Narrative in

Music Videos
KKS 2010
Narrative Theory:
Applying the concept

Look carefully at your video at how the story is structured and how the audience
is positioned (i.e. who are we led to identify with?)

Consider the following:

 How the narrative is organised and structured.

 How the conflict is established and how it is resolved
 The construction of the characters in the text and how we are led to relate to them
 How heroes and villains are created within the text
 The importance of sound, music, iconography, mise-en-scene, editing and other
technical features in telling the story.
 How the themes and ideas are put forward in the story.
Your chosen track :
1. Summarise the lyrics in your music video.

2. How far did you choose to follow the lyrics in your storyboarding?

3. Are there key lines that you are choosing to give visual dominance
to?

Or:

 Are you choosing to concentrate on the music with the visuals/ use
abstract visuals?
How much narrative?

“videos tend to only suggest storylines and focus on

fragments of the lyrics” (Steve Archer).
The Main Artist
1. What role does the artist play in your music video – narrator,
protagonist or both?
Is the video a vehicle for the artist’s star
persona? (Refer back to Andrew Goodwin)

2. Did you chose a subjective or objective character identity in your

music video and why?

(Subjective character identity – a range of characters ‘stories’ or points of

view are shown.
Objective character identity – one characters story or point of view is
shown)
Importance of the mise-en-scene in
your narrative

Does your mise-en-scene:

 Add authenticity to your singer/ band?

 Is it key to establishing setting and relationships?

 Isit part of the voyeuristic context e.g. By suggesting a setting

associated with sexual allure like a sleazy nightclub or boudoir?

 Isit to emphasise an aspirational lifestyle for the audience (John

Stewart)?
Applying music video theory
 Music videos can be characterized by 3 broad typologies, Firth
1988:

 Performance (to convey a sense of the in-concert experience) "Performance oriented

visuals cue viewers that the recording of the music is the most significant element. (BUT
see John Berger)

 Narrative (linear, love stories most popular – “Action in the story is dominated by males
who do things and females who passively react or wait for something to happen”
(Schwichtenberg, 1992)).

 Conceptual (metaphors to create a mood, offer multiple meanings)

These types describe the form and content selected by the director or artist to attract viewers
and to convey a direct or indirect message.

They can act as extended advertisements, as popular art forms or as self-referential filmic texts
(e.g Madonna videos)
Narrative and Performance:
Steve Archer (2004)

“Often, music videos will cut between a narrative and a

performance of the song by the band. Additionally, a
carefully choreographed dance might be part of the artist’s
performance or an extra aspect of the video designed to aid
visualisation and the ‘repeatability’ factor. Sometimes, the
artist (especially the singer) will be part of the story ,
acting as narrator and participant at the same time. But it
is the lip synch close-up and the miming of playing
instrument s that remains at the heart of music videos, as if to
assure us that the band really can kick it.”
Applying Andrew Goodwin
What is the is a relationship between lyrics and visuals and
music?

Is your narrative:
 Illustrative? (images provide a literal representation)
 Amplifying? (repetition of key meanings and effects to
manipulate the audience)
 Contradicting? (images contrast with the music)
 Disjuncture?: (When the meaning of the song is completely
ignored)
A given music video may actually have elements of
more than one category.

Goodwin (1992), in describing Madonna's videos,

suggests that the essential narrative component of
a music video is found in its ability to frame the
star, "star-in-text," as all Madonna's videos seem
to do.
 Narrative in dance videos?
John Berger: ‘Ways of Seeing’
“Dance tracks may just have pulsating abstract visuals which
follow the beat with no visual reference to human agency.
However, it is more likely that the music video will feature
members of the band either performing or acting, placing a
visual dominance on the band involved in the telling of a
story in some way.

We are preconditioned to make narrative in preference to

shapeless, abstract, eventless images.”
A reminder from AS: narrative
theory
Vladimir Propp
After analysing folk tales, Propp developed a theory that within each narrative there
are a set of stock characters, which reappear in every storyline.

These roles are:

 Hero – Person on the quest

 Princess – Prize for the hero
 Helper – Helps the hero on his quest
 False hero – Somebody who believes they are the hero
 Dispatcher – Sends the hero on their quest
 Father – Rewards the hero
 Villain – Attempts to stop the hero on his quest
 Donor – Provides objects to help the hero on his quest
Levi-Strauss
Levi-Strauss’ theory dictated that in every media text there are
binary oppositions, or a conflict between two opposites. The
audience subsequently are aware of who they should side
with, and this technique can also help create a political theme
within a text. For example:

 Good & Bad

 Rich & Poor
 Eastern & Western World
 Love & Hate
Roland Barthes
Barthes was a French semiologist who identified 5 different codes by which a
narrative engages the attention of the audience.
In order of importance these are:

 The enigma code- the audience is intrigued by the need to solve a problem
 The action code – the audience is excited by the need to resolve a problem
 The semantic code – the audience is directed towards an additional meaning
by way of connotation
 The symbolic code – the audience assumes that a character dressed in black
is evil or menacing and forms expectations of his/ her behaviour on this basis
 The cultural code – the audience derives meaning in a text from shared
cultural knowledge about the way the world works.
Todorov
Todorov’s theory states that in a media text there are five stages.

 ORIGINAL EQUILIBRIUM (normality)


 DISRUPTION


 RECOGNITION (of disruption)


 ATTEMPT TO RESTORE original equilibrium


 NEW EQUILIBRIUM