Music Video Narrative

Narrative Devices

Plot Twist

Plot twist is a narrative device where something that is not expected happens which changes the course of the story. The music video I have chosen for this is Tom Odell's Another Love.

 At 1:50 we can denote that there is a plot twist as Tom Odell's character has been putting up missing signs for a girl who turns out is not missing and he even gives her one of the signs but when she tries to talk to him he ignores her. This is not something we expected as when someone is putting up missing signs we assume that the person in question is actually missing so it turns the story on it's head when she isn't. The emotional effect this has on the audience is confusion and intrigue as they try to understand why the character is putting up missing signs for a girl who is clearly not missing and it intrigues the audience as they watch to try and pick up clues as to to why the character is doing is what he is doing.

In Media Res

In media res is when a story begins midway through events, rather than at a natural beginning.

Alt-J Hunger on The Pine is a music video which uses this style as at 0:04 we denote someone running away as arrows fly past him so we can connote that someone is after him. It does not start at a natural beginning  as if it did it would establish why he is being chased but instead all we know is that he is being chased and running for his life. The emotional effect this would have on the audience is excitement and is captivating for them as it starts straight in the action. They're on the edge of their seats from the start of the video and stay there till the end. It also leaves many things unclear to the audience and so they don't know if the main character is actually an antagonist or not but they still root for him regardless.

Omnipotent Narrative

An omnipotent narrative is one where the audience are Godlike,knowing everything that is happening in the diegetic world. 

The music video which uses this style is Skrillex's Bangarang, we can see there is an omnipotent narrative at 0:28 we can see where the Ice Cream Man is, 0:35 know what the boy in red is doing, at 0:37 what the boy in purple is doing and 0:51 what the boy in black is doing. This is more information than any one character has but the audience knows everything and is aware of the boys scheme against the ice cream man before the ice cream man does. The effect this has on the audience is the anticipation that is built in waiting for the heist to be pulled off as we know what each boy is going to bring to the heist and how it might go down but the audience eagerly wait for them to pull it off.

Structure

Mckee's 5 part structure involves an inciting incident, progressive complications, crisis, climax and resolution. A music video that follows this narrative is Thriller by Michael Jackson.

We can denote that at 1:41 we can denote human like creatures emerging from graves and through the use of mise-en-scene like costume and actors we can connote that these creatures are zombies, this is the Inciting Incident of the video as an event has happened that gets the story going and in this case it is zombies coming to life. The Progressive Complication occurs at 2:20 when the key character and her companion are surrounded by zombies determined to attack them and it looks very bad for the character,2:26 is when it gets even worse for the character otherwise known as a crisis where her companion is now also a zombie and she no longer has an ally to help her against the zombies. We can denote the climax at 4:20 (blaze it lol) when the key character of the story is seen cowering in a corner surrounding by the inching ever closer zombies this resolution appears all of a sudden as we see the that the character is in a different house and the use of location helps the audience understand that the resolution has occurred as the house look more done up and actually lived in and not abandoned as before, her companion also looks like how he used to and there are no other zombies around so it seems like everything is back to normal.

Character Driven

Propp's narrative theory suggests that there a re several roles which any character may assume in the story. A music video which follows this theory is Iggy Azalea's Black Widow.

At 2:52 we can see that Iggy Azalea's character is the hero as she is given a task to kill someone or in other words departs on a search which is what most hero characters do. We also see her getting training from the Donor we can see at 2:38 who is running her through different tests to train her ability as a samurai to see if she is ready to eliminate her target. We can see at 4:22 that Rita Ora's character is the helper as when Iggy Azalea's character is surrounded and looks outnumbered she comes in to help. We can denote at 4:59 that the male character is facing the girls aiming a gun while they stand ready with their swords this connotes that he is the villain character in this as he is struggling agaisnt the hero and attempting to stop her from completing her task.

Cause and Effect

Levi-Strauss

Levi-Stauss' theory suggests that all narratives are organised around the conflict between binary opposites. The music video I have chosen for this is The Arctic Monkey's Leave Before The Lights Come On. From the video you could suggest that the opposites in this video are between Sane and Insane. We first see that they are opposites and cannot co-exist at 1:49 when we denote her trying to kiss the man but him rejecting the kiss connoting that he is not comfortable with kissing her showing that even on a physical level they cannot touch and co-exist It also establishes that they are truly opposites as they want different things from each other. We then see another example of how they are binary opposites at 2:07 as the audience can denote that as he tries to get away from her she wants to stay with him connoting that they are opposites as one wants to get away from another while the other wants to be intimate with the other showing they have different motives and mindsets. At 3:03 we can denote that the characters are arguing with each other and it turns physical connoting that they can no longer co-exist as when they are they argue and fight. At 3:41 we can denote that the female character is attempting to jump off the building again which is the exactly what the other character tried to stop her from doing before and is exactly the opposite of what he wants signifying that their views and wants are completely different.