Narrative theory's

Recently in Media Studies we have been looking at some forms of narrative, and the different types of narrative and the arcs involved in them, as formed by their theorists. These theories are particularly significant when it comes to producing a piece of media, as you can either abide by these theories and conventions or you can subvert them and choose to take a different narrative approach. This will help us in our coursework as we then have a greater understanding of the type of text to produce; depending on what type of narrative code we want to employ. The narrative theories we looked at were Propp's character theory, Barthes 5 narrative codes, Todorov's theory of equilibrium, and Levi Strauss' theory of Binary Opposition.


Propp's character theory: 

This particular theory developed by Propp studies media texts and productions, which presents how there are 7 different character types, in 100 tales he studied. The results he found are as followed:

The villain (struggles against the hero)

The donor (prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object)

The (magical) helper (helps the hero in the quest)

The princess (person the hero marries, often sought for during the narrative)

The false hero (perceived as good character in beginning but emerges as evil)

The dispatcher (character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off)

The hero [AKA victim/seeker/paladin/winner, reacts to the donor, weds the princess

I think this theory is considerably relevant and revolutionary as these 7 character types he has identified in media texts are very familiar, we all know and understand these character types and have seen them large amounts of times whilst looking at media texts and productions. 

Barthes 5 narrative codes:  

Barthes narrative theory consists of 5 specific codes, at least one of these codes describes any given text or media product, as the theory goes. The 5 codes are:

• Hermeneutic/ Enigma code
• Proaeretic/ Action code
• Semantic code
• Symbolic code
• Referential code

The hermeneutic/ Enigma code refers to texts that contain mystery. Clues are hinted at, but no clear answers are given simultaneously. This code can be particularly seen with films of the Thriller genre; with twists that may not need to be fully answered but yet they're still very engaging. Hence the enigma part, this details the audiences wanting to know more. The Proaeretic/ Action code contains sequences of action in the text, where the Proaeretic aspects add suspense to the text. The Semantic code involves texts that suggest, or refer to additional or extra meanings displayed in the text or media product. This code can be seen with quite a lot of genres, any film that is trying to explore further meaning behind the main substance of the film. The Symbolic code is fairly obvious in the name, this code is all about any symbolism shown in the text. It could be a symbol for a large amount of themes or feelings as such. Lastly, the Referential code details anything in the text that refers to an external section of knowledge such as scientific, historical and cultural knowledge.

Todorov's theory of equilibrium: 

Todorov realised that texts can call somehow relate to a theory and set conventions, but specific to the film. The theory is done by using 5 conventions:

• The equilibrium: This is when the story in the text or media product is as it should be, everything is fine and normal. Hence it's called the equilibrium. 
• A disruption- Something comes along to ruin the equilibrium for the characters/area. This will then negatively affect the main characters. 
• The realisation- At this point the characters haven now realised something is wrong and their equilibrium has been ruined. The characters will then often experience chaos at this point. 
• Restore the order- The characters at this point will do everything in their power to restore order to the situation, overcome the disruption, and gain their equilibrium back. 
• Re-equilibrium- Finally the characters have overcome the disruption and have now got a new equilibrium, peace is restored to the story. 

Levi Strauss' theory of Binary Opposition: 

This theory developed by Levi Strauss is all about binary opposition, in other words 2 things that are directly opposite of each other.We studied this theory into some detail at AS level, when we watched a clip from Titanic with characters of Jack and Rose. Binary opposites, such as black and white, can be used in texts and media products to convey meaning. More specifically, binary opposition can be used to show direct differences and contrasts between characters, and how this affects the story and narrative of the text or media product. 

Primary Research- Music Video

Music videos are mediums of media in which a video is constructed and performed, in order to  visually represent or go alongside with the piece of music it is made for, in addition to commercially promoting the product. They act as an illustration for the music, a way of helping the listeners and audience connect with the music by providing a visual stimulus that helps give the music foundation and context. There are different styles of music video however. Some music videos can be narrative based, in which the video will feature around a story-line and characters, and a linear story is told whilst the song plays out. This can often be seen in more emotionally driven songs, such as through the likes of Adele and such.  Others can be animation based, live-action based, or even documentary based. Other music video can be content based, and will simply be stylish in order to make the artist look more appealing, such as in many rap/hip-hop music that are currently produced.


A brief history into music videos:

Music videos can link all the way back to 1894, in which a pair of sheet musicians hired an electrician, in which he used a magic lantern to project a series of still images on a screen simultaneous to live performances. This would become the first step to music videos. In 1926, with the arrival of 'sound films', many musical short films were being made. These were basically motion pictures, with synchronized sound. They incorporated bands, vocalists and dancers to try and create short music videos in the form of pictures and audio in as much engaging way as possible. 'Soundies', which were produced and released from 1940 to 1947, were musical films that often included short dance sequences, similar to later music videos. However in 1981, this marks the year in which music videos became a mainstream feature. The U.S mainstream video channel MTV was created, which began an area of 24 hours a day music on television. With this new outlet/creation for music material, this music video channel would, by the mid 80's, grow to play a very large role in popular music marketing. From this point on, MTV has continued to be a leading frontier for music videos and music marketing, with artists of all genres incorporated and also being one of the most successful music channels on modern TV.  From 2005 on wards, the internet became 'video friendly', providing an easy way of sharing video with the rest of the internet. This was when users of the internet began to upload music videos to the internet, for people all over the world to see such as through websites like Napster and iFilm. Nowadays music videos are shared all over the world via the internet, with site giants such as YouTube and Vevo that are the leading frontiers for music videos, as well as modern TV channels. 

An example of music video: 

This is an example music video and is for the song 'Team' by Lorde. This is a music video I particularly like due to its stylish approach. The music video is narrative based and revolves around a group of teenagers on a remote island somewhere, the message of the song seeming to be based around hierarchies and rules within the teenage world. I very much like this music video due to the narrative based approach, featuring a story told in the music video that is appealing to the audience as many of the viewers will probably be teenagers too, which is what Lorde's music is mostly aimed at. The music video also has very strong cinematography in my opinion, with many shots really drawing in the audience into the world the music video explores. Along with the mysterious settings and colour pallets, the world explored in the music video, along with the song, becomes hard to turn away from. Lorde is also in the music video herself, often breaking the fourth wall by looking at the camera. This can be used as a device to make Lorde, in the world of the music video, aware of the fact she's being watched and also suggests she's addressing the audience personally, to convey her message in the song in as clear detail as possible.

Primary research-Advert

An advertisement,or advert for short, is a short piece of media used to advertise a product of all sorts, that will then make the customers aware of the product and want to buy it. The main purpose is to inform the customer of the product you're advertising, and the advert should then encourage people to buy or use the product you're advertising.

A good advert should: 

- Remain clear and memorable in the audiences mind.
- Not be offensive or misleading 
- Don't use false or arrogant claims
- Stay genuine to what you're advertising

In our case, we will be producing the type of adverts that will be played on TV, such as the sponsor adverts that play before and after TV shows such as Coronation Street. We will need to be creating a short series of adverts, which consists of two different adverts.

How have adverts changed over time?


The way advertising has been carried out over the years has inevitably changed. For example, the first ever TV advert was played in 1941, which was for Bulova watches. This advert was extremely simple, and very basic compared to adverts nowadays in the 21st century. The advert was just 10 seconds of a static image, that had a continent with a watch over it containing the title of Bulova. Yes it is very simple, but at that time people were not accustomed to the idea of TV advertising, so just by seeing the brand on TV seemed revolutionary and exciting. However adverts nowadays can be extremely vivid. They can be very exciting, such as the adverts for new cars are often really large in scale and will make the audience want to drive that car considerably. These types of adverts cost a lot of money and time, whereas the TV adverts in the 1940's, 50's and onwards would of cost little amounts of money to be able to produce. Back in those days advertising was based solely on the principle of getting people to like and want to buy your product, whereas nowadays advertising is becoming increasingly essential for products to stay relevant and have the audiences attention.

Primary research- Short film

Short film  

A short film is a film, of any genre or type, such as documentary, animation etc, that is usually 40 minutes or less. It is any film that is not long enough to be considered a feature film. Anything over 40 minutes is normally considered as a feature film, such as films that are about an hour in duration. Quite often short films can be made by film-makers to introduce themselves into the industry, or to just get first hand experience when it comes to making an actual film.

History into Short Films

Short films have been made as early as the 1920's, when comedy short films were produced in quite large numbers. Audiences may of found these short comedy films, that were around 5-10 minutes in length, as a way of relieving stress and having a laugh for a little while. 

Short films can also be dated back to 1894, when Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope, projected short films to audiences in a way such as a 'peepshow'. These films at this time were also around 20 minutes in length, iconic comedians such as Charlie Chaplin had a key involvement with short comedy films; this was considered a 'modern TV sitcom'.

However back to the modern era, some animated shorts, for example with Pixar, attach some animated short films before their feature films. They have been doing this since their initial run since 1995, it works as an effective way of promoting other material as well as the main animated feature film. - Wikipedia


Students examples of short films: 'Narco'

The following is a student made short film from our school, that was produced last year.

I think that Narco is a well made short film, reasons for this is that it is shot well, edited well, the lighting is good, and the overall direction is well done. For the camera work, the shots are all filmed smoothly, there isn't any jumpy footage or any shaky footage unless it was intended for. I think most of it was done using tripods which results in their clean looking footage, along with the smooth shots.

The editing was also good in my opinion, once again linking back to the video clips being smoothly put together to result in a professional looking short film. I also found that the match on action was considerably good, such as shots with the car coming into the drive, the shot with the camera placed on the floor made for a great piece of match on action.

I am choosing to do a short film for my coursework. Therefore I will be looking to this short film inspiration, and I may be referencing this short film when it comes to the production of my coursework piece.

Introduction To the Types of Briefs

For this course, our primary coursework task is to construct a piece of media, of which can be a music video, a short film or a series of adverts.


Music promotional video:

A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, no longer than five minutes duration, together with:

• a cover for its release as part of a digipack (CD/DVD package)
• a magazine advertisement for the digipack (CD/DVD package)

Advertising package:

An advertising package for a new product or service, to include two TV advertisements, together with

• a TV programme sponsorship sequence
• a radio advertisement

Short film:

A short film in its entirety, lasting approximately five minutes, which may be live action or animation or a combination of both, together with:

• a poster for the film
• a film magazine review page featuring the film