness and sadness.

3. Andrew Goodwin
4 - Need for close ups of artist and the artist may develop motifs which reoccur across their work
We plan on having many close ups of our three actors throughout the video. We are going to have close ups
of the couple, Jess and Tom, to show there conversation and to emphasise their happy, loving relationship.
Also, there will be many different close up shots of Jonny as he is playing the guitar, we will have shots of his
face and his hands as he strums and plucks the guitar. This helps to show the importance of the inclusion of
instruments in Alternative Rock videos. It is also the motif in our video as we plan to use the same variation of
shots of Jonny playing guitar in each part of the chorus.
5 - frequently reference to notion of looking
This particularly links to the voyeuristic treatment of the female body. In our video we are going to have Jess
wearing fashionable and feminine clothing. We are planning on her wearing a dress in some of the
shots, making it partially revealing. By doing this, it is a way to help attract males to watching the video.
6 - often intersexual reference
The different ideas for our video have been inspired by a number of different texts. Watching different lone
films like „Dear John‟ and „The Vow‟ helps to give an idea as to the types of different shots to include of the
couple. The band Lawson have been a big inspiration to me, their videos all have a very similar storyline to
ours and therefore they have also given me a range of ideas on some different shots to consider including.

4. Roland Barthes
He describes a text as...
"a galaxy of signifiers, not a structure of signifieds; it has no beginning; it is reversible; we gain
access to it by several entrances, none of which can be authoritatively declared to be the main
one; the codes it mobilizes extend as far as the eye can read, they are undeterminable...the
systems of meaning can take over this absolutely plural text, but their number is never
closed, based as it is on the infinity of language..."
(S/Z - 1974 translation).
This suggests that a text can be translated by different people in a number of different
ways, emphasising that the text could therefore have lots of different meaning to it. He believed
that to uncover the real meaning of a text you have to read it and then re-read it. This is because
every time you read a text, you read it in a slightly different way to the previous time and
therefore with each re-reading another meaning comes to the surface. He came up with 5
different codes for media narrative…
1 - Enigma code – refers to elements that are not fully explained
2 - Action code – refers to any action of event that suggest something else is going to happen
3 - Semantic code – refers to connotations within a text that give additional meaning
4 - Symbolic code – refers to broader and deeper sets of meanings
5 - Cultural code – refers to the fact meaning from a text can be derived from shared cultural
knowledge

5. Firth, 1988
His theory states that there a three key characteristics of music videos...
• Performance – conveys a sense of the in-concert experience
“Performance orientated visuals cue viewers that the recording of the music is the most
signified element”
• Narrative – linear, love stories are the most popular
“Action in the story is dominated by males who do things and females who passively react or
wait for something to happen”
• Conceptual – metaphors to create a mood, offer multiple meanings.
These characteristics are a way to attract viewers and to convey direct or indirect messages. All
of which I will be including within my video; we will have Jonny playing the guitar, the narrative
of the break up and the new couple and different props and objects to offer more meanings.
Steve Archer, 2004
“Often, music videos will cut between a narrative and a performance of the song by the band.
Additionally, a carefully choreographed dance might be part of the artist‟s performance or an
extra aspect of the video designed to aid visualisation and the „repeatability‟ factor. Sometimes
the artist (especially the singer) will be part of the story, acting as narrator and participant at the
same time. But it is the lip synch close-up and the miming of playing instruments that remain at
the heart of music videos, as if to assure as that the band really can kick it.”
This quote relates well to my video and we will be included all aspects that he thinks makes a
music video successful. We are including Jonny playing an acoustic guitar and he is also the
protagonist in the narrative.