Existing Narrative

1) What is narrative?

Narrative is the media term for story telling

2) How does narrative work in relation to music videos?

Andrew Godwin  stated that there are 3 ways in which the music video can link back to the song itself:

Illustration- A literal meaning to the songs' lyrics in a visual form (acting out what is happening in the song etc.)

Amplification- Designed to be creative and artistic, seeks to create a form of story or artistic statement, informed by the lyrics or meaning of the song. They therefore have elements of performance and illustration in them.

Disjuncture- Ignores the content and genre of the song, creating a whole new set of meaning. They are often abstract and arty, involving live performance.


3) What are the conventions of narratives in each of the following genres:

• Comedy-
• Horror-
• Drama-
• Romance -

Comedy- 

  

Narrative is crucial when making a comedy because it keeps the audience entertained and engaged in the film. If a comedy had a terrible narrative, the humour just wouldn't be effective. The narrative within a comedy must fit into three main sections; 

Slapsticks- These are comedy films which include physical comedy such as pratfalls, tripping and falling. This is all done in a cartoonish style of violence, harmless and slightly goofy.

Dark humour- It is humour that is light hearted and makes light and casual work of a subject matter usually considered taboo or inappropriate.

Wit/Wordplay- A form of intelligent humour, including things that are clever and considered funny. A wit is a person skilled at making intelligent remarks quickly. In film, narrative determines when the wit comes in.

Horror- 

The typical narrative of a horror film includes:

• The narrative must provide a template or formula in film production.
• The narrative must be clear to the audience to allow them to recognise the structure and genre of the film as a way of developing an understanding of why events happen and their order.

Action- 

The typical narrative of an action film includes:

• One long quest or mission that takes up the majority of the film itself 
• A succession of different chase scenes that allow for the story to flow. It is these gripping chase scenes that keeps us hooked and causes us to be 'on the edge of our seats' due to tension.
• A finale that solves these problem(s)and a hero at the end. 

Drama- 

The typical narrative of a drama includes:

• Intense social interaction with other characters
• Plot twist that is not expected - can lead us down a different viewpoint or outcome that we did not expect. 
• Must move the audience emotionally 
• Should exhibit real life situations with realistic characters

Romance- 

The typical narrative of a Romance film includes:

• "Boy meets girl" scenario- typical guideline to satisfy audiences expectations. 
• Everyday events 
Characters go separate ways perhaps because of an argument but can then re-unite. 
• Typically aimed at the female audience

4) How does the Narrative theory of...

• Propp-
• Todorov-
• Barthes-
• Levi-Strauss-

fit into a music video?

Narrative Theories -Vladimir Propp:

Vladimir Propp developed a character theory for studying media texts and productions, which indicates that there were 7 broad character types in the 100 tales he analysed, which could be applied to other media:

Tzvetan Todorov:

Todorov in 1969 produced a theory which he believed to be able to be applied to any film. He believed that all films followed the same narrative pattern. They all went through stages called the equilibrium, disequilibrium, acknowledgement, solving and again equilibrium.

 

Claude Levi-Strauss-

Claude Levi-Strauss  introduced the notion of binary oppositions as a useful way to consider the production of meaning within narratives. He argued that all construction of meaning was dependent, to some degree, on these oppositions. Examples of binary oppositions found in some moving image narratives might be:

1. The villain (struggles against the hero)
2. The donor (prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object)
3. The (magical) helper (helps the hero in the quest)
4. The princess (person the hero marries, often sought for during the narrative)
5. The false hero (perceived as good character in beginning but emerges as evil)
6. The dispatcher (character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off)
7. The hero [AKA victim/seeker/paladin/winner, reacts to the donor, weds the princess