- Narrative is almost always subordinate to performance
- Songs rarely tell complete narratives (videos might)
- Music videos resist classic realistic narratives
- The audience consume the text in a more casual way
- Music videos have repeatability built into them
- Intertextuality- references to other existing videos
- Postmodernism- copying things that already exist, such as REM’s “Bad Day” references to the news
- Are the band organic (write their own music) or manufactured (have songs written for them etc)?
- Illustration: everything in music video is shown by song. Examples; REM “everybody hurts”, BLUR “park life”
- Amplification: retains a link with the song but constructs other meanings through signs and symbols. Examples; Coldplay “the scientist”
- Disjuncture: ignores the content of the song and genre of music and creates a whole new set of meanings. Videos don’t usually make a great deal of sense and often use abstract imagery- used to assert independence/imply a rejection to conformity. Examples; Radiohead
- Lyrics: establish general feeling/mood/sense of subject rather than meaning
- Music: tempo often drives the editing
- Genre: reflected in the mise en scene, themes, performance, camera editing and styles
- Camera work: has an impact on meaning. Movement, angle, shot distance all play a part in the representation of the artist/band
- Editing: most common form is fast-cut montage, images impossible to grasp on first viewing, ensures multiple viewing. Editing uses digital effects, which play with the original idea.
- Not all audiences will spot a reference with intertextuality, so greater pleasure might be derived by those who recognise the associations and feel flattered by this.
- Exhibitionism: the apparently more powerful independent female artists of recent years have added to the complexity of politics of looking at general/cultural debates, by being at once sexually provocative and apparently in control of, and inviting, a sexualised gaze.
Steve Archers Theory
There needs to be a strong and coherent relationship between narrative and performance in music promos
Music videos will cut between a narrative and a performance by the band
A carefully choreographed dance might be part of the artists performance or an extra aspect of the video designed to aid visualisation and the repeatability factor.
John Stewarts Theory
The music video has the aesthetics’ of a TV commercial, with lots of close ups and lighting being used to focus on the stars face
Visual references comes from a range of sources, most frequently cinema, fashion and art photography
“Incorporating, raiding and reconstructing” is essentially the essence of intertextuality, using something with which the audience may be familiar too, to generate both nostalgic associations and new meanings
The video allows more access to the performer than a stage performance can
Mise en scene, in particular, can be used to emphasise an inspirational lifestyle
Freud’s Theory
Voyeurism- refers to the notion that erotic pleasure may be gained by looking at a sexual object (preferably when the object is unaware of being watched)
Laura Mulvey’s Theory
Because filmmakers are predominantly male, the presence of women in films is often solely for the purposes of display (rather than for narrative purposes)
The purpose of this display is to facilitate a voyeuristic response in spectators, which presumes a “male gaze”
Narrative
CONNECTION- gives organisation/coherence to a series of facts/ images/
UNDERSTANDING- allows us to construct meaning
COMPARISON- we compare narratives to others
We expect;
BEGININNING
MIDDLE
END
In songs narrative is rarely completed and often fragmentary… therefore complete meanings/narratives don’t exist. Narratives are often non-linier
Roland Barthes
Enigma code- refers to an element that isn’t explained, and therefore, exists as an enigma, raising questions that demand explanation. Most texts hold back details in order to increase the effect of the final revelation of all truths.
Action code- refers to the other principle that builds suspense or interest on part of the audience. The action code applies to any action that implies a further narrative action.
Tzvetan Todorov
Believes narratives begin with equilibrium (harmony), then move to disequilibrium (disharmony) until a new equilibrium is restored by the end.
Vladimir Propp
Developed version of Todorov’s theory;
Equilibrium
Conflict
Disequilibrium
Partial resolution
Equilibrium
Claude Levi-Strauss
Believed constant creation of conflict/opposition propels narrative. Narrative can only end on a resolution of conflict. Opposition can be visual (light/darkness, movement/stillness) or conceptual, and to do with the soundtrack. Example, Katy Perry “fireworks”.
Theories within my Video
We are aiming to create a middle ground between Steve Archer's theory and John Stewarts', with
the videos being cut between a narrative and a performance by the band, with lots of close ups and lighting being used to focus on the stars face. However we will ignore the idea of a carefully choreographed dance being part of the artists performance or an extra aspect of the video designed to aid visualisation and the repeatability factor as we fear it may take too long and the end result may not be that good.
