Tuesday, 21 December 2010

Basic Narrative Theory

This is the theory that was applied when planning our product.

Narrative is media term for storytelling. It’s an organising structure therefore it has its own features and conventions. Narrative is establishing the setting, this is the equilibrium. It’s structured around series of actions in a cause and effect relationship occurring in time and space. Narrative structure is the way the story or plot unfolds. The story is an open and closed structure.

Some texts have an interactive structure where the audience is asked to be involved in deciding the outcome of a programme. Other narrative structures include point of view (POV). Unrestricted – can go anywhere and any place to find out the story, the story is found out about before the protagonist does. Restricted – learn the story when the narrative itself does.

The lyrics to our song can be used to structure the narrative which we have done and presented as a script.

Diegesis = the filmic world.
 




 




Our protagonist is disrupted by her memories and a reply from the antagonist which results to the quest being the journey to meet the antagonist. The resolution shows them both meeting which brings them back to being united as they were before the narrative began.

Todorov is the one who came up with the narrative theory.

Bordwell & Thompson – Offer two distinctions between story and plot which relate to the diegtic world of the narrative that the audience are positioned to accept and that which the audience actually see.

Fabula (story) - Is all the events in the narrative that we see and infer. The fibula is defined as a chronological series of events that are represented or implied.
Syuzhet (plot) - Is everything visible and audibly present before us. Syuzhet is considered to be the order, manner and techniques of their presentation in the narrative.

 








Music Video – Audio Visual Poetry?

Don’t Look Back - 1965 - Bob Dylan
- 1964 - The Beatles
Anti-authority - young people had power.
Band becomes a product by creating an image through videos. It is voyeuristic pleasure.

Andrew Goodwin (1992) argues that in music video, ‘narrative relations are highly complex’ and meaning can be created from the individual audio - viewer’s musical personal musical taste to sophisticated intertexuality that uses multidiscursive phenomena of Western culture.

Many are dominated by advertising references, film pastiche and reinforce the postmodern ‘re-use’ tradition.

Example: Madonna’s Video
Artist reference: Wealthy appearance
Sophisticated appearance: Smart clothing          
Actresses: Beauty reference
(First 3 elements show ‘Power, girls and wealth’ from Michael Stone’s argument)
Marilyn reference: Appearing like Marilyn, representing 40’s/50’s era.
Black and white video: ‘Makes No Difference’ (lyrics)
Type of music video: Performance, Narrative and Abstract/Cultural
Cinematography: Close up (Reinforces the image), Mid close up
Editing: Cuts to the beat, Montage
Media represents culture

Sven Carlson (1999) suggests that music videos in general, videos fall into two rough groups: performance clips and conceptual clips.

When a music video mostly shows an artist (or artists) singing or dancing, it is a performance clip.
When the clip shows something else during its duration often with artistic ambitions, it is a conceptual clip.

In terms of narrative video, Michael Jackson – Thriller is best and most famous.

Narrative and use of genre – Conventions

Short film, performance and narrative

Performance can  be of 3 types:
-          Song performance, dance performance (ours is a song performance)
-          Instrumental
-          Some videos combines song and dance performances

Carlsson (1999) developed a mythical method of analysis of mu7sic videos – centred on a ‘modern mythic embodiment’.

WHAM – representative of a decadent society.
Classic consumer society.

Viewed from this perspective the music video artists is seen as embodying one, or a combination of ‘modern mythic’ characters.

The third type of performer is the electronic shaman.

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