How can we describe and analyse narrative in your music video?

Our video for the song 'He Never Shows' by Pom-Pom Squad is a single strand narrative, focusing on only one story, as well as a linear narrative as the story is told chronologically. It follows Todorov's concept of the three-act structure, with an equilibrium, disequilibrium and a new equilibrium and a closed ending. The first act is of the character in her bedroom, in equilibrium, until the inciting incident moving through to act two. At the end of act one, the character receives a text message from her boyfriend - a proairetic event, as it leads the character to move on the narrative as she goes to meet up with him. Then in the third act, where the story is resolved, her boyfriend doesn't turn up. She throws her phone - a recurring device throughout the video - into the lake, where they were to meet. This is a symbolic code, representing the character moving on and creating a new equilibrium. Our video could be applied to Barthes' concept of open and closed texts, as our video resolves in the third act and has closure as any loose ends are tied up. 

Audience Profile

Models of Audience Segmentation

Models of segmentation help to single out types of people and potential audience for products, using interests, personalities and demographic categories. 

Socioeconomic Grades

The demographic measurements model segments age groups, gender and socioeconomic status, which are categorised into grades A, B, C1 and C2, D, and E. This method of segmentation is useful as it is measurable and little interpretation is involved, it provides hard data. In addition, the socioeconomic status links to disposable income, as people in the AB socioeconomic segment are more likely to have more disposable income due to the higher paying professions characterising this segment, compared to people in the DE segment, who work lower paying jobs, therefore have less disposable income. However, the model is arguably too simple, as it doesn't account of lifestyle and interests which may affect an individual's decision to consume a product. The model also promotes homogeneity, as it assumes that people within a certain age, gender, or socioeconomic group like the same things, which is often found to be false as people have individual identities and interests.

UK Tribes

Tribe or subculture segmentation considers identity. UK tribes, created by channel 4, provides information on the look, interests and lifestyle of different tribes and subcultures. Some examples being 'creatives', 'new casuals' and 'skaters'. This method of segmentation considers interests and lifestyle, meaning that it is more personal and includes more individual choices and interests which is useful to know about as people can no longer just be categorised into age, gender and socioeconomic groups. However, a problem with this model of segmentation is that some people may not fit into any of the tribes listed, which means that if only this model is used to segment audiences to find a target audience, some people may not be included as they don't fit into any of the tribes.

Psychographic Types

Young and Rubicam, an advertising company, created the psychographic model for audience segmentation, which looks at personality and lifestyle. The model segments audiences into groups such as 'The Aspirer' and 'The Reformer', based on personality characteristics. This model of segmentation is useful for identifying different people with specific personalities, which helps to target a piece of media more specifically. However, this model doesn't consider that people change and adjust, as well as that people might overlap as they may have characteristics of more than one of the segments. 

YouGov Profiles Lite

YouGov profiles segment people by habits and lifestyle, including age, gender, socioeconomic status, location, professions, political leaning and interests. This provides a detailed profile about the types of people who are interested in certain things such as people, music, films and TV, it also combines aspects of some of the other models, by including demographics as well as interests. Also, common interests for groups of people can be found as the site links interests together and takes into account all the aspects of the person listed above. However, a problem with this method is that it may not give an accurate representation of the people who are actually interested in the people, music, films and TV because some of the profiles have very little data to accurately provide information on the types of people who are interested in certain things on the site. 

Shape of You - Narrative Structure

Shape of You – Ed Sheeran 

Ed Sheeran's music video for 'Shape of You' is a closed text narrative which uses a mostly linear narrative structure, and can be examined using Todorov's concept of the three-act structure. The music video has three clear acts, the first one involving an equilibrium where then character (and singer) meets the girl and falls in love. The second act starts after the inciting incident, and the girl leaves the main character of the music video, which leads to disequilibrium and a search for resolution. The resolution comes quite close to the end, after struggle and unbalance through the second act, a new equilibrium is created after the resolution, when the girl appears to watch his fight, and help him at the end, and they are reunited. In this video, the narrative structure creates anticipation and expectation of the narrative using the three-act structure which make audiences seek closure at the end and satisfaction that the narrative has been resolved. This video uses this structure to make the audience care about the story between the characters, then cause a conflict or problem which will make the audience want to keep watching to see it resolved in a 'happy ending', typical of a closed text, which is a text that resolves conflict and closes meanings, with no significant loose ends, as in this video the girl returns, resolving the events of the second act and tying up the end, not leaving any questions about the main narrative as the characters are reunited.

Proairetic event, first interaction 

Roland Barthes' ideas of narrative codes can be applied to this music video, as proairetic and symbolic codes are used in the narrative of the video. Proairetic codes used, which are events or moments which drive the narrative, such as the first interaction between characters, which drives the narrative forwards as they go out together after and then fall in love, the first proairetic event influences the story of the whole music video. After the first proairetic event, the girl in the video leaves the main character, leading on to the second act, which is another proairetic event as it drives the narrative, it forces the character to react and move on to seek equilibrium. The mouth guard she leaves him could be seen as either a symbolic device, or a proairetic device, as it could represent the aspect of the character associated with it, or it could be the item which moves the narrative on and signals the end of the first act in the video, as after the main character finds it, it seems to motivate him to train and go to a fight. 

A narrative device used in the music video for 'Shape of You' are ellipses, which are jumps in time. They are used to jump forward in time to locations in the first act with the characters together, implying that the characters have been to many places together and that they have a good relationship. Also, an ellipsis is used at the start of the second act and the initial conflict, when the girl leaves him some symbolic devices in the narrative and then leaves him. Through the second act to the resolution ellipses during the montage of the character running and training, as he seeks a new equilibrium and resolution to the imbalance created by the girl leaving. The ellipses suggest that, in the story, he has spent a lot of time working through the disequilibrium in search for a resolution, possibly earning sympathy from the audience, as they want the character to find new equilibrium and for the narrative to close, from implying a long passage of time rather than showing it.

Mise en Scene

Treatment

We will be making a music video for the indie pop-rock song 'He Never Shows' by Pom Pom Squad. Our video will combine both elements of narrative and performance. 

The lyrics of the song are suggestive of unrequited love and we will try to convey these feelings of longing and disappointment in our narrative, which follows a teenage girl who gets stood up. The protagonist in our narrative receives a text from her boyfriend asking to meet up – she is especially eager to see him because their relationship has recently been conflicted and she is hoping for reconciliation. In her bedroom, where props such as photographs will signify their relationship and suggest that the character is romantic and sentimental, she gets ready to go out. She travels to the location where he suggested that they meet, passing locations which remind her of happier times with him and seeing affectionate couples who she envies. However, after waiting for him, he doesn't turn up; this links to the lyrics, specifically the chorus of the song. We will cross-cut to performance throughout our video, fulfilling a convention of indie rock music videos and creating a sense of authenticity to appeal to the band's audience. We will especially use lots of close-up shots and fast-paced editing in the performance parts of our video to make our video more dynamic. 

We are influenced by many music videos of the same genre, which use performance and lip sync to create a sense of authenticity and promote the band's live gigs. This includes bands such as Cherry Glazerr, an indie-rock band, and Pale Honey, an indie band with riot grrrl influences. Cherry Glazerr also has narrative in several of their videos such as 'Nuclear Bomb' and 'White's Not My Color This Evening', which follow similarly young female characters. 

Moodboard