Music Video Analysis

Using Andrew Goodwin’s Theory

Andrew Goodwin

1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals3. There is a relationship between music and visuals4. The demands of the record label will include the need for

lots of close ups of the artist, the artist can develop motifs which recur across their work

5. There is a frequent reference to notion of looking and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body

6. There is often intertextual references

Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics

Nearly all music videos demonstrate the same characteristics for other music videos of the same genre. In the rock genre, this generally includes a live/as live performance which is referred back to throughout the video as well as a narrative during the video which can either reinforce the lyrics or give a particular meaning to the. The music video for Let It Land by Tonight Alive uses these characteristics throughout the video.

In Let It Land, there is a live performance which the video keeps coming back to which is something which is nearly always done in the rock genre. During the narrative scenes as well though, the lead is rarely scene not singing so that, throughout the video, the audience can still see them performing the song. This encourages them to pay attention to the song as well as watching the video and makes them more likely to take the song in as they are consistently seeing it being performed by the members which is commonly done throughout all rock genre music videos.

One thing which is done slightly differently though is that, towards the end of the video, the narrative clips and the live clips are combined together as the band

band members arrive at the venue where the live is being performed. When looking at other video, you can see that this is rarely done and the narrative and live elements generally stay separate. By doing this though, it shows the audience where all of the band members were trying to get to and helps to explain the narrative of the video to the audience.

There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals and music and visuals

There is a good relationship between the music and the visuals in this music video. The edits in the video are done to the beat of the music during the chorus and on nearly every other beat during the rest of the song. This helps to emphasis the beat of the music and keeps the audience engaged during the video as there is a clear beat to it. The techniques of editing on the beat is commonly used in music videos as well so it sticks to the usual conventions of a music video for its genre. Despite generally cutting to a different scene/setting (like in the images to the right), as the cuts are positioned at the beat of the music it works well and helps to show the audience what is happening in a more unconventional way.

The lyrics and the visuals have a good relationship with one another in the music video as well. The deeper meaning to the lyrics of the song are about thinking about your past and not letting it hold you back, and how by letting it hold you back, everything you try and get too will slip through your hands. This main point is shown through the lyrics of the chorus with parts like; “I can barely hold it back”; “everything that I’ve been chasing”; and “slipping right through my hands”. However, the visuals take a more literal route by having the band members chasing after one another to meet up and giving the impression of the lead singer “staying” alone and “waiting” for them to arrive. By having the literal meaning and the deeper, more meaningful one, it lets the

“I'm staying here, waiting up, why am I waiting?Weighing up everything that I've been breakingI never let it hold me back, now I can barely hold it backAnd now I'm staying here, waiting up, why can't I shake it?Weighing up everything that I've been chasingSlipping right through my hands,Now I'm just gonna let it, I'm just gonna let it land”

audience interpret it in their own way as opposed to having the video tell them exactly what to think.

The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist

There are close ups of all of the members of the band throughout the video. This is common throughout music videos of many genres where there are many close ups throughout the live performance of the music video and during the narrative as well. This can be done to help portray a particular emotion within the song, to give emphasis on a certain part of the song, to create a main focus on a particular member of the band and to let the audience feel closer to the artist who is performing.

In this music video, there are a lot of close ups of the lead in the band whilst they are singing. This is used a lot in the chorus of the song and toward the end of the song where the video is mainly done as live. By doing this, it helps to put the main focus on the lead of the band whilst she is singing and, at the beginning of the video, it helps to reinforce the idea of her waiting for the other members to arrive and being by herself.

During the narrative parts of the music video, a lot of the close ups are, again, of the lead singer walking to meet the rest of the band members at a location and of the other members travelling to get to the location. At these moments, it is rare that they look directly into the camera which gives the idea of us looking into their life from the outside when they are not performing. This can help

the audience to connect with the band more than if it was all live footage as it gives the impression of being able to see into their lives.

There is a frequent reference to the notion of looking and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body

From the very start of the video, there is a reference to looking as the lead is looking out of a wall long window into the city and there are many different match cuts around the artist to show her looking from the window (from behind, looking out of the window from her perspective and a profile close up of her looking out of the window singing. It is used throughout the video as well though and not just at this point, for example, the camera shows one of the members looking out at the sea which is shown from his perspective as well as being shown other members looking toward the sky and ahead of them. Some of these references can also be used to help reference the lyrics as it talks about moving forward and not letting the past hold you back so by having them all looking forward toward something it helps to emphasise this point.

The group consists of five members and the lead singer is the only girl who is in the group. This means that she automatically has attention on her as she stand out more and would be one of the main attractions to the male audience. However, even though she would be considered one of the main attractions, the outfits worn in the music video are very casual and laid back outfits and do not give off the typical sexual image that most artists go for in a music video. Instead, she is shown wearing a hoodie, t-shirt, jeans and a pair of trainers which gives her a much more natural and laid back look. As well as this, it alsomakes her and the rest of the band feel more approachable to the audience as it makes the seem more like normal people as opposed to superstars with the luxury of popular branded attire.

Fan referencesThroughout the video, the bands logo is displayed in various locations with different members of the band. It is first shown early into the video where the lead takes a piece of paper out of her pocket with the symbol on it, after this, it is shown again with two other members when it is in the same folded way as before but with a receipt in a coffee house. Later on, it has been sprinkled onto a coffee with chocolate at the same coffee house that the previous members were at. One of the last places it is shown is being stuck onto a wall by one member where another member then finds it with the final place being left, torn and wrinkled, on the floor from where they finished playing.

This helps to link all of the scenes together as each of the ways that it is shown relates to who or how the last one was found. So it was found in the paper form the first two times then found in a coffee cup after being in a coffee house, etc. It allows all of the different locations to be tied in together and helps the video to follow better rather than jumping from one location to the other without any particular reason.

By leaving it on the floor as the final shot of the video, it alerts the audience that this is the bands logo and that it is associated with them. This means that, people who are unfamiliar with the band will recognise the symbol as being theirs and will associate it with them every time they see it. It also means that, people who are fans of the band will recognise the symbol and will feel included in the video as it is a reference that they understand.