Thursday, 24 November 2016

UPDATED: Narrative Structure- BEN RODWELL

When planning our music video we had two options: a narrative based music video or a performance based music video. Andrew Goodwin stated that music videos fall in to two categories: videos focused around performance or videos focussed around narrative. Taking Goodwin's theory as an insight in to generic music video convention, we decided that while we wanted to incorporate a performance element in to our music video, trying to base our video around a performance would be difficult as we did not have access to the band who wrote the song. So instead we decided on a narrative focus for our video. We decided to use a traditional three act narrative structure. This act is the basis for most narrative music videos and can be seen in examples such as Mike Posner's video for his song "I Took a Pill In Ibiza". We also wanted to incorporate some kind of cyclical structure to our video and the 3-act narrative structure can incorporate this well. The main theme of our music video would be the ida of duality; the good and bad within one person. We wanted the narrative structure of our music video to relate to and represent this theme in someway.

This is how our music video will align with the 3 act structure:

Equilibrium- The super villain ( metaphorically representing the bad side of an individual) is portrayed as being washed up and powerless. He commits minor offences and annoyances but does not do anything to seriously disrupt anyones lives.

Disequilibrium- Slowly his crimes start to become more severe.  He squashes someones head, fights with people and eventually ties up his ex-nemisis, the super hero (who metaphorically is representing the good side of an individual), and harasses him. This section of the narrative structure is key in highlighting the theme of duality and furthermore the struggle between the good and the bad.

New Equilibrium- The super villain, the bad, is in control having tied up the super hero, the good. The balance between the good and the bad has been disrupted, the super villain portraying how one side can often overpower the other.

Disequilibrium (etc)- Returns to the beginning where the super villain he has lost all his power and control and dominance. He is yet again washed up and powerless. The cyclical structure is complete and could continue for ever. The theme of duality has also been repented as fluid and intertwined; often one side over powers the other, but both always remain.

In addition to this we implemented other narrative techniques: 
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1 comment:

  1. Unknown16 January 2017 at 01:57

    Well done for carefully considering the narrative structure of your work and for exploring examples of music videos that use similar techniques to what you are planning. A few things to work on: 1.Just clarify your comments at the start of this post - Goodwin acts as a commentator describing trends in music videos - he doesn't set rules... and I doubt many music video directors use his work as an inspiration! 2. You need to be clear in your blog about the narrative of your music video; in places you seem to suggest that it's about the struggle between two distinct characters - a hero and villain. In other places, you seem to go down the 'duality' line. I think the latter will be the most productive approach. 3. Is this supposed to be your case study on narrative - or are you planning another post? If this is your narrative case study, I feel that you need a more detailed analysis of the structure of one video.

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