TASK 1

• Using Lego characters and props, craft and film a stop motion story using no more than 100 frames.
• Share the movie with your teacher.
• Using the sheet Lego Legend, outline in your group the key moments, characters, themes in the movie.
• Then share the video and narrate it to the class – pointing out key moments etc.

TASK 2

• Using the sheet The Music Video, analyse your music video narrative and start to deconstruct, analyse the text from a critical perspective. All the notes you make on this sheet will help you with your essay – in fact it is your essay.
• See Classroom post for resources – exemplars, theory booklet, essay template.
• Submit for 1 week’s time so that we have time to mark it and get it back to you.

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Narrative Theory

Narrative definition:  The contents (events, action) and the way these are structured together form the basis of any narrative. A story can be relayed using any combination of communication i.e. visuals, words, drama etc.

Narrative is the ‘study of stories’. It includes the following:

1. The order in which the story is told (structure)
2. How the audience is positioned in relation to the narrative.
3. The character’s journey. What epiphany do they have?
4. The conflict & themes explored and how they are resolved.
5. The codes in the text which help the audience understand the story and its messages.

Here is a Slideshow which runs through narrative with specific reference to music videos. You should be able to use some of the ideas in the video below, although you will find that because music videos don’t tend to follow conventional narrative structures and you should take account of that.

The same presentation with professional examples

Theorists – The Formalists (Propp & Todorov)

A lot of the ideas were are going to explore can be described as ‘formalist’. That means they explore the form, shape & order of a story, it’s structure, both Todorov and Propp are formalists. Here is a formalist description of a common narrative ‘The Hero’s Journey’:

Theorists –  Cultural Anthropologist (Levi-Strauss)

Levi Strauss is an anthropologist. He is more interested in cultural ideas beneath the story (its themes).  He was interested in how a cultures messages and values are communicated in the conflict within a narrative.

You will need to refer to theorists and use their terminology in a narrative essay, please use the concepts booklet:

• Propp – Page 8
• Todorov – Page 9
• Levi-Strauss – Page 10
• Barthes – Page 2

Shaping the narrative in your music video.

Even if your video is thematically based you should consider it as a narrative. This means, however abstract and thematic your video might be, you should show narrative development and characters progression.

You will have developed a simple narrative structure to your video in three parts:

1. The Beginning – How do you establish the story / theme in the video/ characters?
2. The Middle – What is the development of the story or the conflict within the theme?
3. The End – How does the theme/story resolve or does it? What end message do you wish to communicate?