APPLYING ANDREW GOODWIN'S THEORY OF MUSIC VIDEOS

GRAPEVINE FIRES

The music video of 'Grapevine fires' by Death Cab For Cutie demonstrates many of the conventions that are part of Andrew Goodwin's music video frame work.

Straight away, there is clearly a strong link between the lyrics of the song and the story that is told by the visuals of the video. This helps to create a strong link and tell a story. This creates an emotional and almost 'dark' representation that comes from the lyrics of the song that creates a starting ground for the video itself. When watching the video, lyrics like 'before we all burn' are repeated whilst images of fire and objects catching fire appear. 

The music video itself correlates with the music in the sense that the video cuts almost perfectly to the beat of the song. This creates a relationship between the music and the imagery which in turn creates a much more effective video. Similarly, the type of image we see changes with the music. For example, at the beginning of the video we see 1 person who is looking for another, as the song goes on, we begin to meet more and more characters which intensifies the video. Also, as the music increases in tempo, the video takes a darker and more intense twist. This is where we see one of the female characters catching fire.

Looking at other music videos by Death Cab For Cutie, it is evident that there is a similar style that follows through their music videos. For example, the video for 'Good Help (Is Hard To Find)' shows similar characteristics in the sense that it is created in the same way. It uses similar 2D drawings and the same typeface that is seen in Grapevine Fires. This establishes a type of motif in their music videos. 

.The notion of looking is extremely dominant in this video in the sense that the story is mainly based on stories being told by picture frames would could be seen as using 'screens.' The use of these photo frames to tell a story creates a strong link between the visuals, the music and the lyrics which helps to reinforces parts of Andrew Goodwin's theory in the sense that it creates the relationships that are shown as part of it. 
In a way you could say there is a sense of the voyeuristic treatment of women as the only character we see 'die' is female. We see the male characters as much more heroic than the female ones as one male character is seen searching for 2 other characters and another that has to build up the courage of what is left after the fire.

In conclusion, Andrew Goodwin's theory can be applied to the video for 'Grapevine Fires' in the majority of the elements and conventions that comply with it.