Jordan Crookell

Media A2
Narrative in Music Promos

How is a promo like an advert?

They sell emotions and ideas about the product to the audience. This can be
represented through the use of lyrics that are meaningful to the viewer or a
visual representation of something on screen that will remind them or engage
them into the video. As well as this, a music promo I similar to an advert because
it is intended to promote and advertise the band along with the song. Sometimes
bands release montage promo videos. These are released when a band is
releasing an EP or a new album. In these promo montage videos, three of four
different songs ae played with possibly a voice over announcing the new album.
These different songs are each played for only a matter of seconds in the promo.
This is to tease the audience and viewers to make them want to listen to more of
the content and buy the album which is the initial intended effect that the
producers thought of when creating the music promo.
Narrative in music promos
They usually have a traditional or classic narrative. This is something that
viewers can easily follow and that they can easily interpret. This is because the
producers of the music promos want their audiences to be able to engage and
understand their videos meaning that they will hopefully go and buy the album
when it is released.
This classic format of the narrative is similar is most stories and music videos.
The structure of a classic narrative is:
1. Exposition This is the start of the story, not a lot of drama is included
here and we see the characters or main singer for the first time.
2. Rising action This is where the action or narrative starts to develop
slightly and we get to see something about the character or singer that
will develop into a concept. In a music video this will be the part where the
girl falls in love with the boy.
3. Climax This is where the action or narrative is at its most exciting. The
main section of the narrative will take place here. In a music video this will
be the part in the song where we see the visuals of a girl having troubles
with boy.
4. Falling action The falling action is where the story starts to resolve itself
and the tension high-energy action slowly decreases.
5. Denouement the denouement is the resolution of the story or the
narrative and leaves the audience satisfied with a structured ending. In a
music video this will be the part when the girl and boy fall in love again.
This structure acts as the beginning, middle and ending for the video, leaving
viewers and audience members satisfied with the structured narrative ending.
This is because audiences like simplicity and something that they will not have to
think a great deal amount. If videos are too complicated, audiences may be
confused and slightly disorientated or disinterested with the video.

Jordan Crookell

Media A2

Narrative types
Linear/chronological order: In linear/chronological order, the videos in the
music promo show a structured narrative. This narrative is in time order and will
show events that happen in order of how they actually happen. For example,
there will be no flashbacks or flash forwards in the video and you will not see any
cuts to irrelevant shots that are not linked with the story that the artists is telling
in the video.
Non-linear: This is the opposite of linear and is non-chronological. The videos
are not in time order and there is no correlation between events in the video and
when they occur. A non-linear video might include flashbacks or flash forwards in
them and may skip in time half way through. Each shot may not relate to the
next one as it does with a linear order. This means that the video does not have
to make perfect sense.
Closed ended: In a closed ending music video, there is a set ending that will
have closure. This will give the viewers the satisfaction of seeing a structured
ending. In the video there will be a resolution of some sort.
Opened ending: An opened ending narrative structure is the opposite to a
closed ended structure. In an opened ending the video will not have resolved
itself. If there is a story behind the lyrics that links with the video, we as an
audience will not see and ending to that video and may think that there is more
to come but there will not be. Some views do not engage with this structure as
much as a simple closed ended because they want the satisfaction of the feeling
they get at the end of something such as a film or music video in this case.
Circular: A circular narrative structure is where the video starts at a certain
point and through the video it circles round so that it ends where it starts. The
video will start at the end ad then go back to the beginning and shows the
audience the story of what happened.
Singular stranded: In singular stranded narrative structures, there is only one
storyline in the video. The visuals of the video will only focus on one object or
idea. This keeps the narrative very simple and audience should not be confused
by what is happening.
Multi strand: A multi strand narrative structure has more than one focus or
story line in the music video. Also there may be more than one character that th
video focusses on. There will be more stories that the audience have to look out
for. This is more complicated for the audience to watch and understand because
of the fact that there will be more that they have to think about during the song
and video.

Jordan Crookell

Media A2

Todorovs theory

Todoros theory states that there are five different stages in narratves. These
different stages are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Equilibrium
Disruption
Recognition
Repair
New Equilibrium

A good example of a song that follows Todorovs theory is Katy Perry Last Friday
Night (TGIF).
Synaesthesia - A condition in which one type of stimulation evokes the sensation
of another, as when the hearing of a sound produces the visualization of a
colour.
As an audience, we will always look for a beginning, middle and end. This is
because people tend to relate to videos that have a fixed structure to them as
this is what they are used to. It is also because they like simplicity and something
that they can relate to as a viewer. Having a video that has a good fixed
structure that can be easily followed and interpreted is an effective way to make
a music video. They have fragments of the narrative and some repeatability.
Andrew Goodwin suggests music promos can interpret the meaning through
lyrics. This means that the lyrics that we hear in the video will relate with the
actual video itself. There may be a relation such as love or anger. An example of

Jordan Crookell

Media A2

a video that relates to the lyrics is Ellie Goldings Burn. As the lyrics are singing
about burning there is fire in the video and the two relate to each other.
Illustration the promo illustrates the ideas/narrative in the song lyrics
Amplification Uses a key idea/image from the lyrics and develops them into a
concept within the promo. There is a link between the lyrics and promo
Disjuncture The promo bears no resemblance to the lyrics or its meaning;
abstract; often seen as conventional/arty videos; creates a new range of
meanings for the song.