Andrew Goodwin believes that Pop videos do not follow the traditional narrative that films and tv drama have. This contrasts Propp/Todorov's idea of Normality --> Problem --> Resolution. This involves the Normality of 2 central characters e.g. lovers or heroes/villains. They then face a problem, which is a disruption to normality, therefore there is a quest to overcome disruption. After this, there is a return to a changed normality where there is a climax, happy ending or some sort of closure.
Most pop videos do not follow this narrative structure. The theory is that the structure is built around the song, where the singer is both the narrator and a character. This can be seen as the singer looks directly into the camera, compared to a tv drama where they want the viewer to feel as if they are watching from behind their shoulder, rather than the music performer wanting to involve the viewer into the performance.
Pop videos mainly include repetition, to reflect the repetition in the chorus and lines, this is what makes it distinct of what genre it is and what people expect the music from that genre will be like. They use repetition to finish the video, either on its own or build a climax to give the illusion of an ending.
Goodwin recognised three types of relations between songs and videos:
1. Illustration - A video telling a story through the lyrics, either by narration or dance to express feelings:
Taylor Swift - You belong with me is a good example of an illustrative music video, as it tells the story along with the lyrics of the girl trying to get the attention of a boy, whom she feels she wants to be more than friends with. This is clearly seen through the theme and everything matches to the lyrics, and the use of close ups express her emotions every time the boy leaves. Everytime she sings 'you belong with me' she shows emotion in her face and the camera switches back and forth from her to him to show the connection between them.
2. Amplification - Videos that introduce/add more layers of meaning to the lyrics without contradicting them:
The Chapman Family - Anxiety is a good example of Disjuncture as Lyrics such as 'I'm not gonna die for you, its so unnecessary' is expressing the emotions of what the anxiety is doing to these people, and for the lead singer singing about his experience. Also 'I want to hear yours (anxiety)', brings togetherness, and the video shows all the people with anxieties are forgetting their anger by painting their face and standing together so that they are not alone. This video conveys the lead singer's intention, which is to stand by each other no matter your anxieties because everyone is the same.
3. Disjunction - Videos that contradict the lyrics or have no/little connection to them:
Hadouken! - Bombshock is a good example of Disjuncture. The song is about rebelling and the lyrics include 'I'll never be a collateral, I know its not safe anymore, I'm going straight out the door...' but nothing in the video relates to this. Overall it is just a fun video of home clips of babies and children dancing and rocking out, which is the only thing relating to the video, with some of them playing instruments. It is very cute and I think is a fresh and innovative idea that is very entertaining to viewers.
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