Narrative Structure in Music

Videos
Music video structure depends on the type of music video. There are 3 different
types; concept, performance and narrative based. Concept based music videos
focus on one idea or theme. Performance based music videos focus purely on the
band and their talent as opposed to focusing on the concept of the song. Finally,
narrative based music videos tell a story that relates to the song. These types of
videos would follow Toderovs structure because they would have equilibrium, a
disruption of the equilibrium, recognition of the disruption, an attempt to repair
the disruption and a new equilibrium. An example of Toderovs theory in a rock
music video can be seen in Asking Alexandrias Through Sin and Self Destruction
music video as it starts with an equilibrium which shows the band having fun
drinking and getting with girls. Then, there is a disruption to this chill lifestyle
because Danny gets his drink spiked by a girl at the club. The disruption is then
repaired by getting Danny to hospital and then the new equilibrium is that the
band is on stage performing and everything is back to normal.
Levi Strauss came up with the idea of binary opposites. This means that there
always has to be two opposites in a media text to drive the narrative forward. For
example the binary opposite in Black Veil Brides Knives and Pens video would
be the stereotypical emo character featured in the music video and the normal
looking character. This has been deliberately done to emphasis the fact that the
protagonist emo character is an outcast in society.
Roland Barthes came up with the theory that media texts have codes which are
used to give information to the audience. These codes are known as; action,
sematic, enigma and cultural. The action code is where the narrative is resolved
through some form of action, such as violence. The sematic code is about the
connotation of the media text, which is the hidden meaning behind it. Then the
enigma code is about teasing the audience to get them thinking about the
meaning behind something and to try and guess whats going to happen next.
Finally, the cultural code refers to inter-textual references that the audience will
understand from past scientific/historical/cultural knowledge.
At this stage I havent yet thought about what type of music video I would like to
create, however if I was to create a narrative based music video I would follow
Toderovs structure as I think that this theory would work well. However, if I was
to create a concept based music video I would follow Barthes theory because he
believed that codes drive the narrative forward. In my music video I would like
to include intertextual references that appeal to my target audience. For
example, I may include references to other bands such as My Chemical Romance
and Asking Alexandria.