Andrew Goodwin - dancing in the distraction factory

In this theory there are three types of music video, these are:

• Illustration
• Amplification
• Disjuncture

Illustration always cuts on the beat.The images are used to illustrate the literal meaning or feeling of the lyrics, often just with the band singing and dancing, often shown as being quite unimaginative.
An example of an illustration is Flobots - Handlebars as they match the words with the on screen content.

This is an example of matching the lyrics with what we see on the screen, the video also cuts to the beat and displays a literal meaning to the video.


this is another example of showing a literal meaning as well as cutting on the beat of the music.

Amplification is where the film cuts on the beat but also off the beat to emphasize features. The images amplify the lyrics, a specific narrative may be used that would not necessarily be reading the lyrics alone. The band take on fictional roles in the narrative (amplifying the meaning in an abstract way).



This is showing the band as accountants (a fictional role) within the narrative of the video.


The band staging a bank robber in their fictional roles.

The last type of music video is disjuncture. the film cuts off the beat, sometimes (but not always). The sign of a badly made music video having images which do not relate to the lyrics that are used, sometimes used by bands who are already very well established who can afford to take the risk. The band take on the image that is nothing like or the complete opposite of their expected image, e.g. lead singer of Texas dresses up as Elvis or Marilyn Manson putting on a suite that makes him look female.

Within Daft Punks Da funk the video is not cut to the beat, there is dialogue in the video, there are no shots of the artist or any lip sync.