Andrew Goodwin writing in the book 'Dancing In The Distraction Factory' undertook research into music videos which were found to be mainstream, and found conventions within them which can be found in almost all other mainstream music videos. looking at two videos we can identify these conventions and decide, whether or not the video is mainstream or not.
In my first video, Something I Need - By OneRepublic the Goodwin framework can be applied. The video can be seen to amplify, this can be seen through lyrics which mention death and life, and then the death, and then revival of the antagonist in the video.
The video does have a narrative. this being the man is clearly attracted to the woman. and vice versa. however his moves keep being squandered by a seemly rabid dog. however at the end, he does 'get the girl'. This does, therefore, relate to Todorov's theory that a story has an equilibrium which is changed as a character is made to overcome a challenge to maintain some kind of equilibrium. in this storyline the equilibrium at the start is the man being intrigued by the woman, and moving toward her. however this is changed, by the entrance of the dog. however at the end, after the dog has seemingly been subdued. equilibrium is restored by the protagonist finally being with the girl that he started after at the beginning.
Another framework applicable to this video, is the findings of Dyer. he hypothesised that the purpose of a music video was simply to increase the star image of an artist, or band. this can be seen in action during this video as there are subtle hints and not so subtle showings of the band. namely during the second dog vs man scene there are OneRepublic posters on the wall, which are not only visible, but the protagonist interacts with them and throws them at the dog, thus making you think of the band, and increasing their star image. The singer is shown in some shots, as he breaks the fourth wall and interacts with the audience, and forces us to recognise him as the singer, again a tool for increasing his star image.
In Comparison to Something I Need by OneRepublic is Lightening Bolt by Jake Bugg. something I need could be described as pop rock, where as lightening bolt, would be more suited to being indie rock. this has already produces an audible difference between the two songs.
This music video has barely any narrative, meaning that Todorov's theory cannot come into play. as theh main section of the video is the artist singing, or playing his instrument, with broken clips of a town, and the movements taking place within. this is a large difference between the two clips. however this acts to amplify the relationship between the music and the artist as he is visably involved with the music production. this is something that was not always visible in the previous video as we only saw the singer and not the instruments or creative process.
We can apply Dyer to the video in a far more comprehensive manor than we could have done to the previous video, as the artist is present in far more of the clips. the close ups of his face and other shots showing him singing, and playing his guitar present the artist in a far more voyeuristic way than was visible in the precious music video. however, throughout the video the artist is shown away from others. and alone. this coupled with his fourth wall breaking creates the air of being both present and absent. as he interacts with us, but is clearly an independent figure. this creates a repeatability to the video that was not seen in OneRepublic's video as their main focus was not producing an elusive front man.
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