Narrative Theories and Tasks

Applying the Concept:

How the narrative is organised and structured.

How the conflict is established and how it is resolved

The construction of the characters in the text and how we are led to relate to them

How heroes and villains are created within the text

The importance of sound, music, iconography, mise-en-scene, editing and other technical features in telling the story.

How the themes and ideas are put forward in the story.

Is your narrative open or closed?

Importance of Mise-en-scene

Add authenticity to your singer/ band/characters?

Is it key to establishing setting and relationships?

Is it part of the voyeuristic context e.g. By suggesting a setting associated with sexual allure like a sleazy nightclub or boudoir?

Is it to emphasise an aspirational lifestyle for the audience (John Stewart)?

Vladimir Propp

 After analysing folk tales, Propp developed a theory that within each narrative there are a set of stock characters, which reappear in every storyline.

These roles are:

Hero – Person on the quest

Princess – Prize for the hero

Helper – Helps the hero on his quest

False hero – Somebody who believes they are the hero

Dispatcher – Sends the hero on their quest

Father – Rewards the hero

Villain – Attempts to stop the hero on his quest

Donor – Provides objects to help the hero on his quest

Roland Barthes

 Barthes was a French semiologist who identified 5 different codes by which a narrative engages the attention of the audience.

In order of importance these are:

The enigma code-  the audience is intrigued by the need to solve a problem

The action code – the audience is excited by the need to resolve a problem

The semantic code – the audience is directed towards an additional meaning by way of connotation

The symbolic code – the audience assumes that a character dressed in black is evil or menacing and forms  expectations of his/ her behaviour on this basis

The cultural code – the audience derives meaning in a text from shared cultural knowledge about the way the world works.

Levi-Strauss

 Levi-Strauss’ theory dictated that in every media text there are binary oppositions, or a conflict between two opposites. The audience subsequently are aware of who they should side with, and this technique can also help create a political theme within a text. For example:

Good & Bad

Rich & Poor

Eastern & Western World

Love & Hate

Todorov

 Todorov’s theory states that in a media text there are five stages.

ORIGINAL EQUILIBRIUM  (normality)

  ò

DISRUPTION

  ò

RECOGNITION (of disruption)

  ò

ATTEMPT TO RESTORE original equilibrium

  ò

NEW EQUILIBRIUM

Andrew Goowin

 Is your narrative:

vIllustrative? (images provide a literal representation)

vAmplifying?  (repetition of key meanings and effects to manipulate the audience)

vDisjuncture?: (When the meaning of the song is completely ignored)

In relation to my coursework:

The media product that I have created includeds one main 'character', played by the artist, who leads the video and the narrative elements within the video. There is no hero and villain set up, nor is there conflict established and resolved, as there was not a strong narrative theme within my music video. Sound and music were important within my media product as these helped to emphasise the lyrics and lyric-matching actions that were within the video. Iconography and mise-en-scene were also really important as these elements helped me to focus on setting and emphasise the era portrayed through these features, having a strong setting helped to stengthen the narrative structure of the video. My video did not contain a strong storyline, but the use of an era and 'repeatability' elements helped me to provide an enigma code set-up in which the audience can almost apply their own meaning and narrative to the video through personal interpretation of the text.