APPLYING GOODWIN’S THEORY TO ENTER SHIKARI

Goodwin’s Theory is based on 8 main principles:

1. Links between Lyrics and Visuals2. Links between Music and Visuals (Complimentary, Contradicting or

Amplification)3. Genre Characteristics4. Intertextual Reference5. Notions of Looking (objectification of women)6. Voyeurism (direct gaze, other people looking at artist, insight into

artists life, screens and mirrors)7. Demands of the record label (representation of the artist)8. Performance based, Narrative based or Concept based music videos

Enter Shikari – No Sleep Tonight

In this presentation I am going to try and apply Goodwin’s theory to the music video “No Sleep Tonight”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ehzmr79ZCoE

Goodwin suggests that lyrics will make constant references to visuals on screen. In the music video for “No Sleep Tonight” for Enter Shikari the visuals relate directly to the lyrics “You’re not getting any sleep tonight” with the band and many more people shown in the mans back garden making a lot of noise and shining lights onto his house making sure that he doesn’t get any sleep.

Goodwin suggests that the visuals on the screen will also be representative of the music in the song. “No Sleep Tonight” has very fast and loud backing music and this is supported by the use of quick cuts in the video making the speed of the video match the song.

Genre Characteristics

These are depicted as certain traits associated with a particular type of music. A characteristic of a rock video is to have the band performing in the video. This is imitated in the “No Sleep Tonight” video.

Notion of lookingNotions of looking plays on the ides of gaze and the way someone in particular is seen. A prime example of this is the representation of women in music videos. However Enter Shikari do not follow this trend but still made use of the notion of looking. The scene shown below is all in slow motion with the gaze directed at the man in the suit showing us that the rest of the video is going to revolve around him,

Demands of the Record Label

A lot of record labels have control over the artist or band that they sign and often decide how the artist should be represented. However, Enter Shikari do not have this problem as they are under their own record label that they set up themselves and therefore can represent themselves how they wish.

Narrative

The narrative is a major part of music videos with it being either fragmented or linear. The storyline for “No Sleep Tonight” is a very simple linear storyline that allows the audience to follow, meeting the characteristics of Goodwin’s theory.

After looking at Goodwin’s theory I have come to the realisation that a hug variety of music videos apply the theory and therefore when creating our video it would be very important to apply the theory.