Essay Question 1 (b)

' Analyse one of your coursework productions in relation to narrative.'

According to O'Sullivan, 'all media texts tell some sort of story'. I agree with this as the narrative helps portray people's perceptions on particular conventions. I have decided to analyse my A2 brief, which was to create a music video. I will then see how my video supports or challenges any theorists. The theorists in which I will look at, include, O'Sullivan, Todorov, Bartes, Levi-Strauss, Propp,Goodwin and Carlsson.

O'Sullivan believes that all media texts tell some sort of story, including music videos. I have reason to support this as in my video this is present. I edited the shots together in Final Cut Pro to create fast jump shots. These are shown in the music video, gradually becoming faster as the beats become more intense. This resembles the pressure building up in someone's mind. Although this is only subtle in the video, it is still some form of narrative.

Whilst looking at Todorov's theory, I acknowledged that he found that there was five stages to a narrative. I can relate some of these stages to my own video as the beginning of my video tends to begin at stage 3, distruption.  For example, in the narrative the lead singer looks fidgety and on edge. I created this effect by telling the lead singer to perform at half speed when singing but to behave normally. Therefore when I sped this up on Final Cut Pro, it gave the impression that the singer was frustrated and under pressure. Also at the end of the video, it is clear that it is similar to stage 5, new state of equilibrium, as the lead singer lets out a deep breath, almost to show that he has gotten everything said that he needed to say to the audience, therefore making him less pressured and relieved.

My work also reflects Bartes' beliefs that they are narrative codes shown in music videos, enigma and action.My work reflects the action codes as the boiling of the pan signifies how the emotion, pressure, is boiling up inside of the singer and also possibly the audience. The film burns used throughout the video also symbolise the narrative of the pressure building up as eventually a match catches fire, almost like as if  the emotion has irrupted inside. This also resembles the action narrative code as this is reflecting emotions shown through the band members and possibly the audience.

When looking at Levi-Strauss' theory about binary opposites I acknowledged that my music video had challenged this as my narrative only has one person present, yet still reveals a subtle storyline throughout. At the end of my video, the singer is back with the rest of the band however, to complete the narrative, I showed a close up shot of his face, therefore making the narrative, only on the lead singer.

Therefore, my music video also challenges Propp's theory as they believe that stock characters, i.e 'villian e.t.c' are present. My music video challenges this in many ways as in my music video the band members play the role of themselves, therefore having no characters in my production.Also, the only type of narrative shown in my video, represents the lead singer only.

I agree with Goodwin's theory that 'narrative relations are complex', as he further mentions about reusing tradition. I have done this with my music video as this sub genre, indie rock, is known for having the band members performing. I have reused this tradition by telling the band to play the instruments while singing, as if rehearsing. However, to keep my video fresh and interesting for the audience I added a subtle narrative to the video, which would help portray the lyrics of pressure slightly. Since the lyrics are about emotions in particular, this shows an intertextual reference as the lyrics are stereotypical for this genre. Jumps shots are also shown in my narrative and throughout my video, which also shows a reference to indie music as the jump shots can sometimes be used as thought beats when a guitar is strummed or a drum is hit.

I have acknowledged Carlsson's belief that narrative can fall into two groups, performance and conceptual. After looking at my music production and analysing it to my best ability, I can clearly say that my media text, is a performance clip as there is an instrumental performance which is shown throughout the majority of my video. This theory helps me recognise that although I did not intend on creating my video to have a complete narrative, even in parts which I had tried to just show the band performing, there is still a slight narrative. For example, the film burns used through the performance, gives the audience the intention that the match is coming close to being on fire, and the jump cuts between the actual narrative and performance represent the pressures building up.

In conclusion, I feel that any media text in which you create, in this circumstance a music video, will have some sort of narrative, since planning and your ideas are always put into them. Even if the narrative is subtle like mine, it is still there.