Research and Planning: Narrative

Our music video is going to be both performance and narrative based. The reason for this is we want to create a back story which will relate to the lyrics well, whilst also having the performance of the artist in because this will help to promote the brand image of our artist.

Our Artist is called 'Jael' and is a British grime artist, although her image is created a lot on other artists which are American and their genre of music is most likely Hip-Hop or R&B. The song we are using is called 'Diva' by Beyonce.

Plot

Narrative - this part of the music video is going to be based around a poker game between the protagonist 'Jael' and two other characters which are going to be labelled as thugs. The protagonist is going to hustle the guys out of a lot of money. She will then leave with their money and also a cigar to also create the image of her being the dominant figure in this video. Also at the end of the video we are going to have the artist coming out the back end of a pub or something similar with a lit cigar and counting her winnings.

The reason we are creating this narrative is to relate well with the lyrics of the song, which are;

"Na, na, na, diva is a female version of a hustla

Of a hustla, of a, of a hustla

Na, na, na, diva is a female version of a hustla

Of a hustla, of a, of a hustla"

  Performance - We are going to have the artist and four dancers in this part of the music video. We are going to do this part in the college theatre as there will be lots of room and also the lighting will benefit us I think. we are going to have the artist in the middle of the performance, as this is important that the music video evolves around her. Throughout the performance we want to relate the narrative story into it. We are going to do this by involving the idea of cards by using the different suits. This can be done in many ways.

Studio - We will be using the green screen for most of the footage, this will be the artist lip syncing in front of what we will make a crisp white background,. This will be done in order to get the audience to focus on the artist and nothing else. By using the white crisp background will make the contrast look very effective and strong.

Real media example:

Evanescence - "Everybody's Fool"

In this music video there are two narratives, as this music video is completely narrative based.

Narrative 1	Narrative 2
She is modelling for the food industry, a company called “LIES” by using a pizza. The company name reflects her life, and how her career is based on lies.	As soon as the camera is turned off it shows the reality of her life, she isn’t a typical model and how her career is hurting her as she isn’t being true to her self. -low key lighting is used and everything in the shot is dark and gloomy this is to reflect her life and emotions.
Photographer swarming around her in a photo-shoot, looks glamorous, ideal woman & model, the image created is women should be rich and classy. - High key lighting has been used to create this.	There are parts of a music video where she is in an elevator with two blonde stereotypical ‘ideal’ girls who are taunting her for the way she really looks. The rules have flipped, in reality she should be the perfect ideal girl as she is a model but is seen as a outcast in comparison to the other girls.
An advert where she is promoting a fizzy drink called “LIES”. This relates to how she is selling her self out and isn’t portraying a honest image to the audience.	Her hotel room – she reflects on her day and her life, looking out at billboard’s and magazines with her face plastered all over, she knows she isn’t really like that but she really cant help it anymore, the two lives she is leading are beginning to merge.
This is another advert where she is selling her self as a doll version. The advert is in the style of Japanese as it is brightly lit and logos and other various things are used in it, in a cartoon like way. This yet again relates to how she is selling her self out and isn’t portraying a honest image to the audience.

During the bridge, two girls are seen laughing at the model's appearance, stating that she looks much older than they thought she was. Another segment shows her breaking a mirror with her bare hand, which starts to bleed uncontrollably. In the final scene, she stands on the balcony of a building, crying and screaming at a billboard featuring one of her advertisements, saying that the model side of her isn't "real and you can't save me", and that everybody is oblivious to how she really lives ("you know you've got everybody fooled").“

(Wikipedia)

Theories

These theories are evidenced throughout this music video.

Levi Strauss – There are a few binary opposites found in this video such as – Fantasy VS reality, Popular VS outcast, Truth VS lies, Light VS dark. These binary opposites have been present in this music video in order to show the audience that her two different lives are colliding.

Barthes – Enigmas & resolutions. Enigma – Why does she hate her job? Resolution – She is ‘promoting’ lies.

Having looked at all of the evidence there are many reasons why this music video has the narrative constructed this way. The reason for this is to show the two different lives that Amy Lee’s character leads, spinning a web of lies and how the two have merged in her reality.

Summary

This music video has shown us that an alternative narrative can be used and still be easy to follow although it does not create verisimilitude. This is an option for us to use on our music video that will make it different to other group’s music videos.

Real media example:

Taylor Swift – you belong with me

This music video is completely narrative based. It is a story of a girl having a really big crush on the guy next door, but he doesn’t seem to notice how she feels as he is going out with the school’s most popular girl, and she controls his life, whereas Taylor Swifts character is the geek. Until she finds someone better, and she will leave him. This gives Taylors character the hope that she will finally get her guy.

Narrative

The stereotypical geek character (played by Taylor Swift) has conversations with her dream boyfriend, by writing notes to each other and holding them up to the window. And then he closes the curtain and she was going to tell him how she feels. She begins to parade around her bedroom.

The next shot is of her sat on a bench and he comes along and talks to her, they seems to really hit it off, until his girlfriend comes along in her shiny car, he gets in and then his girlfriend passionately kisses him as she knows how Taylor (geek) feels about him.

The next part is the football game, where Taylor is in the marching band or something, and the popular girlfriend is a cheerleader (this is a very typical stereotype) and the guy finds his girlfriend chatting up some other footballer, and he realises that she doesn’t really want him.

The next part is when both main characters are in their bedrooms, as he is getting ready to go to prom, and asks if she is going and she says no. as he wants her to go, after he goes she gets ready and goes with the note saying “I love you” to the dance, as they make their ways through the crowd to get with each other (he gets obstructed by his ex girlfriend). When they finally get near to each other they both reveal that they both have notes saying they love each other, and it finishes with a close up of them kissing as she finally gets her man.

Theories

Levi Strauss – the main binary opposite found in this music video is popularity Vs geeks. This has been done to make the love attraction between Taylor (geek) and the guy a lot more stronger and the story becomes a lot more sweeter in a sense.

Barthes – the man enigma that is clear in this text is, will she get her man? And they don’t resolve this question till the very end.

Using a narrative based music video is very good if you are tying to create a strong emotion such as love, but for the song we are doing which is quite repetitive I don’t think it will work.


by Rebecca Mellody and Jessica Cowgill