“Media
texts rely on cultural experiences in order for audiences to easily make sense
of narratives”.
Explain how you used conventional and / or experimental narrative approaches in
one of your production pieces.
The music
video I’m making isn’t based on any music video in particular. The video is a
journey of my holiday, going from country to country showing beautiful people
around the world. There isn’t a story of sorts but merely a voyage that allows
audiences to realise, no matter where in the world and the goings on of what
happens around us for example war and suffering everyone is beautiful. It
doesn’t matter if you’re homeless, working class, rich or whatever race, the
concept still applies. Together with the beautiful people I also capture
beautiful destinations and scenes.
None of the
theories apply to my music video. The video doesn’t follow the stereotypical
aspect of videos which theorists such as Kate Domaille talk about the fatal flaw, the indomitable hero or the
dream comes true. Nor does the video follow points Tzvetan Todorov such as the 5 stages of equilibrium, disequilibrium,
recognition, action and restoration.
Like stated before my video doesn’t have a story line, it’s merely
following real life. Nothing is staged.
As the video is not one of performance it’s one that follows the lyrics
of the son ‘Beautiful People’. The use of long shots allows the audience to see
the scenery and the culture that beholds Zambia and London. People would be
interested to see what a country in Africa is like. For those who live in
hyper-reality and believe all they see in the media would assume there’s only
poverty and wilderness, when a matter of fact it’s advanced. The video allows
people to step out of the bubble of hyper-reality and see the bigger
picture…it’s not all doom and gloom.
The video I’m making is linear; the video refers to a journey being told
in an order of events, in addition to being omniscient narrative. The message
is more or less what is seen on the screen. The meaning can be perceived in
many different ways. The meaning is left open to the audience. What is provided
in the music video is the simple meaning; everyone is beautiful, the lyrics to
the video illustrate this alongside. The audience is left to perceive the video
in anyway and mainly based on what they want to believe they are seeing. The
video uses verisimilitude which is that the quality of appearing to be real or
true and follows the rules of continuity. As Pam Cook argues that the
Hollywood narrative structure includes: “linearity of cause and effect within
an overall trajectory of enigma resolution” and “a high degree of narrative
closure”. My video goes against this and allows the audience freedom to have
their own understanding. Not following conventions of typical videos I’d like
to think my video is postmodern. It’s not restricted. There are no rules. Laura
Mulvey – argues that cinema positions the audience as male. The camera
gazes at the female object on screen. It also frames the male character
watching the female. Once again the video ignores this and doesn’t exploit
women but instead shows men and women as equal.
