Key Features of a Music Video

Andrew Goodwin has identified the key features of a music video:

1.  Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (eg stage performance in metal video, dance routine for boy/girl band.
2.  There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying or contradicting).
3.  There is a relationship between music and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying or contradicting).
4.  The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close-ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style).
5.  There is frequent reference to the notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.
6.  There is often intertextual reference (to films, TV programmes, other music videos, etc).