Narratological analysis of my music video
My music video follows a linear narrative structure. It also conforms to Tzvetan Todorov's three act structure; the first act of equilibrium involves the character being sat in her bedroom, then the inciting incident which introduces the second act (disequilibrium) is her receiving a text from her boyfriend. The concluding new equilibrium comes when she discards her phone, symbolising her rejection of her dissatisfying relationship.
Of Roland Barthes' narrative codes, my music video mostly uses proairetic codes which develop the narrative – for example, this includes the character receiving the text which motivates her to go to meet her boyfriend. These texts are also a narrative device of in-shot text. Furthermore, the mobile phone acts as a narrative device by showing an embedded photo of the couple together, to establish that she is in a relationship. The clock on the mobile phone also acts as a narrative device by showing that time has passed as the character has waited for her boyfriend. I also used the narrative driver of movement to progress the narrative, as the character walks between locations.
My music video is a closed text. This is conventional for appealing to a mainstream audience as Pam Cook says that Hollywood narrative structures contain "a high degree of narrative closure". This kind of "narrative closure" is especially conventional for teenage romance films, which makes it suitable for my music video about teenage heartbreak. My target audience of teenage girls are also likely to be familiar with these kinds of films and expect ideological closure. However, my narrative (especially the ending) is slightly interpretive, which is conventional for the medium as Michael Shore says that "Music video directors make videos as ambiguous as possible, with just enough narrative or suggestive concept to draw a viewer in".
