Tzvetan Todorov's Narrative Theory

Todorov proposed that all narratives contain the following 5 fundamental stages in this order:


1. A state of equilibrium ( all is as it should be)
2. A disruption of that order by an event.
3. A recognition that the disorder has occurred.
4. An attempt to repair the damage of disruption.
5. A return or restoration of a new equilibrium.




Todorov's theory is used across a variety of music videos in order to aid a good narrative. However all 5 stages do not need to be covered in order to do this. My example here to use is Plan B's song Writings on the wall.

Equilibrium is present. Strickland Banks is out performing, something he does to earn money for him and his wife who is at home cooking dinner for the two of them to have a nice evening in.

A disruption occurs when Strickland banks decides to go out with friends after the gig instead of going home to his wife. He then has a one night stand with another girl which betrays his wife further.

A recognition of the disorder occurred when Strickland Banks phoned his wife and told her he was not coming home for dinner he was staying out with friends.
However this is where it ends there is not attempt of repair on the damage that is caused.

Analysis of past student music video

Narrative:

The narrative in this video is very basic. A boy is waiting for a train, and there is a girl on that train and although we do not see it, we can assume that that is where they meet. We then follow snippets of their relationship seeing them spend a lot of time together, as they have a romantic time at the beach, at the arcades, dog walking and just hanging out. 
This does not support Todrov's narrative theory. 



Editing:

The editing in this music video fits the theme of a typical romance themed music video. The editing is quite slow which works as there is an absence of action, and the song is quite calm too. Fade transitions are used between clips which is also common for a music video of this theme. 

Sound:

As expected a lot of non-diegetic sound is used which is the sound track for the video, there are no other sounds overlaying the track as that is what the audience wants to hear.

However there is diegetic sound at the beginning of the video. We can hear the train arriving at the stop he is waiting. This is effective as essentially that train arriving is the girl who will later become an important part of his life arriving and so the sound is effective in drawing attention to that. 

It is also noticeable that in quite a few popular music videos there is often some diegetic sound before the track begins, sometimes just to set the scene of the story which is the purpose of it in this particular video.

There is also one more piece of diegetic sound at the beginning whilst the train is arriving. The boy is listening to the track through earphones which is a popular technique other music videos tend to have although it might not have a huge purpose. 

 

     

Mise-en-scene:

 

All of the elements in the mise-en-scene suggest the boy and girl are in a relationship. There always appears to be bright lighting throughout the video which connotes the happiness. The audience can witness the strong connection between the two due to the consistent physical contact in the video. They are always holding hands, and through this their silhouette becomes a connected figure which connotes their connection with each other suggesting their relationship is strong. 

 

 

 

 

 

The scenery of the beach is very stereotypical for music videos in this genre. The everlasting ocean could connote their everlasting relationship. 

The constant use of hearts throughout the video strengthens the idea that these two individuals are in love and are having a romantic time together. 

 

 

 

 

Camera shots & angles:

The most frequent type of shot in this video is a two shot which supports the idea of these two individuals being in a relationship. However, close ups and establishing shots are also used in the video to create the romance. Close ups of hearts as seen in the picture above set the romantic mood to the video. 

 

 

Titles: 

There are no titles used in this video which I think can be seen as a positive or negative thing. I am still unaware as to what the name of this song is and who it is by, some recognition would be beneficial maybe at the very beginning of the video. Maybe instead of just listening to the song on headphones, we could see him select the song on his device and at the same time have a close up of the song title and the artists' name. 

However, titles can be a negative thing as they can make the video appear too much like a film, and can disrupt the flow of the video. 

 

What is the purpose of a music video?

Music videos are incredibly popular and are beneficial for multiple reasons. One of the biggest reasons artists have music videos for their music is to promote, advertise and sell the song. If there was no music video, there would be a limited number of ways to advertise the track (such as on the radio) where as if there is a video to go with the track then it can be advertised on television, on website adverts (Youtube is a main source for this) and a much wider variety of places, therefore gaining maximum audiences.

Another main purpose for music videos to create an appeal with the audience by creating something memorable for them. A lot of songs nowadays are remembered by their music videos. For example the song and music video made by 'OK GO' it is called 'Here it goes again'. It sticks in the audiences mind as slightly comical and different, this may not positively affect the audiences opinion on the song however it does stick in their mind which is the idea of a unique video like this. The video is one of the most watched videos on Youtube with over 52 million views, this proves this unique video was a huge success.

 

The music video can also be seen as a narrative for the song. Sometimes audiences don't fully understand the story within a song through the lyrics and so it is beneficial to have the visual aids helping narrate the story. 

A great example of this would by in the music video for the song 'Writing's On The Wall' by Plan B. The music video and arguably the song is based around the incident of a man named Strickland Banks where he cheats on his partner with a woman. Without the visual aids in the music video, it would be extremely difficult to associate the song with the specific incident of Strickland Banks and even the topic of cheating. 

Video Music History

One of the earliest music videos I have found is what most people in the modern day know to be the first music video ever. The artist of the song was Bessie Smith St.lous blues and the video was performed in a theatre, although this isn't a video in TV but it was still classed as a music video. it was shown in 1929 in theatre however modern day technology allows us now to see it online as a video.





Tony Bennett claimed the video for his song Strangers in Paradise, which featured himself walking along a river in Hyde Park, was the first 'proper' music video. He made this claim because the video was distributed and played on American and British TV stations.

The Beatles:

A huge part of the development of music videos was triggered by The Beatles' in 1964 with their first motion picture 'A Hard Days Night'. Following up on the motion picture, their videos for 'Strawberry Fields Forever' and 'Penny Lane' were a huge hit. They were particularly good because they were some of the first videos to use effects which before were only used in films. They were created at the peak of the psychedelic music period, and were some of the first videos which attempted to illustrate the music in a more artistic way rather than the idealized performance video.

 

The Jackson 5:

Music videos are known to be promotion videos and through the 80's rock videos proved to be a great promotional strategies for artists songs. For example the Jacksons brought out music videos to accompany all their singles which made them millions of dollars.



 The introduction of 'Music Television' (MTV) in 1981 had a large impact for music videos. It was the first channel where audiences could see music videos for songs on television all day every day. The first music video to be played on the channel was 'Video killed the Radio Star' by The Buggles. The television channel was perfect for promoting music videos and increasing their popularity.

 

Many other artists in this era are very well known for the success in music videos, Adam and the Ants, Duran Duran and Madonna all used skilful construction and seductive appeal in their videos.

Here is a timeline of music video history starting from 1941. It shows the different music videos released by certain people throughout the years and how music videos have changed over the years.

MTV came in around 1981, this proved to be a huge history turner as it was the first 24 hour satellite music channel, this changed culture and was a huge hit throughout America. MTV continued to thrive in years to come and music videos gained huge popularity just purely through this television channel.

MTV continued to dominate until 2005 when YouTube came in ,it changed the way people viewed music videos for the first time and till present this has still been he most popular way of watching music videos. To this day different record labels have their own YouTube accounts to put up their music videos, millions of people view the music videos and YouTube now is used for making money through this.

Textual Analysis of Music Video (Arctic Monkeys)

Narative and Themes:

The narrative is set right at the beginning of the music video when we hear non diegetic dialogue, this immediately grabs the audiences attention.

In the music video we follow the narrative of a female prostitute living in a poor, urban area and how she makes money from prostitution to survive. We also follow some parts of her 'pimps' narrative where we see him handling her and dealing with the men he's setting the female up with. A common theme running through this video is prostitution and run down urban life styles. We see this through the use of the lyrics. For example the lyric 'scumbag' is quite derogatory and describes someone quite near the bottom of a social ladder. This relates to the video as the female characters actions (prostitution) and her lack of cleanliness and money connote the idea of a 'scumbag'. Male dominance is illustrated through out this video an example ive picked out is where the male pushed the female character around, grabbing her arm and even stealing food off of her plate. The idea that he is her 'pimp' also shows an unjustified male dominance. This is a stereotypical representation of gender.

Visual codes:

The music video takes place in a run down urban area with connotations of poverty and a lack of hygiene and success. The characters are represented as miserable wearing dull grey and brown colours which are quite negative.

An interesting shot to mention at the start and end of the music video is where the female character looks directly into the camera breaking the fourth wall. It's only common for the artist to look directly at the camera in music videos and as she isn't the artist this is quite interesting and I believe it is used in an attempt for the audience to connect with her character and feel sympathy.

Audience:
would say that the audience of this music video are most likely young adults between the ages of 18 and 27 and they would have to be relatively mature as the video deals with serious topics. I don't think that the video is gender specific as whilst a male audience would most likely be watching for the artist, a female audience could relate and feel sympathy for the female character.

I don't believe that Todrov's narrative theory is applicable to this particular music video. The female character clearly doesn't start with a state of equilibrium and I don't believe she ends with one. The audience is thrown into the ongoing 'disruption' of this woman's life and are pulled out of it just as suddenly without witnessing anything being resolved.

Textual Analysis of Music Video ( Radio Active)

At the very start of the video, non-diegetic sound can be heard of the wind and a crow cawing connoting that the atmosphere is tense and gloomy fitting in with the visuals of the low angled long shot. A little later on, we can hear the diegetic sound of the crowd in the room, which builds up the tension again and shows that the scene is set with an audience. When the monsters and toys fight we can also hear the diegetic sound effects of the attacks connoting that they are actually fighting and they are powerful, as in when real animals fight and get hurt.

The story line of the video is based upon an underground toy brawl, with different toy contenders going up against the big purple toy champion who is owned by the venue's owner, hence why he's the champion. Throughout the video we can see that the purple monster is the strongest as it beats all its other contenders until the girl from the beginning of the videos tiny teddy toy confronts it and surprises the audience with its special powers, defeating the purple toy. I believe the story brings a moral to the video - don't let appearances fool you, as in the end the smaller toy beat the bigger scarier one. 









At the start, a mid shot is used on  a member of the band playing the drum and singing, connoting that he is a performer but also promotes him as an artist. I close up is then used of the purple monster connoting that he is scary and powerful, but is also the champion of the brawl. A low angle shot is then seen on the leader in a chair. This connoted that he is in charge of the brawl and owns the big purple monster. A two shot is seen later on of the girls pink bear shooting lasers at the two henchmen, connoting that it's powerful even though it's very small, but it is also owned by the heroin of the story.













The main focus of the video is the boxing ring underground where all the toys fight, connoting that this is the main attraction and purpose of the video. We also see the band performing, but are not really part of the story line's narrative, but rather just a live performance extra to promote the band.

Textual Analysis of Music Vidoe ( Need U 100% - Duke Dumont)

At the start of the video, the name of the song and the artist is displayed on the screen. I believe this is effective as it makes the video look professional and of a high standard.

Also, at the start and end of the video, diegetic sounds from the hospital can be heard over the music, connoting that the main character is going to have an operation meaning the video should be serious, but as the story progresses we can see that the dancing juxtaposes this theme.

 

This video has a narrative throughout . At the start of the video, again we can see the main character in a hospital meaning he needs some sort of operation and as the story progresses we can see the reason why he has a radio inside him in which people around him start frantically dancing to.

The majority of camera angles used are two (or more) shots showing the main character with another person dancing frantically next to him, highlighting his problem throughout the video. Long shots are also used to show who ever the main character is with dancing, which also shows the song is in the dance/pop genre.