In my opinion, narrative is some kind of retelling, often in words( though it is possible to mime a story), of something that happened ( a story ). In the case of the music video, the narrative would be shown through a variety of shots and locations in order to describe the plot and the storyline behind the video itself.
There are a number of narrative theories that I came across during my studies- that I have looked at AS level. Three main theorists are:
Todorov
Propp
Levi- Strauss
Before actually trying to think of the plot of my music video, I have looked into detail the work of three theorists and placed my initial ideas into one of them. However, the first step that I have done is to ask myself couple of the questions about the narrative, including:
Structure. How is the narrative organised and structured?
Characters. How are the characters delineated? What is their narrative function? How are heroes and villains created?
Audience. How is the audience positioned in relation to the narrative?
Identification. What techniques of identification and alienation are employed?
Theme. What are the major themes of the narrative? What values/ ideologies does it embody?
Other. What is the role of such feature as sound, music, iconography, genre, mise-en- scene, editing etc. within the narrative?
Nick Lacey in Narrative and Genre ( 2000 says ) :
''Narrative is such a powerful analytical tool it is arguably, an even more important key concept than genre. Narrative has probably existed as long as human beings; it is likely that the stone artists who drew the 18,000 year old paintings in the Ardeche, France, expected narrative to be woven around their images''.
Undoubtely people need stories. Duirng any one day you might come across lots of different stories whether they are to do with what you did last night or something you watched on TV or looked at the internet.
The point Lacey makes above is that narrative might be woven around texts rather being embedded in them in a fixed way. This means notions of narratives being fixes and unchangeable are outdated and that the audience make meaning of their own by using key symbols and ideas to create the story.
Most likely, my music video would be based around Todorov's theory.
Tzvetan Todorov suggested that conventional narratives are structured in five stages:
1. a state of equilibrium at the outset
2. a disruption of the equilibrium by some action
3. a recognition that there has been a disruption
4. an attempt to repair the disruption
5. a reinstatement of the equilibrium
To conclude, it is possible to use the narrative theories of Propp, Levi- Strauss and Todorov to prove that all narratives are fixed, narrow and predictable but Lacey's comment above suggests that they are more dynamic than we may have at first thought. Lacey also goes on to suggest that the reader is not simply using information to create the text but he or she is interacting with the text by ''reference spotting''.
There are a number of narrative theories that I came across during my studies- that I have looked at AS level. Three main theorists are:
Todorov
Propp
Levi- Strauss
Before actually trying to think of the plot of my music video, I have looked into detail the work of three theorists and placed my initial ideas into one of them. However, the first step that I have done is to ask myself couple of the questions about the narrative, including:
Structure. How is the narrative organised and structured?
Characters. How are the characters delineated? What is their narrative function? How are heroes and villains created?
Audience. How is the audience positioned in relation to the narrative?
Identification. What techniques of identification and alienation are employed?
Theme. What are the major themes of the narrative? What values/ ideologies does it embody?
Other. What is the role of such feature as sound, music, iconography, genre, mise-en- scene, editing etc. within the narrative?
Nick Lacey in Narrative and Genre ( 2000 says ) :
''Narrative is such a powerful analytical tool it is arguably, an even more important key concept than genre. Narrative has probably existed as long as human beings; it is likely that the stone artists who drew the 18,000 year old paintings in the Ardeche, France, expected narrative to be woven around their images''.
Undoubtely people need stories. Duirng any one day you might come across lots of different stories whether they are to do with what you did last night or something you watched on TV or looked at the internet.
The point Lacey makes above is that narrative might be woven around texts rather being embedded in them in a fixed way. This means notions of narratives being fixes and unchangeable are outdated and that the audience make meaning of their own by using key symbols and ideas to create the story.
Most likely, my music video would be based around Todorov's theory.
Tzvetan Todorov suggested that conventional narratives are structured in five stages:
1. a state of equilibrium at the outset
2. a disruption of the equilibrium by some action
3. a recognition that there has been a disruption
4. an attempt to repair the disruption
5. a reinstatement of the equilibrium
To conclude, it is possible to use the narrative theories of Propp, Levi- Strauss and Todorov to prove that all narratives are fixed, narrow and predictable but Lacey's comment above suggests that they are more dynamic than we may have at first thought. Lacey also goes on to suggest that the reader is not simply using information to create the text but he or she is interacting with the text by ''reference spotting''.
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