Tzvetan Todorov's Theory of Narrative

Todorov suggested that conventional narratives are structured in five stages;

1. A state of equilibrium at the outset;
2. A disruption of the equilibrium by some action;
3. A recognition that there has been a disruption;
4. An attempt to repair the disruption;
5. A reinstatement of the equilibrium.

Applying Todorov's theory to 'pop' music videos:
Pop music videos tend to support this theory, especially 'Black Heart' by Stooshe. It begins with the three girls singing together then the male creates a disruption by seeing all three of the girls separately. It then shows him feeling sorry for himself and attempting to resolve the disruption, and then it closes with the three girls still together and not letting this male ruin their friendship.

Andrew Goodwin's Theory

'Music Videos are simply an extension of the lyrics.'

It is difficult to state whether or not this is true for the original music video 'Black Heart' by Stooshe, as there are a lot of performance shots therefore not many events occur and we are just watching the group perform. However, the dangling hearts in the background connect the music video to the title of the song although the hearts in the background are pleasant and bright colours and are shown in a good light. This suggests to the younger audience that it is better to be happy and in love rather than sad due to him having a 'black heart.' Therefore, this theory both applies and doesn't apply to this particular music video.

Annotation of Lyrics by Laura Smith

Document will have to be enlarged in order to read it

Target Audience

The main focus group for our music video are your average teenage girls. Where they attend school or college, have a part-time job and are into music. Personally, I see myself as a average teenage girl, I attend sixth form and also have a part-time job, working in a kitchen means that we are able to have the radio on whilst working so I listen to a lot of music as I listen to music during my spare time also. Kiss 101 is the main radio station that I listen to whilst at work and they play a lot of music in the pop genre, including Stooshe - Black Heart, as it is a song which you can happily sing-a-long to. If I was to choose my favourite radio station then it would be Kiss 101, as is the answer which I think most teenage girls would give. Therefore this is the perfect target audience for our music video.

Here is a picture of how I see a typical teenage girl:

Questionnaire Results

Questionnaire results from NatalieEarle

Questionnaire (Collaboration with Natalie Earle)

Organisation of Performers (Collaboration with Natalie Earle)

Magazine advertisement research from loousmith

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

The idea of the pyramid is that one must satisfy lower level basic needs in order to progress onto the next level of needs. Maslow studied some people who he believed were 'self-actualised' therefore, they would be on top of this pyramid. He found that they had particular characteristics which were similar between them all who were studied. 'Although we are all, theoretically, capable of self-actualising, most of us will not do so, or only to a limited degree. Maslow was particularly interested in the characteristics of people whom he considered to have achieved their potential as persons. By studying people he considered to be self-actualised (including Abraham Lincoln and Albert Einstein), Maslow identified 15 characteristics of a self-actualised person.' These characteristics include:

• They perceive really efficiently and can tolerate uncertainty
• Accept themselves and others for what they are
• Spontaneous in thought and action
• Problem-centered (not self-centered)
• Unusual sense of humor
• Able to look at life objectively
• Highly creative
• Resistant to enculturation, but not purposely unconventional
• Concerned for the welfare of humanity
• Capable of deep appreciation of basic life-experience
• Establish deep satisfying interpersonal relationships with a few people
• Peak experiences
• Need for privacy
• Democratic attitudes
• Strong moral/ethical standards

Narrative

The narrative for our music video production is going to be a typical teenage love story. We want a male character that can be pictured with the three female characters in the music video. He will be pictured with them all individually, but when he's with one girl the other two are unaware and think that he is just 'theirs'. When in fact, he is seeing all three of them. During the music video they all find out what he's been up to so they all turn against him and go off together and become friends through it. We will show this by them all singing together in the formation of a group. We will also show them walking away together, as if they are leaving him in the past. This will also enable us to make him look guilty and seeking forgiveness, becoming quite lost when they all walk off together and leave him in the past. This is the narrative we will use to draw attention away from the unachievable look we originally wanted.

Analysis of Location Shoot

Once we had completed our location shoot I came to realise that we had found the right location for the setting we wanted to achieve. However, if we had the resources available to us then we would have liked to have filmed in front of a 'green screen' so we could then add a more interesting background. This would have been more suited to our genre also, as well as giving a more professional outcome. Unfortunately we are unable to get this particular necessity therefore we will work with our available resources and carefully plan out our location so we are able to get the best possible outcome.

Similar to the original music video to 'Black Heart' but different in such a way that it doesn't look identical, we could have then added stuff in the background like in the picture to the left. We could create our own style of this look by artistically creating objects that we could either attach to the wall or hang from the ceiling. However, this would be very time consuming and our time needs to be dedicated to careful planning, filming and editing time. Therefore, we will also be unable to carry this idea out, instead we will experiment with some after effects to see if we are able to achieve the sort of look we want another way. Or we will just create a narrative that is interesting enough to take focus away from the performance shots. I am also going to do some more research into the pop genre to gather ideas and see if there are any other techniques we could use in order to create this particular illusion.