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.