The document provides information about narrative structure and theories of narrative from theorists such as Roland Barthes. It discusses the different types of narrative structures including open/closed, linear/circular/episodic. It also summarizes Barthes' theory that narratives can be analyzed using five codes: the hermeneutic code, the action code, the symbolic code, the semantic code, and the cultural code. The document instructs the reader to apply these narrative and coding concepts to their own music video or opening sequence project.

1. NARRATIVE
Q1b
Theoretical Evaluation of Production

2. Time
■ 2 hours for whole paper
■ 1 Hour per section
■ 30 mins for Q1a
■ 30 mins for Q1b

3. Section A
■ THEORETICAL EVALUATIONOF PRODUCTION
■ AO1
– Demonstrate knowledge & understanding of media concepts, contexts and
critical debates, using terminology and with accurate and coherent written
expression
■ AO2
– Apply knowledge and understanding to show how meanings are created when
analysing media products and evaluating your own practical work.

4. What is Narrative?
■ Media term for storytelling
■ It is the way different elements come together to make a meaningful story
■ Narrative STRUCTURE is the way the story is told or happens
– OPEN
■ No final ending; the story is left open; enigmatic
– CLOSED
■ The story has concluded; finished

5. Andrew Goodwin
■ Goodwin stated that there are 3 different ways in which the music video can connect
back to the song itself:
■ ILLUSTRATION
■ AMPLIFICATION
■ DISJUNCTURE

6. GOODWIN
ILLUSTRATION
■ This is the simplest and easiest concept to base a music video around as it is just a
literal meaning to the song’s lyrics in visual form. This can be seen in the actions of the
people in the video ‘acting out’ what has been sung, or the actual lyrics being used on
screen.
■ PERFORMANCEVIDEOS

7. GOODWIN
AMPLIFICATION
■ These music videos may be both performance and narrative, with connotations of
meaning.
■ These are designed to be a creative and artistic endeavor that seeks to create a form
of story or artistic statement, informed by the lyrics or meaning of the song. For this
reason, amplification videos often have elements of performance or illustrative
elements in them.

8. GOODWIN
DISJUNCTURE
■ These videos intentionally ignore the content of the song and genre of the music and
tries to create a whole new set of meanings. These music videos don’t’ tend to make a
lot of sense and can often use abstract imagery. This is a radical technique used and
applied by arty bands in order to assert their difference and originality. They usually
contain performance from the artist/s but have no recognisable link to the lyrics.

9. “I don’t have a narrative”
Your music video should broadly adhere to Goodwin’s theory of music videos

10. Basic NarrativeTheory
■ Linear
– Follows a “line”
– It starts at the beginning and finishes at the end
■ Circular
– The story finishes where it started
■ Episodic
– LinearYET it is broken up into smaller sections/episodes

11. Basic NarrativeTheory
■ AS
■ A small section of a film, so does not easily ‘fit’ one of the narrative structures.
■ However, your section should be ‘part ‘ of a bigger film.
■ With this in mind, you should know both where your section would fit within this larger
project and also, because of this, what narrative structure your larger film would be.
■ Therefore, you should be able to explain what narrative structure the overall film
would be and why.

12. Classic NarrativeTheories
■ TODOROV
■ PROPP
■ BARTHES
■ LEVI-STRAUSS

13. ■ Narrative Structure
– Visual texts adopt different ways of constructing stories, called narrative structures
and these fall into five main categories:
■ Open / Closed
■ Single / Multi-Strand
■ Linear / Non-Linear
■ Investigative
■ Realist & Anti-Realist
Classic NarrativeTheories

14. Classic NarrativeTheories
■ Open / Closed narratives
– Stories that are part of a series are open narratives (e.g. Soaps)
– Stories with endings are closed narratives (e.g. Documentaries)
■ Single / Multi-strand narratives
– Stories developing same plot are single strand narratives (e.g. Many dramas).
– Stories with more than one plot line are multi-strand narratives (e.g. Soaps)

15. Classic NarrativeTheories
■ Linear / Non-linear narratives
– Stories following chronological order are linear narratives (e.g. Soaps)
– Stories jumping around in time are non-linear narratives (e.g. Many whodunnits).
■ Investigative Narratives
– Stories involving investigations of some kind are investigative narratives (e.g.Who-dunnits,
Documentaries).
■ Realist & anti-realist narratives
– Stories featuring real life situations are realist narratives (e.g. Soaps,The News)
– Stories that do not feature real life situations are anti-realist (e.g. Cartoons)
– Is any media text ”realist”?

16. Roland Barthes
■ French literary theorist, philosopher, critic and semiotician (study of
cultural signs and symbols)
■ He suggested that media texts with a narrative were essentially forms
of storytelling
■ Proposed the Open and Closed Narrative Structure
■ He said that all narratives share similar structures but are moulded in
different ways

17. Roland Barthes
■ He believed that a text was essentially a tangled ball of threads that
needs to be unravelled
■ Once unravelled, it is obvious that we can begin to look at a text at any
angle we choose
■ We start to look at a text in one specific way, from one viewpoint and
because of this, one meaning for a text.
■ This can be repeated multiple times – by continuing to unravel texts,
different meanings appear

18. Roland Barthes
■ Barthes suggested that meaning
is made in fiction by the use of 5
codes. They can be woven into
any text and they are integral to
interpreting them to create
different meanings
■ The Hermeneutic/Enigma Code
– HER
■ The Action/Proairetic Code
– ACT
■ The Semantic Code
– SEM
■ The Symbolic Code
– SYM
■ The Referential/Cultural Code
– REF

19. Roland Barthes
The Hermeneutic/EnigmaCode (HER)
■ The ‘enigma code’
■ Things within the text that make the audience ask themselves questions
about what will happen
■ The answers to the questions can be found by consuming the text
■ What questions does your MusicVideo/Short Film/Opening Sequences
raise that your target audience will want answering?

20. Roland Barthes
The Action/Proairetic Code (ACT)
■ The ‘events and action code’
■ Each action and event within a text can be linked to nameable
sequences operating in the narrative
■ Barthes asserts that each effect could be ‘named’ giving a series of titles
to the text
■ These are often made very explicit on DVDs – the chapter titles are
generally based on events or actions
■ Can you name the actions within your MusicVideo?

21. Roland Barthes
The Symbolic Code (SYM)
■ The process of representing an object, idea or feeling by something else
(a physical object…)
■ E.g. a fence between 2 characters may symbolise their emotional
distance
■ Some have suggested that the infamous ‘adrenaline shot’ in Pulp
Fiction is the symbolic penetration of Mia byVince
■ How do the symbolic codes in your MusicVideo embed meaning for the
audience to decode?

22. Roland Barthes
The Semantic Code (SEM)
■ This code refers to the use of connotation to give the audience an
insight into characters, objects or events.
■ E.g.Thriller/Horror conventions include Low Key Lighting, connoting
the dark and eerie atmosphere
■ How do the semantic codes in your MusicVideo embed meaning for the
audience to decode?
– Same questions as previous
– Could argue the symbolic/semantic code are very similar if not the
same?

23. Roland Barthes
The Referential/Cultural Code (Ref)
■ ‘The Cultural Code’ concerns all the culturally specific knowledge used
to make meaning in the text
■ E.g. Regional Soaps and their title sequence
– Corrie – stereotypical ‘northern’ streets/houses
– Eastenders – stereotypical ’east end’ scene/iconography ofThames
■ connoting traditional communities and family values
■ The audience must be familiar to use a signifier to associate particular
meaning with the text
■ How do you encode cultural representations in your MusicVideo?

24. Roland Barthes
MusicVideo/Opening Sequence
CODE Evidence Explanation