Applying Goodwin's Theory - CASE STUDY

Foo Fighters - Walk 

To fully understand Goodwin's' theory, I am going to be applying it to a music video case study."Walk" is a song by American rock band Foo Fighters, released as the second single from their seventh studio album Wasting Light. The Foo Fighters' "Walk" video is, rather oddly enough, a near re-creation of the 1993 film "Falling Down," the oft-disturbing portrait of the prototypical "angry white male” who is pushed to the brink by what he views as society's decay and goes on a violent rampage. Below is my analysis of the video in connection with Goodwin's theory. 

Theory:	Analysis:
1) There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals.	Grohl immediately refers to this dull existence in the lyrics therefore showing a direct relationship between the lyrics and the visual meaning of the music video, "To who it may concern, I think I may have lost my way, getting good at starting over every time I return". It echoes this idea of him losing contact with what is important which can be presumed music perhaps. As these words are being spoken, the camera tracks him walking along a bridge. There again is repetition of the literal translation of the lyrics as not only is he metaphorically learning to walk again but physically too as he has left his car behind. It as if Grohl realizes he has been 'going through the motions’.
2) Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics	In the beginning of the video, Grohl grabs his guitar and exits his car - symbolic for his exit from this boring lifestyle. He is not a businessman, but a rock star. When he leaves the car the music begins. Grohl’s character keeps his guitar case with him, this time reminding the audience that underneath it all he is still a rock star and that is where his values lie. This can also be seen as a symbol to demonstrate the genre (Guitar = Rock and Punk music).
3) There is a relationship between music and visuals	Throughout the video, the lyrics play a part into how the narrative pans out within the video. But as for the music going along with the video, it is quite a unique idea and paints a picture of how the band feels about the lack of punk rock in the modern world. At the end of the video, when Grohl arrives at the garage branded with the Foo Fighters emblem; he enters and is shot in mid framing. His band members are then shot for the first time together and then it cuts back to him - by taking off his glasses and loosening his tie, it metaphorically represents him freeing himself from the shackles which conceal his true identity, which is an old school rock star. This part of the video shows the change between the comical narrative and the actual performance where he is presented in the foregrounded as the lead singer. The performance is shot in a series of fast cuts which plays off the beat of the song hence the pace of the transitions.
4) The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style)	OTHER MUSIC VIDEO - 'LEARN TO FLY'  Throughout the video, there are a lot of close ups of Dave Grohl as well as the rest of the band members but in true Foo Fighter comical style for the majority of the video they are all playing roles, even playing women in some parts. This is also a feature of the band itself - as the members feature as characters throughout illustrating they do not take themselves too seriously and have the comedic edge to their music videos that the fans adore. This has also become their visual style as a lot of their videos feature them dressing up and playing characters.
5) There is frequent reference to the notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes) and particularity voyeuristic treatment of the female body.	Within this music video there isn't much reference to the notion of looking, I think mostly because unlike most music videos their videos contain a very unique style that makes a view feel like they are watching a short film as opposed to a generic music promo. However there is a lot of looking through mirrors which reflect some of the lyrics in the song about seeing yourself for who you really are. Again with the voyeuristic treatment of female body, not only does it not fit with the punk rock genre too much but it doesn't really fit with the image of the band (all of the members are married with children and very old school in both their music and their ideals ). The closest thing relating to negative treatment towards women is when the band members dress up as women and make fools of themselves, perhaps to show how they think the way other genres portray women is ridiculous.
6) There is often intertextual reference to films, TV Programmes, other music videos etc.	The Foo Fighters' new "Walk" video is, rather oddly enough, a near re-creation of the 1993 film "Falling Down," the oft-disturbing portrait of the prototypical "angry white male” who is pushed to the brink by what he views as society's decay and goes on a violent rampage as a result, culminating in a stand-off with police and his death. The whole music video is based on this film, demonstrating intertextual reference. Although the video has more of a comedic message than a political one in that it is based on the loss of the old school punk rock genre. Within the film ‘Falling Down’, the character Foster carries with him a brief case, reminding the audience of his once business and calm-like demeanor. In the same way, Grohl’s character keeps his guitar case with him, this time reminding the audience that underneath it all he is still a rock star and that is where his values lie.

Goodwin's Theory Research

All music videos have a purpose and with this purpose comes the conventions of music videos, these traits are followed to make the music video successful at its purpose - to promote the artist and the song.

Andrew Goodwin, who believes that there are 6 features which are present in music videos:

1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (i.e. usually show stereotypes of modern culture, like an R'n'B video is likely to contain money, cars and women). 
2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals (Narrative in the lyrics is shown through the moving image).
3. There is a relationship between music and visuals (i.e. dance music would be accompanied by fast paced editing) 
4. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style). 
5. There is frequent reference to the notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes) and particularity voyeuristic treatment of the female body.  
6. There is often intellectual reference to films, TV Programmes, other music videos etc.

Music Videos - RESEARCH

Within the lesson today we learnt about the three main types of music promos: 

THREE DIFFERENT STYLES 

1) PERFORMANCE BASED VIDEOS - Majority of the video is performance based, showing the band the most part of the video. 

2) NARRATIVE BASED MUSIC VIDEO- Telling a story through moving image. Sometimes is a song from a popular film which will ofter include cuts from the film.

3) CONCEPT BASED VIDEO - A video focusing on a visual concept or idea. Usually quirky and quite surreal looking, quite specific to a genre.

Timeline of Music Video History

1950's - Musical Films - The earliest example of music videos were songs from films that were performed (i.e. Marilyn Monroe - Diamonds Are a Girls' Best Friend which was taken from the film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes in 1953 and Jailhouse Rock - Elvis Presley which was taken from the film Jailhouse Rock in 1957). Companies then realised the potential and popularity of matching visual images to lyrics. It was also around this post-war era that youth culture had properly been established which mostly began with the introduction of Elvis Prestley to commonly used media. 

1960's - Era of Rock 'n' Roll. Elvis Presley and the Beatles has generated such huge fan bases they had created video performances to their audience. The Beatles had utilized music videos to promote their records starting in the mid-1960s. The creative use of music videos within their 1964 debut film A Hard Day's Night, particularly the performance of "Can't Buy Me Love", led MTV decades later to honor the film's director, Richard Lester, with an award for "basically inventing" the music video.

1970's - The 70's saw the development of the music video with the incorporation of television with music. Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart  television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1 January 1964 and 30 July 2006. Each weekly programme consisted of performances from some of that week's best-selling popular music artists, with a rundown of that week's singles chart. The show peaked in the mid 70's becoming a main way for bands to perform to their audiences. As well as The Monkees, an American comedy which followed the adventures of four young men trying to make a name for themselves as rock 'n roll singers. Eventually from the popularity of the television show, the actors decided to for the band and release the tracks  shown in the TV show. Because of the original fan base, the band generated a mass amount of popularity in the 60's to 70's.

1980's - In 1981, MTV was launched with the original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by television personalities known as "video jockeys,". 24hr broadcast meant music videos begin to play a central role in music marketing by the mid 1980's. The first music video shown on MTV was The Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star", which seems ironic because of the introduction of video on this new platform. The 80's also saw music videos from popular artists like Madonna, Michael Jackson and Cyndi Lauper which all featured cutting edge editing techniques of the time and began to introduce the idea of narrative and concept behind the videos. 

1990's - In November 1992, MTV began listing directors with the artist and song credits, reflecting the fact that music videos had increasingly become an auteur's medium. Directors such as Chris Cunningham, Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze and Hype Williams all got their start around this time; all brought a unique vision and style to the videos they directed. Some of these directors, including, Gondry, Jonze went on to direct feature films. This continued a trend that had begun earlier with directors such as David Fincher.

Two of the videos directed by Romanek in 1995 are notable for being two of the three most expensive music videos of all time: Michael and Janet Jackson's "Scream", which cost $7 million to produce, and Madonna's "Bedtime Story", which cost $5 million. "Scream" remains the most expensive video of all time. In the mid to late 1990s, Walter Stern directed "Firestarter" by The Prodigy, "Bitter Sweet Symphony" by The Verve, and "Teardrop" by Massive Attack.

Music Video Song

A2 COURSEWORK - MUSIC PROMO

SEARCHING FOR A BAND 

Over the summer, I began my search for a band or musician with original music to use in my A2 Project Music Promo. I did this through many means, from attending local open mic nights to asking my friends across social media platforms if they knew anyone with original music interested in having their track used in a music video and who would also like to star in it. 

Initially I went to Open Mic nights in the local Harris & Hoole to try and find unsigned artists with their own music that I actually liked although I wasn't too successful. 

Eventually after searching through SoundCloud, Facebook and Twitter for a musician to use, an old friend George who used to be in a band but since losing contact he has started as a solo artist and has his written his own music. 

I saw him over the summer and told him about the project and asked if I could use his music and if he would like to be in it, to which he said yes and to send him all of the details. 
I then reached out to him on Facebook and the conversation is posted below.