Todorov's Narrative Structure

Todorov developed a very simple narrative structure of three parts:
1. Equilibrium (firm sense of order is established)
2. Disequilibrium (disruption from an outsider)
3. New Equilibrium (this is overcome and order is restored)

This basic structure suggests that narrative is effectively the same, with variations only in the characters and settings. Therefore, it would be useful to use Todorov's narrative in a music video as it is not too guided or precise.

Propp: Character Types

Propp studied character typology in fairy stories and found 31 character types, each with associated functions.
The most common of these characters are:
1. The hero
2. The villain
3. The donor (who would offer a gift of sort with magical properties)
4. The dispatcher (who gives the hero his mission)
5. The helper (the hero's 'right hand man')
6. The princess ('damsel in distress'/hero's reward)

Although Propp focused on characters of fairy stories, his work can be applied to a number of genres. Likewise to the 'Hollywood' narrative structure, it may prove difficult to work these characters and functions into a music video without drifting into a piece more suited to a trailer. Saying this, it would still be useful to take aspects of these character typologies with the possibility of including them into the video.

The 'Hollywood' Narrative Structure

One of the structures that I have looked at is the 'Hollywood' narrative. This is formed through different sections which I applied to my Foundation Portfolio of 'Early Days', which allowed me to understand the components of the structure more clearly.
1. Exposition and Development
Protagonists: Bethany/Scott
Antagonists: Scott's Parents
2. Conflict
Bethany's disorder causes strain upon their relationship
3. Elaboration
The couple break up due to Scott's parents
4.Climax and Resolution
Bethany relapses and returns to hospital. Seeing Scott's unhappiness, his parents allow their relationship to rebuild
5. Coda
The couple reunite, Bethany returns from hospital


Although it would be possible to use this form of structure in my music video, it may be tricky as the song would need to be primarily narrative based rather than performance, which runs the risk of it appearing more as a trailer rather than a promotional video.

Research and Planning: Narrative

Before starting to plan my music video, I've been looking at various narrative structures in order to get an idea of the approach I should take and so that I am able to differentiate between various narratives in music videos.

Relating Narrative to Journalism

In 'Media Studies: The Essential Introduction', there is a section which compares narrative and journalism. This is because of the requirement to order sequences into a coherent form, alike to a news story which needs to inform it's audience of an event in a few hundred words. It discusses how often the journalist will focus on one aspect of the story so that the reader can understand what has happened, while also being able to empathise with a particular family or individual involved.

From this, I know that I shouldn't develop a narrative which is complicated or involves too many characters. This will allow the audience to relate better to the video - also seen in U2's performance at Glastonbury 2011.

U2 performing at Glastonbury 2011

This performance taken from Glastonbury 2011 on the BBC uses particular camera work in order to give the audience at home an optimum experience.

The establishing shot is an extreme long high angle shot which gives the viewing audience at home an idea of the scale of the festival site. This shot is followed by low angles which give a powerful presence of the band and is from the perspective of the crowd so that the audience feel more involved. The band is also introduced individually: guitarist, drummer; second guitarist, singer. The cuts of the shots are timed to fit in with the tempo of the music which gives the impression of a clean cut performance. Framing is important in this and is used particularly well on a shot of Bono singing as the head of the microphone is in the centre of the frame because it is crucial to the show.

Building up to the chorus there is a crescendo and during this the camera is focused upon the drummer, the camera then tracks upwards to mimic the level of the music. The camera then zooms out to an extreme long shot of the crowd, displaying the scale of the performance and band and how many people there are in the crowd. In this shot the audience can also see the screens amongst the crowd which allows the audience at home to feel more included in the crowd. Following this shot displaying a collective experience, is a shot of two individual people enjoying themselves. This shows the enjoyment the festival go-ers are having while also letting the audience put themselves into their shoes and can relate to them.

There is a point of view shot of Bono as the audience can see him through the flag poles, emphasising how crowded it is and involving them. There is a shot of the guitarist as he is turned towards the camera, with the crowd and Bono in the background. This gives the audience a unique experience and view that the crowd can not get. When the tempo changes to one much slower, there is a crossfade transition to match this. There is a shot where the camera tracks Bono down the runway pans to see what he is looking at (the crowd), zooms out to show the scale of the audience and then goes to a point of view shot of the crowd. The finishing shot is the same as the establishing shot and shows the majority of the campsite.

The BBC keeps the audience in mind by using shots and camera techniques like these in order to sell the band & involve the viewers at home.