Applying Andrew Goodwins theory of music videos

Many of Andrew Goodwins points listed in his theory of music videos are present throughout the music video in the song "Grapevine Fires" by Death Cab for Cutie.

There is a strong link between the story told by the music video and the story told by the song from the start of the music video. By having a music video which mimics the lyrics of the song, a much more stronger link is formed between them and this helps create a story more effectively. The music video features a dark and emotional interpretation of the songs lyrics with lyrics such as "we all burn" being constantly repeated and paired with visual images of a town burning. The lyrics tell a story which matches what is shown on the screen which helps create a more in depth and detailed story.

There is a relationship between the music and the visuals in the way that the music video cuts on the beat of the song. This helps create a link between the song and the video and is demonstrated as when the tempo of the song increases, so does the tempo of the music video, at the start there is a single character as the tempo increases more are introduced,  there are more cuts, and the song and video both become more intense. More imagery of fire is used as the video progresses which links to the tempo of the song as more destruction is being caused as it increases. This also links with how the music video gets darker and eventually peaks with one character catching on fire.

One of Goodwins points is that artists may develop a motif which reoccurs throughout their work. Death Cab for Cutie has a clear motif in their use of 2D animations to tell a story. The same thing as in this video is done in their other music video "Good help is hard to find" both videos also use the same type face and its clear that the band likes this type of music video.

The video contains frequent references to the notion of looking, the characters in the video look into a photo frame which acts as a screen within a screen, and then the video cuts to the scene from inside the photo frame.

In conclusion, the song "Grapevine Fires" demonstrates some of the points listed in Goodwins theory.