Narrative Music Videos

(Reading the story of a music video)

What is a narrative video?• During narrative videos there

tends to be an over-riding theme. It is usually a story that starts and then concludes at the end.

• Throughout narrative videos, there is a concept that over rides. For example, heroes and villains could be established, conflict and resolutions are made and the construction of the characters are set.

Audience• The video tends to be structured in a certain

way in order to appeal to the target audience and to position them in a particular view point.

• There are different types of narrative videos and how the relationship between the lyrics, visuals and the music all go together. Different aspects of these include:

-Illustrative (images provide a literal representation)

-Amplifying (repetition of key meaning and effects to manipulate the audience)

-Contradicting (images contrast with the music)

-Disjuncture (when the meaning of the song is completely ignored)

The Artist and their role• During the video, the main artist plays a role. A

range of stories and points are shown and the artist tend to play either a narrator, protagonist or both.

• Some videos may have many given elements and the narrative component may actually be the ‘star’ it’s self. For example Madonna’s videos.

Theories• Vladimir Propp looked at fairytales and saw similarities between narrative music

videos and the stories. He suggests that there are a set of stock characters which reappear constantly in narrative music videos, which include:

-Hero (person on the quest), Princess (prize for the hero), Helper (helps the hero on their quest), False Hero (Somebody who believes they are the hero), Dispatcher (sends the hero on the quest), Father (rewards the hero), Villain (attempts to stop the hero) and Donor (provides objects to help the hero on his quest).

• Levi Strauss suggests that in every media text there are binary oppositions or a conflict between the two opposites. And so the audience are then made aware of what side they are on. For example:

-Good & Bad, Rich & Poor, Eastern & Western World and Love & Hate