Wednesday, 14 September 2016

DC- Goodwin Analysis

Andrew Goodwin, Dancing in the Distraction Factory (1992) carried out research into mainstream music videos and identified typical conventions. We can apply his critical framework to music videos to determine how conventional they are. I have used this theory to analyse 'This is What You Came For' by Calvin Harris and Rhianna:




One key point in Goodwin's theory is that Music Video's display conventions specific to the music's genre, this song fits into the Dance/Electronic genre, therefore it may be unconventional that the video places emphasis on the co-artist (Rhianna) over constructing a separate narrative that illustrates the lyrics, rather than a disjunctive video. However the fact that the Collaborator is Rhianna, a very influential/ successful artist means that despite being unconventional for the genre, the video is conventional for this type of Collaboration.

The location of the video is very conventional of the dance genre, promoting the music through it's references to party/dance culture inside of the Box seen in the video. The use of strobe lighting is also conventional of the genre as it relates to club culture, a culture often associated with this genre.

Similarly the colour palette in the video is highly conventional of the genre, bright, neon colours are used throughout the video to anchor the party images seen behind the artist, this draws the attention of the audience and makes the video stand out.

The video places heavy emphasis on the beat, the video cuts on beat throughout the video and the visuals inside of the box change on beat too, adding illustrative elements to the video by representing the tracks beat, a very important aspect in the Dance Genre, visually.

Notion of Looking is used heavily throughout the video, Rhianna maintains eye contact with the camera throughout, breaking the fourth wall to imply that the lyrical content of the video is aimed at the audience, immersing them in the video and allowing them to form a false connection with Rhianna.

The costume that the artist wears is urban/ modern, contributing to Rhianna's metanarrative and forming a conventional link to the urban aspects of the Dance/Electronic genre

Post-Production conventionally plays a large part in the video, used to emphasize the electronic elements of the track, for example sudden electronic flickers across the screen/ Rhianna's face to anchor the electronic element of the box/ strobe lighting behind her. This is highly conventional of the genre as the music is created electronically.

The video is also fairly voyeuristic, Rhianna is subtly sexualized throughout the video, for example her shirt falling down her shoulder, and the fact that she rarely loses eye contact with the audience. The sexual themes in the lyrical content of the song anchors this too.

In conclusion, the video's content is highly conventional of the Dance/Electronic genre despite the unconventional location. The video makes innovative use of screens depicting conventional locations/ strobe lighting to anchor the images on the screens, to create a conventional dance video in one single location.

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