Avril Lavigne's new single "Heres To Never Growing Up" shows alot of Goodwin's theory at use. From this pop music video we can see part of lyrics and visuals, star image at use as well as the performance and narrative point of view in this music video.
When watching this music video i tried to take into account what the lyrics were saying and how the music video helps show this. Obviously in the music industry there's alot of talk about artists selling out due to record label's. However in this music video of "Heres To Never Growing Up" we can see that Avril is showing and expressing her own individuality through the use of lip syncing towards the camera in close up shots and medium/middle camera angles.
"Heres To Never Growing Up" basically states what the song is actually about, however looking and comparing this video to other Avril Lavigne videos we can see that she has gone back to her old videos and inputted them into this music video. For instance in Avril Lavignes music video of "Complicated" We see Avril wearing black baggy jeans and a white shirt riding a skate board. In this music video of "Here's To Never Growing Up" we see Avril taking the exact same camera angles and body actions by wearing the same outfit and using the same routine she did on her skate board. This is a sign of lyrics and visuals. On this part of the music video we are listening to the lyrics of " Singing here's to never growing up, We'll be running down the streets singing kiss my A** i'm like yeah whatever i'm still living like that" This suggest that Avil is protesting to her fans saying that shes now going to grow up and become something she doent want to to be instead shes going to stay "Old School" like her older music videos and keep doing what she likes doing in a fun enjoyable way for her fans.
The similarities
Furthermore we see alot more scenarios in this music video to the lyrics and visuals. We hear the lyrics or "With the boombox blaring as were falling in love" when we are given these lyrics Avril is in the camera angle holding a boombox up above her head. This has been done to show and emphasis towards the audience what the lyrics are saying and how Avril takes this on board. This is to show the audience the lyrics through the use of visuals to make it more understandable for the audience to understand what is going on. In this music video lyrics and visuals are used alot to emphasis towards the audience.
Lyrics and Visuals
Furthermore, throughout this video we see lyrics and visuals at use however they are well hidden. In this music video we see the imprint of the lyrics on the walls used by spray paint or on chalk boards in the background of each scene which emphasis towards the lyrics again making it ovbious for the audience to understand what avril is lip syncing about. like this picture of the guy sliding down the hallway with the words "Never Growing Up". This is what we hear when we see this shot.
Never Growing Up
Another point we can link in with Goodwin's theory for music videos would be star image. With this music video star image has been used alot. This means we expect to see Avril in every shot of the camera or music video weather that's in close up or extreme close ups, long or middle shots. We as an audience expect to see this because its Avrils voice that we tend to here. When using star image its the demands of a record label to have the lead singer in every single shot. "Here's To Never Growing Up" actually shows this quite often. The fan base would expect to see Avril in the music video because its her that they want to see more than anything else. Which is why we have alot of these close up shots of Avril lip syncing towards the camera. When watching this music video Avril had the most camera time compared to any of the band or extras within the video. Literally each frame is shown for a good 3 seconds or longer then cuts to a different close up of Avril lip syncing towards the camera in close ups.
Star Image
The last Andrew Goodwin point i found in this music video would be the performance and narrative structure to this music video. We see two scenarios at this point one where Avril is playing the High School band for a prom.. At first the prom looks completely dead and not enjoyable then we hear the beats in the song and the prom suddenly comes alive with Avril performing to the class. Then the other where she is generally lip syncing towards the camera. We can also tell that this class is at a prom due to the mis en scene of the setting and costumes that these people are wearing. Smart formal dress and balloons and tables it's the typical American High School prom that you would see in movies almost like from the film "American Pie"
e.g. - In this music video we see typical red cups, formal wear, balloons, streamers and fancy outfits suggesting the idea of a formal dance. When we get the shot of teenagers running down the corridor it suggest there surroundings are at a high school. Which emphasis to the "Here's to never growing up"
mis en scene
Mis en scene
Within this video there is a narrative and a performance structure to the music video. The performance structure within this music video is usually to show that Avril and her band can play the music. The performance side within bands normal shows alot of close ups on guitars and drums to show that the bands music is important to them its something which identify s them. Usual music videos like this especial Avril's are always cut into performance and narrative showing a convert form or a fun story line between it. Like this video does. The way the performance structure has been layed out is in the style of a live band. Which is what avril and her band are pretending to be at the moment a high school prom band. The way the band is positioned sometimes tells you weather its going to be a performance based video in this case we see a performance based strucutre but also a narrative too.
performance based
Overall in this music video of "Heres To Never Growing Up" we see alot of star image at use, performance and narrative structure with the use of lyrics and visuals. We also see to help emphasis what music video this is the use of mis en scene to help create the surroundings and settings to this music video and title of the song. Mis en scene and Andrew Goodwins theory is played together to create the right music video for this song. The colors the setting the lyrics and visuals have all combined together to help portray the message that Avril wants to send out to her fans watching which is to "Never Grow Up".
