Music Videos (style models): Key linking word – Loneliness/isolation 

• The narrative is little but shows video of the ocean interspersed with the artist of the music, which emphasises the loneliness and isolation aspect, suggesting the protagonist of the video is stuck in an “ocean” of loneliness. The victim would be the protagonist who is shown as isolated from others as shown also in the video by the fact that no other characters are shown (suggesting that the protagonist is alone). The shots of TV static also suggest that the protagonist’s mind is muddled and confused from loneliness and isolation, showing how it is not natural or is difficult to deal with. 

• Like the previous example, this music video uses the ocean to represent isolation from others. I this video, the protagonist is shown drifting alone onto a desert island, emphasizing loneliness. There are also later scenes of the protagonist reminiscing on his life before being isolated. The protagonist also starts to hallucinate people from his past life being with him showing the isolation’s effects on his mind. The ending of the video also asserts that the island and isolation may not have been real but a metaphor or figment of the protagonist’s imagination. In terms of the tripartite narrative structure, The video starts in medias res with the protagonist in the new equilibrium of the desert island and cutting back to the past disruption to the beginning equilibrium that lead him to end up in the new equilibrium. 

• This video only features one character and shows him alone in dark streets and alleys and even alone a nightclub, which usually has many other people in it. The fact that the character is always alone even in public settings gives more impact to the theme of isolation and loneliness. The protagonist is also shown to be physically hurting and deteriorating, emphasising how he is damaged by his loneliness and it is suggested that he is hurting himself while alone physically and mentally by reflecting on his past actions or the people he may have wronged. While reminiscing is not physically shown in the video, it is implied by the actions of the protagonist and the message of the music. In this sense the video subverts the traditional narrative structure of hero vs. Villain by presenting the villain and victim as the same character, showing how the protagonist is hurting himself for what he is implied to have done. The video also starts with the disruption of the protagonist shown in agony and ends with the new equilibrium of the protagonist shown lying dead because of the isolation and lack of assistance. 

Plan for video narrative:

With my music video I aim to capture a feeling of loneliness as well as reminiscing on better times. To capture the sense of loneliness I will use shots of empty streets and roads to communicate this while the protagonist of the video is seen silently contemplating and reminiscing on life while listening to music. The video will also feature the protagonist wearing headphones to communicate how the character is isolated from other people and to fill the requirement set by the headphone advertiser. This allows me to incorporate the advert into the message of the video. The video will mainly consist of slow zooming shots to instill the sense of loneliness and to show the character isolated in an empty environment. 

Following Todorov’s tripartite narrative structure, my music video will start with the equilibrium of the protagonist listening to the music. The disruption will begin when the protagonist starts reminiscing and it will cut back to some memories they have which are with other people or generally more carefree and happy compared to the lonely situation the protagonist finds themselves in the current moment. Throughout the video the sense of isolation will be emphasised from cuts to the empty streets, sea, and the protagonist alone listening to music. At the end, the protagonist will exit their house in which they have been isolating themselves indicating the start of a new equilibrium, with all the protagonist’s memories left behind in the old equilibrium.  

The hero and victim would be the protagonist who is under threat from the villain, the protagonist’s inner thoughts and memories, since the protagonist is struggling to leave their memories behind and to escape their isolation and loneliness. The binary oppositions the music video’s narrative is structured around are the oppositions between loneliness and social interaction and reminiscing and making new memories. 

• Pastiche – A pastiche is a work that imitates other works in a positive way, such as a homage. 
• Bricolage – A collection of works that are brought together in the creation of one work. 
• Intertextuality – The connection between different texts and the influence of some texts to other texts. 
• Implosion – The sudden collapse of something inwards 
• cultural appropriation – The use of other cultures by people of different cultures (often more dominant ones) outside their original cultural contexts. This is an example of how dominant cultures often use aspects of disadvantaged cultures without appreciation for those cultures. 

Theme: Alone at the beach

People involved in shot: 1 person in the main shot, others involved in smaller shots

background song choice:

• Sweater Weather – The Neighbourhood

• Pastiche: an artistic work in a style that imitates that of another work, artist, or period.

‘Atlantis’ immitates many other movies and stories that focus on a nice ‘monster’

It is fairly similar to another music video also focussing on their loneliness

• Bricolage: something constructed or created from a diverse range of things

All style models were created using a diverse range of shots. However, ‘find me’ was created using the most varied range of camera angles and clip length.

‘atlantis’ has the most varied compilation of setting and characters.

lastly, ‘i lost a friend’ has only one camera shot throughout the entirety of the video (therefore one setting) although it has a diverse way of showing emotion (through dance, body language, facial expressions, weather, setting etc)

• Intertextuality: the shaping of a text’s meaning by another text

All 3 videos show intertextuality and rely on it in order for the audience to understand the videos meaning.

An example would be in ‘Atlantis’ the friendship between the ‘monster’ and the boy. This could be linked to texts such as beauty and the beast, monsters inc, Totoro or similar works in which the audience learns a ‘dont trust a book by its cover’ message

• Implosion: sudden failure of an organisation or system
• cultural appropriation: adoption of an element of one culture by members of another culture.

• Pastiche- A form of artistic work that imitates the work of another artists work or period.
• Bricolage – The construction or creating of something made out of a range or things ie making a music video out of clips recorded on a range of available tools like camera.
• Intertextuality  – the relationship between texts ie the relationship between the song and music video.
• Implosion – The tendency to collapse arising from the system’s own dynamics. Implosion arises from the destruction of meaning and the reality-effect due to the precession of simulacra.
• cultural appropriation – It is the adoption of an element or elements of one culture by members of another culture.

Pastiche– a work of visual art, literature, theatre, or music that imitates the style or character of the work of one or more other artists. It is like a parody but instead of mocking, it celebrates

Bricolage– make something new out of other things. You might argue that new films are made with new technology, not existing film clips or video files.

Intertextuality– is the shaping of a text’s meaning by another text. Eg Jane Austins novel was based on the movie Clueless.

Implosion- a sudden failure or collapse of an organisation or system

Cultural Appropriation- the unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption of the customs, practices, ideas, etc. of one people or society by members of another and typically more dominant people or society.

1.  Pastiche – any form of creative work that imitates the work of another artist or group of artisits.
2. • Bricolage – work created out of a diverse range of things that happened to be available
3. • Intertextuality – the shaping of a text’s meaning by another text.
4. • Implosion – a therapeutic technique in which clients imagine and re-live aversive scenes associated with their anxiety
5. • cultural appropriation. –  the adoption of an element or elements of one culture by members of another culture

In this music video, the protagonist is the main focus as he walks with the camera following him. Even with things going in the background, the focus is on him. I like this idea of the camera following someone on a journey. This correlates with the idea of isolation and loneliness as there are no interactions with other people until the end. It is almost like the audience is viewing what it is like to be in their mind.

This music video has the same idea of exploring and walking through a setting. The camera shows close ups of them looking around the area.

In this music video, the protagonist stands out as they are isolated from the other people. Again I like the idea of the camera following them as they walk through streets like you are viewing their journey from their perspective.

The theme of isolation is shown here through the use of the camera angles spinning around her to show that she is the only one there. I like the fact that the camera is circling around her and the focus always being on her spreads a message of self reflecting and possibly loneliness.

• Pastiche – artistic work that that imitates the style of another artist, or period
• Bricolage – constructed from a diverse range of things
• Intertextuality – relationship between texts
• Implosion – something (eg product/company) collapsing inwards / sudden failure
• cultural appropriation – unacknowledged adoption of ideas from someone or a society

Todorov Tripartite Narrative Structure:

National Anthem by Lana Del Rey:

• Beginning Equilibrium: The video starts and Lana sings an introduction as herself and then swiftly turns into the dolled up housewife that resembles the once first lady Jackie Kennedy. She soften`s her children`s hair and kisses her husband. In the varying idyllic video montages it is clear that she lives for her children and her husband and projects the ideal life of “The American Dream”.
• Disruption: The protagonist`s life becomes less about her children and more about her overwhelming lust/love for her husband, who in return is shown to be enamoured with spending, smoking and partying. Money is thrown around a room literally and dice are dropped (showing gambling etc), and Lana sits on a rug made of an animal in an almost crude show of wealth.
• New Equilibrium: From this, the light turns hazier and yet brighter and the dice are picked off the ground physically. The protagonist and her husband sit in an old car with private protection are them, and whilst the camera zooms in on Lana, gunshots are heard and the protagonist`s face resembles that off shock and despair. The video ends with the bright light fading out her face.

Bellyache by Billie Eilish:

• Beginning Equilibrium: Billie is at peace sat by herself on the side of the road. She has a red wagon beside her with binbags in . The protagonist slowly gets up as the music starts and starts walking in the middle of the road with the Hollywood hills in the background.
• Disruption: She begins to open the black bags and reveals multiple stacks of money. In an act of defiance she throws them to the ground and keeps on walking; also running and dancing from time to time. The fact that this is in the middle of the road shows how reckless and carefree she is.
• New Equilibrium: This journey leads her show the viewers an uprooted sunflowers, roots and everything, and she throws it on the road. Swiftly she is then faced with a police car and policeman wielding some sort of baton and she comes to a halt. We are only left with an image closeup of that sunflower in the tarmac.

Just the way you are by Bruno Mars:

• Beginning Equilibrium: It starts with a girl listening to music on her headphones. Bruno Mars then proceeds to enter the frame and removes her headphones before smiling and pulling out the tape from her MP3 player. This starts the beginning of the song.
• Disruption: The music video proceeds to switch between writing lyrics like “she`s so beautiful” and showing us different montages of the girl at the start and Bruno. There is a lot of back and forth flirting that is clearly there to show viewers the overall storyline of the video, although a lot of it shows that it is more heavily from Bruno`s side.
• New Equilibrium: However, this soon changes when the girl sits by Bruno on the piano and is clearly starting to make her own move instead of waiting for him. When the video ends we see the girl sat on the sofa, and because Bruno is at the piano it is almost as if we see her from his eyes.

Music Video Song Choice: For my music video I have chosen the song “Restart” by Pleasure Scheme; a small edinburgh based electric rock band. I chose this song because of the refreshing, alternative style and the lyrics which relate very closely to your teenage yeras and it has a “coming-of-age” feel to it.