Narrative Structure (updated)

Narrative is a defining feature of music videos. For example, indie artists such as Hozier focuses on the story-telling element or artists such as Sia focus on pure performance to illustrate a story (such as Sia's "The Greatest" music video in which it is a dance dedicated to the Orlando LGBT massacre. Many pop videos focus on a small basic story with performance shots of the band such as One Direction's "What makes you beautiful".

The narrative structure we want to use was rather complex. We want to use a total of 9 narrative techniques in total: 

We wanted to use a crescendo element to match the ending climax. The ending of our song is forte and fast paced and therefore we can use it to create a climax. Our idea is to have fast-paced cuts which are close-ups to intensify the scene and create a climax at the end. This is similar in Ed Sheeran's "Give Me Love" during the intense climax which is reflected by the party scene. 

We also are using an enigmatic character as our main character. By removing the identity of the main character we can use point of view shots to place the audience into the main character's position. The character is almost invisible; flitting around the party and watching smaller narratives unfold. She is shunned a few times by other characters however the audience do not know why nor what she looks like; creating an enigma. 

We are also using a circular narrative as the opening shot is of the main character entering the house and the final shot is leaving the house; creating a circular narrative. This is done to place the party in its own separate world. 

We also are using an idea of repetition. We have a repeated motif of a panning shot of bottles in front of unfocused lights. We refer back to this shot throughout the video as it is a shot which is favoured by our group due to the composition and the bottles are significant of parties. 

We also use ellipses during the reversed sequence. As the main character is going down stairs there are quick, fast-paced shots to save time. This is a common feature in many music videos to avoid meaningless details and aspects of a music video.

Our main narrative technique we want to employ is a multi-stranded narrative that is partly interweaving and convergent. For example we are going to have a shot of two people in the bathroom and when the bathroom is revisited one of the characters is stumbling out. Each character has more than one appearance and has a separate purpose and story within the music video.

Our plot in our video focuses on one character exploring a house party whereas the story is the convergence of multiple small scenes which accumulate to a dangerous house where the protagonist feels in danger. The main character is telling the story through a point of view; everything seen is experienced as the main character experiences it whilst referring back to some motif shots (such as the shot of the bottles). The music video is a quick exploration of the house which lasts for hours however we of course cut it down. We did this by only showing significant scenes in the party such as the argument scene on the stairs.

Our audience will be able to understand the narrative as it uses some clear narrative techniques. For example, the bathroom scene with blood suggests danger and is followed by the protagonist trying to leave the house party as quickly as she can. The audience will also be familiar with the mix of characters and the broken stereotypes as it is a common topic in our audience's lifestyles. In the recent years stereotypes are beginning to be shunned more and more and therefore the breaking of stereotypes is more obvious and readable.