Andrew Goodwin- 'Star' Theory

Andrew Goodwin's 'Star' Theory elaborates that in music videos, there is always a person that's front in centre or shown more than others, which makes them the 'star'. This is especially shown through close ups to help the audience connect to the artist and help with artist recognition. This helps to create the ‘star’ who is always centre of attention, and creates a following.




Tove Lo- Habits (Stay High)

Tove Lo's music video is a big example of the 'star theory' as the whole video is on her, front and centre and the camera accompanies her throughout her journey. In the narrative, the singer is heartbroken and tries to forget about it by keeping herself busy partying and being keeping other men as company. The entire video are close-ups and uses tracking to stalk her every movement. Close-ups very key in this theory because it helps the audience remember the person they are watching. Having star iconography keeps the subject, in this case the artist, stay modern and trendy and eventually overtime help them become more recognizable and creates them a big role in productions.

Justin Bieber- Beauty and A Beat ft. Nicki Minaj

Within this music video, Goodwin's star theory is at it's strongest as the artist shot it himself. This allowed the artist to immediately make himself the star and allowed him control of who could be in it and make sure that they didn't overshadow his star image. Furthermore, the artist is given leader like traits as soon he establishes a following, especially with the back up dancers, which further encourages the role of being the star. Even though there are not many close-ups and the camera is on Minaj and it contrasts some of what Andrew Goodwin was stating, majority of the footage is on Bieber overall making the audience know who's leading the narrative.