Narrative Essay

NARRATIVE ESSAY

I am going to discuss theories of narrative in relation to my A2 media studies coursework which was a music video for The Plain White T’s alternative rock song “Hey There Delilah”. The target audience for my music video was males (60%) and females (40%) between the ages of 18 to 25. The music video I have created conforms to the narrative style of interweaving and linear in which I represented the male artist to be heartbroken recording his latest single in the studio (linear). This is along with interweaving with flashbacks to his inspirations and experiences for the song lyrics he has written. I will highlight how I used camera, editing, sound and mise en scene to create meaning within narrative of my chosen song. Tim O’Sullivan stated that music videos narratives it should offer a way of telling a story which could even be relatable to our personal lives which arguably is successful within my video.

The music video I have created mostly conforms to the idea of Edward Brannigan who defined narrative as “a way of organising spatial and temporal data in to a chain of cause and effect with a beginning, middle and end that embodies a judgement about the nature of events”. This is due to the performance sequence in my music video being linear; acquiring all these necessary factors to create a beginning, middle and end. My music video follows Brannigan’s quote as the narrative is based on cause and effect of the male artist’s lover leaving him. Furthermore Tzvetan Todorov’s theory of equilibrium, disequilibrium, new equilibrium has also been highlighted when observing the narrative structure as a whole having the artists become more excepting of the situation and change in circumstances. 

When considering the narrative I developed I felt it was particularly fascinating and supported Tzvetan Todorov theory of equilibrium, disequilibrium, new equilibrium in relation to the artist’s mental state about his romantic situation. This is due to the start of the song commencing with the artist’s facial expressions and emotions of melancholy through the extreme close up shots of his eyes and sad smile. This enhances his loss that is clearly shown during my music video with the black and white editing throughout the performance. The black and white edit has a low, soft contrast to give the video a mellow, drained effect emphasising the emotions of the artist. Furthermore, the lighting used was spot lights placed behind the artist enhancing his facial feature to focus that the lyrics are based on his personal life. The ‘black and white’ effect on the video not only contrasting the dream like state with vivid colours but to illuminate that within the narrative his feelings are clear and honest almost ‘black and white’ to audiences. Hence allowing the audience to be able to personally relate to the narrative; due to the majority of people going through ‘heart break’ or separation from an individual they love. This is due to the narrative being about a male who has separated from the one he loves, writing a song about their past and future; having flashbacks about his fond memories.

Tim O’Sullivan relates to my music video due to suggesting “media text offers a way of telling stories about ourselves” relating to my main character within the video and the relation to the target audience. The male protagonist is expressing his emotions which arguably numerous people have also felt during a period of their lives this presented in the diegetic sound “tonight you look so pretty, yes you do”. Furthermore when I considered the female character within the video and her choice of clothing I styled her in indie style clothing as well as use a light edit with vivid colours. This also relates to Tim O’Sullivan’s quote due to the female audiences being able to relate to the female’s situation, being able to understand that she is so special to someone. The vivid colours I used conveys a clear contrast between the reality and flashbacks, keeping the audience interested with the quick cuts to show how clear they are for the artist. Moreover, the audience being able to relate due to the clothing being simplistic and accessible that the audience would typically wear. This fitting with the genre also due to alternative rock being known for not follow latest styles.    

Overall I believe that in my A2 media studies coursework I generated a music video that is polysomic, which could be decoded as a male defying his stereotype and showing his strong emotions to a female he loves. Hence, counteracting the stereotype of males to be emotionless and seen as only the protector but encouraging males to do the same and not worry about social attitudes. When considering the mise en scene of the video the various busy locations suggests the amount of memories the artist has as well as being typical ‘date’ locations for couples such as aquariums and walks in woods.