1. Andrew Goodwin Music Video
Theory
By Chloe Pilgrim

2. Andrew Goodwin
Andrew Goodwin is a a Professor of Cultural Studies at the University of San Francisco.
He is the author the Music Television and cultural theory book “Dancing in the
Distraction Factory: Music Television and Popular Culture” and he has published
numerous articles on media and cultural theory.
Goodwin identified 6 key aspects the audience should look for when analysing music
video’s. They are:
1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (e.g. stage performance in metal
video, dance routine for boy/girl band)
2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying,
contradicting)
3. There is a relationship between the music and visuals
4. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the
artists and the artist may develop motifs which reoccur across their work (a visual
style)
5. There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens,
telescopes etc and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body)
6. There is often inter-textual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos
etc)

3. Peter Andre: Mysterious Girl
I have chosen to look at the “Mysterious Girl” video
by Peter Andre to see if the rules from Andrew
Goodwin applies.

4. Genre Characteristics
“Mysterious Girl” would come under the
genre of pop and many of the
characteristics of the video show this.
The video is performance based like
most Pop genre music videos are with
Peter Andre dancing through out.
Typically there is a scene towards the
end of the video where him and fellow
artists Bubbler Ranx and also another
male are performing a synchronized
routine to part of the lyrics which is a
very common generic convention for a
pop video.
Many close up’s, mid shots and full shots
are used so we get to see the whole of
Peter Andre. Like expected he is the
main focus of the video.
The pace of the video is at a synchronized
speed of the song and just as long as
the song which is convention of music
video’s.

5. A relationship between the lyrics and the
“walking on the shore” visuals
“I’m the only man”
“mysterious girl”
“mysterious girl”
“move your body close to mine”
“the tropical scent of you”
“mysterious girl”

6. The lyrics of the song is illustrated by the visuals with in this video, in the previous
slide I have print screened examples of this. Majority of the time the lyrics being
sung would be performed by Peter Andre himself making this video also a
performance based narrative.
There is also an amplifying relationship between the lyrics and the visuals as
when Peter Andre is singing the words “mysterious girl” or talking about this
mystery girl, shots of the female actress is shown. It is evident from the setting
that the video was shot on a tropical island and from the look of many of the
villager characters we can assume that it is somewhere in the pacific, therefore
this video represents the cross cultural differences especially through the
movement which the main female actress does. We can see that it is all very soft
and quite gentle as though she is meditating but we don’t exactly know why she is
doing these movements. Also through out the video the female seem to be
isolated majority of the time. This creates an element of mystery towards this girl
which again illustrates the title and her being a “mysterious girl”.

7. A relationship between the music and the
visuals
The “Mysterious girl” video is an illustrative video as I have previously said and this also
applies to the relationship between the music and the visuals. Through out the video
when Peter Andre says the lyric’s “you” he points to the camera screen. Although not
obvious this could be his way of enticing his audience especially his female fans so that
when they watch the video they feel as though he is singing about them. When singing
“takes me up above” he demonstrates this through holding both his arms up, pointing to
the sky.
The other artist featured in this video is Bubbler Ranx who has a rapping verse in his
Jamaican dialect with in this song. He also demonstrates a relationship between the
music and visuals as when he sings “sitting by the phone hoping you'd call” he gestures
this through putting his fist next to his ear and shaking his head as though he is holding
a phone, he also says “I feel ten feet tall” and “man a trip over man when time your
name call”. He demonstrates these actions through pretending to trip and raising his
arm above his head to show height.
When Bubbler Ranx says “Just one kiss alone a make me heart go boom”, both artists
and another featuring male perform the actions of putting up one finger then pointing to
say “you” then placing there hand on the moths to represent a kiss and for the “boom”
lyrics they all splash the water.

8. Star Image & Voyeurism
Voyeurism is represented in this video through image of Peter Andre. In the
video he is either wearing no top or a shirt with open buttons so the audience
can constantly view his abs. Majority of the time also he is slightly wet ( as he
has been in the sea or under a waterfall) which sexualises him highly. The
muscle which we are seeing from him also helps to enhance his masculinity. All
of this helps to increase his appeal to his fans.

9. Conclusion
In conclusion the music video “Mysterious
Girl” can be applied to majority of Andrew
Goodwin’s key aspects. However there is
no inter-textual references within this
video.