Task two - Employing Andrew Goodwin’s theory

Once I researched into Andrew Goodwin I decided to investigate his theory of six key conventions that supposedly should apply to most videos, by analyzing a popular video at the time.

I decided on analyzing the video for ‘Comfort Inn Ending’ by Jhene Aiko an R&B artist. Firstly Goodwin states that most Pop or R&B music videos employ a range of close ups and maintain focus on the artist, to promote the artist and their image to the public. This video is a great example of this, the focus throughout the video is simply on Jhene Aiko even in the ending scene where she is sharing a moment with a male we are unable to see his face at any point and the emphasis stays solely on the artist.

Goodwin theorises that there is more than one type of music video, those that are Disjunctive and present visuals that don’t correlate with the lyrics of the song what so ever and also illustrative videos, where the video directly represents the lyrics. ‘Comfort Inn Ending’ is a great instance of an illustrative video the song focuses on heartbreak and tells the story of a female that has found out she has been cheated and lied to, the video then portrays the visuals of the singer as she reacts to finding out for instance we see her emptying her lovers wardrobe, scratching cars and crying to her friend. Using this technique not only adds depth to the song but also gives the audience a wider understanding of what the artist was trying to portray through her lyrics. 

Andrew Goodwin also discusses The Notion of looking where the artist looks straight into the camera almost addressing the audience, although popluar in the R&B genre this in fact is not presented at all in the video, there is no scene where Jhene Aiko is looking into the camera I feel this gives the video a cinematic feel as well as helps produce a piece that seems realistic and gives the view a impression of almost peering into someone’s actual life.

Several scenes throughout the video are in slow motion allowing the audience to focus on small details, the actors are presented arguing and talking although the audience is unable to understand what it is they are saying, the lyrics of the song do the job of giving an understanding of the situation so that the dialogue is not needed, though the video does not follow all the six conventions I found that Goodwin’s theory dose correlate with many different techniques that are used in most of the videos I researched into, and ‘Comfort Inn Ending’ is a good instance of this.