Theories - Andrew Goodwin

Illustration is when the band or artist or actor.actress are performing in front of the camera to portray the meaning of the lyrics in which they are singing. For example; if the lyrics are talking about someone sitting alone on a bench the shot during these lyrics would be someone sitting alone on this bench. This is used because it helps give the audience an idea of what the lyrics are about because they can link the visual material with the auditory material. Also the actions, posture and clothing of the actor/actress, band or artist is also important in illustration as the correct clothing has be worn to help with the visual material. Even though the clothing doesn't always focus on the lyrics it can help the genre of the song. For example; if the song is a dark song of a dark genre the people involved would most likely be wearing black clothing of some sort.

Amplification is when the visual moving images are amplifying the lyrics and a specific narrative may be  used. This technique is used when the lyrics may be harder to understand and are in need of some visual material to help make the connection. In most cases the band or artists would take on the main role in the narrative of the music video. The majority of the time this technique would be used in complicated rock videos that have creative lyrics with a personal feeling and emotion behind them.

The disjunction technique is the complete opposite of the illustration technique as the music video may have nothing to do with the song or the lyrics involved. It is in these circumstances that when you see this you can sometimes automatically think that it is a bad and amateur music video whereas some of these video have been used and created by professional bands or artists who have been well established for a while and have the ability to take these risks. To exaggerate this the band or actor/actress involved may be asked to wear clothing that contradict the genre of the song so that the feeling in the auditory material is clashing the visual material.