Narrative Theory in our Music Video

There are a couple of narrative theories that we are going to respond to within our music video.

Propp

Propp developed a theory that within each narrative there are a set of stock characters, which reappear in every story line. Among these roles is a hero and a princess (prize for the hero.) Our music video will definitely be containing a hero as the soldier walks for miles back to his "princess" and prize at home. The way in which he is a hero is down to the fact that he is a soldier in the first place which makes him heroic in the eyes of the audience but also in terms of the storyline that he walks so far to get home and is  the main focus of the video. 

Barthes

Barthes identified five different codes by which a narrative engages the attention of the audience. The Enigma Code and The Action Code will hopefully both be relevant to our music video as we want to intrigue and excite the audience into how the problem will be resolved. The aim is to draw the audience in with the character's emotion and there is the problem of him getting home but the audience will be unsure to begin with as to why he has to walk so far, where's he is walking to and then who is walking to. 

The audience attention will also be captured by The Semantic Code as additional meaning will be added by connotation of his emotion and his journey as the audience follows the soldier home, feeling the emotion and sympathizing with his character. 

Narrative Analysis of Pop/Rock Genre

Jades presentation on narrative theory from jadesmedia

Jades presentation on narrative theory from jadesmedia

Audience Theory

The Cultural Studies Approach Perspective on Audience

This was developed by David Morley within the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, BCCCS and attempts to understand how the media might be powerful and influence audiences but also encourages researchers to understand the active nature of certain audiences. 

There are three readings that the audience can take:

• Preferred (dominant) reading - the audience recognize the values being offered by the text and accepts them as natural and correct. 
• Negotiated reading - the audience recognize the values in the text as legitimate and accept them in general but adapt their reading of the text to fit with their experiences and interest. 
• Oppositional reading - the audience understands the values in the text but disagrees with them and rejects them. 

Application of this theory to our music video:

How might audiences read the values expressed in your video and print work in a preferred, negotiated and oppositional way?

Preferred - The audience will sympathize with the soldier in our video and feel happiness when he arrives home to his girlfriend.

Negotiated - Audience will relate to how the soldier is feeling as they perhaps miss any loved one for whatever reason, whether it be that they are working away or living apart. 

Oppositional - The audience may think negatively about the reason he has had to embark on such a long journey home and assume that he was told to leave the army for negative behaviour. This would mean that they dislike the character and his story.

What are you going to do to to encourage the target audience to take a preferred reading?

We will show the soldier's emotion as much as possible throughout his journey including when he arrives home where will show clear happiness that he is back with his girlfriend. We will also use close ups of the character's expressions to show his emotion and use long shots in his journey scenes to show how long and far he has to travel in order to spark sympathy within the audience. Sympathy throughout the journey will be key along with related to his happiness and relief when he arrives home. 

 

What kind of person might take an oppositional reading?

Someone who has a negative view on war and on our country fighting may have a oppositional reading of this video as they don't sympathize with the soldier or the war in general. I personally think this will apply to the minority and most people will take a preferred or negotiated reading from our video. 

Creativity

What is creativity?

Creativity is the invention or originality of something new (A product, a joke, a thought, a solution, etc.) It could be applied to applying a new idea to something that already exists and making that into something different or appealing to a different audience/market. Or it could be applied to inventing something completely new that wasn't there before.

How can you be more creative?

To be more creative, ‘thinking outside of the box’ is crucial. It is necessary to discuss and think about all areas that can be relevant to achieve the best possible result in anything that is being ‘created’. It is important to try and be original and think of things that are new and exciting. Discussing with others and combining ideas is a great way of being creative and putting these ideas into mind-maps allows for links to be made between the thoughts and for an outcome to be successful. Whilst discussing these, it is good to do it in frequently and in short sections so that the creativity doesn't become a chore and that thoughts continue to be fresh and the best they can be. Therefore, breaks should be taken to allow for new ideas to come through and be brought forward. It is also good to put down all ideas and try new things even if they are don’t seem the best to begin with, as they may develop into something very successful. 

Where does creativity come from?

Creativity comes from the mind and from imagination within the brain and some people are much better at being creative than others as some people have a natural talent for it. However, I believe that anyone can be creative, it just needs the right environment and something that someone is passionate about. In my opinion, passion and a liking for a subject is a necessity for being creative in it.

Creativity surrounds us and allows for development in many things every hour of every day. For example, Apple has released five iPhones in five years and each one is a new and exciting development of the previous. Technology is a perfect example of creativity and innovative thinking along with medicine. There is constant research into different medicines and the most known research is looking into curing cancer. Scientists have already come so far in fighting this illness and continue to work hard for a cure. This also shows clear creativity of always thinking of new things to cure new illnesses that scientists are faced with.  

What role does creativity play in creating a media production?

As the media is such a highly populated and competitive industry now, it is essential that people within the media are always thinking of new things and being creative with developing current things to help them stand out from the rest of the competition. Similar to technology, there are so many products that have already been released that it is crucial people within the media are able to be innovative in thinking and designing so that they can keep audience attention and keep their products exciting to ensure that they are continuing to make money. This is the case in all areas of the media, whether it be film, television, magazines, radio, games, etc.

Creativity in education.

Creativity is a big issue in education and teaching at the moment. Sir Ken Robinson is someone who has a deep interest in education and says that creativity should be treated with the same important status as literacy. He says that creativity depends on being prepared to be wrong so that you can take a chance on something original.

Sir Ken Robinson says that creativity is something that we are born with but is unfortunately something that education leads us to grow out of. He says that they are two processes to creativity, thinking and producing. If an individual doesn't begin producing then they are just thinking which means they are imaginative rather than creative. Creativity is turning ideas and innovation into a reality.

I completely agree with this theory in that to be creative, you have be prepared to be wrong and take a chance on your ideas. The whole concept of creativity is that it is something new that has just been thought of, so there is always the need for taking a chance as no-one knows how it is going to be received. The ability to accept and learn from the possibility of something being wrong allows individuals to be creative. I have learnt a lot about my own creativity from this theory and will take it further in my own work.

I found this talk very inspirational and true to human abilities.

Preparing to Begin Performance Filming

  We will begin filming this Thursday which is the 25th October. We have made some notes in preparation for this filming.

Risk Assessment

	Potential Danger	Potential Outcomes	Actions to avoid potential Outcomes	Further comments
Woods	Tripping over tree roots	Serious injury. OR A wound that needs to be treated.	Study the pathways and areas so that we are aware of any dangers and can avoid them.	Should take a first aid kit in case we need to cover any wounds.
	Getting lost	Not knowing how to get back.	Make sure at all times you know where you are filming and how to get back.	Shouldn’t go too far away from the car and a road.
	Encounters with wild animals.	Minor/serious injury.	Always be aware of what’s around.
	Ditches and holes.	Minor /serious injury. AND Could get stuck.	Be careful on uneven ground and briefly check ground for dangers before filming begins.
General	Hit by a vehicle.	Minor/Serious outcome.	Always be aware of roads, no matter how quiet they may seem and use pavements and pathways where possible. Always be aware when filming,	Do not be oblivious and careless even though it seems like something small.
	Getting Equipment damaged.	Cost of having equipment fixed. AND. Could possibly lose footage.	Always be careful when using equipment and put it away safely when it is not being used.	We will use a tripod for filming which will decrease the risk of dropping the camera.
	Pedestrians tripping over tripod and other equipment.	Injury AND We could be sued.	Always make sure that the equipment is up out of the way and clear of pathways.	Always be aware of people around and make sure we make ourselves visible to others.
Drama Room	Tripping on cables and equipment.	Injury	Make sure all wires and equipment is out of the way and put away to the sides of the room.
	Tripping on stage AND Falling off stage.	Injury	Have the band mainly placed in the middle of the stage. Be aware of how close you are to the edge.
	Electrical equipment.	Minor/serious injury.	Do not drink liquids in the drama room and be aware of any electric points that may be of danger.

Performers and Casting

Tom Martin is our main character for the narrative part of our music video and also the lead singer in the performance element as we found in research that the lead singer is usually the main narrative character in music videos in our genre. Tom has experience in Drama and is confident so we thought he would best suit the male acting role and wouldn't have a problem with working in front of the camera.

tommartin@hotmail.co.uk

Alice Roe is going to be the female character casted at the end of the music video as the soldier gets home to his girlfriend. She will also film the performance element of the music video. Alice has the correct style and characteristics to play this role and is knowledgeable when it comes to knowing filming techniques and the right angles to get the best effect so she is the most suitable person for filming. 

aliceroe@live.co.uk

Tom Bond is going to be the drummer in the band for the performance part of the music video as he has the correct style and look to contribute to the overall band image. He will film the narrative part of the music video because he is creative, has good ideas and can look constructively at how the scenes are coming across.

tom.bond@orange.net

Jade Marriott-Lodge (me) will be the guitarist in the band and film the narrative part of the music video with Tom Bond. She is quite confident and will be able to perform in front of the camera as she has a history of acting and performing and has done drama. She is also quite creative so will be able to share ideas with the others as the narrative part of the video is filmed. 

ejademl@yahoo.co.uk

Costumes and Props

Camouflage Trousers. No Cost. Tom Bond is in charge of this. We have chosen to use these to contribute a redundant element to the image of the soldier.

Toy Soldiers. No Cost. Tom Martin is in charge. These props will be used to create a link between the solider and childhood.

Drum Kit. No cost. Will borrow from Drama and everyone is in charge. This will add to the performance element of the music video.

Guitars. Jade and Tom are in charge and there is no cost. The guitarists will complete the band for the performance part of the music video.

Everyone is in charge of their own costume for the performance element and the band will be wearing jeans and black tops. 

Time Management

Overview of Our Music Video

Our Music Video:

 We will begin with a shot representing childhood. This shot may be of a child playing with toy soldiers and the audience can make their own interpretations about the character of the child. He may be seen as the son of the soldier or possibly the soldier as a child. However, it may not be suitable or possible to use a child so we have another plan of using lego and/or toy soldiers to make an animation. This animation will be used to make a link between the soldier and childhood and the use of toy soldiers will also be quite entropic for the genre and interesting because it's not expected and has subtle links.

Our next shot of the narrative will be  a shot of the soldier as the audience begin to see his journey. We will then show his journey as he walks across roads, fields and hills on his long and difficult way home.We will combine these narrative shots with videos and shots of the moon to make links to the lyrics.  The end of the journey will be as he reaches his home and gets back to his girlfriend and family.
The rest of the shots will be performance based and we will film the band performing in a studio. The balance of the narrative and performance in our music video reflects what we have found in researching music videos from our genre.

Our Pitch

The pitch from jadesmedia

Audience Feedback From Pitch

Initial Ideas for music video

Research and Planning: Andrew Goodwin's Theory

6 features of music videos 1 d from jadesmedia

Permission To Use "Chasing The Moon"