Andrew Goodwin's music videos convention theory

 He believes you can find the following in most music videos. 

A link between the lyrics and the visuals

Either metaphorically, literally or symbolically 

A link between the music and the visuals

Reflect the pace, rhythm and atmosphere of the music

Reflects the genre of music

Videos clearly reflect the mood and genre of the music

Use of intertextual references

There are links with old films as well as lines and references from films. This draws in audiences especially if the target audience can relate to the music videos. The song '3006' by Childish Gambino has a man with a very large Teddy Bear throughout. This could create a link to the film 'TED' which is an extremely popular film for a similar audience that Childish Gambino aims his songs at. 

Notions of looking and voyeurism

Often sexualising women and underdressing them. This attracts a male audience as the women are sometimes portrayed as objects

Reflective of the record label involved

The video will reflect the wealth of the record label. An artist will always show the financial status, power and connections, other signed artists, global location and the target audience - The most obvious artist who shows the wealth of his record label in videos would be the Weekend. His videos often contain extremely high quality graphics or expensive cars and houses. In particular his biggest song 'Blinding Lights'

Star image is a key focus

A large majority of poeple will listen to music based on the artists image so the artists need to be front and centre of the videos if possible - There are multiple examples of this as it is extremely common. Rap videos are almost always based around the artist. You can look at any big rap names such as Dave, AJ Tracey or Stormzy and all their videos will include themselves as the main focus

Performance/ Narrative/ Concept based

Often having either some sort of stand out performance, narrative or key concept. Videos should have a meaning or story to draw people in - A good example of this is why did you run by Judah and the Lion. This video shows a graphically designed kid in middle school who tells the story of the song.