Music theory

1. Music Theory
Geeta Gohil

2. Narrative
• Narrative refers to the way the story of a film is told, as well as the actual story itself. In your studies of narrative you will consider
narrative structure. This refers to the order in which the action takes place. It is also important to consider where the audience is placed
in relation to the narrative and whose eyes we see the story through. This is not always the central character. We may observe the
narrative subjectively and we may even see events through different characters’ eyes at various points in the narrative.
• Structure
There are 3 ways in which a narrative can be structured.
1. Circular – Circular Narrative is one which begins at the end. This may sound strange but you are more than likely to have seen a film
that does just this and then proceeds to tell the story through a series of flashbacks before returning back to where the video started.
E.g. - Titanic
2. Episodic - there are flashbacks in which no in circular. A good example would be Forest Gump. The episodic narrative is
comparable to how fictional books break up a story into chapters. Often these chapters follow on sequentially but sometimes
different viewpoints or aspects of the story are told in different chapters and these interrupt the chronological flow. It may be that
the story uses parallel narratives in order to show the different versions and experiences of the same event.
3. Linear - This narrative structure is simple and is the most common one used. It refers to a story that is being told in the order in
which the events happen – from beginning to end. E.g. - Coldplay - The Scientists

3. Narrative
• Narrative viewpoint is important to consider as a narrator can tell us which character we are meant to feel most
connected to and the camera can also add to this by showing us relationships or events from their POV, it's even
common that the narrator is part of the story.
• Restricted Narrative - the audience only get to know as much as the characters do. This way the audience are as
puzzled as they on the same page as the characters in solving out what is happened as the film/music video goes on.
• Omniscient Narrative - this narrative creates suspense rather than mystery because we know lots of aspects of the
narrative and we are just left in suspense about how the main characters will find out.
• This narrative gives that audience a 'god-like' perspective. the audience sees events in which the characters don't or
might not be aware of other plotting against them.

4. Narrative
The Relationship Between Song Content and Narrative Content
• Illustration: The narrative in the video very closely echoes the lyrical content of the song
• Amplification: The narrative whilst inspired by the song adds a narrative element to complement the themes/subject matter of the song
• Disjuncture: The narrative seems to hold very little relationship to the song and quite arbitrary (random)
Conventions
• Narrative is subordinate to performance
• Songs rarely tell complete naratives
• Music videos resusts classic realistic narratives (stories with beginning, middle and end with a full cast of charactes.)
• Music video narratives tend to reflect a ‘sense of story’ and are more thematic in their approach
• The audience consumes music videos in a loose, more casual way.
• Music videos need to have repeatability built into them
• Most important is the authenticity of performance.

5. Theories
Tzvetan Todorov –
suggested there were 5 stages
to a narrative:
• Equilibrium – A happy
start
• A disruption of this
equilibrium by an event –
A problem occurs
• A realisation that a
disruption has happened
• An attempt to repair the
damage of the disruption
– the problem is solved
• A restoration of the
equilibrium – A happy
ending
Erving Goffman – character theory – suggested that there are 4 main types of
characters in media text or production:
Protagonist (leading character)
Deuteragonist (secondary character)
Bit player (minor character whose specific background the audience is not aware of)
Fool (character who uses humour to convey messages)
Allan Rowe – ‘Narrative involves the
viewer in making sense of what is seen,
asking questions of what we see and
anticipating the answers. In particular,
narrative invites us to ask both what is
going to happen next and when and
how will it all end. Narrative operates
on the tension between our
anticipation of likely outcomes drawn
from genre conventions and the
capacity to surprise of frustrate our
expectations.’
Claude Lévi-Strauss - he suggests that all
narratives are based around the conflict of
binary oppositions.
Some examples of binary opposites:
Good - Evil
Weak - Strong
Young - Old
Male - Female
Vladimir Propp – character theory – suggested that there were 7 character types in the
100 tales he analysed:
-Villain (struggles against hero)
-Donor (prepares/gives the hero some magical object.
-Helper (helps the hero in the quest)
-False hero (perceived as a good character at the start but is actually evil)
-Dispatcher (character who makes the lack known and send the hero off)
-Hero (reacts to the donor, weds the princess)
-Princess (person the hero marries)

6. Theories
Andrew Goodwin- 5 key aspects for music videos
Thought beats, seeing the sound
Narrative and performance
The Star image
Relation of Visuals to song
Technical Aspects of Music Video
Goodwin also says that music videos should ignore common narrative. It's important in their role of advertising. He says that narrative
and performance go well together so the audience don't lose interest. Meta narrative is a big story that shows the development of a star
over time.

7. Genre
Genre not only covers the common conventions of a certain genre or sub-genre of the product however it needs to include
the ideas of how genres are developed and how the institutions use genre to certain markets.
‘Genre’ is a critical tool that helps us study texts and audience responses to texts by dividing them into categories based on
common elements.
Genre is important as it plays a part in the construction of identity and different. Genre is applied different to music videos
than to Film or television. It’s rare for a music video to have a genre of sci-fi which is common amongst TV and Film. An
alternative way of considering genre is to look at musical genres such as Hip-Hop, Indie or Country.
Theorists which are relevant to Genre are;
• Denis McQuail “The genre may be considered as a practical device for helping any mass medium to produce
consistently and efficiently and to relate its production to the expectations of its customers.”
• Katie Wales “Genre is... an intertextual concept”
• Christine Gledhill “Differences between genres meant different audiences could be identified and catered to... This
made it easier to standardise and stabilise production”
• Tom Ryall (1978): Genre provides a framework of structuring rules, in the shape of patterns/forms/structures, which
act as a form of ‘supervision’ over work of production of filmmakers and the work of reading by the audience.

8. Representation
• Representation refers to the construction in any medium (especially the mass media) of
aspects of ‘reality’ such as people, places, objects, events, cultural identities and other
abstract concepts. Such representations may be in speech or written form as well as still or
moving picture.
• The easiest way to understand the concept of representation is to remember that watching a
TV programme is not the same as watching something happen in real life. All media
products re-present the real world to us; they show us one version of reality, not reality
itself. So, the theory of representation in Media Studies means thinking about how a
particular person or group of people are being presented to the audience.

9. Representation
• The term refers to the processes involved as well as to its products. For instance, in relation
to the key markers of identity -Class, Age, Gender and Ethnicity(the cage of identity) -
representation involves not only how identities are represented(or rather constructed) within
the text but also how they are constructed in the processes of, production and reception.
• Theorists
• Laura Mulvey - this theorists argues that cinema positions the audience as male. This
applies to the video we are analysing as the woman wishes that she has the same status as a
man and when listening to the lyrics and watching the video we are able to tell that she
believes that men are the dominant sex.
• Stuart Hall – argues that media doesn't not portray reality accurately but they construct it as
to what they see as ideal.

10. Media Language
• Media Language Media conventions, formats, symbols and narrative structures which cue the audience to
meaning. The symbolic language of electronic media work much the same way as grammar works in print
media. Stuart hall: encoding and decoding; preferred/ negotiated/ oppositional readings.
• Denis McQuail – Uses and Gratifications theory (audiences consume media texts for Suveillance; Personal
Identity; Personal Relationships; Escapism/ Diversion.
• Ien Ang – “audiencehood is becoming an even more multifaceted and diversified repertoire of practices and
experiences.”
• Media language is used to tell story and is part of editing.
• Semiotics - Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) - the signifier and signified.
• Roland Barthes (1913-1980) - denotation and connotation
• Stuart Hall (1981 ) – encoding and decoding (preferred reading)

11. Media Language
• Roland Barthes (1913-1980) - denotation and connotation.
• This is a theory we are all familiar with and looks at how the audience will
interpret meaning from a particular media text. However, this interpretation
is often influenced by society and the audience member’s own experience of
the world. The denotation is an object placed within media texts. It is then
up to the audience to draw on their own cultural, social and historical
knowledge to interpret its connotations

12. Media Language
• Stuart Hall (1981) Encoding and Decoding.
Continuing to look at meanings within a media text, Hall’s theory thinks about the
preferred meaning of a text. If something is encoded it is what is written within a
media text. An image has been placed in the text by the producer and will challenge or
promote dominant ideologies. Decoding is when the audience reads into this piece of
media and makes their own interpretation of what the image means. Hall thinks the
media circulates dominant ideas, and his theory says that producers place dominant
ideas in different media. So basically, they would have cleverly encoded their views and
opinions into say a film or newspaper article with the intention of the audience
interpreting this preferred or intended meaning.

13. Audience
• You may have to consider the age, gender, demographic profile and socioeconomic.
There are also different types of reactions: a preferred reading (your intended
interpretation), an oppositional reading (someone who didn’t like it) and a
negotiated reading (someone who isn’t the target audience but might appreciate it
for whatever reason).
• Cultivation theory – as audiences watch more and more film and TV, they gradually
develop certain views about the world (some may be ‘false’).
• Desensitisation – If we, as an audience, are exposed to too much violence for
example, we become less sensitive to this is in real life.
• Copycat/ modelling theory- people may imitate what they see in the media

14. Audience
• Audience Theory
There are three theories of audience that we can apply to help us come to a
better understanding about the relationship between texts and audience.
• The Effects Model or the Hypodermic Model
• The Uses and Gratifications Model
• Reception Theory

15. Audience
• The Effects Model
The consumption of media texts has an effect or influence upon the audience
It is normally considered that this effect is negative
Audiences are passive and powerless to prevent the influence
The power lies with the message of the text.

16. Audience
• The Uses and Gratifications
The Uses and Gratifications Model is the opposite of the Effects Model
The audience is active
The audience uses the text & is NOT used by it
The audience uses the text for its own gratification or pleasure.
Here, power lies with the audience NOT the producers
This theory emphasises what audiences do with media texts – how and why they use them. Far from being
duped by the media , the audience is free to reject, use or play with media meanings as they see fit.
Audiences therefore use media texts to gratify needs for:
Diversion
Escapism
Information
Pleasure

17. Audience
• The audience is in control and consumption of the media helps people with issues such as:
Learning
Emotional satisfaction
Relaxation
Help with issues of personal identity
Help with issues of social identity
Help with issues of aggression and violence
• Controversially the theory suggests the consumption of violent images can be helpful rather
than harmful. The theory suggests that audiences act out their violent impulses through the
consumption of media violence. The audience’s inclination towards violence is therefore
sublimated, and they are less likely to commit violent acts.

18. Audience
• Reception Theory
Given that the Effects model and the Uses and Gratifications have their problems and limitations a different approach
to audiences was developed by the academic Stuart Hall at Birmingham University in the 1970s
This considered how texts were encoded with meaning by producers and then decoded (understood) by audiences.
The theory suggests that:
When a producer constructs a text it is encoded with a meaning or message that the producer wishes to convey to the
audience
In some instances audiences will correctly decode the message or meaning and understand what the producer was
trying to say
In some instances the audience will either reject or fail to correctly understand the message.

19. Audience
Stuart Hall identified three types of audience readings (or decoding) of the text:
Dominant or preferred
Negotiated
Oppositional
Dominant
Where the audience decodes the message as the producer wants them to do and broadly agrees with it
E.g. Watching a political speech and agreeing with it
Negotiated
Where the audience accepts, rejects or refines elements of the text in light of previously held views
E.g. Neither agreeing or disagreeing with the political speech or being disinterested
Oppositional
Where the dominant meaning is recognised but rejected for cultural, political or ideological reasons
E.g. Total rejection of the political speech and active opposition