The document discusses several narrative theorists and concepts related to analyzing narratives in film and music videos. It describes Roland Barthes' idea that a text can have multiple meanings and be interpreted in various ways. It also outlines the concepts of active codes, enigma codes, binary opposition introduced by theorists like Levi-Strauss, and Todorov's idea of narrative equilibrium. The document suggests applying these concepts like active codes, binary opposition, and aspects of equilibrium to analyze the narrative of a music video being created. However, it notes that leaving the ending on a cliffhanger may subvert audience expectations of a full return to equilibrium.

1. Janet
Bargmann NARRATIVE THEORISTS

2. ROLAND BARTHES
 Roland Bar thes concluded that a text can have more than one
meaning, and can be interpreted in many ways, so it can of ten
be easy to be misinterpreted by the audience- therefore, it is
impor tant to make it clear.
 He said that a text is l ike a bal l of thread, waiting to be
unravelled- you can either pul l on the one obvious string (or
the closed meaning) or you can pul l on several (open
meanings) .
 Therefore, a text can have many narrative threads.

3. ACTIVE AND ENIGMA CODES
 The action codes are what al lows the audience to interpret
and identify what is to come- the smal l l ittle things, such as
playing a guitar, walking down the road somewhere.
 I f someone is playing an instrument in the establishing shot
of a video, or standing behind a microphone, it signifies to the
audience that they are about to sing/play/are in the band.
 The Enigma codes c re a te t h e wh o l e “ h ow wi l l i t e nd ? ” s i d e to
the narrative. This is the driving force of the narrative, and
c re a tes te ns i o n a nd p l e a ses t h e a u d ienc e’ s d emands .
 T h e “ b i g e ni gma” i s wh at ’ s d ri v ing t h e wh ol e fi lm for ward , and
l e aves t h e a u d ienc e a s k i ng “wh a t’ s h a p peni ng? Wh o ’ s d ri v i ng
t h e c a r? Wh e re a re t h ey g o i ng ? Wi l l t h ey f a l l i n l ove ?”

4. CLAUDE LEVI STRAUSS-BINARY
OPPOSITION
 Strass basically said that Binary Opposition in fi lm can of fer
power ful levels of meaning within a text, and can summarise
a theme of a fi lm.
 Binary Oppositions can include:
Good and evi l
Male and female
Dark and Light
Humanity and Technology
Nature and Industrialisation
 Jacques Derrida took both Bar thes and Levi - St rauss ’ s i d e as
one step fur ther, and stated that the pairs were never equal in
the text. So masculinity and femininity, for example- one was
always more valued than the other (dependant on genre) , and
therefore enforcing stereotypes and dominant cultural ideas.

5. TODOROV’S EQUILIBRIUM
 Tod orov ’ s equi librium is the idea of a simple five-step
narrative:
1. A state of equi l ibrium (everything and everyone is happy)
2. A disruption occurs, by an event
3. Recognition of that disruption
4. An attempt to repair the damage caused
5. A return or restoration of new equi librium

6. WHICH NARRATIVE THEORIST CAN YOU
APPLY TO YOUR MUSIC VIDEO?
I fe e l t h at many o f t h e t h e o ri s t ’s i de as c an l i n k n i c e l y i n to o ur mus i c
video narrative. The active and enigma codes by Bar thes are relevant,
as t h e e s t abl i s h i n g s h ot s wi l l l e ave t h em as k i n g “Why i s h e i n t h e
mi ddl e o f n o wh e re ? Wh at i s h e l o o k i n g fo r?” et c . et c .
The idea of having Binary Opposi tion is impor tant and wi l l be able to
be appl ied to our music video, because there is the theme of good vs
bad, dark and l ight, man and woman. However, i t could be argued that
there are stereotypes, which we were trying to avoid to maybe subver t
t h e audi e n c e ’ s ex pe c t at i o n s , but i t i s n ’t n e c e s s ari l y a bad t h i n g to
have stereotypes in a music video, as this is what people are used to
seeing.
To a cer tain extent, To do rov’s equi l ibrium appl ies to our music video,
but the audience are lef t unknowing whether everything has returned
to a state of equi l ibrium or not, as we have decided to leave i t on a
cl i f f -hanger. There is cer tainly the beginning, cl imax, and ending,
though, but I l ike the idea of having the audience feel ing uneasy, as
this is something they wo ul dn ’t ex pe c t to h appe n .