A narrative is a piece of media that aims to tell a story. There are 3 types of narratives; Amplified, Disjunctive, and illustrative. An amplified narrative is when the narrative, is inspired by the song and adds a new element to complement the themes. A disjunctive narrative is when the narrative seems to hold very little relationship to the song and seems quite random. Finally, an illustrative narrative in the video very closely echoes the lyrics & music.
Below is the 3 videos I’ve chosen to represent the structure of a narrative:
Thematic (amplifies the lyrics and illustrate the ideas in visual metaphors)
The music video showcases Ed having feelings for this girl from the very start, but she didn’t seem to pay much attention to him which gave him very little hope of them being together. The group of them went on a skiing trip and he attempts to help her ski and maintain her balance so she doesn’t fall over. When she is skiing or doing karaoke he is always admiring her beauty and bubbly personality from a far until it cuts to a montage of them having a snow ball fight, making snow angles, and eating pizza together. Finally, Ed admits he wrote a song for her and expresses his emotions through the lyrics which makes her come to terms with her feelings as they dance under a candle light in the snow.
Episodic (self contained stories within a story)
This music video is the preparation of creating a music video as you see the directors, performers, and cameras ready in place. As they begin to perform they each have their own bit do to, for example Zayn in the middle of a sumo wresting fight or Liam with a circus crew with acrobats. Near the end they all come together and all have a massive performance to show the talents of the individuals. When the song fades out you see one of the ‘directors’ at the end verbalise “That was alright”.
Linear (beginning, middle and end of a narrative)
This music video begins with her playing cards with a ‘significant other’ but cuts to a scene where the whole fridge is full of beers which has connotations of him being an alcoholic or having more care for alcohol than her. As she is decorating the cake he seems to not care and take some decorations off of it to eat for himself as he isn’t appreciating what she does. As the music video ends you see her coming to terms with her worth and packs a suitcase and leaves him for good.
Below are some of the narratives I have thought of. I created these narratives by doing a task where we randomly selected words and put them together:
Bitter pills taste of revenge
“I always knew there was something off about the secretary at my hotel, I’ve always been a people watcher but something about her sparked my interest. She wasn’t always secretive about her identity. I’ve always known she was undercover. A detective. She is always lurking around that supply cupboard, aways grasping onto that old book. I always thought I was imagining it but when the unknown identity of the gun was posted in the local newspaper, I realised maybe I wasn’t making it all up. Maybe I should take a look in that supply cupboard…”
Distress signals
In a recent accident along the south-west harbour, flashing siren lights and mounds of detectives were accompanied by the ruckus of distressed civilians as the money-greedy reporters clambered towards the burning boat. The lead piping dripped with a mysterious substance on the boat. “I don’t understand how no one is seeing this body hanging from the rope…”
Return to sender
In an apocalyptic dystopian world where unknown species have taken over a skateboarder’s only mission which is to return a newspaper containing the world’s last hope to the cell. Batting through zombies and on a frightful chase – the only thing getting him to his final destination. A prison cell. Is the power his music holds and what it can accomplish which he is yet to understand.
Reflection
By discovering and creating narratives of our own it will help us as when we begin to create one for our music video. This is because we are familiar with what sort of narratives are used whether that is to amplify, illustrate or disjuncture the lyrics/music. It also lets us be more creative with the piece of work and allows us to connect with the audience on how we choose to represent our star and convey the message we are trying to give off.