In order to fully understand a music video I did a further analysis of the narrative told within, a common way to do this is synesthesia, where you experience one of your senses through another.

Coldplay – Viva La Vida

Viva La Vida is an illustrated song that is an interpretation of King Louis’s last speech before he died. The song is narrated through King Louis point of view where he accepts his apology and identifies his fate, and throughout the song contains historical references, mainly based on the French Revolution. Throughout the video there was a continuous effect of what looks like an old letter further emphasising the date this song is set about. It is in a linear structure of how things actually occurred back then and Coldplay conveyed King Louis’s point of view.

Hozier- Take Me To Church

Take me to Church is amplified so that a the narrative can be perceived. The narrative is based on the Catholic Church’s discrimination against homosexuality. The music video features strong violence which aren’t completely visual to the audience as they are shown as close ups or just cut off. These scenes are there to inform the audience and get them to identify the presence of violence, sympathise for the characters, and realise the wrongs of discriminating against freedom of sexuality. The editing in black and white gives the sense of tragedy and connotes that some people see the world simply as black and white and don’t like change.

Ed Sheeran – The A Team

The A Team was shortly written after Ed Sheeran visited a homeless shelter and heard one of the stories the lives people had been living, leading to him to write a song about their experiences following the visit. It is mainly based on a girl called Angel who was based in the crisis shelter after suffering from drug abuse and getting involved with sex work, hence the ‘angels to fly’ lyrics heard in the song. It has a thematic structure as the narrative is evolved around the class A drug and the name of the song came from the drug used, cocaine which is a class A drug therefore Ed Sheeran identified Angel as ‘She’s in the Class A Team’.

My Narratives:

Seasons Of Love: Where a girl and her friend constantly go out and party where she repeatedly falls in love every season with the wrong guy who ends up mistreating her.Tragically she looses her best friend in an accident… Whilst grieving she meets someone who will change her life.

Bail Me Out: A man gets false accused of a crime and spends nights on end in prison for something he didn’t do. As soon as he starts questioning his life, a visitor arrives and everything is soon to change.

Helpless: A girl is vulnerable in a house she doesn’t know, she’s been trapped for years with no escape. That is soon to change when she finds a crack in the window.

FOCUS FORWARD

I now know how having a clear narrative whilst producing a video is important so that it can attract and audience. Coming up with my own narratives has helped me have an idea of storylines I can look at putting into my own music video.