Andrew Goodwins Theory

Goodwin beleives there are 5 features that are used in music videos, they are: 1.Thought beats - seeing the sound, a relationship between visuals and lyrics 2. Narrative and performance - relationship between the music and the visuals 3. The star image - music genres having there own music video style 4. Relation of visuals to song - demand of record company for lots of close-ups on the main artist 5. Techinal aspects of music video - references to either other music videos or to films or TV texts

Music Video Timeline

In the 50's musical films became very popular and everyone realised that putting images with a song made the songs more popular, and some used the scene in the film where there music was playing and used it as there music video such as Madonna's 1985 video for material girl.

In the 60's the Beatles starred in a musical film and they used the scenes from the film for music videos this made them much more popular. Also for Elvis Presley who started making videos to create a fan base for his music.

In the 70's the programme top of the pops was launched which only showed the best videos as they had a limit on how many they could show. This then made the songs more popular and increased sales as the viewers wanted to see the same song the next week.

In the 80's the U.S show MTV was launched and beginning an era of 24-hour-a-day music on television. With this new outlet for material, the music video would play a central role in popular music sales. Many important acts of this period, most notably Adam and the Ants, Duran Duran and Madonna. 

In the 90's MTV began to list the directors for the videos in the credits of the music video which caused the auteur's medium Directors such as Chris Cunningham, Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze, Floria Sigismondi,Stéphane Sednaoui, Mark Romanek and Hype Williams. 

In the 00's the internet became video friendly and such websites as youtube, google, Facebook, yahoo and myspace plays music videos which you could access easily and for free. This then made music videos more popular. The band OK Go achieved fame through the videos for two of their songs, "A Million Ways" in 2005 and "Here It Goes Again" in 2006, both of which first became well-known online. 

The Auteur Theory

The auteur theory is when the director uses a signature style with every production he directs. The director brings something personal and unique to their video. The auteur theory was introduced in the 1950's by french film directors. One example is Chris Cunningham who has adds a unique style to his music videos he uses dark colours such as blues, blacks and greys. He also conveys a dark message in his music videos, quite a horror genre.

Hype Williams is a music video director, you can see that the he has his own style for example Kanye West 'gold digger', Beyonce 'check up on it'. He uses coloured banners, the use of bold primary colours there is also a lot of sexualisation of women through dance and costume. He also uses a lot of shots of the artists singing/rapping into the camera which are close ups, he uses fish eye lens in his videos also. Williams also seems to focus on one type of genre of music which is R&B and hip hop, he has become much more known recently and puts his name on each of his videos as he will be recognised.