There are six key points to Goodwin's theory of music video analysis: 1) Relationship between lyrics and visuals, 2) Relationship between music and visuals, 3) Reflecting the musical genre, 4) Featuring the artist, 5) Referencing looking/voyeurism, 6) Intertextual references. This indie rock music video by Plain White T's for "Hey There Delilah" amplifies the song's meanings through its visuals, with many close-ups of the lead singer to satisfy the record label. However, it lacks intertextual references atypical for the genre.
2. There are six points to Goodwin’s theory. They are:
1. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals
2. There is a relationship between music and visuals (either
illustrate, amplify or disjuncture)
Illustrate – Music video uses a set of images to illustrate the meaning of lyrics
and genre.
Amplify – The meanings of the song are added to by the visuals
Disjuncture – The meaning of the song is completely ignored
3. Music video reflects the characteristics of the genre it belongs
to
4. The record label will want lots of close ups of the artist and
motifs of the artist may be present
5. There is reference to the notion of looking, and voyeurism
6. There may be intertextual references
3. This video has lots of links between the music and
visuals, which is a key feature of this genre of music.
The links mostly focus on the lead singers face and the
guitar, but occasionally cut to shots of the guitar stood
up against a wall, or the singer looking down in
instrumental parts. Close ups and extreme close ups
are used throughout the video to emphasise this.
4. Right – Extreme
close up of lead
singers face and
guitar, showing
performance
elements.
Left – Close up of
singers face contrasts
with the extreme
long shots of
buildings in new
york, showing their
distance.
5. Left - Hey there Delilah
What's it like in New York City?
Right - Hey there Delilah
Don't you worry about the distance
6. There are weak links between lyrics and visuals, which
makes me think that this video style is Amplify, which
means the meanings of the song are added to by the
visuals. The bottom left image is a particularly weak
link, as it says that times are getting hard, and the mise
en scene of a dingy toilet cube and low lighting
connotes this idea. This is a common type of video to
use, and suits the genre.
Hey there Delilah A thousand miles seems pretty far
I know times are getting hard But they've got planes and trains and cars
7. The genre of this song/video is indie rock, and generally
speaking indie rock videos are performance based. The
story is usually linked in with the lyrics, and they are
often Amplify style videos. Here, there are lots of shots
of the lead singer singing, and playing guitar, but no
other band members perform. There is no real story
being acted out, the visuals are random in order.
8. There are many close ups of the lead singer throughout
the video, which would satisfy the label, but there are
only a few shots of the other members of the band.
Plain White T’s don’t really have any motifs, as their
songs are very varied and so the only things that link
their videos are close ups. The shots of his face are
always brightly lit, so we can see it well.
9. Left – medium shots
of the other
members of the
band, who are
mostly sat in dim
lighting.
Right – Two separate
images of the lead
singer, one close
up, and one long
shot.
10. This is not a typical pop song or band, and so there are
not many references to looking. Voyeurism features
heavily in pop, RnB and rap videos, but rarely more
rocky videos. The screenshots below are the few
references to voyeurism in the video. The left is a
mirror, and the right is a extreme close up image of the
woman's lips.
11. There are no intertextual references in this video, which
for the genre is quite unexpected. Indie bands usually
reference other videos and films in their videos, and
there are absolutely none at all in this video.