2. With a performance based video, it will include mostly
the artist but it will not try to tell a story unlike a
narrative music video. With a narrative music video is
will have some story behind it and also the lyrics will
give away the clues on what it is about, for example
like when a girl dumps a boy or visa versa. The
narrative can be just a little film but made shorter with
more to the point lyrics and actions within the video.
With conceptual music videos these tend to have
obscure or unusual around a specific idea. But with an
audience this is what usually draw them in as they are
attracted to it.. In order of us to have a successful
music video we must keep the audience interested and
entertained.
3. There are six conventions to his theory:
1. Relationship between lyrics and visuals.
2. Thought Beats.
3. Genre style and Iconography.
4. Multiple close ups of main artist.
5. Voyeurism plays a major part.
6. Intertextuality.
4. This aspect is that Goodwin believes that we make up the
messages being sent in the song from the basic
understanding of what It may be about. This allows the
audience to portray a message they want to be sent that’s
personal to them from the song e.g. the song “love the way
you lie” a person may portray the message about a passing of
a family member rather than a relationship crisis. Narrative
and performance work together to keep the audience
interested and so they do not get bored of the video. Also
Goodwin believes that “miming” in the video makes it
authentic and more and more real towards the audience. Also
by giving the singer the role of the actor Goodwin’s believes
that it adds to the originality of the video.
5. Goodwin believes that there are three ways in a
music video that are used to promote a song. They
are:
1. Illustrate- certain images are used to illustrate the
meaning of the genre and a song in a music video.
2. Amplify- when the artist repeats meanings and
effects which are manipulated and constantly
reinforced, so they stick in our minds.
3. Disjuncture- where the meaning of the song is
completely ignored.
6. o Torodov’s narrative theory basically states that most story’s or plot
lines follow the same pattern or path. He suggested that stories
begin with an equilibrium or status quo where any potentially
opposing forces are in balance – this is disrupted by some event,
setting in chain a series of events. Problems are then solved so that
order can be restored to the world of the fiction
o Torodov suggested that conventional narratives are structured in 5
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
o This type of narrative structure is very familiar and can be applied to
many ‘mainstream’ film narratives.
7. Propp suggested that every narrative has 7 broad different
character types that are:
1. The villain -struggles against the hero
2. The donor - prepares the hero or gives the hero some
magical object
3. The (magical) helper - helps the hero in the quest
4. The princess - person the hero marries, often sought for
during the narrative
5. The false hero - perceived as good character in beginning
but emerges as evil
6. The dispatcher - character who makes the lack known and
sends the hero off
7. The hero (AKA victim/seeker/paladin/winner) - reacts to the
donor, weds the princess
8. o Barthes suggested that there will be one or more of the 5 codes that describe the meaning of a text
o Barthes said that texts may be ‘open’ (unravelled in a lot of different ways) or ‘closed’ (there is only
one obvious thread to pull on)
o The 5 codes:
1. Hermeneutic/enigma code- refers to mystery within a text. Clues are dropped, but no clear answers
are given. Enigmas within the narrative make the audience want to know more. Unanswered
enigmas tend to frustrate the audience.
2. Proairetic/action code – builds tension, referring to any other action or event that indicates something
else is going to happen, and which hence gets the reader guessing as to what will happen next.
3. Semantic code - refers to connotation within the story that gives additional meaning over the basic
denotative meaning of the word
4. Symbolic code - this is very similar to the Semantic Code, but acts at a wider level, organizing
semantic meanings into broader and deeper sets of meaning. This is typically done in the use of
antithesis, where new meaning arises out of opposing and conflict ideas.
5. Referential code - refers to anything that is founded on some kind of canonical works that cannot be
challenged and is assumed to be a foundation for truth. Typically this involves either science or
religion, although other canons such as magical truths may be used in fantasy stories
