Narrative theorists are typically not interested simply in what happens in
a story but more importantly how the story is told. Moving Image products such as a music videos and short films are able to utilise many interesting methods in presenting the
narrative to the audience. As music videos are by their nature creative, they
are able to explore both classic and experimental methods in the way they present
a narrative.
· Andrew
Goodwin’s idea of clear link between the lyrics and visuals can be applied to
my music video. The ballet performance helps the lyrics visually be understood,
there is a part of the song ‘feel the tears roll down’, the ballerina signifies
this lyric by performing a step where she her arms gradually go down as she is
representing the tears rolling down. Andrew Goodwin also established that there can be links between the
music and visuals. This is regarding pace and how often cuts are made and the
speed of these cuts. The pace varies throughout my video and on the slow parts
and verses, longer cuts are shown to allow the audience to take in what is
being shown and connect with the singer. The chorus and faster parts of the
song tend to have faster cuts so that the visuals don’t contradict with the
beat of the song.
Alongside, Andrew Goodwin’s narrative theory can be applied; Goodwin talks about the 5 key aspects for music videos, 1. Thought beats, seeing the sound 2. Narrative and Performance – some sense of narrative can be applied where it shows the performer becoming a stronger and getting over a break up 3. The Star Image – the performer is portrayed as a star who is sharing her emotions with the audience and has mainly been in the spotlight for the whole of the music video. 4. Relations of visuals to song – The ballet performance have been a big aspect to visually relating to the song. 5. Technical aspects of music video – there was a wide variety of technical equipment used to create a technical meaning in my music video.
Alongside, Andrew Goodwin’s narrative theory can be applied; Goodwin talks about the 5 key aspects for music videos, 1. Thought beats, seeing the sound 2. Narrative and Performance – some sense of narrative can be applied where it shows the performer becoming a stronger and getting over a break up 3. The Star Image – the performer is portrayed as a star who is sharing her emotions with the audience and has mainly been in the spotlight for the whole of the music video. 4. Relations of visuals to song – The ballet performance have been a big aspect to visually relating to the song. 5. Technical aspects of music video – there was a wide variety of technical equipment used to create a technical meaning in my music video.
· Furthermore,
another theorist’s idea could be applied to my music video. Even though my
music video doesn’t portray a typical narrative, the performance itself creates
this sense of binary opposites. It’s more about how the artist is progressing
throughout the music video. Claude
Levi-Straus suggested that narratives are based on conflicts and these
conflicts were through binary opposites. There is some aspect of conflict; the
artist seems to fight her past and move on, this is viewed emotionally through
the artist’s performance. There is a binary opposite of ‘strong vs. weak’
through the use of camera and editing. A lot of low angles and high angles have
been used to signify the artist being inferior. Lyrically, the strong vs weak
binary opposite can be visualised and linked with the lyrics of the song.
‘Crying for no reason’ depicts both strength and weakness of the artist,
portrayed through direct and non-direct address. Alongside other contrasts such as the
locations having binary opposites ‘Indoor vs Outdoor’ and the lighting ‘natural
light vs artificial light’.
