Applying Andrew Goodwin’s theory

to…Shinedown – Bully

Andrew’s 6 key features of music videos…

1. A relationship between the lyrics and the visuals. Visuals can amplify, illustrate or contradict the lyrics.

2. A relationship between the music and the visuals. Visuals can amplify, illustrate or contradict the lyrics.

3. Genre – related style and iconography present.4. Star image, multiple close-up shots of the main artist or vocalist.5. Voyeurism often plays a major part, especially in relation to females. 6. Intertextual references to other media texts maybe present.

I will apply this to my chosen music video to see if he is correct, that there are similar key features present in my chosen music video.

Shinedown – Bully I chose this music video because it has an interesting narrative which tackles people getting bullied. Most artists of the “hard rock” genre wouldn’t usually do this sort of narrative. Usually the emo rock and punk rock genres would have this sort of narrative. I also chose this video because I really love the rock genre and all of the subgenres like emo and punk. However this music video isn’t the same genre as the genre my group are going to be doing (indie rock).

Relationship between the lyrics and the visuals

“While they hang another rope”

“All you’ll ever be is a faded memory of a bully”

“Push him to the dirt”

Response to previous slideThere isn’t many illustrative features in this music video as I was only able to gather 3 different features that illustrated the lyrics. The visuals of the lead singer singing the lyrics and how fast it was edited tells me that this music video was made to amplify the lyrics more then illustrate them. Which is a common thing for music videos of this genre to do. At times there would be big bold writing over some of the shots in the music video which linked to words used by bullies to hurt people. I felt this feature again amplified the theme of the video more then illustrating it. Edited into the music video was scenes of both adults, teens and kids getting beaten up and or kidnapped by a bully which is illustrating what is being sung. Finally dark and gloomy colours were being used when the band was performing as well as in the narrative. Also blur was used when the lyrics “all you’ll ever be is a faded memory of a bully” were being sung along with scenes of people getting beaten up which amplifies the “faded memory” part of the sentence.

Relationship between the music and the visuals

The video is edited to the beat of the music which amplifies the lyrics of the song. Furthermore shots of the band members playing their instruments in time to the beat and the lead singer lip singing the lyrics in time also amplifies the music. Also the lead singer’s facial expression around the 2:08 mark of the video when the lyrics “can you here me?” are being sung amplifies the word “me”. It also connotes the emotions: anger, pain, hurt and suffering which are common emotions to feel when you’re being bullied.

Star image, multiple close-up shots of the main artist or vocalist

The close-ups of the vocalist making eye contact with the camera is engaging the audience, it’s making the audience feel involved and a part of the performance. It also connotes how fearless the vocalist is which fits in well with the theme of the song – which is all about standing up to bullies and showing no fear. It is also a common convention of the rock genre and all of it’s subgenres. This also gives the vocalist more star appeal as he is shown more in the performance part of the video than the other members of the band.

Star image, multiple close-up shots of the main artist or vocalist (continued)

However at times the lead singer is shown to ignore the camera which connotes a sense of fear. At times the lead singer is also holding his arms up to his body which connotes a sense of pain, shyness and hurt. Again all emotions that people who fall victim to bullying would feel which links back to the theme of the video.

Voyeurism and Intertextual references

There isn’t any voyeurism (notion of looking) in this music video, however you won’t really see a girl dancing in her bikini to the music in the rock genre and it’s subgenres. However CCTV which another form of voyeurism may been seen in rock music videos and it’s subgenres. It is commonly seen in punk rock music videos as punk rock is rebellious and aimed at teenagers who don’t like having people control them. There also isn’t any intertextual references in this video either but it is rarely seen in rock music videos and it’s subgenres, it is seen more commonly in other genres. Furthermore sometimes the intertextual references are so small or unknown to the listeners that it goes un-noticed most of the time.